Week Twelve: Integrated Course Proposal

Week Eleven Reflections

Essential question: What specific policies will help your district prepare students for current and emerging technology use? How can you help lead your district in creating these policies?

This question couldn't be more relevent than it is now.  Just last week we were given an updated technology agreement that we had to sign in order to continue working from home in the midst of COVID-19.  Policies are changing rapidly because we were not prepared to banish students from school buildings and still teach them from home all while using school devices.

As we move forward from this crazy time and begin reveiwing and rewriting technology policy with will be key that we focus on promoting the responsible use of technology and create policies that encourage the enhancment of student learning (Clarity Innovations, 2016).

Districts should have a Responsible Use Policy (RUP) which "is a written agreement among parents, students, and school personnel that outlines the terms of responsible use and consequences for misuse. Effective RUPs create an opportunity to teach students, while in school, to become responsible digital citizens, which will help them thrive in a connected world"(US Dept. of Ed, 2017, p. 78).

Wrangell Public School District (WPSD) does have a RUP which is signed by all students, parents, and staff before any technology devices are distributed. However, this will probably need updating in the light of our current situation.  Another policy we have explored in this course already is BYOD policies.  I mentioned in that blog post that WPSD does not have a policy for this, but currently has a student network and allows students to connect their personal devices to be used at school.

So, I would argue that the most important policy updates needed at WPSD right now are in the realm of BYOD policies.  I am an active member of the technology committee which will be important in getting a policy like this passed in our district.  In addition to a BYOD policy, I would like to see our current policies be updated and delivered to all parties affected by the changes. This is an issue in our disctrict because we have had a large turnover in adminstration the past 6 years and each has created their own handbook with their own policies. According to the US Department of Educaiton (2017, p.79), "Policies and procedures for device management, teaching responsible use, and safeguarding student privacy should be in place and understood by all members of the community prior to providing internet access or devices."

In the next couple weeks our staff will be looking at putting together a new handbook for next school year and this will give us the perfect opportunity to update our technology policies!


Resources:
Clarity Innovations. (2016, September 13). Policy & Leadership. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://www.k12blueprint.com/toolkits/policy

US Department of Education. (2017, January). Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education: 2017 ... Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://lincs.ed.gov/professional-development/resource-collections/profile-902

Week Ten Reflection

Essential question: How are electronics viable additions to “crafting” for today’s young person?

According to Leah Buechley, the traditional way of building and designing electronics is "a really slow process, it's really expensive, and... most of them just aren't very attractive." Including electronics in the crafting process allows us to make them quicker, less expensive, and more interesting and expressive (Buechley, November 2012).

"Crafting technology encourages designers, engineers, and craftspeople to work with materials like wood, textiles, and paper that are uncommon in today’s electronic devices" (Buechley and Wilson, 2012). I know I personally have very little interest in building a circut board, but I love the idea of creating paper circuts or e-textiles. Introducing our students to electronics through these innovated creations could be the inspiration they need to really start digging deep into electronics and coding.

The paper written by Buechley and Wilson (2012), discusses a few ways to use technology while crafting that may interest our students: carving, sewing, painting, and drawing.

• Carving: Wood is first covered in a layer of conductive material, and then that conductive material is selectively removed to create the desired connections.
• Sewing: Materials like conductive thread, conductive fabric, and conductive fibers enable students to craft soft connectors, inputs, and outputs.
• Painting & Drawing: Paints and inks with different electrical characteristics enable students to create electronics by painting and drawing. Other electronic components can be attached to painted connectors with glue and paint to form full-fledged circuits.

"By expanding and diversifying the processes that are used to build electronics, we naturally expand and diversify the electronics that are created and the communities of people who build them" (Buechley and Wilson, 2012). We hear alot about coding for girls to encourage women to enter the field of engineering, imagine what we could do if we started pairing that with making flashy clothing or electronic paintings. 

https://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/e-textiles-will-reach-over-3bn-by-2026-176557-newsdetails.htm

Resources:
Buechley, L. and Perner-Wilson, H. 2012. Crafting technologies: Reimagining the processes, materials, and cultures of electronics. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 19, 3, Article 21 (October 2012), 21 pages. DOI = 10.1145/2362364.2362369 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2362364.2362369
http://lizastark.com/compcraftfall2016/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/a21-buechley_hannah.pdf

Buechley, L. [TED]. (2012, November 15). Leah Buechley: How to "sketch" with electronics [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTBp0Z5GPeI

Week Nine Reflection

Essential question: Does every school need a “BYOD” policy?

My initial response to this question would have been no because there are many schools that are still lucky enough to be 1:1, mine included. However, the more I researched this topic the more I learned about what it means for students to BYOD. I was surprised to learn that while my school is 1:1 we currently are also BYOD because we have a "student network" that allows our students to connect their own devices. So quite quickly, my response to this question changed to a yes! 

In talking to our IT guy, I learned that some of the biggest legal issues facing schools today revolves around students bringing their own devices to school. So it is very important that a BYOD policy is in place if we are allowing or encouraging students to use their own devices in the classroom. "One of the biggest roadblocks to (BYOD) adoption in the education sector is security" (Martini, 2017). 

In researching, I found that there are many other cons for implementing a BYOD system at school. "A (2013) CoSN survey revealed 99% of school districts identify a need for additional bandwidth and connectivity to support the explosion of devices on the network" (Martini, 2017). At our last technology committee meeting, we were looking at our wifi contract because we will be renewing it for next year. It was astounding how much we pay for the internet that is necessary to run our schools! As we add more devices and integrate more technology into our classes our wifi needs will only continue to increase. 

Another concern "is the fairness factor: Not all students have or can afford a mobile device" (Holeywell, 2013). However studies have shown that "students who don’t have their own device actually have more access to school-owned technology when BYOD policies are in place because there’s less competition for space in the tech labs or for the tech tools owned by the school" (Holeywell, 2013). 

While there are many unknowns and BYOD can seem scary, "many of these cons can be avoided or fixed with certain policies, apps, the correct network infrastructure, and mobile device management" (Mareco, 2012).

The many pros of BYOD seems to outweigh the cons. "BYOD, with its combination of platforms and systems, is well suited in equipping students with the diverse technology skills they’ll need to succeed in the future" (Clarity Innovations, 2014).

We cannot really stop our students form bringing their devices to school, so the best thing we can do is develop a successful BYOD program which will require extensive planning, communication, ongoing evaluation, and a solid BYOD policy. 

Resources:
Clarity Innovations. (2014). K-12 Blueprint BYOD Toolkit. Retrieved from https://www.k12blueprint.com/toolkits/byod

Holeywell, R. (2013, September 3). BYOD Policies, Growing More Popular, Create Challenges for Schools. Retrieved March 16, 2020, from https://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-byod-policies-create-school-challenges.html

Mareco, D. (2012, September 21). 20 Pros and Cons of implementing BYOD in schools. Retrieved March 18, 2020, from https://www.securedgenetworks.com/blog/20-pros-and-cons-of-implementing-byod-in-schools

Martini, P. (2017, June 25). 4 Challenges That Can Cripple Your School's BYOD Program. Retrieved March 16, 2020, from http://www.teachthought.com/technology/4-challenges-can-cripple-schools-byod-program/

Week Eight Reflection

Essential question: What game have you seen that could help students learn, and how might it be used?

Quizzizz is a formative assessment, gamification tool I've been using in my classroom for about a year and have really enjoyed.  My students really like this way to take a quiz as well.

https://itunes.apple.com/ae/app/quizizz-play-to-learn/id1160249042?mt=8

Quizzizz is a quiz game similar to Kahoot! and Quizlet.  Teachers create an account, but for students it's optional. Students access a quiz on their device or computer using an access code, and they can see both the questions and answers on their screen.

http://nordicadl.com/toolbox/quizizz/

Quizizz can be used as an in-class game or assigned for homework which students to complete on their own. While teachers can create quizzes from scratch, there is also a searchable database with tons of existing quizzes and questions that can be grabbed and edited as needed.  You can even just pick and choose select questions from already created quizzes.  I love this feature!  When creating their own quizzes, teachers can add images as well as customize the feedback students see after each question on the quiz. Feedback comes in the form of memes (either pre-made or custom), which display based on right or wrong answers.  The kids get a kick out of the memes!

Teachers also can control the use of leaderboards, question timers, and music.  Recently, I set up my quizzes as "homework" because a majority of our students were traveling for sports, but I also gave the students that were at school the opportunity to complete the quiz in class.  I wanted to keep the gamification aspect of Quizzizz so I chose to keep the leaderboard active.  Students could compete with one another if they wanted to as they moved through the quiz.  The more quickly they respond, the more points they gain.  However, their total points did not matter for their grade in the gradebook.  This was taken from their percentage of correctly answered questions.  One thing I really liked was that teachers can set up their quiz so that their students to take the quiz over again to raise their score and learn the content even more!  I set a limit of two times for my students and was very pleased with the increase in scores from the first attempt to the second attempt.

After students have completed the quiz, teachers can easily access reports that make it easy to use quiz results to inform instruction.  You can view reports online by students to see which questions they answered incorrectly or can view students' responses by question.

The data can also be compiled into an Excel spreadsheet to give the instructor a clear visual of the students’ performance in order to analyze trends in which areas might need the most focus in the future.

My students and I have really enjoyed Quizzizz.  Most of my students prefer this over the traditional paper and pencil quiz method and I saw improvement in many students! Another bonus is that Quizizz integrates flawlessly with Google Classroom.  If you haven't tried it, I would highly recommend this for your next quiz!

Week Seven Reflection

Essential question: How can 3D printing change the way we think about education?

3D printing can be beneficial in the classroom by captivating the attention of our students and my original worry was that this is all it is good for.  However, it also gives them an opportunity to see the production of an item from beginning to end.  They get to use their creativity, while understanding complex structures, to get an instant, tangible product (3D Printers for Schools, n.d.).

Courtesy of Pixabay.com

3D printing goes hand-in-hand with last week's blog about coding. It's less about the product and more about the skills learned along the way. Students are able to explore and experience real-world applications through the use of computer-aided design (CAD) software. 3D printing "creates opportunities for students that are limited only by their imagination" (Buckhoff, 2019).

So how can this change the way we think about education? Well, 3D printers give us the ability to teach our students the basics about CAD software and then let them learn and invent on their own.  It lets students explore their curiosities and be creative.  We can stand back and facilitate learning rather than spoon-feed our students information.  This is one small way that we can turn the traditional model of teacher-led education upside down and empower our students.


Resources:

3D Printers for Schools, Universities & Education. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2020, from https://www.lpfrg.com/applications/education-and-3d-printing/

Buckhoff, R. (2019, June 5). 4 Steps to Create a Strong 3D Printing Program. Retrieved February 25, 2020, from https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2018/09/4-steps-create-strong-3d-printing-program

Week Six Reflection

Essential question: What are the compelling arguments both for and against computer coding in schools?

This week I have been at the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE) conference in Anchorage.  There were many sessions dedicated to teaching coding to our students. Many schools have incorporated coding classes into their schedules and there has been a large emphasis placed on getting our students to code. Organizations like code.org and Girls Who Code have popped up all over the place. 

As we know computing and programming jobs are prevalent and likely to increase in the future.  According to code.org, "Computing jobs are the number one source of new wages in the US" (code.org, 2020). Programming is becoming more integrated into everything we do and is an excellent way to teach our students problem-solving and critical thinking skills (3 Reasons, 2015).

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

However, just like anything in education coding is not one size fits all.  Not every student needs to know how to code; we all won't be developing apps in the future. Exposure to coding is important, but we should not be focused on making every student a coder. "Learning the fundamentals of coding provides students with skills that will serve them well in virtually any career they choose" (Harrell, 2015).

While researching I clicked on this article by Gottfried Sehringer and really enjoyed his take on teaching students to code (2015).  He said there is value in coding, but it may not be the best way to do things in the future.  He used this quote by Henry Ford to really send the message home, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” So rather than focusing on students learning to code we should be having them code to learn and help them develop a growth mindset that can change and adapt quickly as the technology around them will inevitably continue to morph.

Resources:

3 Reasons Coding Should Be a Core Subject. (2015, September 30). Retrieved from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2015/09/3-reasons-coding-should-be-a-core-subject/

Code.org. (2020). Why Computer Science? Retrieved February 24, 2020, from https://code.org/promote

Sehringer, G. (2015, August 7). Should We Really Try to Teach Everyone to Code? Retrieved February 24, 2020, from https://www.wired.com/insights/2015/02/should-we-really-try-to-teach-everyone-to-code/

Harrell, M. (2015, March 17). Add Coding to Your Elementary Curriculum. . . Right Now. Retrieved February 24, 2020, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/add-coding-elementary-curriculum-now-matt-harrell