EDUC 639 Week 5 Muddiest Blog Post

The muddy points that I have run into several times would be about electronic content and plagiarism. I watched the video and the explanation was there and it is important to understand the concepts but it can be confusing.  In today's age when so many are resource junkies and we are researching online more and more it is important to learn how to negotiate the online world.  It is important to know what content is important and how to give proper credit when you use it. There are many different ways to gather resources and then to use them in your classroom and here in our class but the issue of plagiarism is more than just did you copy someone else's work and not give them credit.

You would be guilty of plagiarism if you copy a person's intellectual ideas as well.  There are electronic programs that are designed to uncover plagiarism but these programs can not determine the intent of the student.  While being ignorant and not understanding how plagiarism works are not good excuses this can actually be the reason why some students are accused of doing it.

Since I am a classroom teacher and a Christian I think that conducting myself and holding my students to high academic standards is important.  I want to teach students how to behave in the right way as often as possible.  I want to know how to avoid certain pitfalls such as having my work confused with someone else's or not quoting a resource properly which, if detected, can make me feel like I was doing something intentionally dishonest.  I want to learn how to cite my sources properly and when it is necessary to cite the source and give proper credit to the source.

EDUC639 Week 3 Most Important Theory Blog

Hello there,

What a week, I have been so lost but I think I have finally figured out what I was missing, I have printed out all of the assignments and the Assignment Appendix and now I think I have my roadmap to success in the class.

Now about this important theory.  I think the theory of putting technology in every school is somewhat shortsighted. I say this because adding technology to schools is one thing but maintaining them, training the teachers and students to use the technology effectively is a completely different animal.  The cost alone is prohibitive as many school districts have found and add to this the time commitment that it takes to bring a faculty member up to par has become prohibitive as well.

Technology in schools is important because the proverbial horse is already out of the barn.  If you walk down any street you will see people on their cellphone.  We don't have a standard for these phones yet and those who can afford the latest and greatest are ahead of the curve but even grandmas and grandpas at least have a phone that they can make a call and even get pictures of their grandkids on.  Add to this the iPad revolution and you see that technology is moving very fast and schools have had to integrate the technology into their curriculum as a way of reaching their students.

As I read more and more about things like access, who has the technology and the security threats that having our lives online I can't say that my thoughts were necessarily changed but I am now even more cautious of the electronic footprint that I am leaving for the world to view.

I am thinking about access to technology all the time and in the future I will research the different ways that other institutions are managing the technology. How are we making sure that every student has a level technology playing field?  What part will schools play in ensuring access to the Internet in even the most poor urban and rural communities?  I've been working with technology for 15 years and in that time I have seen my students, who come from predominately affluent homes go from only having one computer in the home to everyone having some type of device that they could personally log in to and gain access to online resources.  That is my reality but not the reality of the majority of students in this country and so my research will keep an eye on how those people will eventually have access.

The other day I went to Brooklyn NY for a book signing event and one of the women that I met up with has an old school flip phone and her friend actually doesn't even own a phone.  I told that story to my 17 year old daughter who has had a phone since 6th grade and she asked, how the woman communicates. I laughed. It is still possible to live in this world without a cellphone or a television or the Internet but it is certainly becoming increasingly more abnormal to do so I think.

·         Brown, A.H., Green, T.D., and  Robinson, L.K. (2010). Security vs. access.  Oregon: ISTE. ISBN 9781564842640. (K-12)

Week 1 response to Lauretta

Here is the link to my week 1 intro from Lauretta Turner's word gaming...

http://youtu.be/Majjal-ZGrM

In my response I speak about ways that I am trying to also engage my students but using Lego Mindstorm kits to teach robotics to middle school students.

Week 1 Response to Tori

I was able to record a video response to Tori Millikan

Find my response here:  Response to Tori's word Mobility

Week 2 EDUC 639

Let me first say that this has been a tough start to this course. It is my first time having two classes at the same time and now I know why I did not not it before, because I get too confused. I have a very busy schedule and it is important that I stay organized and up to date with my deadlines and I have not been able to manage that well yet.  The prayer is that I will get on top of it.

With that being said I would also like to say that I am THRILLED to be in the last classes toward completing my Master's degree requirements from Liberty. It has been very informative and challenging but I've done it and am extremely proud of myself and hope that you all feel the same way about your accomplishments.

Now for this week's blog

Identify and briefly explain the most important issue, trend, or finding in educational technology or distance education that you discovered during your interview. 

The educational technology director that I chose to interview works for a small independent quaker school here in Princeton.  I have had the pleasure of working with Michael D'Amore since June 10 after we attended several of the same tech workshops over the years. Mike would always be there with some great contributions and I would learn a great deal from him and I always wanted to find ways that we could collaborate. This happened this summer when his school advertised for help with breaking down the school computers to prepare the classrooms for summer camp and then setting the machines up again as the summer comes to an end.

I applied for and was offered the job. It's been a lot of fun getting my hands dirty again working with hardware and most importantly working with Mike on a regular basis. Mike knows quite a bit about many things and most importantly about technology. He has worked in industry and now in the independent school system.

When talking to Mike about the trends and findings in educational technology we talk a lot about access and mobility.  The key to integration of technology into education is to meet the needs of those who we want to use it.  We have to make sure at the teachers have access to the Internet and to the hardware, whether it is iPad or desktops or laptops, the platform is not as important as access to the technology is. Once the teachers have access it is equally important that they are trained. We have to make time to help the teacher who is an expert in their field of teaching gets comfortable with integrating technology into that same field. They have to be motivated, encouraged and supported.

Did it change your views or ideas about educational technology or distance education?  Through our interview I can not say that my views or ideas necessarily changed, well yes maybe they did change because I went to Mike's school expecting it to be set up very similar to mine since we are within 10 miles of each other in the same affluent town of Princeton NJ.  However what I discovered is that at a Friends school technology is not seen as a major factor in the education of young people.  Just like grades are not really that important, they have a different approach to education and because of that different approach Mike has to introduce technology in a different way.  They also do not put the funding behind technology as we do at the school where I teach for obvious reasons.

How is this point relevant to you and what you plan to do after graduation?  

The differences between the way my school and Mike's school view technology and the administrative support that is offered to the program definitely changes the way that I will conduct my job search or interact with my school's administration after graduation.  I have already had several meetings with my school's IT director about the things that I have learned in this graduate program and now have added my experience at the quaker school to the mix as well. We are clearly in the forefront in terms of the ways that we deal with technology at our school. We are rolling out an iPad program through the whole 6-8 grade middle school and then to the 9-10 graders in the upper school and the teachers will all have iPads in the Fall along with their MacBook Pro laptops that the school issues and support.  At Mike's school although the teachers are required to write their assessments for their students electronically, the school does not issue the teachers laptops.  They all have desktop computers that they have in their classrooms and that they can log in to remotely from home but this is not as convenient as how we do it in our school.  The quaker school also doesn't have the budget to support the types of initiatives that my school does and after graduation if I decide to look for another school to work at I now know that I will have to prioritize.