End of Course Observations Leslie Pirtle Foundations of Instructional Technology INST 523 Bridgewater State University Professor Thanh Nguyen December 10, 2011
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Leslie Pirtle, Information Access & the Internet, INST 523 End of Course Observations 12-10-2011 Professor Thanh Nguyen, Bridgewater State University
Transcript
1. End of Course Observations 12-10-2011Leslie Pirtle,
Information Access & the Internet, INST 523 Professor Thanh
Nguyen, Bridgewater State University
2. Week 1 Blackboard Netiquette and Academic Integrity
Introduction and Home Page Collaborative Learning Agreement
Checklist
3. Blackboard Observations Given the minimal changes in BB
since the late 90s I would like to see it: Update the look and feel
Add the ability to sort posts by student, date and number of
listings Allow for embedded media in posts Add a built-in html
generator Include emoticons in its toolbar Remove the Go button
next to Select All because it doesnt go anywhere!
4. Netiquette Observations The most helpful take away from this
material for me was the reminder to use a more pointed subject line
rather than simply saying help! or hello I have been making this
effort and striving to use a subject that would be easily
searchable as well Netiquette has not been a problem with my online
University of Phoenix (U of Px) students, but it is a very
important topic for my primary students
5. Academic Integrity Observations Academic Integrity, Student
Tutorial is an excellent resource that I will return to frequently
The You write Is it plagiarism? format is an outstanding way of
helping learners to sort through the thorny issues and gray areas
of what and when to cite (Colorado Community Colleges Online,
n.d.)
6. Introduction and Home Page Observations Our cohort is
comprised of a rich tapestry of learners Yet, our shared
similarities made me feel very much at home. Commonalities for me
included being a: South Shore resident Silver Lake HS alum
Bridgewater alum Classroom teacher Technology teacher Former
college administrator
7. Collaborative Learning Agreement Checklist Reflections I
didnt like this system at the beginning but tried to approach it
with an open mind. After long and careful consideration, I
concluded that as a matter of teaching style, I would be unlikely
to use this with my online classes I prefer the tracking of posts
to be automated. I think learners time is better spent working with
the subject matter rather than these housekeeping functions I worry
that this system could actually serve to limit conversationif the
student is only required to interact with four people in a given
week, where is the incentive to read all of the posts? I appreciate
that the underlying rationale is to ensure that no student is
ignored. I just prefer to do this on a case-by-case basis through
my facilitation. (Perhaps this makes me a control freak?)
8. Week 2 Telecommunication & The Internet Internet Safety
Bullies in Cyberspace
9. Telecommunication and the Internet Safety Observations In
the use of telecommunications, the technology coordinators duty to
students is to protect them from that which is harmful to them as
well as to guard their rights to privacy This entails having a
solid, knowledge of what is developmentally appropriate for each
grade level as well as a clear understanding of parents and
administrators expectations. Cyberbullying I feel the best tools
for helping children understand the effects of cyberbullying are
lessons in which they are asked to role play and watch videos that
help develop empathy for victims. The message about cyber bulling
should not be a one-off lesson, but rather, reinforced as an
ongoing message through signs in the lab as well as verbal and
electronic reminders.
10. Week 3 AUP Copyright Legal and Ethical Issues
11. AUP, Observations The schools Acceptable Use Policy should
be written to reflect expectations of parents and administrators
for what is safe and appropriate for the schools learners. The AUP
should be periodically reviewed to ensure that it is addressing
current trends in both technology and user behavior. This problems
with AUPs in schools can be: Too specifically or too vaguely framed
Ignorance by faculty and students of its existence A wide disparity
between what it says and how its implemented Not addressing current
trends and technologies
12. Copyright, Observations While Copyright Law and Fair Use
Doctrine offer tests against which to gauge whether or not a work
is protected, there are still gray areas. The technology
coordinator must stay abreast of how the laws are changing and
being interpreted in order to protect the schools and individuals
After dedicating a lot of time to reading and studying copyright
issues this semester, I am still uncomfortable with my limited
knowledge. I feel I just do not yet know enough to make informed
decisions when gray area arise.
13. Week 4 Ethical and Safety Issues
14. Laws I Learned About The technology coordinator must stay
abreast of laws enacted to protect the privacy of children as well
as to shield them from viewing that which is deemed harmful and
inappropriate. These include: The Childrens Online Privacy
Protection Act of 1998 (COPA) Childrens Internet Protection Act
(CIPA). Federal Education Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health
Information Portability Act (HIPA) Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The
Broadband Data Information Act of 2010 Copyright law & Fair Use
The Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2001
(TEACH)
15. Legal, Ethical and Safety Issues, Observations This unit
helped me to feel fairly secure in my ability to understand and
comply with laws pertaining to childrens privacy and safety.
Because of parental and administrative expectations, we err on the
side caution regarding what the students are exposed to My efforts
this past trimester have been to help children develop judgment
about what they view. I pair this with time management concepts.
Students are asked: What does inappropriate mean? How do you decide
what is inappropriate? What do you do if you view something that
makes you uncomfortable? Is this the best way to be spending your
time online? Why or why not? The Common Sense Media Curriculum is
an effective way to promote safety and good judgment among students
in the lab. The only drawback is the lack of time to go into
greater depth. (Common Sense Media. 2011).
16. Week 5 What is Technology Integration? Examples of Web
Resource Design Digital Natives Designing an Effective Website Flow
charts
17. What is Technology Integration? Observatons Okojie,
Olinzock & Okojie-Boulder, (2003) state: Technology should be
implemented in the classroom only if its role in a given
instruction is determined along with pedagogical issues related to
a given instructional task. The role of technology in education can
only be determined if teachers who implement technology at the
classroom level are involved in technology decision- making because
teachers have the responsibility of facilitating instruction In my
opinion, these scholars are stating the very obvious ideal which in
practice is the exception, rather than the rule. Some schools may
be a full generation away from this happening. While some of the
teachers I work with are beginning to integrate technology, it is
anything but seamless at this point. For example, one teacher
recently directed his students to: 1. Write a paper using MS Word
2. Use the internet to find images 3. Print the images, cut them
out with scissors and glue them into the Word document
18. Week 6 Identify your target audience The purpose of your
website resources Identify goals of your website resources by
trying to answer 7 items in Chapter 3 (general goals,
audience/learners, subject matter, objectives, prerequisites, aims,
rationales)
19. Audience and Purpose of My Website Having the opportunity
to choose the audience and purpse of my curriculum web was very
helpful both to me as author and to my teachers for whom the site
was conceived. Because I personally know each member of my target
audience, I could be certain that none would require assistive
technologies to view my site. This permitted me to create a purely
Flash site. While there are technologies that will allow for
visually impaired person to experience a Flash based site, the Wix
WYSWYG application did not offer the option to add alt text to my
links or images. The objective of my website was to offer highly
palatable spoonfuls of information about the Mimio Interactive
whiteboard, its benefits and ease of use in the classroom.
20. Week 7 Instruction Assessment Resources
21. Instruction, Assessment & Resources Although I feel
proficient at making rubrics, I believe that assessments are
overall a weakness for me. I do agree with Jackson (2002) that
online assessments can be very engaging for students. My students
seem to enjoy them and I like that they give them instant feedback.
The material provided in this unit was very helpful. I will take
more time to review and reflect upon it. I found the search
strategy resources helpful and will add them to the lessons I have
created for my middle school students
22. Week 8 and 9 Project Draft 1 Project Draft 2
23. Project Drafts 1 and 2, Observations Having your website
critiqued by others is a bit like giving birth after a long and
painful labor, only to have people tell you your baby is fine, but
also a little ugly and wrinkled. Yet, unlike with newborns, frank
critique of nascent websites is highly valuable! My test subjects
included my professor and classmates in INST 523, three former
colleagues who teach web design at Wake Technical Community
College, one webmaster and a former professor who is now a PhD
candidate in Social Media Psychology.
24. Selected Observations by Web Design Educators With so much
Flash, I was wondering about accessibility. How does it look on a
mobile device? Hit area for arrows on create lessons could be
larger - especially on film strip. Not sure I would like opening
random files to watch video, prefer them as part of the site. Color
contrast between yellow background & white text on leave
feedback is not so good. Looks like you have been working hard!!
(Consol, 2011) MIMIO looks amazing! I found it confusing from the
home page - while it says click the Mimio tab - I kept trying to
get the bubble to work - eventually figured it out. Overall I like
the tab structure - once I got it, could easily go between
different options. (Seo, 2011) I like the layout, color, sections
basically layout is quite nice and effective. There is an initial
slow response to load site and some sections but that is the only
negative i see. I get who the audience is meant for so there seems
to be a nice balance between static and interactive content. I dont
see any reason to make changes except for the response time of
loading. I rechecked with safari and Firefox on my pc and looks and
works well. i also used my flash browser on my Ipad and it also
works well. (Sotille, 2011)
25. Response to Feedback While I had checked my site on
Firefox, Chrome, IE 32 bit, and Safari, one of my test users
reminded me to ensure that my site renders properly on handheld
devices. This was not a concern when I was teaching web design in
early Y2K and it is not something I thought about now because I do
not use my cell phone for Internet access. I found it intriguing
that my tagline and one of my animated graphics elicited polar
opposite reactions from my classmates. It demonstrates how
important it is to have a wide selection of test users who resemble
my target audience. I removed the animation I hope to construct a
better tagline
26. Technical Issues After quite a bit of study, I found the
Wix site and WYSIWYG application fairly easy to understand and
navigate. The site offers the ability to create a site from scratch
as well as templates at varying levels of difficulty I chose a
moderately challenging template that allowed me the flexibility to
make some changes The Wixipedia, Videos and Webinars were easy to
search and rendered clear and helpful directions The only thing I
was unable to fix was the Facebook Widget that seems to drift from
one spot to another each time I bring up the site. Wix addresses
this: The Wix HTML Widget is here - but its still in Beta! Wix is a
Flash platform and we offer support directly related to our
product. By adding external HTML code you are adding products /code
we have not created or tested. ("Wix support," 2011)
27. My Next Steps: Site Changes and Improvements I would like
to create some detailed help/troubleshooting documentation for
Mimio and add it to my website I would also like to develop an
archive of quality lessons using Mimio Studio 8 (I was able to
locate very few) One tweak that I need to make on my site is to go
back into my Create Lessons page and fix the hit area on the
buttons that lead to the movies. I need to create a Transparent
shape, send it behind each black button, group the two objects
together and then reinsert the links and behaviors. (There are 26
of them, so this will be a little time consuming) If the site grows
substantially, I will need to add a search feature and a site map
page. I would like to add a widget that allows users to add a
link.
28. My Next Steps: Promoting The Site Had planned to present in
detail using the projector at a staff meeting. Had to cut it short
when the principal asked me to present on something else. Addition
of the sites URL to my e-mail signature Will send e-mail blast to
faculty notifying them of any changes or additions to the site
29. My Next Steps: Future Websites Now that I have learned to
use Wix, I think it would be an excellent solution for showcasing
student work. I do not foresee accessibility issues as we are a
private school with a very homogenous demographic in terms of
ability (our one visually impaired student recently left to attend
a school where she could be better accommodated) As much as I
enjoyed working with Wix, for next web project I will be scaling
the learning curve or the First Class web page author
30. Concluding Observations This experience afforded me the
opportunity to develop a curriculum web with more structure than I
have done in the past. It was very worthwhile. This course helped
me add to my knowledge the legal and ethical issues of
instructional technology I still feel that I have a long way to in
developing a working knowledge in the areas of assessments and
copyright
31. SourcesColorado Community Colleges Online. (n.d.). Academic
integrity student tutorial. Retrieved from
http://www.ctdlc.org/Members/Hot_Topics/AcademicIntegrity/Students/CaseD.htmlCommon
Sense Media. (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/alignment-gradek-
commoncore.pdfConsol, A. M.Ed.Internet Technologies Department Head
Wake Technical Community College, Raleigh, North Carolina. A.
(2011, November 29). Interview by L Pirtle [Personal Interview].
E-mail exchange.Cunningham, C. A., & Billingsley, M. (2011).
Curriculum webs. (2nd Edition ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson.Firpo-Cappiello,R. ASCAP & Schreer, S.P. BMI.
(Composers). (2011). Wings of the wind. [Song]. Retrieved from
http://freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=f&i=50Jackson,
L. (2002). Motivate while you integrate technology: Online
assessment . Retrieved from
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech125.shtmlPentilla,
B., M.Ed., Former Internet Technologies Department Head, Wake
Technical Community College, Raleigh, North Carolina (2011,
November 30). Interview by L Pirtle [Personal Interview]. Facebook
exchange.Okojie, M., Olinzock, A. A., & Okojie-Boulder, T. C.
(2003). The pedagogy of technology integration Epsilon Pi Tau.
Retrieved from
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JOTS/v32/v32n2/okojie.html
32. Sotille, L, Instructor, .Internet Technologies Department
,Wake Technical Community College, Raleigh North Carolina, A.
(2011, November 28). Interview by L Pirtle [Personal Interview].
Facebook exchange.Smile Templates. (2011). Look powerpoint
template. Retrieved from
http://www.smiletemplates.com/free-templates/powerpoint-
templates/1/0/6.htmlSeo, Catherine, PhD Candidate in Media
Psychology, Fielding Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara California.
(2011, December 1). Interview by L Pirtle [Personal Interview].
Facebook exchangeWix support. (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.wix.com/support/