Answer: How has the Participate module prepared you to meet each standard listed?   Standard C: The online teacher plans, designs, and incorporates strategies to encourage active learning, application, interaction, participation, and collaboration in the online environment. Standard E: The online teacher models, guides, and encourages legal, ethical, and safe behavior related to technology use. Standard J: The online teacher interacts in a professional, effective manner with colleagues, parents, and other members of the community to support students’ success. The Digital Literacy section in the Participate module has helped prepare me to meet Standard C on active and collaborative learning by teaching me how to evaluate and curate digital resources that promote inquiry and active learning/application. It was in this same lesson that I first learned about social bookmarking as a means of curating and sharing content. As stated in my post from this lesson , I see social bookm...

Answer: How did you modify your technology habits? What is the most proactive means of ensuring the most balanced blend of technology and well-being? What can students and teachers do to make sure they get the most from technology while simultaneously safeguarding good health? Below you will find the Google Calendar that I created for improving my digital health. Starting on Monday September 4th, I implemented a few changes in my schedule, some of which were single instances and others have been recurring items. Single Instances: 09/05 - Adjusted my monitor height and desk chair position. 09/06 - Scheduled a walk around campus on my planning period. 09/08 - Planned dinner with loved ones. 09/09 - Participated in a 5k. Recurring Instances: 2:15 daily reminder - I get a calendar notification every day at the beginning of my planning period to remind me to sit up straight as I work. 5:00-6:00 daily unplug - At this time every day I try to put away my phone and spend time with ...

Create: Develop a digital resource which addresses the following questions. a. What is the most important step we can take in terms of ensuring our digital safety? b. What strategies can we take to help our students consistently keep digital safety in the forefront of their minds? Answer: How might your artifact be implemented in a learning environment? The most important step we can take to ensure digital safety for ourselves and for our students is to recognize that each of us leaves a digital footprint every time we go online. Where we go and what we do online determines the types of threats and the degree of risk to which we subject ourselves and other members of our DLC. We must help students understand the types and the nature of the risks that they face, as well as the gravity of the fact that their "virtual" life leaves a lasting impression on their "real" life and the lives of others. So our most important step for ensuring digital safety and our m...

Answer: 1. How can a DLC ensure that citizens within the community have access to an environment where an AUP protects members as well as the community itself, where individuals uphold laws, and a cooperative/collective venture provides robust, safe, and ethical resources and opportunities for learning? As members of a DLC, students and teachers have the world at their fingertips. This comes with both immense potential as well as the threat of danger. These potential rewards and risks are not inherent to the internet and technology themselves; the internet and technology are neither "good" nor "evil." Instead, the good and the bad, the risks and the rewards depend on the behaviors of the users, their decision of how to interact with others and what sort of content to share. While DLC leaders cannot necessarily control the content that is already present, we should focus on what we can control (or at least influence ): learner behaviors. Enter the AUP. Accept...

Create: Using the information from this lesson, create a digital resource that encapsulates the types of respectful attitudes and behaviors appreciated and necessary for civility in a digital learning community–a virtual Netiquette DO's and DON’Ts list. I have really enjoyed this section of the Participate course. I found that all of the information, resources, and strategies that were presented in the module will be very practical for use with my students. Below is a video I created to implement in my classroom this year. In one of the previous lessons, I read of a teacher who had her students "earn their digital learner's license" as part of a journey toward digital citizenship and literacy. Borrowing from that idea, I've decided to do something similar with my students. I teach in a brick and mortal school, but we are 1:1 with Chromebooks in academic classrooms. I teach a lot of freshmen and sophomores, so many of them are at the point in their lives wher...

Answer: What types of barriers might impede students’ opportunities to access digital learning? What might we do to eliminate such barriers? The first lesson in accessing DLCs has been an eye-opening experience for me, starting with the research on services available in my area. I've learned a lot about access in general and a few eye-opening things about my area of Georgia specifically, as well as some great strategies for leveling the playing field for people with disabilities. I'll elaborate on these in the sections below. About Barriers in my "Neck of the Woods" I recently changed internet service, in hopes of gaining faster speeds at a slightly lower rate than my previous contract. I've been a little disappointed, by the way, because if anything, service with my new provider seems slower . Maybe it's just me, because the speed test did indicate I was uploading and downloading at speeds close to what was advertised. Anyway... After analyzing the map...

Answer: What were the three most useful tools or resources resulting from the web walkabout? How can students be taught to safely collect tools and resources that can help them maximize their learning? What policies or procedures might need to be in place to make this possible? In this learning walkabout, I explored a number of different online learning resources. I bookmarked a number of tools that I found valuable for my classroom, and you can access that list of bookmarks at www.diigo.com/profile/jasonpurser/webtools . I also created a more visual grouping of these using Symbaloo which is a great way for you to take a quick glance at these if you'd like. A few of these resources would be great embedded in my teacher website, namely the Evaluating Resources video and Khan Academy videos. They are great for both reinforcing content and for teaching digital literacy. Some of these resources are very helpful webtools that would be great for lab/virtual learning. I especial...

Answer: Consider what would be needed to create an ideal digital learning community. What would be needed to bring such a vision to fruition? What can one do to make an existing DLC more attractive to and welcoming for students and teachers? After completing the previous lesson on joining Digital Learning Communities, I realized that in a way I'm part of a few other DLCs that I not previously considered. These include local DLCs in my district, such as the FITE Club ( Floyd County Instructional Technology Educators ) as well as a few groups that I follow on social media, such as Standards Based Learning and Grading on Facebook. These are in addition to those shared on my social bookmarking link. Reflecting on why I joined and continue to be part of these groups, I began to consider what would make an ideal DLC and how to make it welcoming for other learners. Here's what I've come up with (so far): 1. The ideal DLC is open, but closely monitored and moderated. DLCs sh...

Answer: What is the name of the DLC joined and the reason why the DLC was the most intriguing? What traits made the DLCs explored more noticeable or impressive than the others? What is the DLC like? What can Digital Citizens do to make the process of joining a DLC more appealing to and easier for students? The purpose of Participate Lesson 2 was to help users see the benefits of joining a Digital Learning Community (DLC). The lesson began by introducing users to social bookmarking and social bookmarking tools such as Delicious , Diigo , Google Bookmarks, and Symbaloo . I'm a HUGE fan of using Symbaloo Learning Paths for activities such as virtual field trips and webquests, but I decided to try Diigo because of its annotation features. I have started a list of bookmarks for great DLCs using Diigo (shared below), and I hope to add to this list throughout the school year. To view my Diigo bookmarks, please click here . Please note that the link shared above does share brief descri...

Image Credit: John Shandy https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33393184 "Given our already overcrowded curriculum, finding effective ways to integrate Digital Citizenship throughout the school day will be challenging. But it is a challenge we must take on." 1 The world in which we live, work, and play is now more connected than ever. As citizens in a global digital environment, digital citizenship has become as big a part of our curriculum (and pedagogy) as the content we teach. As we teach our students about the nine elements of digital citizenship, we must remember that as teachers we are digital citizens too; and not just digital citizens, but digital  leaders.  As described in the quote by Impero and Digital Citizenship Institute, teachers must recognize, respond to, and emulate appropriate digital citizenship. Personally, as I read and think about teaching and modeling appropriate digital citizenship, I feel a little overwhelmed. There's Dr. Ribb...

So that title is not exactly true… I’ve  done a little personal blogging  before. And I had started this same blog (on another domain) before joining an online teaching endorsement program with my school district. I'm now moving my content to the Blogger platform. So, this is the first time I have blogged about teaching or teacher technology. So bear with me as I start out on something new here, okay? I’ve been teaching for 7 years now, and since the inception of my teaching career technology has always been a big part of my “teacher toolbox.” I remember during my first year of teaching, QR codes had just become a big deal in our school system and I was one of the first teachers that allowed my students to  use   their   cell   phones  (GASP!) to access online resources like notes and homework help videos. I was  that  new teacher; the one that allowed those “wretched devices” to be brought into the classroom, much to the dismay of ...