New insights gained about technological literacy.
The definition and my understanding:
As defined by the ITEEA technological literacy is one's ability to use, manage, evaluate and understand technology. In my classroom, I try to incorporate technology as much as possible. The students, and myself, have no issues USING digital technology. We use Lexia, Fastmath, Weebly educational games, and the digital resource library offered by the AEA on a daily basis.
Why I cringe at anyone who calls themselves a technologically literate person is because I find Managing and Evaluating technology to be overwhelming. As stated in the article by Koehler and Mishra digital technology is unstable (rapidly changing). When I feel like I have evaluated a resource thoroughly enough for my students to use it it seems as though that resource changes, gets a new edition, or is no longer available. For a person to become technologically literate they must be able to adapt as rapidly as technology changes which I find to be near impossible.
How you could teach your students about ethical issues related to technology.
I teach my students about ethical issues related to technology through classroom discussions. This may be the most concrete topic that I am able to discuss with my students. Technology is ingrained into the lives and they are never short on personal experiences when discussing interactions with technology.
Plagiarism is not a topic that I cover very thoroughly. We focus a lot on building the ability to find information from a source. I want my students to be able to identify and use pertinent information without having to put that text into their own words. I think plagiarism is better suited for middle to high school.
Digital responsibility is a topic we cover in health. We discuss how technology is used appropriately and in moderation.
Digital privacy is the topic that I give the most emphasis in my classroom. We discuss why it is important for an elementary student to stay anonymous online, while evaluating how much privacy is lost through online profiles (facebook, instagram, and snapchat). The students grasp very quickly that they give away a lot of gender and age identifying information by listing favorite songs, movies, activities, and hobbies on online profiles.
Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.
The definition and my understanding:
As defined by the ITEEA technological literacy is one's ability to use, manage, evaluate and understand technology. In my classroom, I try to incorporate technology as much as possible. The students, and myself, have no issues USING digital technology. We use Lexia, Fastmath, Weebly educational games, and the digital resource library offered by the AEA on a daily basis.
Why I cringe at anyone who calls themselves a technologically literate person is because I find Managing and Evaluating technology to be overwhelming. As stated in the article by Koehler and Mishra digital technology is unstable (rapidly changing). When I feel like I have evaluated a resource thoroughly enough for my students to use it it seems as though that resource changes, gets a new edition, or is no longer available. For a person to become technologically literate they must be able to adapt as rapidly as technology changes which I find to be near impossible.
How you could teach your students about ethical issues related to technology.
I teach my students about ethical issues related to technology through classroom discussions. This may be the most concrete topic that I am able to discuss with my students. Technology is ingrained into the lives and they are never short on personal experiences when discussing interactions with technology.
Plagiarism is not a topic that I cover very thoroughly. We focus a lot on building the ability to find information from a source. I want my students to be able to identify and use pertinent information without having to put that text into their own words. I think plagiarism is better suited for middle to high school.
Digital responsibility is a topic we cover in health. We discuss how technology is used appropriately and in moderation.
Digital privacy is the topic that I give the most emphasis in my classroom. We discuss why it is important for an elementary student to stay anonymous online, while evaluating how much privacy is lost through online profiles (facebook, instagram, and snapchat). The students grasp very quickly that they give away a lot of gender and age identifying information by listing favorite songs, movies, activities, and hobbies on online profiles.
Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.
I think that some people are technologically literate, however they may have a different definition of what that means than you do. I agree that it is difficult to evaluate using technology. I am curious about your discussions with your students about ethics and technology. How do those discussions go? How do you stay on topic? How often do you discuss the ethics of technology? Are there better or different ways you could incorporate the ethics of technology? Just some things to think about.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you feel that teaching about plagiarism is better suited for middle to high school students? Just curious! I had an experience this past semester working with an ESL student in 2nd grade where I had to teach her about plagiarism because she was working on a project and wanted to copy word for word from her research. While I think that plagiarism may be a difficult concept to comprehend at a younger age, I think it is still important. Is there a way you could incorporate the topic in a lesson that the students will understand? What grade do you currently teach? I think teaching about digital privacy is extremely important in today's society also! Thanks for teaching the future generations about this!
ReplyDeleteI've had students reluctant to answer questions, and some answer questions incorrectly because they did not want to copy from the author. Plagiarism is an important topic. I will need to spend more time on it in the future.
DeleteI studied graphic design in college, and I am often needing to re-teach myself the updated Adobe programs nearly constantly. I agree with you when you say that keeping up with technology is near impossible. However, I also find this to be more of a positive issue than a negative one. The great advances we have taken as a human race in terms of technology are nothing short of incredible. But finding that 'sweet spot' of technology within the classroom is a struggle that many teachers and students face. I think you're doing a great job of introducing multiple platforms to your students and creating group discussion about the ethics of using technology - it's the starting point to exposing the students to further instruction in this field.
ReplyDeleteAdam,
ReplyDeleteI too have seen large amounts of technology like Lexia and other platforms being used in classrooms. In my practicum experience this past semester the teacher utilized laptops and various programs for nearly 60% of the school day. I initially thought this was far too much as I still remember the times of my elementary schooling and how everything was done with textbooks and papers. It took a while for me to recognize the extreme benefits that these programs have and the importance of using such programs in classrooms. They really allow for students to go at their own pace and learn in manners that they prefer.
I really enjoyed your perspective on someone claiming to be technologically literate. You are correct when you say that technology changes so rapidly that being completely literate is nearly impossible. There is always something new to learn. Most regular citizens do not see much change in a year-to-year basis as they only see technology change in their cellphones and computer software. Technology literacy is a never ending skill that can lose value if you do not keep up with the cutting-edge.
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ReplyDeleteI definitely enjoyed your post! Technological Literacy can get complicated with changing technologies. However, the skills you acquire to understand and navigate technology will be useful--even among the ever-changing technologies in our world today.
ReplyDelete