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The article I read today was called digital citizenship in the curriculum by Daniel G. Krutka and Jefferey P. Carpenter. The 3 main parts of this article talk about the 3 types of digital citizens. These are personally responsible digital citizens, participatory digital citizens, and justice oriented digital citizens. Personally responsible digital citizenship is the form seen most in schools. Society wants students to be responsible citizens who are but with there being lots of information it is hard to focus on one clear thought. With weakening system’s the validly and credibility of sources has to come into question more. Often students though trust sites more on how popular or quick to access they are instead of investigating further. Digital citizens need to be able to distinguish between credible and not credible sources. Also confirm information across web sites and understand the perspectives and ways authors use evidence on social media post. Students need to practice finding accurate claims in social media. Participatory digital citizens can look into the power and the limitations of social media. Today’s participatory digital citizens can challenge dominant communication and demand changes. Due to the threat of their opinion being unpopular young people are afraid to share their opinions. Teachers should provide safe places like a classroom twitter for students to share their democratic views. Meaningful discussions can lead to participation in other civic activities. Teachers can teach students how social protest changed with the additive of technology. They can also help students with debates. Justice oriented digital citizens have asked questions of social, political, and economic structures to fight injustice. Citizens go against oppressive regimes and share first hand events. Students grow as justice oriented digital citizens when they know about these events. Social media hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter help students participate in dialogues about social issues. When doing this though students need to find inclusive social media platforms.

The two sides of this article are if social media should be used in school or not. The people who want to not use social media say that it is distracting and they are trying to prevent harmful activities. Also, that it helps control behavior, maintain safety, and improve short term productivity. The article is definitely biased towards using social media. It mentions that schools are trying to teach students to be 21st century citizens and if you take away social media it defeats that purpose. Schools are neglecting to teach students for a digital world where citizenship is digital. It also mentions that social media can help students grow as digital citizens in a democracy.

The question this article invokes is will you allow social media to be intertwined in your curriculum to help students become better digital citizens ?

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Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities

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Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities

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Today I read an article titled Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities by Gabrielle Young, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Jeffrey MacCormack, M.Ed., Doctoral Student, Queen’s University. This article discussed various assistive technology devices and services. Also, how these devices help students with disabilities progress though goals outlined in their IEP’s.

One of the larger points the article talked about was that assistive technology ranges from low to high tech. These low to high tech devices need to be embedded within quality instruction though to work to the best of their ability. The devices will help students learn how to complete tasks and help them bypass an area of difficulty.

Another large part of the article talked about computer assisted instruction. This uses computers, laptops, iPad’s, and mobile technology as assistive technology. It provides quick, and exciting feedback for students. It can help them improve their math, and spelling skills through computerized drills. This section also talks about how students need to be taught how to use the computer based assistive technology so it is not distracting.

Another large part of the article discusses software functions and mid-tech devices. Software functions help improve students with learning disabilities writing skills. Software functions like spell check, and grammar features help students focus, communicate ideas, and write with more confidence. Software functions like text-to-speech help with decoding, word recognition, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Mid-tech devices that cost less than high-tech devices can be useful. Concept organizers help students with learning disabilities write better. Pen top computers can help students with learning disabilities with reading (text-to-speech) writing (digitizing written words), and math (strategy feedback). Calculators can help students with learning disabilities demonstrate their understanding of mathematical computations. Graphing calculators can provide additional support as they verify graph shapes and help solve algebraic equations.

The two sides I noticed that were talked about in the article are as followed. That much improvement has to be done in the quality of special educational technology research and training of teachers to learn how to uses the devices. Then that the system of assistive technology is distracting. The one side discusses that little research is being done in inclusive schools on assistive technology. Also, that few researchers are conducing well designed research. The assistive technology is not being made quick enough to match the rate of technological advances. These devices would be more helpful if there was a successful implementation of knowledgeable, and skillful special education teachers, and other teachers who were trained on said devices. The other side discusses the lack of a common vision and limited teacher training have reduced how much assistive technology really helps students. Also, that with limited evidence-based research teachers tend to make the decision about what assistive technology to use based upon software companies.

Today the question I leave you with is what do you believe to be the best way to implement assistive technology in our school district to help students with learning disabilities?

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“Technology Can Make Students More Intellectual” by Christina Yu

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“Technology Can Make Students More Intellectual” by Christina Yu

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The main points of this article are as follows. You need to have information stored in your brain already to be able to retain it for future tests. This creates an independent learning concept. This moves on to another main point of the article saying that as a society we tend to pay people well if they can be trusted and they can use their independent knowledge to create better resources. Basically, we trust people who are able to retain information better because they are more reliable in the long run. Another point discussed was just in case vs just in time learning. Students nowadays have access to more technology and they can just google something to get the information. This fosters a process where the student gets the information quickly but doesn’t retain it well over a large period of time.

The two sides of this article are reflected in this quote from the article “One of the biggest misconceptions today is that the new emphasis on technology in schools and popular culture will erode the traditional liberal arts education and reorient school so that it favors vocational, practical training (“just-in-case” knowledge) instead.” This is saying that if we switch to a more technology-based learning that it will teach students trends instead of classics. Parents nowadays want their children to have a well-rounded education. They do not want their children learning the newest fads through technology-based learning. In the article it talks about how in thinking that past education taught students better than present technology-based education is wrong. Past education taught through boring books while technology-based education creates more interactive education. A point that favors this from the article is as technology grows more and more sophisticated, we can bring intellectual products of human history to life. By using stimulation games students will get to be more immersed in learning. Another pro would be reading and writing, and research will be enhanced in dazzling ways. By using technology-based tools students will be able to track past work for later. They can pull up something from years ago instead of having to recall vaguely what it said. Surprisingly there’s more pros in this article and another one would be using an adaptive learning engine, students can ramp up quickly to expert work. Meaning as students get information faster they can quickly be more intellectual. Then another one would be Using personalized systems and online communities, students can develop tastes for intellectual products and explore niche interests like never before. Students will have better access to see what they really enjoy than ever before.

So, I leave you with the question

Will you let your children become more advanced with technology or be stuck in the past?

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Strategies for engaging the digital generation

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Strategies for engaging the digital generation

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The recent article I read on understanding digital kids and strategies for engaging the digital generation had a very interesting outlook on how we should be teaching the youth of today.

We should be more focused on what they believe will help them like digital components.

The different sides of this article were reflected through students wanting to advance into the digital age and teachers wanting to teach with traditional strategies. The teachers represented wanted to stick with the ways they were using because they worked in the past so why wouldn’t they work now. The other side of the students wanting a more digitized education was reflected through the many way’s technology would be helpful in the classrooms. They could Receive info quickly from multiple media sources, or they could network simultaneously with others.

The main points of this article included constant exposure to digital media changed the way the digital generation of children process, interact and use information. Also, that educators need to step up. Meaning they need to start using more technology to teach students holistically. They also need to reevaluate how they test students. A third main point was that educators need to shift their teaching approaches to accommodate technology, group work and real-world education. When students collaborate in groups with the additive of technology they will better understand the topic taught. Also, when students use digital tools it helps them see how those tools will work in real world jobs or activities.

This article provokes many questions but the one I believe we should be most focused on is.

What should we be doing to advance our students into the 21st century of digital learning?

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Earlier today I read an article titled Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by Marc Prensky.

Some points of the article that stuck out to me the most are as followed.

How the article discussed how different the students of today or digital natives that grew up with technology always in their back pocket were from the educators of today or digital immigrants that did not always have technology but learned how to use it some. I found it particularly interesting as said in this quote from the article “different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures”. The digital natives have changed extremely, and the digital immigrants can’t accept that they are fundamentally wired to think different. The digital natives force their way of thinking onto the digital natives thinking they are just the same as the students before them when they obviously are not.

The article discusses weather the old ways of teaching that the digital immigrants know or the new way of teaching that would adhere more to the digital natives would be a better method. Throughout the article it discusses multiple times how teachers are always thinking about past methods and struggling to teach students who are instilled to always look towards the future. Digital natives want to receive information fast and multi tasks while digital immigrants want to teach slowly with a step by step method. A quote that I found shocking that most teachers say was “My student just don’t fill in the blank like they used to.” This way of teaching leads to students thinking that’s its not worth paying attention to or even coming to school in some rare cases.

The last point I wanted to talk about was how the article talked about different ways the digital immigrant teaches could implement digital native teaching into their classrooms. They can teach legacy and future learning together. Legacy content includes the methods of the past while future content includes the technology and ideals of the future. With these combined teachers can use games that teach their subjects or other interactive computer things.

There are two very different sides of how the digital natives of today should be taught. On the one side the methods of the past worked before so why they wouldn’t work today but on the other side students are rapidly changing generation after generation and becoming more technologically savvy. Their brains are changing. They want to have a more fast and fun way of learning. While teachers want to rationalize how the past methods are working. While teachers also say in the article “this approach is great for facts, but it wouldn’t work for my subject” in accordance to playing games to learn content. School shouldn’t be all fun and games on the one hand, but school should also be stimulating.

To conclude my blog, I leave you with one question to ask yourself:

Will choosing to teach in more of the way digital natives think is good will lead to turmoil or will it become a universally excepted teaching method?