Blogging Advice for Teachers

The use of blogging as a collaborative tool has numerous benefits that enable the student to work cohesively with another individual or with a group in discussing a topic and allows for appropriate peer review. In order to ensure a standard protocol by which students write with a purpose, read critically, and conduct peer and self anlysis with conviction specific guidelines of blogging must be followed. Ann Davis, an information trainer specialist recommends several criteria for blogging which when followed creates an ideal blogging environment. She first recommends that students sign a code of conduct which covers "netiquette" which when compromised risks loss of computer and internet access. When teaching blogging, Davis suggests taking critical practice time to ensure students have a good grasp of the concept. This can be facilitated through demonstration and practice. Specific "Dont's" applied to blogging are to avoid the perception that blogging is another social networking phenomenon, but a venue for scholarly discourse; beware of freebies offered on free blog sites that could intefere with student learning and be disruptive to the overall climate of collaboration, consider open source software for greater autonomy; avoid sequential style as the bloggers submission may be compromised through time rather than substance; and be a part of the community of bloggers in which you have emersed your students. This is all sound advise which I will utilize when initiating blogging assignments for my students.

Sturgeon, J. (2008). Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging. T H E Journal, 35(2), 26-30. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

Virtual Reality in the classroom

Virtual reality is defined as technology that allows students to explore and manipulate computer generated, 3-dimensional, multimedia environments in real time. Virtual reality integration within a classroom lesson may greatly impact a student’s overall perception of a lesson.
Virtual reality technology can assist teachers in addressing issues related to content knowledge, motivation, interest, and assessment performance of students in the classroom. The incorporation of this type of technology generates both high interest and involvement with participating students. Virtual Reality in the realm of special education has been shown to positively impact student learning because the presentation of varying formats also addresses varying learning styles. Smedley, T.M. & Higging, K. (2005) in Virtual Technology: “Bringing the World into the Special Education Classroom says that technology based applications give students access to worlds and environments that are inaccessible, too expensive, or too dangerous in a classroom setting; enable students with disabilities to experience laboratories and field trips at their own pace; and allow them to repeat the experience as many times as necessary.” The potential for students with disabilities when using virtual reality simulation is pronounced. Students with cognitive disabilities can learn complex concepts, or a physically disabled student could be afforded opportunities to walk and compete with others. In the Inclusion classroom virtual simulations might serve to equalize disparities between the special education and regular education students. As students would be using similar models to obtain a “skill level”, the special education students might perceive this environment as more “fair” The students can use multiple intelligence(s) to produce a similar product in a manner more suitable to their style of delivery. The same might be said for other subgroup of students such as ESOL, and Life Skills. The overall benefit of Virtual Reality is its positive impact on students learning.

Smedley, T., & Higgins, K. (2005). Virtual Technology: Bringing The World Into The Special Education Classroom. Intervention in School & Clinic, 41(2), 114-119. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

Strangman, N., & Hall, T. (2003). Virtual reality/simulations. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved October 26, 2010 from http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_vr.html

Working Off-line

Researching Off-line

I was excited to learn about using the internet to work offline. I often find my self struggling to find websites that are suitable for 6years to research on. I worry about security, as well as students getting “lost” in cyberspace. Searching the internet takes skills that many 6years have not obtained. However, I do strive to begin teaching them skills they will need in the future, such as how to research on the web.

My new understanding of using the internet “off line” allowed me to discover that I could integrate offline learning in my own classroom. I can self select where I want my students to go on the internet and provide them with limited sites, therefore decreasing the chances that they will find themselves feeling “lost.”

To monitor of not to monitor...that is the question!

In class this week, we discussed several topics, among those we discussed if it was ok for teachers to be able to use the computers on their breaks and during lunch periods. I personally feel that teachers should be able to use the computer to handle business and personal matters. I feel very strongly about this because teachers deal with stressors just as everyone else in other professions. Considering this, administrators should have flexibility when using monitoring software. I do believe we must give teachers the opportunity to handle matters that occur during the business day without having to leave their jobs to do so. Sending emails is a great way for teachers to handle matters outside of school. Now, if teachers are sending emails with their school email address, I do believe that could be monitored, but not from their personal emails. I also think teachers should be allowed access certain sites and allow students to do the same. After considering that I may become a technology professional I conducted my own research for a software system that would work for a school while also allowing teachers to access their own emails and I believe CompuGuardian would be great. CompuGuardian can be obtained at http://www.compuguardian.com/

Telecommunication Plan Promote New Literacies

I believe a primary focus of teachers in primary education should be seeking technologies which support instruction and learning for young students. With telecommunications applications becoming increasingly prevalent in schools at all levels, teachers must consistently remain knowledgeable about ever evolving technology, its applications and how it will affect instruction now and in the future. Teachers in collaboration with such individuals as IT specialists and school administrators must develop and implement plans that incorporate technology applications into school programs and courses. They must determine what, and how technology equipment is to be used for curriculum development. This plan must also include recommendations to improve security of the school district’s data, and new multimedia technologies that will enable increased creativity and productivity for teachers and students.

Effective implementation of this first step leads to the next of teaching students new literacies. In this area, I’ve come to believe that there are several individuals or groups responsible for integrating information literacy including students, teachers, school administrators, parents, community members and businesses as well. Researchers explain that teachers are becoming more determined than ever to stay abreast of the ever evolving types of literacies while at the same time discovering creative ways to integrate these literacies into their curriculums. For young students, teachers are designing activities that promote information literacy and include repetition and continued practice.


Rodriguez, P., Nussbaum, M., Lopez, X., & Sepulveda, M. (2010). A monitoring and evaluation scheme for an ICT-supported education program in schools. Educational Technology & Society, 13(2), 166-179. Retrieved from ERIC database October 24, 2010 http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=66&hid=14&sid=ce2dc8b7-b877-4f35-8482-abcfc8b2c688%40sessionmgr14

Internet Workshops

In addition to an effort of school districts implementing an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to combat some of the pitfalls of internet use such as accessing sites with inappropriate material, safety and privacy issues, computer viruses, and fraud on the internet, educators are providing internet workshops for students, especially those in primary education. Teachers developing Internet Workshops by creating activities applicable to classroom curriculum and students are instructed to complete these activities which typically span over a week’s period. These workshops are designed to help students be better web searchers by providing basic navigation strategies, and an opportunity to work in pairs and groups. Students may share with each other the differences, similarities, features and functions of the most used browsers, and their use as a resource. A benefit example of using the browser is for students who are challenged when spelling a word correctly. They may learn when entering a word incorrectly in a search engine how to spell because the student will receive a prompt “Did you mean:….,” which will display the correct spelling of the word. An example would be my attempt to search the word ornithologist. I entered onethologist in the search engine and immediately the prompt, “Did you mean: ornithologist” appeared.

Finally, I believe with the world of technology changing as rapidly as it is, students typically have more time to search the web so they tend to learn various techniques much quicker than we do. This provides an opportunity for them to teach each other during the workshops, and it provides teachers an opportunity to facilitate instead of direct instruction and learn as well.

Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2010) Technology in special education, integrating educational technology into teaching. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.