Chapter 11-Q-2
 
Privacy is a controversial issue in the Digital Age. Schools have an obligation to ensure student safety, both physical and virtual. When using the Internet or the network, this requires keeping close tabs on student’ activity when they are using computers. Do you think this violates students’ privacy? Justify your opinion and consider both points of view.
 
Schools must do everything possible to maintain the safety of students, both physical and virtual. Young students do not always understand the consequences of what can happen to them or their personal information on the internet. They see fun games or someone who is not harping on them about issues like homework or cleaning their room. Someone who wants to be their friend and play games, which seem harmless to them, but very dangerous to their private information and personal security. Being in a position at the university who has access to adult students’ personal information, I work very hard to make sure their information is kept safe and private while in my hands. As a university employee, we are required to take and maintain up to date training on the subject.
 
Personally, I believe schools should be able to access or see what students are doing on the computers, if they are using school’s equipment or internet server. At USM, I have never known if they are monitoring my computer usage as an employee or student on their equipment or internet server. I do not think it is a violation of students’ privacy if they are monitored closely while at school. Legislation such as the Children’s Internet Protection Act mandates what schools must implement to protect children while on the internet. Teachers should make every effort to maintain what their students are doing while in class. Digital Citizenship should be integrated into school’s curriculum for students before they integrate computers into their coursework. Computers are a valuable asset to classrooms and teachers, but privacy must be a priority for teachers and students of all ages.
 
 
Chapter 12-Q-3
 
Of the emerging technology trends presented in the chapter or those you discovered through your research on the Web, which emerging technology or trend do you think will have the most significant impact on education?
 
Online learning, cloud computing or cloud storage, and Hour of Code are my three top emerging technology trends that is going to continue to evolve and have a significate impact on education. Technology changes so fast in today’s world as we learn how to use one version, updates are being made, and then we either must update or fall behind. Teachers and students are looking for ways to make school work less stressful and time consuming. Have courses or coursework online and the availability to complete school work using applications like Microsoft, having cloud storage, and the ability to post your papers or projects online from anywhere at any time will continue to make online learning or distance education popular with students. I would also think that teachers would take advantage of the same processes for receiving and grading assignments.
 
Working on this week’s projects, Padlet, Rubric, Quizzizz, Thinglink, and Scoop.it was a little intimidating at first, but I very much enjoyed working on the Padlet, Thinglink and Scoop.it. Scoop.it and Padlet was very easy to create and I will create a personal sites for crafting articles and patterns on both sites. Especially since they can be shared with others. Quizzizz and Rubric were a little confusing at first, but once I got figured out all the detailed steps, they were not as complicated as I first thought.
 
Having this wide variety of options for class materials is going to be very beneficial to me when I start working on class lessons in the future. There will be a way to incorporate all the sites into my coursework or classroom.

Padlet
Rubric
Quizzizz
Thinglink
Scoop.it

Chapter 9-Q-2
The Internet is a public communication area that many believe is protected by the First Amendment. Others believe that its contents should be moderated, and the public protected from inappropriate content. What is your view on this controversial issue, particularly in light of the extensive use of the Internet in schools?

As with everyday life, people must take responsibility for their actions. So much information is available on the internet, so that is where we go to look for the information. Websites contain information from crafts, hobbies, medical, history, maps and education. Students no longer sit in the library going through encyclopedias to find the information for school projects or papers, but they must be aware that not all the websites have the correct information, such as wiki’s, where anyone can add content, whether it is verified or not. Having to use the internet myself for work and school purposes, I try to make sure I work in trusted websites. Having websites that are used on a daily basis through the school’s server, I feel a bit more trusting of the content, and using Firefox as my browser also adds another layer of protection to my surfing. To date, I have never come across inappropriate content while at work or working on my school work.
 
People believe they have the right to say whatever they want to say on the internet in forums such as Facebook, Snapchat or Twitter. I have friends who do use inappropriate language and images, and I tend to block or unfriend them after a couple warning. I do believe in the First Amendment, but I also believe in self-control, and there is a time and place for such behavior, but the internet is not the place to air dirty laundry or inappropriate content. Having the internet in schools allows teachers and students to learn. Teaching web ethics and digital citizenship should start as soon as children begin to use or play on the internet, and should always be reinforced through school or anyplace the internet is used. From what I have learned so far from my classes, teachers visit and research websites before presenting them in the classroom, not to say it does not happen, but I think it is a rare occasion when something goes wrong, other than the equipment failure or the website is offline.
 
Chapter 10-Q-1
There has been much discussion about whether distance education can provide students instruction that is equal in quality to traditional education. Do you think an equivalent experience is possible via distance delivery? Why or why not?

My opinion on distance education or distance learning is very bias. I fully trust that I am getting a good education online. Anytime I have a question about course content or understanding what is required, I simply email my instructor or reach out to my classmates for guidance anytime day or night. I have to say I was skeptical about learning instructional technology online, but I have learned so much. Working through group projects with classmates, receiving feedback, and positive reinforcement has allowed me to learn so much more than I ever imaged possible through distance education. And without distance education, I would not be able to take classes, as I work full time.
 
I do believe younger students need more guidance in their earlier years than older students. But having access to real time teachers in a classroom setting through distance education is better than not having any option for an education. Parents around me are turning more to home schooling because of the many issues in their local classrooms and the content being delivered to their children. I am not sold on elementary students learning online, but I am keeping an open mind for the future.

Reflection on working on my Website

Creating the website in Weebly has been a bit of a challenge for me this time. Although I like using Weebly, I came across a couple issues that prevented me from uploading document into Scribd. I got an error message about Fire Fox preventing the materials from being uploaded because of content security policies. But working around this issue, I found other ways to upload and use my content for the website. Creating this website will help me in the future, because it has taught me to take information for my classes and put it together in a format that students and parents can use, if needed. Having all the requirements, as well as resources, will allow students to work more freely at their own pace. It took a lot of time to build, but it will save time in the classroom when used. Weebly will be my website builder for all my future needs in the classroom.


Weebly course site

After reading Chapter 8, I found that I had used several of the applications and some of the software mention in previous classes for my degree. We have used mapping software, storyboards, podcasts, and many others. Some of them were a challenge to learn to use and others were fairly simple. Even my laptop computer came with some of the features I have used for the classes needed for this degree. I am not currently a teacher, so it would be hard for me to say how I use these in my classroom, but with all the availability of free access, some with educational discounts, and shareware, there would be some way to use any of them in the classroom. The most helpful on that I have found through one of my courses and is reference in Chapter 8 is the reference software. Diigo allows me to put websites I use or sites that I would like to go back to for a reference in one place online, without having to save it to my favorites on my computer and then wonder which site it was that had the information I was looking for.
 
While working through this class, I came across One hour of Code. It did not take long to get my grand kids hooked on it. It is an educational game they seem to enjoy playing on their tablets and phones. None of them know anything about computer science or have any interest in computer sciences so far, but I am hoping this will change their minds. They have no idea that they are learning coding, only that they are playing a game that challenges them, they can move to the next level and then we print their certificates as they finish each game.
 
Projects this week, I enjoyed making the Edpuzzle one the most, as I do not like to hear my recorded voice, so it took longer than needed to complete the podcast and video. But it was interesting to see how much information I found while searching for what I needed to complete the projects


Podcast
Video-Karel the Robot
Edpuzzle

My job in education, we use Microsoft Office 365 for everything. We use the calendar for student appointments, because it is easy to share with everyone in the office, coworkers or student workers can schedule appointments for us. As discussed in Chapter 7, the university installs it on our office computers before they are assigned to us for work purposes. Office 365 Education allows teachers, students or educators to download the suite for free from Microsoft Office web site at no charge to the user, just simply enter your educational email address. You can use it as a web version, or you can download the entire package on your computer.
Having assignments that must be shared in Google was a little frustrating for me, since I only use it for coursework on various class, it tends to leave my memory on how to do certain things, like sharing the files. Doing my first three projects has challenged my group members, but they are awesome and always welling to help! But for the next class projects, I will create them in Google from the start and not have to worry about transferring them. My group members are already teachers, or have taught, so them seem to have an easier time with Google than I do. My group members edited my projects and even made suggestions or corrections to make them more appealing. So thanks to my group members for all your help.

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Lesson Plan
Survey
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Presentation

Chapter Three-Q-2
Students with special needs include both those who have disabilities and those who are gifted. Technology can provide solutions to help meet the unique needs of both groups. However, schools typically have limited budgets for technology. Considering that the needs of all students should be met, what do you think the best allocation of limited technology dollars should be to meet these students’ needs? Give examples to support your views.
 The Dynamic Instruction Design model has five steps to assist instructors with designing classwork. Those five steps are briefly outlined below.
1. Know the learner - is important to know the learners in the class you will be instructing. Designing a class for a general population of learners may not be successful with all the learners in your class. Having a diversified teaching method will allow instructors to modify the lesson plan as needed to accommodate different learning styles for individual students.
2. Learning outcomes/performance objectives -This is one of the most important factors when trying to determine if the learners are learning the materials for your class. If learners do not understand the content, then they will not be successful in the course. Learning outcomes are written in four parts, Stem, Target Performance, Assessment and Criterion for success. All the objectives should be designed keeping in mind the district, state and national content, and technology standards related to those requirements.
3. Identify Teaching and Learning Strategies - Instructors must design a teaching strategy that assist the learners in learning. Learning strategies must be clear and well defined to achieve the desired learner performance.
4. Supportive technology - Once the learning strategies have been designed, the instructor can then identify technology and integrate them into their lesson plans.
5. Assess and Revise - As with any lesson plan, once the course is complete, an assessment will need to be completed. From this assessment revisions can be done using a learning model, such as Bloom’s Taxonomy, that can assist with a design modification of the course.
 
Chapter Two-Q-3
You have learned about a variety of technologies useful to support learning in this chapter. With which one of these are you most comfortable? Which are most useful in helping to prepare 21st century learners? Describe the technology and its potential applications in the grade level or content area you wish to teach and demonstrate why it is most appealing to you.
 Reading Chapter 2 and the list of the many technology applications available for learning only emphasis how far behind the technology curve I truly am. Of all the applications listed in the chapter, Pandora and Skype are the two I know the most about and have used. Skype can be used in a variety of ways. One of the most interesting ways I have seen is the Paper Airplane project. Skype is used to connect college age Syrian students wanting to learn the English language with tutors in other countries. It is funded by a non-profit organization that began in 2014 with one student volunteering, but it continues to grow today. Pandora is my favorite web format for streaming music over the computer or my smartphone, but I have never used it in any other format.
As I do not know a lot about the dozens of web tools listed, it would be hard for me to say which one would be the most helpful to learners based on the tool's brief description, but anyone of them would be beneficial to instructors or students. Using an application that helps students focus on course materials is always a bonus.

Chapter One-Q-2
The number of technology tool available to teachers is already daunting, and more are emerging every day. Given the value of these tools to enliven and support 21st century learning, what will you do to keep yourself informed about the options available to you? How will you manage your discoveries and work toward integrating them into your classroom?
I do believe that it is important for teachers/instructors to stay up to date with their technology skills. Technology and app’s change so fast in today’s world. Not being certified or having their current licenses renewed, instructor’s may not be utilizing what is available to them. School districts are awarded thousands of dollars each year for technology usage or updating technology equipment in their schools. If school districts do not take advantage of this opportunity to update their technology or instructor's knowledge, then money has gone to waste in the district.
Technology is ever changing, and teachers/instructor’s need to be able to understand how to take advantage of the applications and software available to them. Not only will it save time for some, it can also be an opportunity to teach others who may have been at a different training session or may not have had the opportunity to attend training at all.
Students always benefit from instructors who are willing to use technology in their classroom. The technology used can bring a more exciting or visually appealing lesson to the classroom. Students of the 21st century who do not have access to or taught how to use technology will be behind in today's world. Technology is such an integrated part of the world today.

I have a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in American Studies and Business Technology, which I obtained while working full-time at Southern. I am currently working on my Master’s in Instructional Technology and plan to complete it in December 2019.

I have worked on campus in a variety of jobs since 1995, starting in the University Bookstore, moving through Financial Aid, Office of Admissions, then moving into Dean’s Office for the College of Arts & Letters, now College of Arts and Sciences, for over 6 years. In 2012, I became the Programs Coordinator for the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies, which has now grown into the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Professional Development in Hattiesburg, MS. I love working with students to help them accomplish their goals and dreams as I have been able to do while working at USM. I am comfortable working with computer, which I use daily for work and home. Email, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google forms, list-serv and a few other electronic communication tools I have had to learn while at USM. I am new to Blogs, iMovie, and Access, which I have now used for classes in this program. I still have not use or created a podcast, which I see is part of this course's requirements, so that will be interesting to me.

As I am not yet a teacher, I don’t have an actual philosophy yet, but I do believe we are all capable of learning, and should encourage others, children, young adults and older adults to continue to learn, because once we stop wanting to learn, what is the basis for being?