The best laid plans….

My innovation plan has been an interesting experience. Last school year I was able to implement it in stages, starting with blending my own biology curriculum and then workign with coaches and administration to implement blending learning in all biology classrooms on campus. But, as the year ended , funding and positions changed and this project was not a priority.

Not wanting the research and resources I had made to be wasted, I started listening for other schools and areas that may need my assistance. In July of this year, a conversation happened casually one Sunday at church, and it was brought to my attention that they were looking to integrate more technology in their curriculum but had no idea where to start. They purchased 20 chromebooks but had no idea how to teach the teachers or students how to use them.  I scheduled a meeting with the principal and pastor (both are school administrators) and shared what I already had done, and how I thought it was applicable to their situation. They both invited me to speak to the staff, and we drafted a plan to integrate the basics of Google Apps for Education. Teachers have invited me into their classrooms and we work on a room by room basis to discuss class specific ways to integrate technology into their subject or grade.

We met with a parent committee to explain the implemetation plans and phases, as well as get their feelings on BYOD policies. Every group of stakeholders feels that they have a say- parents, students, teachers, and administration- and has a clear voice in the process. Even though this is not the original plan I set out to accomplish, I have learned more that I ever though possible in planning, creating, implementing, and communicating. I would not trade any off these experiences and am grateful for them all!

For a visual representation of my journety, please check out this prezi

COVA Reflection: A Journey of eLearning

COVA and I have had a roller coaster of a relationship as the program progressed. I am a type A person with a love of directions and details. Learning to live in an academic environment where directions are minimal and freedom to choose and speak to my own learning was hard at first. As I have learned to embrace it, I have actually had to re-learn how to learn! It has truly been wonderful, however. I have learned to make the choices work for me- what I need in my classroom as I work with my students and my biology team, and now as a consultant for a small private school. I feel it made me more intentional and pay more attention to the process and learning experience overall, because everything was personal for me, my staff, and students.

I began working with my biology team and implementing my innovation plan this past spring semester. It was a learning process in and of itself: the ideas and plans that seemed perfect on paper needed adjustment once we began implementing them. I learned how to communicate something I was passionate about in many settings and diverse audiences. All stakeholders are important, and buy in is crucial. Sometimes passion is received well, other times data and research speaks for itself. Overall, I learned multiple ways to communicate my heart and passion for blended learning in biology in a low socioeconomic school.

Unfortunately, as administration and funding changed at the end of the semester, many parts of my plan came to a halt. Exploring other opportunities this summer, I was connected with a private school that had just purchased their first 20 chromebooks and made Gmail accounts for all staff and students, but the principal had no idea where to go from there. It was the perfect open door to build a blended learning environment from the ground up! We have been working together since August, and the COVA approach to teaching teachers has been key in winning them over. They needed choice in what and how much digital learning and technology to incorporate into their classrooms, and the pace at which they learn. They have a voice in the process for personal integration as well as ownership of the process as a whole through self paced courses and workshops.

I look forward to continuing the COVA approach with the staff as we integrate and implement blended learning with technology. Secondary students will be taking the leap in January to integrate ePortfolios in all classes, based on teacher input and selection in creating the technology integration plan. Parents, students, teachers, and administration are all in agreement that blended learning is the way to go, and I believe they are supportive based on the freedom to choose and own the process we are using to integrate.

To help increase enthusiasm and and understanding of the transition to digital learning environments, we shared this video with the staff.

Reflection over EDLD 5316

Digital citizenship as explained in this course encompassed much more than I originally thought. It forced me to evaluate all areas of how I interact digitally, and how I engage my students with technology. I took time to reflect on my teaching practices and found areas I needed to improve to be a better model of a digital citizen. For example, I need to be more intentional about giving credit and citations when necessary. I realize that copyright law and attribution is very important and there are simple ways to make sure that guidelines are being followed. Even more importantly, I should be showing these to my students. While I am an adult and should be aware of these guidelines, teenagers should not necessarily be held to the same standards right off the bat. I need to start the school year showing them the proper ways to research, cite, and share information and credit where it is needed.

I want to teach my students how to be savvy digital citizens, aware of their digital footprint and wisely connected to the digital world. I plan to provide them opportunities to interact with each other through discussion boards and messages to practice empathy, etiquette, and effective communication. I plan to do this both in person and by blending parts of my curriculum so my students can practice written and oral communication skills.

The most useful thing I will take away from this course is first sharing the creative commons with my students. Also, the copyright flow chart will be a huge help when lesson planning and assembling educational experiences with my team for my students. It is always tempting to “borrow” a resource online, but with resources and guidelines to properly cite sources there is no excuse for educators to steal or plagiarize. We have to stop rushing and looking for an easy solution. Integrity and character need to be a priority. How can we expect this from our students when we take shortcuts ourselves?

I feel that the way we interacted with the research and resources that were shared will help me share with other teachers the best ways to handle teaching digital citizenship year round, and be model digital citizens for our students. 

If I could change any of the activities for this course, I would replace some of the assignments with more case studies. Having to focus on situations easy to relate to, and apply the content we were directly learning was eye opening. While I currently have no desire to go into administration, it helped me understand how my actions in one classroom have impact higher up the chain. 

Overall, this was the most challenging course so far in the DLL program. The amount of resources was helpful and daunting at the same time, and the volume of work to keep up with was much more than any class I have had preceding. That being said, I feel like I learned the most from this class, and every single thing was applicable to my classroom and students in some way. 

To view my presentation resource, visit my smore at: https://www.smore.com/xhwgs

If I had to summarize my motto for digital citizenship in one phrase, it would be:

“When you can be anything, be kind”

 

Cyberbullying (Week 4)

 

Cyberbullying is defined by David’s Law as “bullying arising from a pattern of acts or one significant act that is done through the use of any electronic communication device, including a cellular or other type of telephone, a computer, a camera, electronic mail, instant messaging, text messaging, a social media application, an internet website, or any other internet-based communication tool.” This means that any bullying taking place in the digital format can be described as cyber bullying. These issues do not stay confined to the cyber-world, they often affect a child’s school work and social interactions in the physical world.

Cyberbullying can be stopped by proactive educators attentive to student’s behavior and needs intervening early in the bullying cycle. It starts with positive and proactive conversations about cyber bullying. My students at the high school age have heard the anti-bullying talks and could deliver them for themselves. But they seem desensitized to them at the surface level. Students need a personal connection, something to make it relevant to their situation and stage in life. Getting students to look at how they react to and treat those around them all the time, and address what they are feeling during those interactions is a big task and involves teachers, counselors, and administration. Suggestions are adding to the counseling staff and creating weekly small groups of students to voice their concerns and feelings in a safe place. Others feel more anonymous reporting strategies should be promoted. I would rather a more organic approach with teachers being more educated and equipped to handle citizenship and bullying situations in the classroom by simultaneously adding 5-10 minutes of class time and decreasing class size to facilitate deeper and meaningful relationships.   The reality is that we will use a blend of these strategies. Overall it has to be a constant, proactive overt teaching of positive character, respectful interactions and communication strategies.

One technology tool I plan to use is a live discussion board that is projected on the board during class. It will be projected on the side of my PowerPoint, and any questions that come up during the lesson can be sent immediately and I will address them. There will be periodic opportunities for students to comment or answer each other. This will give chances for students to practice what we learn about respect and communication. We also use Kagan strategies for team and class building exercises. These have social skill interactions built into them for students to naturally practice and use these skills.

Helpful Resources for Educators dealing with cyber bullying concerns:

David’s Law Explained 

Bullying Law Fact Sheet

Copyright and Fair Use (Week 3)

Studying the definition of copyright and the many ways to handle material correctly was quite a challenge. The material presented was not overwhelmingly hard, but tedious. There were many terms to be sure to understand and situations that are particular. The copyright flowchart is extremely helpful when deciding how to use material in the classroom. Also, the crash course videos on copyright and usage were extremely insightful and explained basic copyright law in a way that makes sense to the most novice copyright individual.

After reviewing the resources and videos from this week’s session, I believe many teachers need to review this as well. I can think of many examples of times that I used materials in my classroom that violated copyright policy simply because I did not know the steps to take to appropriately acquire permission to use what I had found. A simple Google search produced an article, activity, or video that matched our topic and we used it freely, even making copies of materials without requesting permission first. If I am doing this, I know most if not all of the teachers at my school are as well. While naivety is not an excuse, it is easily remedied with proactive leadership.

I believe that teachers need a refresher in copyright law if we are going to effectively use resources and collaborate together. Recent graduates or those in graduate programs may be aware of current copyright standards, but a large percentage of teaching staff is not. Many materials in this course are perfect examples of resources that could be used in a brief professional development to help teachers understand the importance of following these guidelines. It would be easiest to have teachers sit with content teams and review the basics of copyright law first as a group. Then, have them pull the resources they plan to use for creative and engaging lessons for a week or so of school. Once they have them, they can discuss as a team if they are copyrighted or teacher created. If they are copyrighted, they should determine whether or not they fall under fair use or public domain, and if not, if they need to obtain written permission before using it in the classroom. If they work as a team, they can find new resources for things they cannot use, or more easily share the work of contacting authors and creators to get permission to use their work.

Copyright violations at my school cannot be solved with just one person, it will be a team effort. My eyes have been opened to the seriousness of copyright infringement. Violating copyright policies is rampant in education but unfortunately not directly addressed in schools. That can change! Conscientious educators with positive communication can share the burden with administrators to educate staff and teammates in proper copyright usage and help stop the improper use of resources. Just as we want our students to give credit where credit is due, we as teachers must model that behavior.

Helpful Resources:

The Copyright Flowchart