Embedding Digital Texts

Using Blogger, create a post in which you discuss multiple uses for digital texts, e-learning, and open course software. 

Digital text can be used for so much more than the classroom. I was given a Kindle as a gift a few years ago and, although I do prefer holding a book in my hand, I have easily been able to read multitudes of books in various places, all because I have the device. At my house, sitting at the airport, etc. As long as it is charged, I am able to use it with ease. "The United States Department of Education is also trying to assist K-12 school districts in their transition from hardcover texts to digital texts" (Watters, 2012). If classrooms are a 1:1 learning environment, then every student will have access to a textbook in class guaranteed, and a large percent of our students will have access to that same digital textbook at home or on the go. As the school systems become more intertwined with the rise of technology in education, hard cover textbooks will become a thing of the past. 

I worked for Pearson Education for a bit, and my job was to edit and revise the textbooks they were digitizing. Once they transferred from hardcover to digital, sometimes the graphics would move to different pages or the paragraphs wouldn't come through looking how they should. It was amazing to see that in 2012, so many textbooks were being taken out of circulation and replaced with digital versions in the classroom.

E-learning is the use of the internet to learn. I believe I have been e-learning since I knew how to navigate a computer. I am still constantly e-learning. I will read an article in the paper (I still get a newspaper delivered to my house) and want to research more or see if the story has an update, so I will travel to the online world and find what I need. I also am big into the Universe right now, and being a constant learner, I want to find anything and everything I can. I believe learning is a beautiful thing, and with the help of technology, it makes it much easier. Students can use e-learning both inside and outside the classroom. Every time a student Googles a topic and looks for something, they are e-learning. When students go on social media and find trending events or updates, they are e-learning. When used correctly, e-learning is a fabulous tool that can be utilized on a daily basis, at home or in the classroom.

Open course software is an asset to the general population when taken advantage of. The ability to participate in massive online learning environments for free is astounding. Although no credits are given, the opportunity is really what I believe is being sought out. These courses can help anyone and everyone, from elementary to retired, understand something they may not quite understand: technology, their job, the world, etc.



Watters, A. (2012). Top ed-tech trends of 2012: The battle to open textbooks. Retrieved from http://hackeducation.com/2012/12/07/top-ed-tech-trends-of-2012-the-battle-to-open-textbooks/ Retrieved January 25, 2015 from https://bb.snhu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-4597953-dt-content-rid-9233834_1/courses/EDU-685-15TW2-MASTER/EDU-685-14TW2-MASTER_ImportedContent_20131105031644/EDU-685-13TW4-MASTER_ImportedContent_20130607010828/EDU-685_Module_9_Overview.pdf

  

Building Media Literacy

I believe building media literacy in the classroom is a skill essential not only for students in school, but also in life. Our society is now set in technology: we can post, tweet, tag, read, and comment all with the quick click of a button. We are synced with the world 24/7 it seems. Why should the classroom be any different?

By building media literacy in the classroom, we are teaching our students various ways in which they can go about not only finding and critiquing information but also connecting with people on a variety of platforms. In today's global society, students as well as adults must be able to share ideas, opinions and arguments. Students must learn that there is an entire world outside of their own in which people may or may not agree with them. Learning the skills of media literacy: accessing and analyzing information, evaluating the credibility of the media sources they are using and then moving on to create their own message based on what they have read, analyzed, and evaluated create a person who can hold an academic and intelligent discussion. They may not see eye to eye but they are able to analyze and evaluate someone else's opinion without immediately casting them aside for having a different point of view than their own.

I believe media literacy is more than just teaching skills to access information in a variety of ways. I believe it to be the foundation for a life skill in which students are able to critique and be critiqued with the understanding that people are inherently different and because of that, we must be open and able to maintain connections without judgment.

Web 2.0 Tools

The category of Web 2.0 tools seems to be expanding on a daily basis. Although only my second year of teaching, I find it easy to integrate Web 2.0 tools into the classroom on a pretty regular basis. I think students should have access and I also believe utilizing those tools in the classroom create a well rounded student who is able to not only perform research on their own but has general knowledge on how to navigate the various aspects of the internet and educational websites.

I enjoy using Wordle to introduce new units into my classroom. I also like using Wordle when it comes to vocabulary words. I think it's a great visual for students to see the words and try to guess how they will be used in the unit as opposed to just listing and defining them. Students also enjoy creating Wordles for various activities. It's an engaging way to look at word choice in essays and to self-check for redundancy. Students in my Pre-AP classes are able to use it to enhance the word choice of their essays. It allows them to see which words are possibly overused, then expands their knowledge as most of them refer to a thesaurus to find synonyms for their words they have overused.

I also enjoy utilizing online blogging. Many of my students have blogger accounts, and I was able to create a classroom blogger. I have several blogs posted during the week and students are able to begin discussions, post links to additional websites as sources for the information we are going over, and generally just speak about the information being learned in class. I have also used it to expand student knowledge on current events, especially those in the literary field such as new writers emerging, books that have come out, etc. Students have responded quite enthusiastically to the chance to participate in a 100% online forum, which is exciting to be a part of.

In the future, I believe I will be making the switch to GoogleDrive as opposed to Drop Box. GoogleDrive seems a bit easier for students as so many of them have Google and Gmail accounts already. I am going to keep both GoogleDrive and Drop Box as I want to be sure all students are able to reach me when using an online resource. I also plan to begin using Class Dojo. Our Spring Semester has yet to start, so it will be implemented at the start of the new semester. I believe this will be a great visual tool for students to see how their behaviors in class are negatively or positively affecting the learning environment. I also have been enjoying ePals and would like to build a unit or several around the use of understanding another culture and using that in writing. I believe using ePals for a poetry unit would be interesting as it would be fun to compare poetry in our classroom to that of another country.

Evaluating Technological Tools

Although brand new to me because of this course, ePals is becoming one of my favorite tools to utilize in the classroom. " Students, teachers, families and individuals can sign up for ePals and become part of the international learning network (Global Connectedness and Global Citizenship Education, 2014). I do not know that I have one bad thing to say about ePals. Being able to log on as individuals and a classroom allow students to participate in a classroom experience as well as branch off on their own should they take an interest to speaking with students around the world (and really, who wouldn't?!). ePals is great at creating connections on a global scale. Although students around the world can contact classrooms in their country, the major draw of ePals is to connect with students, classrooms, and people in other parts of the world. ePals allows classrooms to create projects that span thousands of miles as students participate and share their research and findings on a global scale. ePals is a truly amazing tool to be utilized in the classroom. It is an innovative way to have a "group" project and to also expand the horizons of our students and show them there is a world beyond their own.

Another technology tool I like is Skype. Skype is a video conferencing tool that, when combined with a website such as ePals, allows classrooms to see who they are talking to in real time. I think this is great because emails and phone conferencing is well and good, but let's see what a classroom in Belgium looks like. Let's give a tour of our school to students in Greece or go on a field trip to the Eiffel Tower with students in Paris. Skype literally creates a classroom with no walls. Students can see the world. Although not as exciting as going, it's the next best thing and it's educational.

A third and final piece of technology I am a fan of is online blogging and discussion posts. "What might have only existed as a pen-pal relationship a generation ago, can now instantly inform partner schools and students as to noteworthy events or programs (Global Connectedness, 2014). Snail mail is certainly a dying and lost art. However, with classroom blogs, students can share their thoughts in regards to teacher prompts and share those thoughts and view points with students around the world. Linking back to ePals, students can create blogs and have classrooms respond, ask questions, give answers, etc. thus creating a pen pal type relationship with students or entire classrooms in other countries.


(n.d.) Global Learning Networks. Global connectedness and Global Citizenship Education. Retrieved  from https://sites.google.com/site/globalconnectednessineducation/connecting-classrooms-globally/links-to-get