Educating the Millennium Generation

Teaching the millennium generation can be a very challenging job for today’s educators.  The students of the 21^st century have technology at their fingertips.  They live on their cell phones, play video games with constant stimulation and instant results, and are exposed to a social network meeting people all over the world.  It’s a whole new way of life compared to even 10 years ago with the rapid ever-changing technology.

As a CST instructor, the biggest challenge for educators is keeping abreast all the new technology.  When I adopted my daughters, I took a year off from teaching.  I returned to a classroom filled with new technological advances – one of them was the little portable medium called a USB device.  In the 11 years as a college instructor, I have lived through at least 6 different versions of the Windows Operating System.  What a whirlwind!  

From a student's perspective, Joe’s non-netbook video offered some very interesting points on student learning today.  Technology has broadened the views of our students.  They are not afraid to explore a subject more in-depth because they have the ability via a computer to “click” on an item for more information.  This video made a textbook seem very boring and disinteresting to students.  If teachers are going to continue to use a textbook, they will need to find ways to enhance the learning to motivate students in other areas.  Using an online textbook may be the wave of the future.  Not only will students be engaged, but teachers can customize their own book by choosing what they want in an online textbook. In another YouTube video, it was humorous to see a book being depicted as obsolete where the person didn’t even know how to use it.

After studying the 2009 Michigan Educational Technology Standards, I have mixed opinions as to their main objective.  Students will benefit from learning the moral and ethical objectives relating to pirating, hacking, cyber bullying, plagiarism, and sexting and the ramifications it can have on their future.  However, I feel that the standards are vague and somewhat inconsistent.  Some of the very basic principle functions of computers are missing; functions on what an operating system is and how to utilize an operating system by organizing your media.  Many students who enter our college classes have a very poor understanding of how to create folders and find files stored on various media.  Another issue I find is that many high school students enroll in my software program courses with the belief that they know the program; only to find that they had a very insignificant understanding.  Questions that also come to my mind in my own school district are:  How does the Bay City School District intend to teach their students these technology standards after they laid off their technology instructors due to budget cuts?  Can a general education teacher prepare students for technology in today’s society?

I am glad Michigan has a set of technology standards; however, they need some reconsideration.  I didn’t see anywhere in these standards how Michigan is assessing whether school districts are adhering to these standards and are gauging what their students are actually learning when it comes to technology.  Let’s face it, budgets are tight; technology is expensive.  Government needs to allocate more money to our schools to properly implement these technology standards.

Bibliography

“Delta College Acceptable Use Guidelines.” Web. 04 Feb 2011. <http://www3.delta.edu/AUG.asp>.

“Introducing the Book.”  YouTube. Web. 04 Feb 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek&feature=related>.

“Joes Non-Netbook.”  YouTube. Web. 04 Feb 2011.  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkhpmEZWuRQ>.

“Michigan Educational Technology Standards for Students 2009.”  Web. 04 Feb 2011. <http://techplan.edzone.net/METS/METS2009.pdf>.

“Poll Finds Sexting Common Among Youth.” eSchool News. Web. 04 Feb 2011. <http://www.eschoolnews.com/2009/12/03/poll-finds-sexting-common-among-youth/?>.

Education in the Digital Age

If you want to get something accomplished, you need to have a plan.  It doesn’t always seem like it, but believe it or not, our government has a plan to improve education in the United States.  The National Educational Technology Plan has been written to address President Barack Obama’s mission, “By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.” (Obama)   This plan focuses on incorporating technology into our schools to help create a better educational system.  

While reading this technology plan, the first thing that came to mind was: “Wow, this is good.”  I was expecting to read a plan that was boring and filled with high-tech jargon like most government documents.  Much to my dismay, I found this plan very inspirational to read – to the point that I felt proud to be part of this educational plan to help work towards this common goal set by the President of the United States.  To improve education in the United States, educators will be able to have technology at their fingertips to engage and empower student learning, measure and access student success, and professional development, to name a few.  One objective that I really connected with was the prospect for electronic learning records.  Delta College faculty just completed working on a proposal to implement electronic student records.  All of a student’s work will be kept electronically and a student will be able to give permission rights to faculty, advisors, and other college staff to promote collaboration. 

In order to be successful and accomplish the President’s mission, educators need to support and believe in the plan.  Second, each state and local school district must also have a plan that should be aligned to the National Educational Technology Plan.  The 2010 State of Michigan Educational Technology Plan was filled with more technical jargon than the National Plan.  The state addresses adequate web portals, broadband access with a minimum of 1 Gigabyte per second connectivity, more online curriculum, and data management.  After some digging, I found an outdated Delta College Technology Plan on our intranet.  Delta College has since contracted out our information technology needs.  So, I then decided to check my local school district.  The Bay City Public Schools Technology Plan addresses their hardware, software, infrastructure and budget needs.  It was nice to observe that the technology curriculum includes objectives that are grade specific for the students.  I was a little disappointed to find, or shall I say, not find any mention of assistive technology or any technology for high-risk students.  This was evident in the National and State plans, but no mention in our local plan.  As a mother of a developmentally challenged student, it has been a losing battle to obtain any technology-based support for my daughter. 

In summary, the inspiring National Technology Plan is a broad based plan that outlines the goals and direction for our educational system.  The state and local plans become more specific as to how this plan will be implemented for our students and school districts.  With the help of all government leaders, school administrators, educators, parents and students working together, technology will play an integral part in transforming our education system in this new digital age.

 Bibliography

Bay City Public Schools Technology Plan. Web. 02 Feb 2011.  <http://bcschools.net/attachments/057_TechnologyPlan2007-2010.pdf>.

Teaching For Learning in a Digital Age: 2010 State of Michigan Educational Technology Plan.  Web. 02 Feb 2011.  <http://techplan.org/STP%201010%20Final.pdf>.

Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology.  Web. 02 Feb 2011.   <http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010>.

Professional Standards for Michigan Teachers

What are the Professional Standards for Michigan Teachers?  I asked myself that question when assigned by my professor at Central Michigan University, Bruce Umpstead, to compare them to the objectives in my EDU 590 course.  

Since I had no knowledge of what the Professional Standards for Michigan Teachers consisted of, I was curious to find out so I read all of the standards.  I knew that teaching CST-155 Microsoft Excel at Delta College was helping to prepare students for the workforce.  I tell my students that job candidates who know software programs like Microsoft Excel over candidates that don’t are more likely to win the job.  In my teaching profession, we are not required to incorporate standards into our course.  We are given college objectives for each course that must be followed.  I was astonished to find that the course I teach is somewhat centered on the standards.  My class promotes literacy in a variety of contexts by offering text, graphics and multimedia.  Our college is very focused on diversity and my teaching style accommodates learner diversity.  I could keep going, but our assignment is to concentrate on the 7^th Standard – Technology.  Before I do this, I would like to state that the current online course I am enrolled in at CMU is a prime example of how I want to improve my current course curriculum.  My professor has really engaged my thinking to a higher complex level.  He as structured the classroom environment to promote positive interactions and self-esteem.  I know that he has made me feel like a valued student researcher (that’s what he calls us).

On to discuss the technology standard – the 7^th standard.  Our first two assignments on plagiarism and wikiality really engaged the student researchers to discuss ethical and social issues involving the use of technology in our classroom.  This class is also designed to introduce the class participants to emerging technologies by Professor Umpstead’s use of blogging and a YouTube video presentation that is required.  As a CST instructor, I think that CMU’s use of Wimba software was the epitome for me.  This allows our class to gather together online weekly via a headset and microphone.  A PowerPoint Presentation and examples of our weekly assignments are posted for viewing while we are all engaged in discussion.  Along with all of this going on, students can have sideline chats.  The online sessions are then archived to view again or for those students that need to be absent from class.  This is one example of the 7^th standard to facilitate learning that could not possible without technology.

The EDU 590 course is the best classroom experience I have ever had.  This is because Bruce Umpstead has aligned the EDU 590 course not only to the 7^th technology standard, but to all of the Michigan Standards for Teachers.

Bibliography

"Michigan Standards for Ensuring Excellent Educators." Web. 30 Jan 2011.

     < www.michigan.gov/documents/Pro_128012_7._Devel._layout.pdf>.

   

 “Professional Standards for Michigan Teachers."  Web. 30 Jan 2011.           

       <http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/SBE_approved_PSMT_May_13_2008+coverpg_258601_7.doc>.

Instructional Strategies

Never having to make a lesson plan and looking at the template, I was very intimidated and hesitant as to what an instructional strategy was and how I was going to decide on which one(s) I was going to test and incorporate into my existing online CST-155 Microsoft Excel course.  However, after reading the textbook “Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works,” it became very evident as to what an instructional strategy is and which ones I was already using in my course.  At that moment, a rush of pride overwhelmed me and I wanted to give myself a pat on the back – instead, I treated myself with a chocolate bar. 

Even though I am a computer science technology instructor, my online course needs improvement.  I am enrolled in EDU 590 to become a better college instructor and to become abreast of the new technological advances that constantly take place.  My goal is to incorporate more technology into my Microsoft Excel online format to see if these additional technological additions would make an impact on my students’ learning.  

My lesson plan is to teach Tutorial 3 – Working with Functions & Formulas.  The primary instructional strategy that will be tested in my lesson plan is cues, questions, and advance organizers.  By incorporating a KWHL chart, students will be able to inform me of what they know about IF Statements already, what they want to know, how they are going to learn IF statements, and then what they learned by completing the assignment.  I already have a PowerPoint presentation for my online lecture; however, I am going to add audio to it to give it more multimedia effects.   By using a software program called Jing, I plan on creating a video showing students how to make an IF statement in an Excel worksheet.  That way, if students are struggling on their own with examples from the textbook, they have another interactive example.

A secondary instructional strategy that will be tested in my lesson experiment is similarities and differences.  I have created a non-technology based Wonka assignment in which the students are to calculate a sales commission for employees utilizing an IF statement by hand – no technology.   Then students will be completing the same Wonka assignment by creating an IF statement in a Microsoft Excel worksheet.  They will then share their opinions in a discussion board as to the similarities and differences using technology.

The last instructional strategy that I am compelled to test is the homework and practice.  In order to learn a software program, students must learn the functions and with repetition for remembering them.  Students are required to complete the review assignment at the end of the tutorial in the textbook.  A glossary of terms typed up in Microsoft Word is included with each chapter; however, I want to use the www.flaschardexchange.com website that the textbook alluded to.  Students will be able to use this as a quiz to learn the terms presented in the material.

 “Online learning is becoming more collaborative, contextual and active.  This requires changes in pedagogy, with instructors taking the role of facilitators of information while guiding students toward solutions.” (University of Illinois)  I am very excited to learn about my student’s reaction as they complete this exercise.  In my opinion, some students will just want to get through the material as quickly as they can.  However, on the other hand, I hope to engage the learner that struggles with reading and comprehension as multimedia is utilized. 

Bibliography

Pitler, Howard, Elizabeth Hubbell, Matt Kuhn, and Kim Malenoski.  Using 
     Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.  Alexandria:  2007.

University of Illinois. "Instructional Strategies for Online Courses." Illinois Online

     Network. Web. 25 Jan 2011.   

     <http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/instructionalstrategies.asp>.

Theory of Action

Like most educators, my view on action research was that it was mundane and for the professor working on his/her thesis.  After reading “Action Research: An Educational Leader’s Guide to School Improvement,” I do realize the importance of research to evaluate our educational system to make it a better learning environment for our students.   Ironically, looking back at my teaching style, it was very interesting to note that in a sense, I was conducting action research in my courses.  We are required to survey our students and obtain feedback about the course and instruction.  I usually evaluate these findings and look for ways to incorporate the results into creating a better course.  There is always room for improvement.

I teach computer and science technology courses at a community college.  One of my favorite but most challenging class is taught in an online format.  Even though I teach technology, I would like to concentrate on adding more technology-based instruction into the online class and integrate what I am learning in EDU 590 to improve the course curriculum.  The theory of action for my CST-155 Microsoft Excel course is a series of 4 main focus areas and objectives building upon each other: The Textbook Reading, The Lecture Presentation, The Hands-On Classroom Assignment, Homework Application, and Assessment & Feedback.  This assignment is designed to teach students Tutorial 3 from our textbook which includes the difficult ‘IF function statement.’  After completing this assignment, the student will be competent in this basic function to allow them to progress to the further online chapters which discuss the more difficult ‘if or’ and ‘if and’ functions.

In this exercise, I hope to demonstrate to the students that it is more difficult to do an IF statement by hand.  The students are to keep in mind that this is a small scale exercise; only to imagine this on a much larger scope with more employees to calculate the sales commission.  The students in this course are at varying technology levels.  By incorporating more uses of technology in this course, examples to include a Jing video, online flashcards, and a discussion board, I hope to tap into the student’s individual learning style to assist in a more successful online learning environment.

Bibliography

Glanz, Jeffrey. Action Research: An Educational Leader's Guide to School
     Improvement. Sept 2003: 1-34.

Wikiality

It is very exciting to work for a community college where Madonna, a famous American recording-artist and actress, is a distinguished alumni award recipient.  We all have dreams of Madonna speaking at commencement or performing for our 50^th anniversary celebration.  If only this were true and our dreams had a chance of becoming a reality.  According to Wikipedia, Madonna received the 2008 distinguished alumni award recipient at Delta College, where I am employed as a Financial Aid Officer and Adjunct Instructor.  The reason I know that this information is incorrect, is because I personally edited the Wikipedia page as part of a research assignment for my EDU 590 course at Central Michigan University.  On Sunday evening I made several bogus changes to the wiki page information plus added this impressive component about Madonna.  By Monday morning, the minor word modifications had been corrected.  However, by Thursday of the same week, the additional information about Madonna had not been corrected nor deleted.

With excitement, I could not wait to get started on this internet exercise.  One reason is that this assignment offers a chance for me to learn about Wikipedia, something I have very limited experience and working knowledge of.  It also opened up an opportunity for me to discuss this subject with my school-aged children.  Their main comment to me was “we are told not to use Wikipedia as a resource, but we do anyway.”

Freedom of speech in America is part of the 1^st Amendment of our Bill of Rights.  An extension of this amendment is Freedom of information.  Americans have the right to speak freely as well as the right to access information from the Web.  In my personal opinion, the main responsibility for educators today is not to discourage students from using Wikipedia or other similar websites, but to teach them how to scrutinize information on the Web.  Unfortunately, like most students today, my children use Wikipedia out of convenience.  I am disappointed they are not learning how to analyze the information they are researching to responsibly and effectively use Wikipedia and sites like it. 

Scott Jaschik put my thoughts very eloquently in his article “A Stand Against Wikipedia.”  “Students face an ocean of information today, much of it of poor quality, so a better approach would be to teach students how to triangulate a source like Wikipedia, so they could use other sources to tell whether a given entry could be trusted.  I think our goal should be to equip students with the critical thinking skills to judge." (Jaschik)

Unlike my entry change in Wikipedia, imagine someone reading information from a wiki site that would be cause for alarm.  My professional goal - they will be able to continue to further research the subject and have the knowledge to discard the opinions and put the emphasis on the facts.

Bibliography

Jaschik, Scott. "A Stand Against Wikipedia." Inside Higher Ed. Web. 

18 Jan 2011. < http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/26/wiki>.

Williams, Greg. “Wikipedia As Cartoons.” Drawn. Web. 18 Jan 2011.

                <http://drawn.ca/archive/wikipedia-as-cartoons/>.

Academic Integrity

The realization that plagiarism is easier and much more acceptable in our new digital world has always been my personal view on academic integrity.  However, this assignment has challenged my view and given me a new perspective on the subject.  It not only has shown me how truly easy it is to plagiarize from the Internet, but it has expanded my definition of academic integrity.  

Personally, I have no experience with anti-plagiarism software.  Therefore, I was a little apprehensive as to what the results might prove when beginning this writing assignment.  To my dismay, the software found my essay to be completely plagiarized.  The findings were proven correct.  My second attempt was to add a few original thoughts of my own; however, the rest of the essay underwent only grammatical structural modifications.  The second findings were only 72% and I was taken aback.  After looking at my essay, the thoughts and ideas behind it really belonged to a different author; all I did was change the grammatical structure of the essay.  In an essence, this is plagiarism and it was much easier than I had anticipated.

Anti-plagiarism software is available for instructors to use as a tool to deter cheating.  However, it should not be heavily relied upon as the only source.  My essay is a great example, depicting the ease of plagiarism by only changing sentence structure.  In this new digital age, educators need to take a tougher stance on academic integrity.  Educators should not only enforce violation policies but promote student awareness of what digital plagiarism is.  This may, in turn, help students transform their ethical belief that ‘because it is available on the web, it is okay for the taking.’   

The experiences I have had with plagiarism entail cheating from other students’ work and not necessarily the web.  One of my students was compelled to get caught up in class after registering late.  She electronically downloaded another student’s work and submitted it as her own.  Sometimes, these cases are suspect of plagiarism when the incorrect work is exactly the same; but hard to prove when students work collectively. However, this particular student failed to remove the electronic header with the original student’s name. Another serious example of how easy it is to plagiarize in the digital world, but in a different manner.

However, educators truly intent on eliminating the problem must look to prevention rather than detection if the effect is to be long lasting.  (Guliano) Although there is no one fail-safe method of eliminating plagiarism, there are several techniques, that, when combined, may help to reduce the widespread existence of plagiarism, which is particularly important in the age of the Internet.  (Guiliano) To discern the good educators from the great educators, it takes one who can challenge their students and motivate them to want to complete original work.  I firmly believe this can be done with the integration of technology in classrooms and curriculum.  

Bibliography

Guliano, Elizabeth. "Deterring Plagiarism in the Age of the Internet." Inquiry 5.1 (2000): 22-31. Web. 13

     Jan 2011. <http://www.vccaedu.org/inquiry/inquiry-spring2000/i-51-guiliano.html>.