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Blog Journal #9

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The first time I participated in distance learning was in my senior year of high school when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Little did I know, I would also be starting my freshman year of college using distance learning. As a student, I have thoroughly enjoyed my distance learning experience due to the flexibility it provides. I can learn at a much faster rate than I could in person and I am also able to work ahead. A downside of distance learning is that it can be easy to fall into the habit of procrastinating. I struggled with this when I first started distance learning but have since been able to overcome that. As a teacher, I would set assignment checkpoints to overcome this obstacle. In other words, I would require my students to submit big assignments in parts before submitting the entirety of the assignment so that they are not able to procrastinate as much work.  Open educational resources (OER) are publicly available teaching and learning resources that have an open-copyrigh...
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Blog Journal #8

This past week, I was tasked with creating a fake teacher website as part of an educational technology class. This was the first time I attempted to create a website, so there were certainly obstacles for me to defeat. The first new skill I acquired was designing an aesthetic layout that focused the viewer's attention on what I wanted to make prominent. The second new skill I acquired was linking a Google Calendar to a website. I thoroughly enjoyed the learning process and was very satisfied with my final result. I found it exciting to be given the creative freedom to design a website in whichever way I wished. It was also a great experience for me as an aspiring private practice owner since I will need to design a website for my company. To view my website, click here . Additionally, this academic semester I have used Diigo. While I do think this website could be considered outdated, I have grown to enjoy using it. It has been a great tool for my classmates and I to share resource...
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Blog Journal #7

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Teacher pages on a school website can be a great and efficient way to deliver important information and resources to parents and students. However, not all teachers have pages on their school website. Based on my observations, elementary school teachers are most likely to have a teacher page, which could be attributed to the heightened need to communicate with parents of children at the elementary age. As I reviewed various teacher pages, I noted that they often included a brief greeting before including links to pages such as the class calendar, educational resources, and photos. They appeared quite minimal and did not include any information that could be considered a breach of privacy, due to how publicly accessible the information is. You can find a picture of one of the teacher websites I viewed below and a link to access it here .  As a future educator, I envision myself having a teacher page or class website, as well as a shared Google Drive for students and parents to have ...
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Blog Journal #6

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Diigo is a social bookmarking website that allows you to bookmark, annotate, and highlight websites privately and in existing groups. I used Diigo for the first time this past week and found it to be relatively easy to navigate and use. I liked being given the ability to annotate and highlight directly on websites I was viewing rather than having to download PDF versions. I also liked that I was able to share the websites, including my highlighting and annotations, in my group with a description. The only downside I found to using Diigo was that it requires users to stay within one browser tab to use the system.  In addition to using Diigo, I also recently started a blog on this page. Blogging has been a very enjoyable experience for me and I have learned a lot from it. First off, I have learned that the way you format your writing can significantly increase the reading experience for your readers. I have also learned that blogging can be used as a great tool to reflect and really ...
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Blog Journal #5

I first began using Twitter for social reasons in high school. Since then, I have discovered how great of a tool Twitter can be for professional purposes. Although I am still learning to use Twitter as a professional, I have interacted with a science teacher who is also in the department at a secondary academy in Lincolnshire. During an education talk thread on Twitter, this user posted resources for teachers to use to teach students new topics. I found this very beneficial to other teachers, as the worksheets were free to download and use. In my future career as a clinical psychologist, I believe Twitter can be helpful to stay up-to-date with new research. Additionally, I believe it will be a great way for me to connect with other professionals in the helping profession who understand the difficult aspects of the job.  Upon reflecting on the digital divide and how it affects education, I realized how truly disadvantaged students who do not have adequate access to technology are. I...
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Blog Journal #4

If I were a K-2 teacher, I would feel prepared to implement the communication and collaboration standard. In my own words, I would say this standard entails students' ability to conduct basic searches using databases and communicate with peers and teachers using technology. As a college student, I have extensive experience with digital tools, searching the internet, and communicating electronically. I am familiar with most scholarly databases and communication platforms used in educational settings. For these reasons, I feel confident teaching these skills to students.  The CPALMS Educator Toolkit is an online platform that provides substantial educational resources, such as lesson plans, assessments, student resources, etc. After reviewing the Kindergarten resources, I think the  CPALMS Educator Toolkit could be extremely helpful for me when trying to come up with new lesson plans and activities for my students. There are endless creative lesson plans that I would consider us...
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Blog Journal #3

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Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects a person's original work. It also allows the copyright owner to give permission to or restrict others from legally using their work. Fair use is a set of guidelines for using copyrighted material without permission from the owner. The copyrighted material may only be used under certain circumstances, for example for educational purposes. As a teacher, I would be sure to closely follow the fair use guidelines to set a good example for my students and also to respect the hard work of others. If I were to be using copyrighted material, I would clearly include a citation and give credit to the owner. When developing my own instructional materials I would copyright it but allow for it to be used by others as long as proper credit is given. Additionally, I would require my students of all ages to include citations to protect themselves and the work they are referencing. As technology use continues to grow in education, problems h...
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