Digital Citizenship Technologies 2

             This week I will be sharing two websites related to the same topic, Digital citizenship,from  the blog posts of my colleagues.

             The first one is http://mediasmarts.ca/ and it is presented by Seher Balkaya whose blog can be reached at http://seherb.wordpress.com/2012/12/digital-citizenship-technologies/.  The site has various lesson plans, ideas, tutorials, tips and information on the themes of digital citizenship. Though they are for K12 education, many of the lesson plans for Grade 12 can be used with some adaptation with my young adult learners. The reason why I have particularly chosen this site is that the site offers numerous lesson plans on digital and media literacy. One example of what and how I would use from this website is the e-parenting guide: Keeping up with your kids' online activities. First, I would briefly talk about the excessive use of internet. Then, tell them that they are going to be parents and ask them to choose one of the five subtopics given in the e-tutorial that they are interested in presenting. There are five sub topics for this tutorial and they are online research and homework, online relationships, inappropriate content, too much time online and online marketing. Students who choose the same topic can watch the tutorial together to help each other with the content and the language. The good thing is that the tutorial has subtitles, which is a great opportunity for language learners. Then they choose visuals, videos and prepare a power point presentation where the tips are also given.

                 The second one is http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Resources.html from Yvonne Duncan's blog which can be reached at http://azureskyca.blogspot.com/2012/12/week-7.html  The site gives brief information on the nine themes of digital citizenship, publications on it and offers resources and gives useful links to many resources. I think activities for technology users and the ones for the trainers of adults would be beneficial for adult educators. I would adapt the lesson plan given for digital literacy in training language teachers to use digital communication models like blogging, podcasting and RSS in their classes. After a brief discussion on what blogging and podcasting is, I would give the websites suggested on this site for them to explore what each technology is and how language teachers use them in classes. You may reach the suggested sites for podcasting and blogging at http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/ProfDevAct2.pdf. Another task I would adapt is the one for the digital issues.  I would ask the teachers and administrators in my institution to rank the digital issues given at http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/ProfDevAct2.pdf and give their opinions on a blog I have created. Then I would have them discuss and give solutions to the significant issues. Finally, suggestions can be collected and turn into lesson plans for educators to raise awareness and establish class rules.

Digital Citizenship Technologies

Su- Digital Citizenship Technologies

This week I will be introducing a website and a wiki related to digital citizenship and netiquette.

The URL for the first one is http://vtisp.org/

          The site offers numerous information and sources on topics like cyber bullying, internet safety in terms of email, texting and social media, Web 2.0 applications in terms of student and educator safety, anti-virus soft wares and basic security measures and the like. Under each topic, one can find a list of questions that need to be addressed, and/or tutorials, videos or lesson plans for teachers to use. I would use this website with trainings with English language teachers. I would ask them to answer the questions given on the site on issues like student safety, advertisements and the like by exploring their favorite Web 2.0 applications and then share their findings in our next training session.  Finally, they can be asked to write what needs to be taken into consideration when choosing a Web 2.0 application and share the most secure ones with the department along with their rationale. I would also ask the teachers to explore the website to discuss issues like use of social media with learners, using school emails for personal life and come up with dos and don’ts.

The URL for the second one is: http://misterpeters.pbworks.com/w/page/26782232/Cybercitizenship

           The second one is from Micheal Peters's ( a high school teacher) wiki. It’s called Cybercitizenship: Professional Development Module.  The module has three sections: Safety and Security, Digital Life, and Research and Information Literacy.  Each section includes a set of questions that need to be addressed related to the issue, excellent integration ideas, and resources. It highly encourages educators to use the materials with their colleagues and learners. After I finish the module, I would have three training sessions with educators in my setting focusing on each aspect given in the module. Then I would ask what integration idea they favor and would like to use with their learners. For instance, under the safety issue there are a few integration ideas, two of which are developing an online safety and privacy policy and creating media products promoting safe and responsible internet use (Peters, M., 2010). There could also be other ideas suggested by the teachers or learners. A competition can be organized and the best one gets a prize. I would also organize a panel with language learners after the issues under digital citizenship have been discusses in class. Learners would be asked to come up with their safety and privacy policies, show their videos on cyber bullying and how to educate the youth.

Distance Education Technologies

Su- Distance Education Technologies

Two distance education technologies I have chosen are Moodle and Blackboard Collaborate.

https://moodle.org/about/

 I have chosen Moodle, a virtual learning environment, because it has been used by many institutions for the benefits it offers. Moodle is an open source course management system that allows educators to have courses in online settings. Preferred by many institutions, the tools like forums, wikis, and databases enable both the transmission of the course content and collaboration among the learners (Learners can create their own areas where they share their files. It offers other features like grading, instant messaging, online calendar, news and announcement and online quiz, which, in other words, is all you may need in an online course ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle).  Benefits of this software are numerous. In the video provided by UCL Central for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching, Rosalind Duhs (Teaching and Learning Portal, n.d) lists being able to stop the lecture and use the chat facilities within Moodle, and follow the follow-up questions published what was on chat as ways to promote deeper understanding compared to traditional learning environments.  This technology is beneficial for blended learning as well and I would integrate this technology to my language teaching classes for pre and post tasks. Prior to the lessons, I would have my learners send me questions related to the topic or them to answer a set of ones to elicit how much they know on the topic to be discussed. As for post activities, forums could be given for writing tasks after the reading texts and they can be asked to react to their classmates ‘posts.

  http://www.blackboard.com/platforms/collaborate/overview.aspx

The second technology I will be introducing is Blackboard Collaborate. Blackboard Collaborate is a web conferencing system which allows everyone from students to employees to participate in a lecture or seminar regardless of geography, and time. It’s a 30 day trial Students can watch the lectures of the experts in the field on screen and interact with them, an opportunity that cannot be found in a traditional classroom because of geography and high costs. Moreover, with this technology enables them to listen to these recordings using the mobile devices. “Features of the Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing system include two-way audio, interactive whiteboard, sharing of PowerPoint slides, customizable screen interface, electronic voting, session recording, break-out rooms available for one-on-one time, multi-point video, and text chat” (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/teaching_tools/web-conferencing). I would really like to integrate this opportunity for the training of English language teachers. Once a month, a guest speaker can give a conference on a topic they are interested in. Teachers can be encouraged to ask their questions to him or her. Also, these recordings could also be used during on campus training sessions for topic discussions.

References:

Duhl, R. (n.d.). Teaching and Learning Portal. London’s Global University. Retrieved from: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/teaching_tools/moodle