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EDTECH 543: Final Reflection

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I can’t believe the time has come for my final blog posting for EDTECH 543: Social Network Learning.  Social media doesn’t seem to be going anywhere or slowing down and knew this course would be valuable to me as an educator and professional.  Through this course, I really started to think about how I can leverage social media in my classroom and in my own life (personal and professional).   I was also pushed to do things that were a little outside my comfort zone or regular activity.  Prior to this course, I was not a part of the Twitter world and rarely posted in my other social networks for professional purposes.  So sending out tweets was a completely new experience.  I discovered that Twitter is a great tool for professional development which I will continue to use and will also incorporate into my classroom activities.  Before, I also really didn’t belong or participate in many professional communities.  So joining and participating in new communities was a big step for me,
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Social Media Policy

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From my experience, social media use in schools is somewhat nonexistent. Most schools and districts block these tools to be used with school technology.   However, the majority of people (adults and students) all utilize social media.  Why are we not leveraging these tools in our classrooms?  I can see the perspectives of administrators or parents that are worried about what students will come across or be exposed to. But I wonder if by not using social media and teaching students how to properly use and understand the power it has- are we doing a disservice or making things worse?   Areas that are allowing the use of social media are no ticing more student engagement, ability to connect to more content and ideas and promote collaboration.  This weeks assignment was to create a social media policy for a district, school or classroom.  I chose to come up with a social media policy for my own class mainly so I could apply this for use in learning management systems that offer a so
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Social Media in Science

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This weeks assignment was to conduct some research into successful ways teachers have implemented social media into their classrooms, and in my case specifically in science classes.  Initially, I thought I would find a lot of teacher examples of how they employed the use of social media, but I actually didn’t find as many in the k-12 realm as I thought.  Which I guess does make sense in a way. Many districts and schools do not allow the use of social media in schools, often blocking these open networks or limiting students use of personal devices.  In the three different schools that I have taught (both Idaho and Colorado), this was most certainly the case. There may be a lot of fears, but why not face those fears and use technology and social media to our benefit. We all know teachers and students are using social media outside of the classroom, so why not bring it in and leverage it to our advantage in helping students critically think, engage in thoughtful discourse, collaborat
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My Personal Learning Environment

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Like most people, I strive to grow in a positive manner both personally and professionally.  I thought of a tree, which encompasses life, growth, change, and at times adaptations.  I displayed all the platforms and tools I utilize regularly on different branches, but also in a fashion that showed they blended together and they support one another by transferring knowledge or ideas to each other.   Something I realized about myself is that I rely heavily on Google applications in all sectors of my professional and personal life.  Now looking back at my diagram, I probably should have had my Google applications represented in the tree trunk given that they are my main learning support.  Also, I realized that social networking sites are mainly used for personal reasons, but I am realizing the benefits of leveraging these in a professional manner.  Our assignment to join and actually participate in online communities this week was a great challenge for me.  I would say I am more of a
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The Science of Curating

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“A curator is an information chemist. He or she mixes atoms together in a way to build an info-molecule. Then adds value to that molecule.” - Robert Scoble Image by Wikimedia Creative Commons  This week we were tasked with researching the art of curation for educational purposes and then develop a tool to assess the quality and value of an education-related curated topic. Prior to this assignment, I didn’t really think about educators being curators or how I could develop a curation project for students. Robert Scoble’s above analogy of curation and chemistry describes a curator as an information chemist, where an individual takes data or pieces of information and creates a new “molecule” or something that has its own characteristics or message. This really resonated with me as a science teacher, taking different pieces of data that each has their own characteristics (similar to individual elements having their unique physical and chemical properties) and putting them
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Managing My Digital Footprint

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We live in the digital age and rely heavily on the internet and social media platforms to connect us with others personally and professionally.  As I stated in my previous post, it is imperative to be responsible with how we conduct ourselves online. Unlike footsteps on a dirt path that can be wiped away, our digital footprint is more permanent and is often used as the first impression that others will make of us.  I have given a great deal of thought about my own digital footprint and my plan of how I want and should conduct myself going further in my personal and professional life.  I may not always know what is around the corner or what opportunities may arise, but I should always be conducting myself in a manner that upholds a positive reflection of myself.  Below is a graphic that showcases ten specific strategies that will help me pave the way for a positive and reputable online presence.  Here are more specific details about each strategy that I have set. 1.  Google Myse
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New First Impression

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It is amazing to think about how life has changed in the last 10-15 years.  When I was in school my digital footprint was not something I thought about and really hadn’t even heard about (granted I graduated from high school in 2002 which I don’t think is that long ago).   There are so many benefits for living in this digital age, access to information 24/7, connecting with people across the globe, acquiring knowledge, fostering creativity, etc. The advances of technology have happened relatively rapidly not allowing for much time to think about some of the consequences of our online activity.  One needs to realize that with every click we leave a trail of data and our footprints, some small and some big, of what we do online- also known as our digital footprint. Even with all the benefits of the internet, we need to be mindful of what we do and communicate online. Our digital footprint is a story of us, it can now serve as the first impression that others have of us even if we h
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