Blog Post 3

It is interesting learning about copyright and fair use as I never was taught the legal aspect of copyright before in detail and what does and does not constitute as fair use. When developing my own instructional material, I will have to take into consideration this fact, because while legal action is practically unheard of, I don’t want to end up on the news on how I am getting sued by Disney for showing a movie. In terms of how I will address copyright and fair use with my students and their own work, since the youngest of kids I plan on working with is going to be in sixth grade, I will first go over the basics of what is and isn’t allowed before my students create their own works. It was interesting to learn that copyright starts as soon as a work is created. I am curious and wonder how far the limits of “fair use” are, especially as I see a surge of online videos doing the same video (sometimes nearly identical in structure, not just in concept) ideas over and over again and how there isn’t a deviation from most of these videos.

 

Decreased productivity is a huge issue when technology is brought into the classroom. A proposed solution is to limit the most of the distractions that students may utilize. For instance, these days when students have access to computers in the classroom, many schools have blocks on games and sometimes even have programs where teachers can monitor students from their own computer. That would be the best solution as long as it is paired with limiting technology when not necessarily necessary (for instance if it is a basic writing assignment, have the students use paper and pencil instead of computers) and save the technology for the things where technology is required for the activity (for instance a webquest).

 

 

When working on my Newsletter Design assignment I learned a lot about the formatting on Word. For instance, I knew how to make columns, but I didn’t know that I could create columns for only certain sections which I thought was cool. In the future when I get more proficient with Word, I hope to improve my newsletter by adding more design aspects that I was unsure how to do/that was even possible. These skills can help me with my future career of becoming a secondary teacher as even though I most likely will not be sending newsletters home, I can customize assignments and have more control over the document itself.

"Roman Coliseum" by lisafree54 is marked with CC0 1.0.

Blog Post 2

Overall, I have used some MS Word in the past, but not a lot to feel the most comfortable with it. I can utilize the basic functions and use it as a very basic word processor, but I have used it seldom in the past and am more so comfortable utilizing Google Docs. I remember using Google as my primary word processor since elementary school which has allowed me to get intimately familiar with the ins and outs of it. This is a sharp comparison to all of the unknowns that I still have with MS Word which is why I prefer Google Docs (dislike of the unknown and all of that).

The most meaningful ISTE for educators is the analyst aspect of it. I find this to be the most important to myself because if you can't analyze then you can't adapt which can make it difficult to provide the most effective instruction. I especially want to utilize topic 2.7.c: Use Data to Guide Progress as that is one of the key components to effective instruction: to analyze how students are receiving the information so that way I can adapt as needed. I am curious on what are some of the methods that are the most accurate but also the most efficient for student data collection and analysis.

With all of the talk about "digital native", I can't help but think that it is simply too broad to be accurate. More specifically, I find that no one person is fully a digital native and instead each and every person is a native of different aspects of the digital world. For example, many younger generations don't know how to efficiently type on a keyboard as that has not been a skill generally taught as older generations have assumed that generations like mine are "digital natives" and should inherently know how to type, which is fundamentally not true. But this doesn't just happen with typing; it also happens with simply using a word processor like MS Word. "Digital natives" are expected to already have a solid grasp on how to navigate word processors at younger ages (like middle and high school) without the explicit instruction of what certain aspects of word processors do. I do see that with future generations there might be some of this that they experience as well, and that certain aspects of the digital world they will have a better grasp on in comparison to me, much like how I have a strong grasp on how newer applications work in comparison to a generation or two behind me.

Blog Post 1

 I hope to learn more about more of the technical sides of using technology in an education setting. Specifically, I hope to learn how to have more control on what I create with technology. This can help me in the future as it will allow me to customize what I create to serve the specific purpose that I need it to have. Additionally, I hope to use the knowledge that I get from the technical side of using technology in the classroom to allow for me to adapt my resources to better suit my students. 

Throughout my K-12 experience, I have predominantly used Google Suites to benefit me in an educational setting. More specifically, I have used applications such as Google Slides to create presentations, and at this point in my life, I would say I have a pretty strong understanding of these functions. I have also used applications such as Canva and Notion to help make cute infographics, or images in general, as well as keep track of all of my assignments and have a nice calendar to go along with it. Besides this, my experiences with using technology in the classroom are limited as there hasn't been much opportunities in my past to expand past these technologies.

I like to learn, but I suppose more specifically I like to learn about niche little topics, which normally pertains to history. Within my PLN, I especially utilize YouTube as it allows me to go on little rabbit holes of treasure troves of information. I also like to read about random tidbits of history, which tends to be in the form of physical books in my own collection, as well as the library, as well as what the internet has to offer in terms of articles published. Courses that I take help expand this knowledge even further.