502 W4 Copyright and Fair Use

This week there was not a reading assignment, but I was to watch eight videos on Lynda to become familiar with Fireworks.  After I chose my topic and researched it, I created a copyright scavenger hunt activity that is designed to help others learn about the basics of plagiarism and how to avoid it.  Students are to answer 10 questions regarding plagiarism based on the information found in the linked websites. After questions have been answered, students are to check their answers with the answer key provided at the bottom of the page.

To create the scavenger hunt activity I created a new web page in Dreamweaver for this project and saved it in the 502 folder.  I included the title “Plagiarism Scavenger Hunt,” a learner description: “The purpose of this page is to help high school students understand plagiarism and how to avoid it,” and instructions for the activity.  The HTML on my page included: title tags, 10 absolute links to external websites related to my plagiarism topic, heading tags for the title and subsections, relative links to the student worksheet and the answer key, ordered list, and a link to my external style sheet.  According to the assignment instructions it was optional to add an image or video to the project.  I found a video called “Why Students Plagiarize” on www.turnitin.com and emailed the company to obtain permission to use the video on my website.  After getting permission, I uploaded it on the website and used an aside and iframe tag for my video.  I tried to keep the same theme as my previous work so on my CSS external style sheet and adhere to the design principles in the Non-Designer’s Web Book.  I included hyperlink styles like: a: link, a:visited, a:focus, a:hover, a:active, and other formatting styles.

After creating and designing my page, I uploaded it to the EdTech 2 server, validated the HTML code using  validator.w3.org, and validated the CSS code using the W3C Validation Service.  I ended up having quite a few errors in both my HTML and CSS code, so I made the corrections and added my validation badges or icons to the page.  I then re-uploaded my page to the EdTech 2 server and posted my page on Moodle to the Assignment 6 Showcase to share with my classmates.  I then viewed and commented on numerous classmates pages.

AECT Standards
1.1.3.b Demonstrate personal skill development with at least one: computer authoring application, video tool, or electronic communication application.

2.3.2 Design, produce, and use digital information with computer-based technologies.

2.4.1 Use authoring tools to create effective hypermedia/multimedia instructional materials or products.

2.4.5 Develop effective Web pages with appropriate links using various technological tools.

502 W4 Accessibility on the Web

It is essential for web designers to design web pages or other digital learning materials to make the accessible for people who have disabilities.  During this week I created an information page with hot links to resources on the web about assistive technology.  Assistive technology pertains to any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified or customized, that is used to increase, maintain or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability.   Once I knew what assistive technology was, I researched assistive technology tools for the visually, hearing, and physically impaired.   I then created a set of links to resources on the internet.

In Dreamweaver, I created a new web page and CSS style sheet.  I included four categories on my page of resource links to my topic and nine links with annotations to explain the websites that correlated with my topics.

AECT Standards
1.1.3.b Demonstrate personal skill development with at least one: computer authoring application, video tool, or electronic communication application.

2.4.1 Use authoring tools to create effective hypermedia/multimedia instructional materials or products.

2.4.5 Develop effective Web pages with appropriate links using various technological tools.

3.4.1 Identify and apply standards for the use of instructional technology

501 Technology Use Planning Overview

Technology has changed almost every aspecct of the way that we go about our daily lives.  Technology is ubiquitous and today many people would be lost without their smartphones, tablets, computers, or iPods.  According to Prensky, I would be a digital native because I have grown up with some technology in my household, whereas my grandmother who was born in 1931 would be considered a digital immigrant.  But, even though my grandmother was born in 1931, she too has a cell phone and desktop computer that she uses regularly, even though she didn’t grow up with it.  Technology has also managed its way into our education system and changed the way many teach and learn.  Teachers must continue to grow as professionals to incorporate technology into their classrooms and help to prepare students for the next phase of their lives, the workplace.

To support incorporating technology into our classrooms, the National Education Technology Plan (NETP) has come up with five goals for teachers to achieve.

1. Learning: Engage and Empower
2. Assessment: Measure What Matters
3. Teaching: Prepare and Connect
4. Infrastructure: Access and Enable
5. Productivity: Redesign and Transform

These goals should give teachers a foundation or starting point for incorporating technology in their classrooms.  Schools must also come up a technology plan.  According to Anderson, “technology planning is both a noun and a verb.  The noun form of technology planning can refer to the planning document, itself.  The verb form of technology planning, will describe the kinds of actions, attitudes, and results that are involved in the process (Anderson, 1999).”  Schools first need to get a team together so they can collaborate on what the goals and objectives of the school should be.  The team members should be open to whoever would like to join and the school’s technology gurus to help you stay abreast of emerging technologies.  They then need to compose a document that lays the foundation for teachers on how technology can be effectively utilized in the classroom.  This document should be evaluated and revised often.

Dr. John See believed that technology plans must be short term goals, and I agree!  As I mentioned previously, technology plans must be evaluated and revised to stay current with technology.  However, See also said “effective technology plans focus on applications, not technology.  In other words make your technology plan output based, not input based.  Develop a plan that specifies what you want your students, staff, and administration to be able to do with technology and let those outcomes determine the types and amount of technology you will need (See, 1992).”  Reflecting on the Horizon Report that we had read previously, I compared their short term, mid-term, and long term technologies to the previous years report and they have changed.  Setting up a technology plan, we must look at the short term, but not forget the long-term and more general goals.

This assignment has really opened my eyes to how technology should be incorporated into curriculum.  I have a lot of expensive technology in my classroom, but have no clue how to use it.  If prior to purchasing the technology for classrooms and saying, figure it out, schools need to have teachers become invested and know exactly how they are going to incorporate it into their lessons.  Many colleges and high schools today are not looking at the broad picture of training the next generation to become successful for the workplace.  My goal for my classroom this summer is to learn how to incorporate my Promethean Board and Elmo into more of my lessons.  I can then help my colleagues who are also struggling with the same technology.  Maybe then we can create our technology planning team!

References:

Anderson, L. (1999). Technology Planning: It’s More Than Computers. Retrieved from: http://www.nctp.com/articles/tpmore.pdf

See, J. (1992, May). Developing effective technology plans. The Computing Teacher, 19, (8). Retrieved from: http://www.nctp.com/html/john_see.cfm

U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology. (2010). National education technology plan. Washington D.C: Author. Retrieved from: http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/netp2010.pdf

AECT Standards

Standard 3.2 Diffusion of Innovations: Strategies for incorporating and using technologies in the classroom environment.

Standard 3.4 Policies and Regulations: Need to have policies and regulations to support and evaluate integration of effective technologies in the classroom.

501 Digital Divide & Digital Inequality

Over a two week period our assignment was to read about and explore issues of Digital Divide and Digital Inequality.  We then needed to reflect upon our own experiences with digital divide and/or digital inequality, and come up with possible solutions.  This assignment required a lot more time then I thought and I read through nearly 20 scholarly articles because I found this topic fascinating.  I believe that trying to solve for the digital divide and digital inequality will be extremely difficult, because even if we try to solve for the problems, there will still be other  factors to be considered.  In this project I included the following topics: What is digital divide and digital inequality, my school district’s demographic information, possible solutions or quick fixes, and concerns that I still have. Please click below to view my “Digital Divide and Digital Inequality” presentation.

julia tyler edtech 501 digital divide presentation

AECT Standards

Standard 2.4 Integrated Technologies: In creating my presentation I used authorSTREAM to create a presentation that integrated audio, video, and graphic environments.  I also included hypermedia authoring and the use of the World Wide Web to research the content for my presentation.

Standard 3.2 Diffusion of Innovations: My presentation identified strategies, and heightened awareness to recommend changes for my school district.

Standard 3.4 Policies and Regulations: Supports the utilization of instructional technology to provide effective lessons in the classroom.