Online Learning Experience URL

Sorry I forgot to include the URL!

Torts WikiSpace

Finalized Online Learning Experience

Well, the Online Experience is finished with a nice VoiceThread to go with it! I decided to use and learn VoiceThread as I plan on doing screen capturing w/QuickTime in other lesson planning for the year. It was fairly easy to use, although next time I'm definitely going to write a script instead of writing off the top of my head!

When we begin the online learning experience in class, I plan on going over the class's Internet Safety and Security policy as a review - I forgot to mention that in my VoiceThread.

Here you go! I will post back here periodically on things that I find online, and will let you all know how it goes when I do it in class next year!

Online Learning Experience Thus Far

Check it out - comments, suggestions, criticisms are all welcome!

http://torts.wikispaces.com

Internet Safety Policy

Posted below you will find my Internet Safety Policy. In my original policy I also included ISTE Digital Citizenship standards - but kept those out to save some space.

Computers and the Internet are tools that many of us have experience and knowledge in using.  It is a powerful tool that enables us to communicate and collaborate, socialize, and access information.  With the Internet also comes great responsibility in how we use it. 

Instruction and learning resources will be accessed using the Internet throughout class.  We may access tutorials, respond to discussions and forums, create podcasts and vodcasts, participate in WebQuests, write in a blog, and many other things using the Internet.

Understanding the Internet Safety Policy, and why we follow it, is imperative for your success in this classroom so that you may participate in the class activities.  This policy is not limited to this class only!  It should be a guide as you grow into a responsible technology user in the 21st Century (i.e. digital native).  These are guidelines for using the Internet everywhere in your life - in another class, at home, at work. 

ISTE Digital Citizenship Standards:

1.  Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.

2. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity

3. Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning

4.  Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship

These guidelines go together with the school district’s Acceptable Use Policy. 

Responsibility of Information and Content

•       Please do not include last name, address, or contact information in any posting online.

•       Be positive, constructive, and informative when you use the Internet (posting, discussing, sharing, etc).  No “useless statements”/”spam”.

•       Be respectful to others when you use the Internet.  Do not include anything that might be offensive to someone.  If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

•       No cyber bullying or threatening language when you use the Internet.  Set an example of how to properly use the Internet. 

•       Remember that everything you write and post can be read by someone - anyone - and will always be accessible.

•       Create original work and develop your own ideas.

•       Do not use someone else’s content (music, images, video, ideas) without their permission.  This is plagiarism and against copyright!

•       Do not search for or use foul, offensive, crude, or crass language, images, songs, videos, etc.

•       Use web sites that are reliable and appropriate for the assignment and topic.

These are guidelines that Mr. Cunningham has set forth for you all to follow.  As a class, you will also create your own policy to follow.  You can add anything that you feel is important to our policy to our WikiSpace.

Consequences

Severity and occurrence of the infractions of these rules will depend on what consequences ensue.

•       Warning:

Student will stay after class to discuss what policy was violated.

•       First Violation:

Loss of technology use for that assignment; therefore, a “zero” will be given. 

•       Second Violation:

Loss of technology use for that assignment and all subsequent assignments.

•       Third Violation:

Loss of technology use for that assignment and all subsequent assignments.  Detention and conference with parent/guardian.

•       Earning Back Technology Privilege:

If a student has lost technology privileges (second violation) they may be earned back with the following conditions:

o   Student has continued to actively participate in other aspects of the class.

o   Student has written a reflection paper, of 100 words or more, about 1) why and what they did to break the technology policy and 2) what they will do in the future to not let it happen again.

o   Student has served the detention given as a result of the violation.

Plagiarism and Copyrights

Plagiarism is defined as the “use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.” (CITE PLEASE).  Basically, using any thoughts or ideas from someone else without consent is plagiarism.  Additionally, any media, such as fonts, music, images, or videos, is automatically copyrighted once it is created.  In order to use such copyrighted materials, you must seek approval from the individual.

Creative Commons for Fonts, Images, Music, and Videos

Since many of the materials we may want to use are copyrighted, we have the option of using resources that fall under the “Creative Commons” realm.  Creative Commons is a free-to-use-for-educational-purposes designation for media.  This is what we will use for any type of media for class projects. 

Sources:

ISTE-NETS Digital Citizenship  http://www.iste.org/content/navigationmenu/nets/for_students/nets_s.htm

Blogging Rules – Bud the Teacher http://www.budtheteacher.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blogging_Rules

K12Wiki Social Networking Acceptable Use Policy http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/Social%20Networking%20Acceptable%20Use

Blog #4 - What does an Internet Safety and Security Policy look like?

My students use the web for a variety of reasons - my classroom is a computer lab, and with the Internet at our fingertips, it’s ridiculous to not use it.  I think making a Safety and Security Policy for my own classroom is an excellent idea for this reason. 

How Your Students Will Use the Web and Your Type of Web Access (#1 & 3)
My students use the web for different purposes:  the computer-based classes usually use the web for resources on the web (e.g. images and information for desktop publishing and MS Office); my “textbook-based” classes (accounting and business law) still use the web, just not as often.  The purpose is to find information to further our discussions.  Reading case studies, news articles, or information about accounting firms are just an example.  It is easy to say that the computer-based classes need expectations outlined more clearly as there seems to be more room for steering away and perhaps using the Internet inappropriately.

Your Building/District AUP (#4)
I liken my Internet Safety and Security Policy and my District’s AUP to a state’s constitution and US Constitution, respectively.  I think my policy, however, will put more of an emphasis on digital citizenship and “Netiquette.”  Based off of what I hear students talking about Facebook, what is posted and said online, it really worries me.  Not only will it be included in my lessons, it will be an important component to the AUP.

The Grade Level of Students (#5)
I teach all high school grades.  I have dedicated freshman classes and the other subjects are generally a mix of 10th-12th graders.  How this relates to my policy, I think it will take into consideration the savviness of the upperclassmen for sure! 

The Standards (#2)
Digital citizenship is key, as well as realistic consequences.  In addition, I think it’s important that one can earn the privilege back for violating the policy.  Expectations of what is ALLOWED is key to including in the policy.  I think stating what is allowed is not as limiting as what isn’t allowed, for one thing.  Plagiarism, and using Creative Commons as an important source of free intellectual property, is important, especially with the work done in my desktop publishing class. 

Blog 3

I will be developing a web-based learning experience for my business and personal law class.  The web has a slew of resources about the different topics we discuss in law, as well as many examples of case law that pertain to that area of law.  Since I started teaching this subject I have used the web for many different activities.  I would have to say that some of them are merely fact finding, but with the law and understanding it, it surely requires critical thinking skills that are included in my Internet activities that I have made for them.  Since that is one of the main components for the learning experience, I’m used to doing it (at first it was difficult) I feel very comfortable with this. 

So far in EDTEC 448 we have learned ways to go deeper into the Web and find more resources.  With this newly-learned skill, I hope to add a new activity for my students in one of our chapters - I will probably go with Torts and Personal Injury Laws to start.  I already have some things developed in this area, but I want to go deeper with it.  I didn’t do much updating in my business law curriculum this semester so I think it will be great to do this and use next year.  Ideally, I might be able to find so much information on Torts that I can use that as our “chapter” instead of basing it off the book.  I definitely wouldn’t mind this as our book is about a decade old!

In a previous post - I think it was on WikiSpaces - I mentioned the OYez Project.  This is a great site that has all of the Supreme Court rulings in summary format, including the assenting and dissenting opinions.  It’s always important that students have access to a site that is easy to understand - and this site does just that. 

In terms of design and layout, I think I will be using Weebly and see how it is to use.  I already use WikiSpaces and like it for some things, but I don’t think this will be the best option for my learning experience.  I have been designing web pages since I was in high school so it’s fun to be able to do this for my students! 

Blog 2: Teaching Students How to Evaluate Web Sites

Teaching Students How to Evaluate Web Sites:

Where does one begin teaching students how to evaluate and analyze sites? Well, what I think is most obvious is by doing some demonstrations (e.g., the Google sites Wes and I looked at in class, the Martin Luther King site, Robots in Victorian England, etc.) I can think of one that I would show my class that I found while working on the Virtual Field Trip assignment. I questioned a site because of it’s URL: oyez.org. What threw me off was the “Oh, Yes” that was re-worded into slang, and I thought, how could a site about the US Supreme Court use slang for their URL? So, I decided to read through the “About Us” portion, and checked out the “Benefactors” and “Advocates” pages and deemed it reliable. The virtual field trip was great, but I’m glad I was still skeptic enough to look through the site and examine it some more. Besides, I always like reading about who created the site and why (I’m just very curious I suppose).

I will no doubt make a lesson out of this for my freshman next year. For this lesson, my students will be able to: 1) identify different methods to validate reliable web sites; 2) collaborate to make a general checklist of what to look for when validating a site; and 3) understand the importance of recognizing valid and invalid web sites.

I will first make my own expectations of what the list should look like. Mr. Alan November has it right on for a place to start - using the REAL acronym: Read the URL, Examine the Content, Ask about the author and owner, and Look at the links (Web Literacy for Educators 2008, NovemberLearning). I would essentially be making a “minimum” list of what they need to include in their “Reliable Web Sites” guide. Anything extra would be icing on the cake!

I think it would be fun for students to develop their own list (or at least make it seem like they are developing this list). By making it a collaboration where they look at sites (here's a list from Alan November to get you started) and answer questions about the validity of it  (Kathy Schrock has one such list), they can in turn develop the class guide. Essentially, the lesson/assignment would be collaboration amongst each other, working toward an agreed upon guide (using November’s REAL), all the while doing it as a WebQuest. See Filamentality from EdTec448 Diigo Group.

I have to say I was mildly frustrated looking for some virtual field trips in my curriculum today. I’m hoping that my frustration is a result of the lack of VFTs for my subjects and not my search skills. I was able to find some, but I found it difficult to find VFTs about accounting (IRS, taxes, audit, Wall Street) and law (contracts, contract law). I will have to practice these search skills. I think I’m going to make a “Stickies” that consolidates the list so I can remember them more easily. Opening a book or my notes is not always the easiest option.

Blog 1 - Thoughts on Using Internet to Enhance Teaching and Learning

Your Initial Thoughts about using the Internet to enhance the teaching and learning process:

I first began the assignment by reading the introduction to the book.  It discusses a new technology that was found many years ago - paper.  Adults didn’t know how to use it, but kids did.  Soon enough, kids were abusing their uses of paper, so it was banned.  Many years later, they considered removing the ban.  This scenario is the perfect analogy that I have had to deal with over the past few years, being an Internet user, and more importantly, teaching computer classes.  I have wrestled with both sides of the equation:  it is easy for the students to abuse technology, yet they also need to be taught what is right and what is wrong, what is appropriate and what is inappropriate when using the Internet.  November offers encouragement for us teachers, making us role models:
“What this shift of control means is that the role of the teacher is more important than ever.  Now it is essential that we teach our children the discipline of making meaning from a very complex and constantly shifting global warehouse of information and communication.”  (Web Literacy for Educators 2008)

I found three things that caught my interest in how I use and teach the Internet in my classrooms:  Truncating URLs, reliable web sites, and reliable search engines. 

I have to admit that these are skills that have been ingrained into me for so long that I just assume that my students already know these skills.  Of course, some students are aware of which sites are invalid, while others just don’t know the difference.  Still, it’s important that all of them are on the same boat.  Being reminded of these three basic principles will greatly help my Internet research units for the future. 

Truncating is an extremely important tool for checking the source of pages within a web site.  Just check out History of Robots in the Victorian Era and see for yourself.  The site looks fairly valid - professionally looking, the images look realistic, so the undiscerning eye - or the adolescent eye - won’t realize it’s fake.  If we truncate the website, it then takes us to “Big Red Hair,” and if you scroll down to the bottom, the first giveaway is the trademark for “Boilerplate” - to Paul Guinan, the webmaster. 

But how do the students know which sites or search engines are valid?  Quite simply, a checklist and procedure for evaluating valid web sites can be used.  Teaching them the key places to look (I always start at the bottom or “About Us”) is that first step.  November mentioned the sale of search engine results, and it quickly reminded me of this Fresh Air conversation that aired on November 2, 2009.  Ken Auletta discusses his new book about Google and in the interview brings up the method in which search engine results are engineered for the highest bidder (he uses “sneakers” as the example).  This is done quite often on News Web Sites with the “most read articles” (and are often the gossip/celebrity/trivial “news” items).  See the entire transcript here with my annotations.

Why is it important for us to teach them?  For one thing, I cannot control what they do outside of my classroom when they use the Internet.  In addition, their parent/guardian might not be able to discern reliable sites and search engines.  More importantly, we as teachers are always developing their learning skills; that is, we are trying to give them the necessary tools to teach and learn on their own in the future and when they get older.

With the required freshman computer class that I teach in re-development for next year, I think this course could not have come at a better time!  We are in the process of shifting from a focus mainly on MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to divide it up between Internet Usage/Safety, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  This will be an important portion of our class as every student that graduates from the high school must take it - including those that move in after their freshman year.  With this topic discussed in the class, it will make our digital natives more competent and successful in using the Internet as an important tool for school and work. 

First Post

Back at PSU-Great Valley, doing this for EDTEC 448