Final Reflection

I have enjoyed learning about all the various types of on-line educational tools available for student and teacher use.  I feel as though I have only scratched the surface of what is out there, and there are probably more being added every week.  When I started this class, I always felt as though I was willing to learn about new technology if someone was willing to teach me.  Now, I have a lot more confidence to use these tools and search out new ones to fit my needs.  I think I owe a lot of that confidence to how this class was set up.  There was a great balance between learning on your own and having support if you needed it.  In addition, I also appreciated that for each activity there were several tools to choose from.  This was helpful with applying the activities to applicable academic activities to the individual area each person taught.  I think some people had more difficulties than others with completing these activities during the start of the school year.  It appears that there was more completion and participation during the summer session.  Due to this it is difficult for me to comment on the collaboration section.  However, I did enjoy using the blog format.  It was easy to use, post activities, and see how others completed the different activities.

I have used several of the web 2.0 with students over the past 2 quarters.  I have used Story Bird to make a social story for a student and use the google doc form I created almost daily to share observational information with my students.  I have plans to try using Spicy Nodes, and Glogster for some expressive language activities after winter break.  At the start of the class I rated my comfort level with technology at a 5.  After completing all of the activities in the class, I would now rate my comfort level at an 8.75 (Emily I may still come and hunt you down for a few questions later in the year).  Thanks for the meaningful continuing education course and your help along the way.

Exercise 10: Free Choice

I used Ruistar to make this rubric as a way to track expressive language skills.  When I saw this as an option I jumped on it.  This has been on my to do list for the past 2 years, and I never seem to get around to making it.  This seriously took me 30 seconds to make.  I can't wait to use it for data collection!!!!  I might get crazy and start writing my IEP goals around this measurement tool.  I was not sure how to embed it, so I went old school and copied/pasted it into the post.


Story Telling : Expressive Language Skills Rubric

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Setting	Lots of vivid, descriptive words are used to tell the audience when and where the story takes place.	Some vivid, descriptive words are used to tell the audience when and where the story takes place.	The audience can figure out when and where the story took place, but there isn't much detail (e.g., once upon a time in a land far, far away).	The audience has trouble telling when and where the story takes place.
Sequence	Retells story in correct sequence leaving out no important parts of story.	Retells story in sequence with 2-3 omissions.	Retells story with several omissions, but maintains sequence of those told.	Retells story out of sequence.
Vocabulary	Uses a varied vocabulary appropriate for the audience, and also successfully tries to enlarge the audience's vocabulary.	Uses a varied vocabulary that is appropriate for the audience.	Uses a varied vocabulary that is occasionally a little to simple or a little too hard for the audience.	The vocabulary was not varied OR was routinely inappropriate for the intended audience.
Characters	The main characters are named and clearly described (through words and/or actions). The audience knows and can describe what the characters look like and how they typically behave.	The main characters are named and described (through words and/or actions). The audience has a fairly good idea of what the characters look like.	The main characters are named. The audience knows very little about the main characters.	It is hard to tell who the main characters are.
Problem	It is very easy for the audience to understand what problem the main character(s) face and why it is a problem.	It is fairly easy for the audience to understand what problem the main character(s) face and why it is a problem.	It is fairly easy for the audience to understand what problem the main character(s) face and but it is not clear why it is a problem.	It is not clear what problem the main character(s) face.
Solution to Problem in Story	The solution to the problem is easy-to-understand and is logical. There are no loose ends.	The solution to the problem is easy-to-understand and is somewhat logical.	The solution to the problem was a little hard to understand.	No solution was attempted or it was impossible to understand.

Exercise 9: Fitness Assesment

Scenario 3  Ms. Applegate, a Spanish teacher, heard about an interactive poster tool called Glogster. She played around with it and made some really cool electronic posters about different Spanish-speaking countries to use as visuals with her students. Her students liked the posters so much that she decided to have students make some of their own outlining some key features of different Latino holidays. Ms. Applegate discovered in the computer lab while her 8th grade students were creating accounts that Glogster asked students to verify that they were at least 13 years of age or older. This didn’t pose a problem for her 8thgraders but Ms. Applegate panicked because the following period she planned to do the same activity with her 6th graders.

Discuss the possible ethical issues involved.

First off, I'm feel ashamed to admit it has been awhile since I last looked at the ethics in my field. I'm going off of the ethics from American Speech Language Hearing Association, since that is what I am most familiar with. I don't think that their is any issue with ethics with the 8th grade group. However, it may be considered best practice to inform the parents that their child is going to be creating an online account through the site Glogster. With regard to the 6th grade class, I think if she were to proceed with having these students lie and create accounts, even if they are not of age, there would be a violation of ethics.

Determine if the safety or well-being of anyone is in jeopardy.

I don't think the students safety or well-bing would be in jeopardy if she went ahead and had the students lie and check the box that they were 13 or older. However, I think the teacher would be sending her students extremely mixed messages about doing the right thing, acceptable use of technology, and lying when no one is looking.

What advice, strategy or policy would you recommend to individuals or schools based on this scenario?

If teachers want to use Web 2.0 tools with their students it could be helpful for the district or building to create a checklist of things to consider before proceeding with using a particular tool with a class. For example-do parents need to be informed prior to using this tool, which tools have age restrictions, do students need to create individual accounts, and how do you expect students to respond (public vs. private).

Share any real-life incidents or personal connections related to the scenario.

I'm usually not the first person to jump on the technology train, so I can't think of any incidents that I can relate to this scenario right now. Scenario 7: Chernobyl meltdown…

Scenario 7:  Ms. Jansen, a special ed. teacher, has been using Screencasting in her class to post review screencasts of her lessons and study materials. These screencasts have been heavily used by students and she has received glowing emails from parents thanking her for going this extra distance. Ms. Jansen decides it’s time to have her students create their own screencasts. She struggles with how best to post and share their screencasts and decides to use a class YouTube account/channel. Because some students want to do screencasting from home, she provides students with the class YouTube username and password so they can upload their videos from home. Two disasters ensue: 1.) Students post more than just their screencasts including inappropriate random YouTube videos as well as change the privacy settings of the account. 2.) Students post video content of themselves and their peers and the teacher discovers that some of these students have “no photo” stipulations on file in the office. Before Ms. Jansen can even blink, these videos have been shared/linked to Facebook pages and have an assortment of inappropriate comments posted from outside users.

Discuss the possible ethical issues involved.

That is a big unfortunate whoops!!! Was it unethical or just poor judgment to give the students that password to the account. I tend to lean more towards poor judgment.
Determine if the safety or well-being of anyone is in jeopardy.
 
If a student has a no photo policy because a parent doesn't want the other child's parent to know where they are, because of past abuse, that could lead a safety problem. The part about pictures and video being posted to Facebook, and comments from strangers have been added, also could lead jeopardize the safety of students. Particularly if there is information in the pictures/videos about where to locate these students.

What advice, strategy or policy would you recommend to individuals or schools based on this scenario?

Teachers should put restrictions on passwords and students should not be allowed to post anonymously. If a teacher runs into a similiar situation she should make herself available after school for kids to catch up, or be realistic in the amount of time that needs to be allotted to finishing the assignment at school.

Share any real-life incidents or personal connections related to the scenario. 

Again, since I'm new to this I don't have any personal connections yet to this scenario.

Exercise 8: Polling and Data Gathering

Poll Everywhere was very quick and easy to create.  I think it took me a minute to create this poll.  Which is nice, if you need to create something on the fly.  For my purposes, I don't know that I would use it that much. I watched the video first on how to use Google Forms, and it too was very simple to create.  Again, I'm not sure for my purposes how much I would use these tools.  However, you never know, so I'm glad I learned how.  I choose to create a teacher interview form when students are being evaluated for a disability in the area of articulation.  I was trying to think if this would be an appropriate use of this technology.  I feel as though it would be, since how a teacher respond to various forms for evaluation is recorded in the evaluation report, and usually kept in the student's SPED file.  I guess if a teacher is uncomfortable with filling it out online, I can go and talk with them individually.  

Exercise 7: Cloud Computing

For a few of my 7th and 8th grade students that receive special education service, under the disability of ASD, I have decided to try something new and flip their service this year.  Instead of seeing them 1x a week during their social skills hour.   I am now observing them in a general education class 1x a week and then meeting for about 10 minutes to discuss the observation with them.  The hope is to get a better sense of the skills they are or are not using in the general education setting.  That way we can reinforce generalization and target more specific skills that the students need to continue to work on.  So far it has worked really well.  The kids are receptive to discussing the observation, and making small social goals to work on for the next week.  I have access to an Ipad this year, and I am able to take notes on it via the Google Drive App, while I'm in the class.  I like this option a lot, because I can share the notes with the student's case manager, and social skills teacher (if they have someone different).  I wanted to create a better document to share with the students and teachers.  The one thing I have noticed is that if I create a google drive document with tables on the computer, when I go to edit the document on the Ipad it won't let me edit in the table section.  Do you have any suggestions Emily?

Click here to view the form:
Social Skills General Education Observation Form

Exercise 6: Study Tools

The first study tool I choose to use was Spicynodes.  I actually really liked this study tool, and I think it could have many applications.  It was incredibly easy to figure out.  I think it could help students visualize how their ideas need to link together, and where they can add more detail.  It reminds me of an online graphic organizer.  This tool reminded me a lot of Prezi, but much simpler.  Students can still embed videos and still pictures, which I really liked.  I chose to make a brief example of a presentation about my favorite dog.

Exercise 4and 5: Screencast and YouTube Channel

Screen Cast: I made a screen cast about a homework assignment I give kids to practice their sounds. It was fairly easy to do this activity. Next time I need to remember to hide the recorder, and select the area I want viewed. I could see using this as another tool to have kids create recordings so they can hear themselves. Also, I could see emailing it home for parents to hear. YouTube Channel: This was a breeze to create. I don't quite know how I would use this, but it could be useful to collect interesting videos that I want to use at a later time. If I did that I probably would not keep the channel public.