Embedding Digital Texts

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E-learning provides equal access to digital content. Students can learn regardless of geographic location. They can learn at home, or while on vacation. E-learn is time efficient. Students can learn at their own pace. Students have access to the learning material 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as opposed to a 45 minute period of class, further breaking down the classroom walls. Using e-learning, digital texts and open course software increase media literacy skills through reading digital texts online.  Students are additionally able to connect to current and ongoing research in various areas.

MIT pioneered open courseware and has been providing free lessons and lectures to the public since 2001.  In 2014, MIT had published 2250 courses through their open courseware program. Open courseware is free and available to all. Using open courseware connects learners across geographic divides creating a global community of learners.  (MIT, 2015)

Using digital textbooks allows school to reduce the traditional cost of purchasing textbooks.  Graphics, diagrams and photos that are flat images in traditional textbooks, come alive in a digital format with interactive elements. Digital textbooks can be automatically updated with the latest scientific discoveries. Whereas, print textbooks would have obsolete information until the next printing. Digital textbooks can additionally include hyperlinks to additional resources, further expanding the learning opportunities. Websites such as Flat World Knowledge and CK-12 offer digital textbooks for K-12 education.  Using CK-12, teachers are able to build their own “textbooks” called a Flexbook, using resources from a variety of sources. Flexbooks can be saved as a PDF and shared with students or printed out. Flexbooks can be further customized using a Microsoft Word based text editor.

Digital text projects such as Project Guttenberg and Bookshare open up literacy opportunities for all students. E-learning, open courseware and digital texts expand the opportunities for learning, break down classroom walls and bring education to learners of all ages.

References

MIT. (2015). Our History. Retrieved from MIT Open Courseware: http://ocw.mit.edu/about/our-history/

Building Media Literacy

Teens typically see the world as simple and straightforward. They take information at the surface as black or white, and do not look at it deeply. Messages they receive on the internet they take at face value. (Ashley, 2013) The majority of the information we receive is in a digital format. I receive new updates via Twitter notifications on my phones home screen. I use Google and Mendeley to search for references for papers. “Googling” has become a common word in our vernacular. The following infographic represents how media has changed.

Melissa Fabello created a short video on Media Literacy 101, which summarizes why media literacy is important.

If we only take things at face value, our youth will mimic the actions and words they view in the media without regard to right or wrong. They will accept the libelous and slanderous information that is contained throughout all forms of media, without forming opinions of their own. If our role as educators is to teach the future leaders of tomorrow, then not teaching media literacy is providing a disservice to them. We would be settling our students up for failure and in turn failing as educators. 

We need to teach our students to be mindful of media consumption rather than passively consuming information. Additionally, media literacy should include knowledge of media messages, the disconnect from reality and responsible decision making for the information they consume. Our ultimate goal with media literacy is empowering our students to assess, analyze, evaluate and create media. 

References

Ashley, S. (2013, February 2). Teaching Nuances: The need for media literacy in the digital age. Retrieved from The Blue Review: https://thebluereview.org/teaching-media-literacy/

Fabello, M. (2014, March 22). Media Literacy 101. Retrieved from You Tube: https://youtu.be/lFF8wAqy-wo

PEW Research Center. (2015, April 9). Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015. Retrieved from PEW Research Center: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/

Web 2.0 Tools

Web 2.0 is the age of engagement. It is the next generation of the World Wide Web that includes social media, collaborative software, photosharing, RSS, podcasts blogs and wikis to name a few technologies. Social media encompasses cloud computing, mobile learning, and tagging. Social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and more can be used to make local and global learning networks and collaborate with students and parents. “Educators are using Web 2.0 tools to promote new avenues of communication among teachers, students, and the community in ways that can strengthen the community of learners.” (Light & Keisch, 2010) These Web 2.0 tools are changing how we communicate online.  Most Web 2.0 tools are often free and simple and all about making connections across the globe.

Some of my favorite Web 2.0 tools include Prezi, Twitter, Lab Folder, and Poll Everywhere. The Prezi below describes how  you can use these Web 2.0 tools in the science classroom.

References

Lara, J. (2011, April). Tech Tuesday: Poll Everywhere. Retrieved from Upcycled Education: http://www.upcyclededucation.com/2011/04/poll-everywhere-tech-tuesday.html

Light, D., & Keisch, D. (2010, June 1). Integrating Web 2.0 Tools into the Classroom: Changing the Culture of Learning. Retrieved from Center for Children and Technology: http://cct.edc.org/publications/integrating-web-20-tools-classroom-changing-culture-learning

Evaluating Technology Tools for Global Learning Communities

Online professional learning communities (PLC’s) are more flexible and personalized than in person communities. Educators can access these communities on their own time, from their home, school, or local coffee shop while waiting for their coffee or tea. Each educator can pick and choose networks to participate in. Online PLCs allow educators to easily and quickly pool their resources regardless of geographic location. Three of the primary tools I use for professional learning communities are Twitter, Teach Engineering and Google for Education.

Twitter

Source: Edudemic.com 

Twitter is everywhere. You see hashtags in television commercials, television news, movies and shows, and included in blog posts. News breaks on Twitter. It is too big and too powerful to ignore. Using Twitter, educators can live Tweet from conferences, follow similar educators and organizations, and collaborate with other classrooms.

Twitter can be used in the classroom with students as well. Students can Tweet responses to quick response questions, and communicate directly with teachers and peers. Teachers can even create a classroom hashtag to keep track of classroom interactions.

Edudemic has some great “rules” for using Twitter in education. (Edudemic, n.d.) Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Ning, Edmodo and Linked In, as well as interest based groups such as Google or Yahoo! Groups provide an online environment for educators to collaborate, write blogs, join and communicate in special interest groups and more. Personally, I use social media networks for collaboration, and research on emerging trends in science and education.  While, I admit I am not always the most consistent tweeter, Twitter is a tool that can not be ignored.

Teach Engineering

TeachEngineering (TE) is an online space for engineering teachers to collaborate and share lesson plans. Their digital database contains engineering lesson plans, activities, units and living labs for grades K-12. Through TE, educators create myTE workspaces to connect and share lessons. Teachers who use the lesson plans communicate through discussion forums, and lesson plan comments on best practices,

lessons learned and more. Additional online resources are often shared through discussion forums. (TeachEngineering, n.d.)

Many of my lessons have started with lessons from TE or have supplemented activities I institute in class. Personally, I find the suggestions and additional sources that educators who implement the lessons the most helpful in my lesson planning. There are other sites such as PBS Learning Media, Discovery Education, NASA and more that provide lessons and activities that I use as resources but I find TeachEngineering has lessons that are closest to my teaching style and curriculum needs. . 

Google for Education

Google for Education is a powerful tool for all educators. Not only does it provide digital classroom tools but includes Google Educator Groups (GEGs) for teacher collaboration. GEGs have events that are free to attend. These event might be in-person workshops or after school meet-ups or they could be entirely online through Google+ Hangouts. An educator just needs to find a group and start following them on Google+ to participate. (Google for Education, n.d.)

Educators can participate in Google on Air workshops. I recently took part in the two day May workshop. Workshops covered a multitude of topics from technology integration to policy. Thousands of educators from over 185 countries participated in the workshops over the course of the two days. Collaborating via live chats and via live tweeting during the event allowed connections to educators I otherwise would have never corresponded with.

There are numerous tools for global learning communities for educators. The Educational Networking wiki has a comprehensive list of additional social media networks that educators can join and use for collaboration.  

References

Edudemic. (n.d.). The Teacher's Guide to Twitter. Retrieved from Edudemic: http://www.edudemic.com/guides/guide-to-twitter/

Google for Education. (n.d.). Google for Education. Retrieved from Google : www.google.com/edu

TeachEngineering. (n.d.). About TeachEngineering. Retrieved from TeachEngineering: https://www.teachengineering.org/about.php