Ethics & Legal Uses of Technology Barriers and Risks

Human beings can be inherently cruel, no matter what age they are. These videos and articles show just that. As a former camp counselor to 16 year olds, I've seen these exact interactions on a regular basis. It might not always be about the majority's belief that someone has defied morals, but about human nature's thirst to find the faults in others. Celebrities are constantly in the news for doing the same thing these girls did, and not once do we take a step back to realize they are people too. Even if what they've done is wrong, I doubt it was their intent for the world to catch a glimpse. Unfortunately we live in a world where teens look up to celebrities. If your favorite celebrity does something its pretty likely you'll see it as the "cool" thing to do. Due to this, it is of the utmost importance for parents and teachers to counter it. We can not assume all parents will warn their children of the dangers technology presents. Therefore, school assemblies, or other forms of programming should educate their students just to be sure. It is not simply about sexting. All people should practice proper digital citizenship, to ensure the safety of themselves and others. 

While technology has certainly helped to benefit the classroom experience, not all forms are always appropriate. As mentioned in the article about cellphone bans, technology has essentially become a necessity in today's world. In my personal opinion, while I agree that cell-phones can be disruptive, I understand they are a vital source of communication. Students should be allowed to carry phones, provided they are silent (not on vibrate) or powered off, and not utilized unless absolutely necessary. 

Fair Use

Fair use is a legal defense mechanism that allows one to utilize copyrighted sources, to an extent. Fair use may only be claimed if the nature, amount, and content fits a certain profile. You may borrow only a small amount of a given work, and you may not change the content in a manner that affects meaning or destroys initial work. According to Kate Thompson, "a copyrighted work can be used or copied for educational purposes as long as the use is not solely a substitute for purchasing the work" (Thompson, 2005 p.11). In the classroom, an example of fair use, would be showing a video of an archaeological dig to your students, during a lesson on ancient Egyptian tombs. This would be considered fair use because no fees are charged to view the film, the film contains facts that would certainly aid in the children's understanding of the topic, if the video is simply used as an additional resource and not the main source for the unit, and if the documentary was made for mostly educational purposes thus not expecting it to make much of a profit outside of the educational field. Credit must ALWAYS be given to he/she/they who created it. 

Thompson, K. A. (2005). Copyright 101. Learning & Leading with Technology, 32(7), 10-12.

Flipped Lesson

The lesson I've created, will give the students an introduction to the Renaissance period in Europe. The highlighted subject of the flipped lesson, is humanism, the foundation of the Renaissance movement. After learning exactly what humanism is/was, and viewing artwork that demonstrates humanistic ideals and trademarks, the students should be able to put this to use. In class the next day, we will have a bit of fun. The students will be given paper, colored pencils, markers, and crayons. They will each be required to create an image that shows aspects of humanism. I will then have them write 3-4 sentences on the back of the image, explaining each humanistic detail they added, and why they chose to add it. 

Pedagogical - 21st Century Learning Digital Teacher

Slide presentations were used throughout my educational experience. I can barely remember a time without such a use of technology. More often than not, it is easier for a student to visualize something, than to simply hear it out right. Slides shows are simple visual presentations of the material you wish to expose to the students. For instance, if you wish to show a map of a given area, a slide presentation allows you to highlight or zoom in as deemed necessary. It is a more efficient an more environmentally friendly way to help visualize, rather than use oversized maps, or worksheets. As a future teacher of history, this technology will be used relatively often in my classroom. Though it certainly ought not to be abused, it takes away from the simple boring podium lecture that many of us have experienced. All-in-all, it is visually more attractive, easier to comprehend, and provides a more efficient means to gather up material to be shown in class.

Podcast

For this assignment I read an excerpt from the Malleus Maleficarum to explore the witch trials.

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21st Century Learning

We live in a society where there is so much time, money, and effort set aside to better the future. Due to this, it is highly expected that as our world evolves, we must do the same. The field of education has come a long way, even since we were youngsters. As a child who group up in the 90's, sure we had computer classes and calculators to solve the hard stuff, but there were no smart boards. My father, a math and computer science teacher, was always infuriated when I resorted to using a calculator to solve equations. He didn't have assumed access to a calculator, and was forced to memorize quite a bit more than any student would have to today. That was then, this is now. I think its extremely important that we remain up to date on technological advances. P21 doesn't only cover technology, but covers learning and innovation skills, life and career skills, media, and as always the core subjects. It is important to hone your creativity to remain successful in this world. We are ALWAYS seeking new ideas. It is also important to know what it takes to become successful in todays world. While the core subjects are extremely necessary to any hope of survival, 21st century skills represent what is necessary for TODAY. By starting children off at a young age, we give them the chance to build on these skills. If new technologies weren't integrated into daily schooling, we'd be stuck in the "dinosaur age." Although not all advances may be seen as good, Jane McGonigal demonstrates how we can utilize even what people deem as a threat to education (video games), as a tool for the betterment of society. I believe we should certainly integrate 21st century skills into the learning environment, while continuing to teach in post 21st century ways. I do not believe it is all we should teach.

Technology Integrated Lesson

Being that i intend to teach middle school or high school, I've decided to focus on the evolution of the expectations, as seen in the jump from middle school to high school. In strand A., the students are more or less expected to know how to input data, and utilize word processing/spreadsheet programs. By grade 12, these students are expected to know how to input problems/find solutions on a spreadsheet, create slideshows, participate in online learning communities, and to be able digital portfolios. In essence, students are expected to thoroughly understand, and reap, the benefits of computerized technology. In strand B., by 8th grade, students are expected to know how to publish podcasts, and the like. By the end of high school, one should be able to create a learning based game, such as a quiz, or a puzzle. In strand C., an 8th grade student is expected to have something quite similar to the idea of an e-penpal. They are expected to converse with other students worldwide, about global issues. By 12th grade, a student is expected to thoroughly grasp this idea of an online learning community, in conjunction with other research outlets they've learned about, to create a solution to a global issue. Strand D., expresses the need to be a good citizen while using computer/internet outlets. Almost every grade level is expected to preach the importance of copyrights, plagiarism, cyber safety, cyber bullying, and the like. By 12th, you are expected to put what you've learned over the years into action, via projects, and papers. Strand E. expects students to be able to research on their own, collaborate on real-world problems with others, and predict what might happen if digital tools are misused. Finally, strand F. expresses the importance of collaboration with those from other countries. By 8th grade you are expected to online multimedia, encyclopedia databases to understand other cultures. By 12th grade a student is expected to research on an advanced level, to better prep for college I assume. They are also expected to use and analyze technological resources (e.g. blogs, wiki's).

Now that I've discussed what's expected, I will try to put this information to good use, in the form of a technology-based lesson plan. I intend to become a high school social studies teacher. My lesson plan will be based off of the parameters of a Modern World History Class. This will be a group assignment. In order to understand history, I find it extremely important to understand the geographical differences that might effect your understanding of a historical topic. For example, the threat of Naval warfare in England, might appear a bit scarier to one who knows that the entirety of the British "mainland" (not taking territories and colonies into account), is and was an island. We know that during the colonial period, the British empire was certainly a force to be reckoned with. The Spanish Armada, by nature should have been able to defeat Great Britain, by geography alone, but were beaten by pure wit. The class will be divided into groups of 4 (class size permitting). I will provide each group with a time period that will be covered throughout the course of the year. Your tasks will include:

1. Create a map of that time period. This is to be done by hand, on a large poster (WHITE). You can find maps easily online. Please print a copy of the map you worked off of, and attach it to the back side of your poster board. Be creative with this! Use any colors you deem fit. NO GLITTER! Please include to a key, no scale measure need appear, but please try to keep to scale. Points will be deducted if England appears larger than Russia :).

2. You will select 3 major events/situations, that occurred within the time frame your map is based on. This can also be done with research. I would like you to come up with various reasons each event might have occurred, and why the result may have ended as it did. Be sure to use geographical locations, climates,  landforms, water forms, etc. in your reasoning, as this is a geography-based assignment. Be aware that geography is not always the sole contributor, but often has a great amount to do with how history pans out.

3. You will be presenting this to the class. Be prepared to have your map on hand, and a powerpoint presentation ready to go! Be sure to include a bibliography page in your powerpoint as well.

4. You will also be expected to create some sort of quiz or game, based on your presentation, to be embedded or linked to into your powerpoint. This will appear just before your bibliography page at the end of the presentation. DO NOT, steal pre-made games. I would like proof that the game was created by your group. For this reason, be sure to title your game quiz as "MWH Map of insert time span."

5. You will be receiving two final grades. One from myself, and one from the group. You have received a copy of a the rubric for this assignment. Based on the rubric, create small excel/word chart. Put the names of each group member. Each column will represent a different topic on the rubric. Each row will host the numbers you choose to grade your group mates on the scale of 1-5 I've provided.

6. The day before the assignment is due in class, I expect you to send a copy of your powerpoint and rubrics to my dropbox. For your powerpoint, I need only one copy per group. Please send them in the following formats "Group#_MapProj.ppt" and "LastName_MapProj.doc" (if created in Excel it will obviously NOT say .doc).

YOU WILL HAVE 1 MONTH TO COMPLETE THE ASSIGNMENT!

_________________

This assignment will be covering various aspects of the core curriculum in technology. The students will be researching, creating slideshows, creating digital games, creating charts, using dropbox, and understanding the importance of good digital citizenship. 

Week 3

The first thing I noticed when navigating to Han Laoshi's pages, were the extreme differences in layout/style. On the page for her previous school, she seemed to go for a much busier feel, while on her current page she went much more simplistic. She did choose to utilize a notebook-like layout for both pages. On the teacher's pages from my previous post, their means of demonstrating a schedule, were of a different nature that Han's. Whilethey simply chose to update/remove assignments in a list format as each week passed by, she chose a much more legible and reliable approach. Her use of GCal was a wise addition to her already linked and listed assignment format. Like Altman, she gave links valuable study materials, whether they be notes, flashcards, or games. Unlike most foreign language pages I've browsed through. Han makes a point to make sure her students understand how to insert chinese symbols into a typed document. This too, demonstrates her desire to integrate technology in the classroom. I personally prefer Han's most recent page, due to its simplicity. The original page was a tad too busy for me. While this one includes the exact same information, it does so in a much more functional manner. I also like the way she separated her class periods/grade levels on the side of the page, and then specifies it again in within her calendar. She also provides resources for parents in both sites. Both of her pages are FAR better than Mrs. Faiella's page, and a tad more detailed than Mrs. Altman's page. All-in-all, I'd say her teacher's pages are very well put together.

Teacher's Pages

I've decided to journey back to my old grade schools' district website for this assignment. I remember what it looked like back when I attended its schools. I can assure you its come quite a long way since my childhood days. I plan to teach middle school or high school social studies, and I figured it's a tad more likely that I'd find teacher's pages in the former. I found myself looking directly at my 8th grade social studies teacher's page, Mrs. Faiella, on the Marlboro Middle School website. Ironically enough, my younger sister is in her class now. Guess I'll know when she's avoiding assignments! =) The school's PAGE is more or less identical to the districts site. Information with regards to contacts, school hours, an updated list of clubs, educational resources, an updated faculty list, a brief history of the school, an academic calendar, athletics, student council, student supply lists, and an event calendar, though commonly found on most websites, are certainly helpful. What makes this one stand out, is that it also includes access to important documents/forms, radon testing results, food allergy guidelines, important deadlines, urgent news, anti-bullying info., and a separate link to teacher's pages. This page leaves absolutely NOTHING out. It's easy to navigate, and somewhat easier to navigate than our own university's website. As far as the teacher's page is concerned… if there was ever any doubt as to what subject this incredible educator teaches, she has an American flag plastered in the top left-hand corner of the page. Also on the left, she has a link to a syllabus-like page, which more or less outlines the units to be covered each marking period. Below that is a link to the homework she's given to each class period. Fairly basic, and simple enough to understand. As I navigated the teacher's pages, I saw names that I recognized but not from Marlboro Middle School. My 8th grade year, the district decided to revamp itself and move the 6th graders into the middle school. Hence the reason I'm finding teachers I had during my time at Mar El (Marlboro Elementary) on the middle school's page. So i decided to compare my two most memorable teachers. The two women who are directly responsible for my wanting to become a social studies teacher. Mrs. Altman, my 6th grade teacher, teaches Ancient Civilizations. The moment you navigate to her page you can not only tell by the red bolded topic plastered in the center, but the pictures she has throughout the page. In addition to the items posted on Mrs. Faiella's page, Mrs. Altman's page ALSO links to important files/study guides, educational links, and educational puzzles. I find this page to be much more useful/beneficial, to the viewer. It's much more colorful, and has more tools for success. I would expect nothing less from her to tell you the truth! It was pretty cool to see what my former teachers have been up to in the last decade!

¿Tech Savvy?

Teaching has always been the path I desired to take. As a young girl I'd go into work with my father and sit in on some of his classes, and even a few of his colleagues' classes as well. My father teaches Math and Computer Talent in Coney Island. With that in mind, it's safe to say I'm not foreign to the use of technology in classrooms. As soon as the latest new "toy" is available for purchase, he jumps on it as a new means to educate his students. Living with him is much like living in one of his classrooms, due to his desire to keep us up to speed as well. I can certainly learn more, and am assured that there's much more out there than what he's taken the time to show my family and I. With a father so "gung-ho" about technology, its difficult to not feel the same. I never experienced life without it, so I can't say with confidence, that I don't appreciate it. I certainly find it absurd when a 9 or 10 year old owns an iPhone, but I find it extremely beneficial that communication has been made much easier via the evolution of the internet and other computer software. I do believe society has lost touch with a more personal form of communication. Unfortunately, as a child growing up in the "Internet Age," I witnessed some teachers who were enthusiastic about infusing their lesson plans with a bit of technology, while also witnessing those who refused to accept it. Some situations we've all become quite familiar with are: "When I was your age we used typewriters, papers were handwritten, calculators are for the lazy, go to the library and don't base everything off of google." As a history major, I relied heavily on Web-based databases for much of my research. Powerpoint Presentations were of great commonality, and Blackboard was either avoided, or "worshipped religiously."  "Classrooms now have access to millions of digitized documents. Students have the opportunity to use these documents as historians and scholars do: analyzing and evaluating information; interpreting snapshots of a given person, place, or event; and synthesizing their findings...Technology can now help.
 " (Allen, Dutt-Doner). According to the video "Learning to Change-Change to Learn," today's children have been taught to use technology for simple survival, yet they are banned in many schools from using many of these technological forms. Integrating technology into the classroom, will not only make children more enthusiastic about learning, but will also provide them with more in the end. "That's the new 21st century set of literacies, and it looks a lot different than the model most of us were raised on." It's about understanding change, comprehending it, harnessing it, and ultimately accepting that "the new" may not be so bad.  So yet again, while I do agree with some of these points my former teachers and professors have made, I do believe integrating technology into a classroom setting will certainly hold great benefit. I do not however, believe that we should rely SOLELY on technology in these settings.

December 2005/January 2006 | Volume 63 | Number 4 Learning in the Digital Age Pages 66-71. Fakes on Technology: Using Digitized Documents in the Classroom    

About Me

Hi everyone! My name is Stephanie Rubin and I am 22 years old, hailing from Marlboro, New Jersey (Currently residing in Belleville). I am pursuing an MAT in Social Studies grades P-12. I graduated from Montclair State with a History degree and International Studies minor, in May. My preferred historical periods to study are Early Modern Europe, Antiquity, and Ancient Egypt. I realized relatively early on that I was interested in entering the field of education. I hope to teach history on the high school or middle school level. Besides history, I'm also interested in fashion, music, travel, and theater. I took private voice lessons until the end of high school, and sang competitively as well. I am a dedicated Giants fan, and probably the only member of my family who prefers football to baseball. When it comes to pets I prefer man's best friend (I've got a yellow lab, and a beagle). Looking forward to an exciting semester with all of you! =)

-Steph