Infographics

An infographic is a quick way to get information across to a reader. The most effective ones are eye-catching, colorful and easy to follow. They can highlight basic facts, present an argument, compare events or products, and many more. I think they are a great way for students to learn the important parts of a lesson, or to be used as a study guide! The possibilities of using infographics in education are endless! I used a website called Piktochart.com to create my own infographic on basic information about World War I and World War II. 

When searching for infographics, I focused on a social studies or history classroom. The following infographics are ones that I find appealing because of the layout, color theme, appearance, information, etc. They could easily be used in a classroom. Please enjoy!

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230253

http://imgur.com/gallery/SCVWkFx

http://www.findingdutchland.com/declaration-of-human-rights/

The Connected Student

Above is a concept map showcasing the various networks that I use regularly in my personal life. I believe that I am pretty savvy when it comes to technology, but I like to stick to a few main tools that I use for most of my online contributions. I was surprised that my concept map seems to think otherwise, as there is quite a few on the list! 

*Note: perhaps in comparison to my classmates' lists, this will be bare..

Here is a map of what I think today's connected student would look like. I created classroom/educational categories and personal categories. I also included a random category. The reason I did this was to show the many ways that we can integrate students' personal interests and classroom learning. By using networks that students are already familiar with, they will take the lead on using these tools. I believe that the more learning relates to a student's personal life, the more likely they are to be engaged and remember the information and process of learning. As teachers, this is our ultimate goal, right? To have students engaged in their learning and take that learning with them as they leave our classrooms. Why not give it a try?  

Information Overload

In the past three weeks, we have had three presenters come to our classroom. For both a teacher and a student, having a guest speaker come into your room and provide information for students is a great learning tool. Speakers allow for a variety of perspectives on many topics, giving students different opinions to dissect. 

However with currently being in my last few weeks of university EVER, I'm finding it hard to keep all of the information in order and absorb it all in the short amount of time we have. The presenter this week shared many different tech tools that he enjoyed. Maple, Diigo, ScoopIt, etc. 

I often find it hard to keep track of which website or tool does what. As great as it is to have so many options online, I like to have a handful of tools that I can use. These tools are ones that I know my way around very well and feel comfortable using. I don't like using too many tech tools, as it becomes confusing. Even with tools that are supposed to help organize information (like Feedly), I still often find it hard to maintain the variety of options I have online. 

My Goal: to play around with some new tech tools and become more comfortable with them! 

The Real Me vs. The Online Me

This week we had a lot of discussion about Digital Identity and Digital Dualism. I had never heard of these terms, although I had a pretty good idea of what they meant. For those who may not know, let me assist you..

Digital Identity is who you are online. What you post, the terms you search, the sites you visit, all of these things make up your digital identity.

Digital Dualism is the conflicting identities of who you are online and who you are in real life. 

It wasn't until I was finished my first degree and into my Bachelor of Education that I realized how significant one's Digital Identity can be. It can truly make or break one's career. I had never given it much thought, that is, what I posted online. (Let me take this opportunity to say that I do not suddenly regret my past online contributions!) I have always been quite cautious about the security and privacy of all of my online services. However, this seems to be irrelevant with the advances and loop-holes in today's technology. It's a scary thought that if someone really wants to get information about you, or anything you've put online, it's pretty easy. 

As EVERY Education student has done in the past year or two, I scanned through all of my social media profiles. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. I made sure there was nothing that could potentially be manipulated to have any negative effect on me, if the situation were to arise. It was calming to know that I didn't really delete much, it was more or less a sweep of photos I didn't want online anymore (ex-friends, ex-boyfriends, all that fun stuff..). As much as I felt confident clicking the mouse and watching the posts and photos disappear from the screen, it's quickly replaced by a feeling of unease knowing that you have no control of where those pictures ended up online. Although deleted, they could be in the hands of motivated strangers. 

As teachers, we all understand that our personal lives are soon to be gone and we will forever be known by the public as teachers. Students, parents, grandparents, etc. will all know us as teachers. The perfect, smart, talented and creative citizens that are in control of the education of the future... No pressure though! As much as we know that our trips to Walmart will soon include many "Hi Ms. Korman"s, it's a tough reality we are going to face. We cannot screw up, all eyes are on our every move. Kids are so tech-savvy today that they virtually have access to everything. 

After giving my fellow teachers an anxiety attack, I will turn to the positives of the situation! Our profession could not put us in a better situation to be great role models for students. We can teach students how to use onlines services in a safe and effective manner. We can teach them the dangers of the online world. We can show them what is appropriate and inappropriate to post online. We can embrace technology and our digital identity, turning it into a fantastic learning opportunity for students. 

My hopes are to show students that online isn't everything. Yes, it is a huge part of our life BUT it does not need to be our entire life. We do not need to vent about a fight with our best friend on Facebook for everyone to see. We do not need to post mean or rude comments about another person to make us feel better. We can use technology as a tool, not as a crutch.  

#twitterthoughts

Source: http://blog.zogdigital.com/2013/04/01/meme-madness-4-components-of-a-successful-meme/

I've been a member of twitter for a few years now. As a regular user of social media, I find it a very efficient way to share information and communicate with people. It's super easy to use, navigating both the app and on-line versions are simple.

When I first signed up with twitter, the majority of tweets were simple words. Now there are endless photos and videos being posted everyday. In my opinion this is a positive. Why not have videos, music, photos, quotes, words, and whatever else on one social media site! I will continue to use twitter, I enjoy keeping up-to-date on what's going on with friends, family and the world. I don't post very often, right now I'm too busy!   

Organizing Yourself Online

Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Email, Weebly, Google Community, Blogs, Webcasts, Podcasts, Vine... the list goes on and on. 

Almost everyone has multiple on-line accounts and services, probably going way beyond the necessary amount. It's often difficult to remember which password and user name goes with which service. An extra number in this password, an upper case letter for this username, a completely new password for Twitter because you've forgot and had to reset it 3 times last month. It can be nearly impossible to keep track of the information needed to use various on-line services. This is why it is so important to keep yourself organized on-line! It can save you a lot of time, energy and effort (not to mention the cost to replace whatever object you took your frustration out on) by taking the time to organize yourself on-line. It's also important to take initiative to keep yourself safe. The more often you have to change usernames or passwords, the more at-risk the security of your on-line life can be. 

Whether you like to admit it or not, everyone has forgotten a password or two in their life. I am no different. To keep myself more organized on-line I try to keep all of the services I use as secure as possible. I do this by writing down passwords and usernames for various services and putting them in a secure place in my apartment. I do not share this type of information with anyone, just to be safe! 

I think it's very important to teach students these skills, as they are growing up in a very technology-oriented world. They need to have the knowledge to be safe while using on-line services. We know that lives can be greatly affected by what we post or do on-line regardless of when we do so. Actions or words posted years ago can affect one's future. We want to prevent this as much as possible. By teaching students about on-line organization and safety, the better equip they will be to live in a world of technology!

In my classroom, I will most likely use Pinterest, Email, Google Communities, Blogs and many more. I am unsure how I feel about using Twitter in a classroom, something to think about... 

Source: http://www.jokeoverflow.com/picture-jokes/funny-signs/organized-people

The First Wake Up Call of '15

The Internet for Educators class has quite the agenda this week. Being the first week of the new semester, there was no wading into the course, we jumped right in! We began the week off with our first presenter, Dean Shareski. Dean posed some very simple yet difficult questions. The hand-in-hand questions that stuck out to me were the following: how is learning different now and why is it this way?

Learning is an ongoing and ever-changing part of society. The way we teach, the way we learn and the way we view education has adapted and been modified throughout history. Our values as communities and cultures have constantly been adjusted dependent on the era. I believe that current education is headed in a very positive and productive direction, however the future will always be the unknown. Currently we are starting to teach students skills that will (hopefully) carry through their adult life. These skills go beyond the curriculum material and into who each student is as an individual. We admire characteristics such as compassion, loyalty, dependability, honesty, effort, and determination, just to name a few. As a society, we value these traits in our workforce and are therefore attempting to create an ideal generation that is productive, peaceful and successful. As up-and-coming teachers we hope to affect our student's lives for more than the amount of time in which they are in our classroom. 

Our second presenter of the week was Jon Finch. Jon had presented to a class I was in last year, so I was familiar with how his presentation was going to go. What I did not predict was the extent of the wake-up call he had in store for us. 

Jon's presentation was an informal discussion about many aspects of education, one being copyright. Copyright was something that I have heard of many times, and understand how and why it is in place. What I didn't understand was how many restrictions teachers have when it comes to copyright and technology. The list of restrictions and obligations seems endless! Netflix, Songza, and iTunes can be great resources when used in the right way, but Jon seemed to put a quick end to those possibilities. As much as I felt a little defeated and frustrated, I found myself having to remember that Jon was only the bearer of bad news, not the creator. Jon went over MANY of the restrictions, regulations, and consequences of copyright, but I still find myself discovering new and annoying rules in the book he gave us. I left class feeling mainly frustrated. Why do they create so many great resources for a classroom if we can't use them? They don't expect me to actually pay for all of these, do they?

The Copyright presentation was extremely informative and great for us to know now rather than later. However, it left myself (and I'm sure others) wondering how we can get around the restrictions in our placement. Having your own classroom is a different situation, but being a student teacher doesn't allow for the extent of freedom we might have this coming September. I think copyright is something we should all keep in mind in the next few weeks, but I'm not sure what we can do to change anything...