TEN CLOUD TOOLS FOR EDUCATION--A SURVEYCloud Tools survey form (Doc. file)
ACTIVITY: Compare the policies of the Calgary Board of Education (CBE), Surrey, and your own school district. Please choose 3 web 2.0 tools from the "unaccepted list" from the CBE. (CBE list of accepted tools) For each of the tools, please provide the following information:
TWITTER:
CBE’s Description of Tool: Twitter is a social networking tool that provides the user with the opportunity to connect with others using brief posts called tweets. Users can post messages with attached topic headings called hash tags that enable others to follow trending conversations. CBE Rationale: The Calgary Board of Education states the reason for Twitter’s current unacceptable status is it “requires that users are 18 years of age or older.” However, there is no explicit age restriction on Twitter, and anyone is able to create an account, but Twitter does require users to enter into a legal contractual agreement (under California laws), in which children (presumably under 18) must have permission from a parent or guardian to sign-up. Under their “Policy Toward Children,” it does state that their services are not directed to persons under 13, and parents do need to give consent for children under this age, such that if Twitter becomes “aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we take steps to remove such information and terminate the child's account.” It is also interesting to note that Twitter provides additional safety tips and resources for parents and teachers; without mention of an age requirement. The CBE also recognizes the fact that it is not possible to protect students’ personal information on Twitter, and as such, students may be “exposed to inappropriate information, material and advertising.” The CBE does advise teachers to “consult with their school administrators” if they have a solid plan for implementing its use in the classroom. Surrey Schools: According to the Surrey Schools Consent Form, “An important part of [our] class work…will involve using Internet-based tools to create and share [our] learning.” Surrey School’s information pamphlet informs the reader that teachers may use a variety of digital tools in the classroom, and it is important to note that “as needs and technology evolve, learning tools will change.” The permission slip clearly allows for the use of Twitter, as it states that this tool may be used to “communicate with other learners.” So long as teachers provide parents with this permission slip, which outlines information on the specific tools and the risks associated with use of the tool(s), then the digital tool (Twitter) may be used in the classroom. Nanaimo-Ladysmith: My school district’s policy is very general, and provides limited guidance as to what is acceptable or not acceptable for use in the district. The Board does recognizes “that curriculum content, methods of learning, and administrative tasks, are being changed as a result of the information revolution…” The policy states that Board encourages uses of technology that enhance, assist, and motivate the teaching and learning process, provided that appropriate actions are addressed in regard to the ethical and safe use in the classroom environment. The school district would approve of Twitter as long as there is an educational value to its use, and if students and parents/caregivers are informed of the security and privacy issues through a letter of consent. Possible use of this tool in an online classroom: A teacher could create a class feed to tweet about upcoming events, assignments, news, and add parents to help facilitate an open classroom environment; may also be used to post links to articles, video for students to access and comment on; keeping a live Twitter feed open during a lesson for students to ask questions, give feedback and/or provide their thoughts and ideas to a discussion topic. Alternative uses for assignments: Teacher posts class events, assignment, news to class bulletin board; provide students with hard-copy of articles and allow students to access supplementary video during class time on a safe class website—students may provide written copies of responses to supplementary material; with the live Twitter feed, students could simply ask questions, give feedback and/or provide their thoughts and ideas during the class discussion class by putting their hand-up to speak. PREZI CBE’s Description of Tool: Prezi is an online presentation builder that allows users to add content in a non-linear fashion (like a mind-map or web). It has an infinite canvas that can be added to at any time either by the original designer or collaboratively (in a group discussion or inquiry based lesson). You can add images, videos, links and more as well as customize fonts, colours, layout, etc. The presentation is shown as zooming, rather than slide after slide- it is very eye-catching. Prezi makes Powerpoint look useless. [A rather ironic statement] CBE Rationale: The Calgary Board of Education deem Prezi as an unacceptable tool as it requires users to be 18 years of age or older. According to the Prezi’s Terms of Use, minors under the age of 13 are not permitted to use the tool. Also mentioned in Terms of Use, is the following: If the laws of your country of residence so permit, minor children [under 13] may utilize a Prezi account established by their parent or legal guardian, with such parent or guardian’s approval. If you permit your minor child or legal ward (“Child”) to use the Service, you hereby agree to these Terms of Use on behalf of both yourself and your Child. You further agree that you are solely responsible for any and all use of the Service by your Child regardless of whether such use was authorized by you. Surrey Schools: Surrey School District’s permission slip makes a case for the use of Prezi in the classroom; as a tool to “explain and document [student] learning….” The District would allow educators to use Prezi as long as parents/guardians were provided with a letter of consent, and fully informed that Prezi is a web 2.0 tool that is hosted outside of Canada, and personal information on a their child’s account may be “subject to the laws of foreign jurisdictions.” Nanaimo-Ladysmith: In its limited scope, my own school district’s policy would also support the application of this tool, provided that it enhanced teaching and learning in the classroom environment. In addition to Prezi’s Terms of Service which specify that the use of service by children younger than 13 is prohibited, the school district would also require parents/caregivers to provide written, and also be well-informed of the risks of its use (privacy, security, control). Possible use of this tool in an online classroom: Student use Prezi as a tool to show/demonstrate their understanding of a topic. As Prezi is a collaborative tool, students could work in groups, simultaneously on the same project. They may show their learning through timelines, Venn diagrams, mind-mapping, or simply as an interactive presentation. Alternative uses for assignments: Students could use PowerPoint as a presentation tool, or they may choose to complete a timeline, Venn diagram, mind-map, etc. with poster board, and these activities may be completed collaboratively, too. CBE’s Description of Tool: This visual, social book marking tool that enables registered users to collect, categorize, search, and share web resources on topics of interest. CBE Rationale: The Calgary Board of Education’s view is such that students may be exposed to “inappropriate information, material or advertising” and the “protection of student personal information is not possible on this site.” The CBE does advise teachers to contact their own school administration if they have a “solid rationale” for its educational use. Also, Pinterest may indeed put younger students at risk considering it’s Terms of Use state that users must only use their products if they are able to “form a binding contract…and any use or access by anyone under the age of 13 is prohibited.” Surrey Schools: Surrey School District’s permission slip allow for the use of Pinterest in the classroom, and according to their document, Net Etiquette and Safe Practice for Educators, the district would expect teachers to explicitly teach ethical use of the site, for example, acknowledging sources…respecting privacy…ensuring personal information is not shared,” etc. Nanaimo-Ladysmith: My school district’s policy would also support and approve the implementation of Pinterest with a solid rationale for its use in teaching. Of course, an educator must provide a permission letter that outlines the benefits and risks involved with using this tool, and written consent must be given for student use in the classroom. Possible use of this tool in an online classroom: Pinterest could be used as a community boards for group projects, for brainstorming so multiple users can save resources in one place; to allow students to use Pinterest for presentations and projects; to set up boards to promote students’ final projects. Alternative uses for assignments: Students could use newspapers, magazines, or printed images/resources from the Internet to create a community bulletin board in the classroom; Students are able to brainstorm in various modes, such as on paper; students are able to use poster paper to showcase learning for final project. Cloud computing technology permeates every aspect of most people’s everyday lives, from posting pictures on Instagram, uploading video to YouTube, checking Twitter feeds, and posting pins on Pinterest. With the increased use of portable technology, it seems that cloud technology and social media are not going away—the key is to educate students on its benefit as not only a social distraction, but as a tool for an expression of their learning. As educators, we must find ways to leverage cloud computing in order to enhance our instruction, to engage and inspire students to learn.
Students are already routinely using cloud technologies in their personal lives, so how do we harness these tools instructional use? To start, cloud computing does offer a more creative solution to attaining learning goals and to inspire critical thinking. For example, teachers could use the engaging videos on TED to create customized lessons from the TED-ED website or use one of the previously created lessons from TED-ED library. Teachers could stream YouTube videos to supplement lectures or discussions. For organizing content, I use a class website (Wordpress and Weebly) as a learning hub for students to access important class information, content, PDFs, to-do list, discussions, announcements, lessons, and the student learning network (student blogs). I am interested in the idea of using Pinterest as a means to curating and organizing content information, video, links and images to share with students. Twitter is an excellent venue for out-of-class communication and sharing, and I plan to adopt its use as a venue to pose questions to students (and vice versa), share related content and continue discussions from class. Cloud computing allows for more creative instructional applications and also allocates more space and time with students for instruction, questions and discussions. Many teachers are aware of the research on learning that states we only remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, etc. Most significant, is research reveals that we remember 80% of what we have experienced personally; this gives credence to the fact that “learning is optimized when students are actively engaged” (McGill University). It is not difficult to imagine the potential for engaging students with cloud computing. Cloud computing arguably provides a means for creative expression through tasks for students, such as lending their voice to online discussion forums and blogs, designing websites for portfolios, creating online videos, posters, cartoons. A teacher’s creative use of cloud technologies will not only inspire and engage students, but help to attain learning goals. In OLTD 505, I used Storify to document my progression of learning, and I could see using it in similar manner with my students, or use Storify to create a timeline of historical events for social studies or psychology. Enhancing lessons with cloud technology will help to peak interest and possibly augment learning. This could be accomplished through a variety of methods, such as streaming online video; employing a captivating presentation tool, like Prezi, for lectures; using online polling to get instant feedback from students throughout a discussion; keeping a live Twitter feed open during a lesson for students to ask questions, give feedback and/or provide their thoughts and ideas to a discussion topic. Many students are comfortable using the technologies mentioned, and some key benefits of using the cloud are to provide a venue for collaboration and real-world experience, and instead of just giving information to students, we should be asking them to create, and to collaborate. In OLTD 506, I looked at the possibility of using Google+ as a collaboration tool in my psychology 12 class. Google offers a few key advantages over other cloud technologies, namely the all-in-one versatility and ubiquity of the service. Google is a well-known search engine, and with Gmail students are able to fully engage in sharing and collaborating on Google Drive (Docs), Google Calendar, and Google+ (Communities) and Google+ Hangouts. Google+ Hangouts would support options for tutorials, group meetings, after-school office hours, or streaming short discussions. Within a Google+ Community, students communicate and collaborate with each other through use of text, photos, video, links and events. Also, Google Communities work well as a space for virtual office hours, whereby an educator could set-up specific times to be contacted online. “Assessment is an important aspect of any teaching and learning system…[assessment ] drives learning outcomes and it is essential for the design and structure of the learning environment” (Alderman, Liang, & Vonderwell, 2009). I believe that it is important for assessment to be ongoing and for students to take ownership over assessment of the learning outcomes. Through assessment of learning practices, assessment must “encourage meaningful dialogue, increase collaboration, peer and self-evaluation, and [create] a sense of community for a shared purpose” (Alderman, Liang, & Vonderwell, 2009). With the advent of Google Docs, assessment can be a relatively stress-free and learner-centered experience. Students upload documents to Google Docs, or simply create a document within Google Docs, and share it with the teacher. The teacher is able to give ongoing formative feedback on the document, and the revision history allows teachers to hold students accountable for their work. With Google Docs students are able to work collaboratively on a document and provide their peers with ongoing feedback. With Google sheets the teacher is able to create spreadsheets to track student assignments, which could be shared with students and parents. Google Forms are simple to use for creating student surveys and to create pre/post assessments on subject content. In Google Forms, the data automatically populates on a spreadsheet, so the teacher is able to track and share feedback to the class in real-time. Asynchronous online discussion tools, such as a personalized Google+ Community, could be used in classroom assessment to promote student-centered learning and to determine "what students are learning in the classroom and how well they are learning" (Angelo & Cross, 1993, as cited in Alderman, Liang & Vonderwell, 2009). Finally, student’s personalized websites allow students to take ownership of their learning, support a student’s ongoing inquiry-based project(s), and provide a meaningful portfolio of student learning. Student-centered learning works hand in hand with inquiry-based learning. Students must work resourcefully and independently in order to identify and solve the problem at the core of the inquiry. Cloud computing provides many tools that support inquiry, where students are able to document, discuss and assess their personal progression of learning, and eventually find the appropriate online tool to share or present their findings. As I had mentioned above, there are numerous advantages of using cloud computing in education, and from a teaching standpoint, one great advantage is around student accountability: by making files accessible for students and parents to, teachers are able to hold students accountable for work—if the work is in the cloud, then there are no more excuses for lost work. To counterbalance the positive features of the cloud, I've observed a couple drawbacks to operating in the cloud. Firstly, there is a deluge of cloud technologies available. In order to avoid overloading students, teachers cannot assume that all students are technology savvy teenagers. I've found some students are technology phobic and/or resistant to trying new devices. It is important not to overload students with too many choices and too many passwords/logins. For instance, I am impressed by the numerous applications of Google—everything is located under the same umbrella, and once you are familiar with the Google products, login and navigation become quite simple, and this sense of consistency and continuity may provide a less stress on students. The most significant concern with cloud computing is around privacy issues, or a lack of privacy. In many cases, it is up to the teacher to provide documentation and permission slips for students and caregivers to sign, essentially making them vulnerable and exposed to any major slip-ups with students. This concurs with Kuehn (2010) statement such that “leaving the online experience to children and youth without mature models and examples is both dangerous and professionally irresponsible.” Until school districts acknowledge the need for district forms and policies for specific use, the teacher must be exceedingly cautious when using cloud technologies with students. There will be drawbacks and advantages use of cloud computing, but regardless, it is important to view cloud computing as not going away, in fact, it must be utilized not as a distraction, but as a productive tool that provides opportunities for discovery, learning, building community, and collaborating. I've listed just a few ideas for use of cloud technologies, but there are unlimited choices available—which may be a problem for some. Works Cited Alderman, K., Liang, X., & Vonderwell, S. (2009). Asynchronous Discussions and Assessment in Online Learning. Retrieved from www.fp.ucalgary.ca: http://www.fp.ucalgary.ca/maclachlan/EDER_679.06_Fall_2009/Assessment_Discussions.pdf Kuehn, L. (2010). Manage your digital footprint. Retrieved from Teacher Newsmagazine (23)3.: http://bctf.ca/publications/NewsmagArticle.aspx?id=21794 McGill University. (n.d.). Tips for Engaging Students in Learning. Retrieved from www.mcgill.ca: http://www.mcgill.ca/files/gps/Tips_for_Engaging_Students_in_Learning_LTT.pdf |
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