Open Access Learning

This week for Educational Technology, it was all about open access. Just about everyone has access to technology, more so now than ever. This has changed the landscape of the classroom and education as a whole.

            In our learning environments, we have endless ways to share. In the YouTube video “OpenEducation Matters: Why is it important to share content?” it was discussed about how something put online can reach people all around the world.  This feeds into the concept of participatory communities - people are hungry for information, and are also the creators of that information. As educators, we have an obligation to create content and share it along with the information that we’re taking in for our own use.

            In the classroom, I believe open access can be easy. Uploading a video of your unique lesson to YouTube or blogging creative lesson plans is something everyone can and should do. It can help anyone learn something, whether it be another teacher or a struggling student that’s googling something they need more help with.

            I believe the future of education lies in technology. Students having internet access can bring learning to a whole new level, because they can access content at all times of day. Smart phones have already capitalized on it, because people can use them literally almost anywhere in the world at any time. Getting new information is at the click of a button. It will be different, but I believe it will be good.

            I do not believe textbooks will become obsolete. Traditional paper textbooks, however, may. E-books are a whole new plateau of education and the open access platform. They can be shared at the click of a button, and used anywhere – laptop, smart phone, tablet, etc. I also believe textbooks will be supplemented more than ever with external resources – videos, articles, and websites with games – to help kids see something in another way. 

Sharing is Caring

                This week’s assignment was all about sharing your work. The more technologically based the world gets, the more it becomes an obligation to share rather than a choice. Everyone should be sharing something in order to both assist themselves and others in the ever-lasting journey of teaching that we’ve all embarked upon. 

This week’s topic video was Sharing:The Moral Imperative by Dean Shareski. In Shareski’s video, he discusses how important people sharing what happens in the classroom can be for other educators. A lot of the teachers in his video made blogs. I believe blogs are the most effective way to share with a large range of people. The teacher who made the graphing lesson that more than 6000 people used was inspiring to me, because something that seemed so little in the beginning ended up meaning so much.

            There is a fine line between what and what not to share. In Amy Burvall’s video, #daretoshare, she says the entire process should be shared. I’m not sure I necessarily agree with that. The entire process can be important, this can be detrimental to children. If their failures to learn something are broadcasted to the world, that can be really discouraging. I think documenting the students as a class can be effective during the process, and if they want, sharing their individual successes at the end is a good way to get everyone involved. Regardless of one’s obligation as a teacher to share, the students being comfortable and feeling safe in their world and schooling is the most important thing.

            Sharing both face to face and online, I believe, are important. Sometimes you need to be in front of someone to feel comfortable with what you’re learning, and other times, all you need is  YouTube video or a blog post to get a feel for something. When I’m a teacher, I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to create a classroom website/blog to catalog what we’re doing. It could be a resource for both parents and other educators to keep a tab on what’s going on in my classroom, and how it’s working for the students. I would have a feedback form available so if someone had suggestions or concerns, they could be addressed.

            Public writing being formal and error-free is something that is an issue. Writing something up real quick is prone to errors. A friend of mine read my first blog post then let me know I used a wrong word, something I hadn’t noticed just quickly glossing over after I finished typing it up. Being formal and using academic language is important, but it isn’t the end of the world if you have a typo. When it comes to sharing, it’s more important, at least in my eyes, to share with a word misspelled than to not share at all.

            I believe transparency in the classroom should be a given. There should be a way to share what you’re doing with whoever wants to know, whether it be parents or a teacher on the other side of the world that is teaching the same things you are. Making yourself, students, and their parents comfortable can be an issue, but it can be done.

            

Social Media and Me

My name is Bernadette Grady. I'm 19 years old. I live with my boyfriend, Matt, and my cat, Kitty. I go to the University of Akron, and I'm an early childhood education major. 

I’m a big user of social media. I religiously use Snapchat and Instagram. I use Facebook less often, mostly for family and groups. I use Pinterest, even though I don’t follow anyone I know and am not followed by anyone I know on it. I just made a Twitter for this class.

 I definitely agree with most things the author of A Teenager’s View on Social Media said. The only reason I use Facebook often is a private group my friends have to keep in touch and make plans. Instagram is definitely the one that makes your life seem the most glamorous, showing only the best shots of a night. Snapchat is where I post a thousand pictures of my cat, my boyfriend, and the show I’m currently watching on Netflix (currently One Tree Hill). Pinterest is definitely mostly female. My boards consist of crock pot recipes and DIY Christmas decorations. On my personal social media that interacts with friends and family, I try to put my best foot forward. I post the good highlights of my life, because I don’t want to share the lows with the world.

Technology in the classroom is nothing new to me, though it has certainly evolved. It’s definitely transformed from taking math practice tests and reading comprehension quizzes on computers to being a major part of life inside school and out. I never thought I’d see a day where I would be using an iPad in class to look things up. When I learned I had to have a Twitter and a blog for this class, I was pretty confused, but now it’s getting exciting. I think technology being added to the classroom is awesome, and we’re definitely in for a wild ride over the next few years to see where it takes us.