Final Reflection

In what ways have you grown as a professional while taking this course? How can you use the knowledge gained to increase your leadership within the corporation?

While taking this course, I have refined my digital knowledge and taken time to delve into tools that I had just briefly worked with before. I have also taken a closer look at PLNs and was surprised at how many different PLNs I tap into frequently and from-time-to-time.

Both of the final projects created for this course are being used with teachers in my school. The symbaloo is embedded on the school web page and the instaGrok presentation is available 24-7 as a My Big Campus bundle. My Big Campus is a tool I train teachers about.

Just yesterday, our corporation tech committee met and discussed the SAMR model. While many members were being newly acquainted with this model, I felt as if I had a good handle on where or director is wanting us to move.

Digital Footprints

Reflect on your own digital footprint. What search results are returned if your name is Googled? How can you make your footprint positive (as opposed to neutral or nonexistent)? What role can we play in making sure our students have a positive footprint?

When searching for my own digital footprint, I was amazed how much information I could locate by going from site to site. Information from over 10 years ago is still online. Information I had no idea other people had posted was also lurking there. 
White Pages revealed that 44 people in Indiana have my same name and many are in the same age group. If someone knows I am an educator or the city in which I live, then it becomes easier to follow the correct person's footprints. 
Here are just a few of the "prints" I have left behind:

• Blogs I created for a collaboration with a professor at IUPUI and for PBS, as well as classroom blogs and websites
• Awards -Teacher of the Year for ICE (Indiana Computer Educator), Indiana Library Foundation, Armstrong Educator, grants awarded
• Photos from education awards and activities such as student groups and being a judge in a spelling bee
• Minutes from school board meetings were I was recognized
• Addresses and phone numbers for schools were I have been employed
• The church I attend
• Listserv messages

While I knew Facebook would pop up, I hadn't thought about the other social media footprints from Twitter, and Pinterest. 

Anyone who has ever searched a person's name knows that a search soon reveals a person's age, family member names, neighbors, address, and even a Google map of the neighbor where the person lives.

from http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/tag/digital-footprint

Creating a positive digital footprint is intentional. Your digital footprint is your personal brand. Consider which social media to participate in and think carefully about what is posted. Be sure to read, re-read, and edit posts. Think about what images and video you want associated with your name. Like the image above states, "Overload Google with a long tail of good stuff." It may sound hokey, but never post anything you would be ashamed for your grandmother to see, and if you can't say something nice, don't say it.

We are role models to our students. How many students have ever searched for their teachers online? Having a positive digital footprint is important. A great lesson for middle school students can be located at The Teaching Channel (https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-digital-footprints). A teacher has his students look at his own footprint before engaging in a group project, The Trillion Dollar Footprint, from Common Sense Media, (https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/trillion-dollar-footprint-6-8).

Curation

Susie spent hours collecting and curating resources for her upcoming unit on cells. She is able to successfully use much of what she has found when implementing her plans. The following year, when it is time to begin the unit on cells again, Susie forgets about the resources she curated. She essentially starts from scratch, performing the task of searching, saving, and sorting once again.

What Susie has neglected to do is store her curations in one place.

I have several ways I store curations. One of the best methods I have found is to have a web page where I embed or place links to each set of curated materials.

An example of an embedded curation
For this class, I have added links or URLs in the right side bar for projects I have created or of websites or tools I want to be able to access in the future. The side bar is a type of curation tool. My next step would be to add a link to this blog on my web page. Notice, I said "next step". I should have completed that next step the day this blog was created. However, like Susie, I get busy, run out of time, and then forget. Only when I need that once-created curation will I begin to wonder where I placed it!

Intrinsic Building Blocks

Daniel Pink from TEDTalks

Daniel Pink delineates the building blocks of intrinsic motivation to be:

• Autonomy – the urge to direct own lives
• Mastery – the desire to get better and better at something that matters
• Purpose – the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves

This week’s module has been asking how teachers are motivated to use tech tools. As I think about the upcoming year where teachers will be supplied their own iPads and have student carts of iPads available, a question arises as to what level of implementation will occur and what will encourage teachers to incorporate the tools in a meaningful way.

Pink described three 21^st century models that encourage motivation since self-direction works best to produce engagement. 
* The FED EX model where participants have to “deliver something overnight”. Participants work on anything they want for a period of time. Then they present to the larger group what they have developed.

* The 20% time Google model where participants choose their time, task, team, and technique.

* The ROWE, results only work environment, model – where participants have no schedules. They just have to get work done when, where, and how they choose. Meetings are optional.

As I look at these models in the light of an upcoming professional development day, I have to wonder if a combination of the Fed Ex and Google 20% time models would be something that would build motivation among our staff for use of iPads. 20% of the day could be devoted to time for “play” and discovery of this tool and its capabilities. Staff would choose their task and team knowing that at the end of the time, each group would present their findings or product to the entire staff.

This approach would incorporate autonomy in that teachers can direct their own learning; mastery as teams work together to increase their own knowledge of iPad capabilities; and purpose as teams share their work with rest of the staff. A follow up to this initial professional day could be periodic updates from the teams, perhaps one per month at staff meetings.

Just imagine how motivation could blossom at the beginning of a school year and carry on throughout the year!

Levels of Integration and Learning Environments

THE TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION MATRIX

• Provides a framework for defining and evaluating technology integration
• Sets a clear vision for effective teaching with technology
• Gives teachers and administrators a common language for setting goals 

http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix

1. Where would you rate yourself in each area?

As I perused each area of the matrix, I kept thinking back to when I taught in a classroom. At that time, I believe I was taking my first grade students into the infusion and transformation levels. A good example is a blog my students had with an author, Ron Hirschi. Take a look at the blog at http://authorvisit.blogspot.com. I can't believe this was 8 years ago! My students (and their families) learned so much. The Chicago Tribune even featured an article about my class and this blogging journey.

Let me use this one project to answer the guiding question about the areas of the matrix.

At every attribute, the project was at the transformative level for the teacher and students.

Active Attribute
Students were focused on what they are able to do with the technology, yet the act of blogging was not seen as a technology tools but a method of communicating their learning. I served as a guide and model in how to blog. I encouraged students and their families to blog from home. This project engaged students in higher order learning activities that were not possible without the technology.

Collaborative Attribute
Collaboration was amazing. Not only did the students collaborate with the author (located in Washington state), an expert in his field, but we had bloggers from Hawaii, Montana, Ohio, and Australia. This could not have occurred without technology because of time zones and physical distances.

Constructive Attribute
The students and I were involved in an unconventional use of blogging meshed with scientific discovery to construct higher order learning opportunities that were impossible to achieve without this technology tool.

Authentic Attribute
As I stated before, this blog was not only local or national, but global as well. Students connected to their lives as they created a Indiana Mystery for the author to solve. The blog took on meaning outside of school as family members began reading the blog and some actually blogged with us. When the author visited our school, a parent invited him, students, and areas teachers to explore the creek behind their house. This experience also became part of the blog.

Goal Directed Attribute
Students engaged in ongoing metacognitive activities at a level that I would never have considered possible for first graders. They felt are empowered by using technology and had a greater ownership and responsibility for their learning. During recess, students wanted to research and blog. They did not see this project as a chore, but had fun and wanted to do more.

However, at every attribute the environment was at the adoptive level and actually was at the adoption level for the goal directed attribute. The environment was handicapped by the technology available. While I had a pod of 6 Mac computers connected to the Internet, which was amazing for 2006, even partners on computers would only allow less than half of my class to be blogging at one time.  Actual blogging became a center that was used after various steps such as research and rough drafts had been fulfilled. Wish we had had iPads back then! Could you imagine what these 7-year-olds could have done with that technology tool?

2. Where do you think you could reasonably be at the end of the next grading period?

However, now as a media specialist, I work with teachers and nudge them in technology use, but ultimately the teachers control what occurs in their classrooms. Many teachers feel they don't have time for technology inclusion because it takes time and there is pressure to ensure students pass the ISTEP exam, especially now that teacher pay is connected to ISTEP scores. I have also moved to a school that had less technology available to teachers and students than I had several years ago.  So my question then becomes, "Where do I think I can reasonably assist teachers to be at by the end of the first quarter this next school year?"
Of course, the answer depends on the teacher involved. Teachers are basically at the entry and adoption levels now. They just each received an iPad and many participated in a 2-day iPad training a few weeks ago. We are receiving a cart of iPads per team this fall. That means there will be 5 carts of iPads available to teachers for classroom use on a sign-up, limited basis.
By the end of the first quarter, I would hope that I could assist teachers with whom I collaborate in becoming comfortable in their current level or to move into the next level.

Dr. Rueben Puentedura, author of the SAMR model, in his presentation, The OtherSide: Are You Ready? quotes Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development as that area between what a learner can accomplish independently and what they can accomplish with assistance from a “more knowledgeable other”. I can be that "more knowledgeable other" assisting teacher's growth and students' use of technology.

3. What steps will you need to take in order to make the growth happen?    

1. Assist in creating the Professional Development Day that will take place on the first day back at school - Discuss the TIM matrix and the examples for content areas available.
2. Be sure staff are aware of my availability to assist - Rework the brochure I have created, especially in light of the numerous new teachers we will have this year.
3. As collaborations begin, take a look at both the SAMR model, which was part of our iPad training, and the TIM matrix when projects as being created. Add these components to the project evaluation so there is a foundation on which to build and grow in the future.
4. Praise and encourage teachers in their "baby steps". Continue the positive emails I send principals about the teacher's efforts. 
5. Get teachers talking to other teachers about the positive things that are occurring in their classes.

Moving Mindsets

How could you adapt or change one of your current class/course policies to reflect a moving mindset? Is this a change you are willing to make? Why or Why not?

As a media specialist, I do not have class/course policies. However, I do collaborate with teachers during research projects. We already do not assign research as homework (1.)  and do not give zeroes (2.) for the project. Students work on the projects at school in computer labs and must complete the project. Completion can be tricky for some students, but the media center is always available for students before school, during lunch, after school, and whenever a teacher sends the student to work.

A shift in mindset that is currently in process is that of going paperless and beginning to use e-books and more digital resources for research. We also began using the learning management system, My Big Campus, to create learning bundles and for file storage. Last fall, I approached our Language Arts teachers about moving in this direction. I truly thought I was going to be lynched by the end of the meeting. However, I had support from our administration and began slowly one teacher and project at a time. By the end of the year, teachers saw the benefits of the shift as time spent on research had been reduced, students were more motivated, and student work was easier to access and read. (No more student handwriting to decipher.)

As we look forward to a new school year, we still have tweaking of the process and each teacher has strengths and areas to improve. One more shift that remains for the majority of teachers is online grading or feedback. English teachers still like to have a printed page in hand to mark with comments and denote errors.

Am I willing to continue with this process of change? Absolutely. We are moving in the right direction for both the teachers and the students. When the first Language Arts department meets this fall, I don’t think lynching will occur. But being “run out of town” might be something to try to avoid!

1. “No-Zero Policy: Students Don’t See Zeroes The Same Way Adults Do” By Heather M. Stocker, TeachThought Intern 
2. “Are You Down With or Done With Homework?” By Lory Hough

Standards Discussion

ASSIGNMENT - Which set of digital standards would you be most likely to use as a point of reference in your professional situation? What characteristics of those standards make them the best choice?
PEER RESPONSE - Choose someone's response that differs from your own. Compare the characteristics they have cited with your chosen set of standards. In what ways might your choice also apply to their situation?

"Where do you fall on the rubric?" I believe my entries were within the range of exceptional or effective.

Rubric Criteria

• Examination and analysis of relevant course concepts - I demonstrated mastery of course concepts by effectively and purposefully applying them to the discussion focus. This was evidenced through specific examples cited from the various standards documents such as "The “Alignment of Educator Standards with National Standards” that begins on page 13".

• Use of evidence, examples, and personal experience - I Incorporated clearly relevant professional, personal experiences and evidence from readings that create professional and meaningful discourse on the topic. This was evidenced through an uploaded evaluation document I use with teachers that includes NETS-S standards and examples of Research and Information Fluency and Digital Citizenship standards that students and some teachers have not yet mastered.  

• Presentation of ideas  - Ideas were clearly articulated with few, if any, errors. I typed entires in Word in order to check for grammar and spelling errors and then copied the entries into the coursework.

• Collaboration with fellow learners - I expanded on the topic in a meaningful way offering a different perspective on the topic and asked relevant, thought-provoking, open-ended questions. This was evidenced through comparing NETS-T and NETS-S with both the Indiana and National Standards for Online Instructors. I asked questions that would help me better understand classmates' particular school settings and situations. "What resources does your school offer your students and teachers in preparing them for online courses?" I also asked questions that might not have a ready answer, "Is Indiana beginning with the instructor role and then defining student standards later?".