Week+6+-+Feb+22nd

=Thoughts & Reflections... =


 * Reading #6 - Internet Filtering - from //Leading & Learning with Technology// (ISTE) **

This reading presented evidence for and against internet filtering.

Juan Camilo Rozo Osuna, who argues in favour of internet filtering, points out that while we often conceive of the information available on the internet as something that is not very dangerous, it is in fact dangerous. Some websites, such as pro-anorexia websites, have even been shown to be detrimental to the overall health and well-being of minors. Thus, while it is important to teach students how to properly navigate the internet and how to choose which information to view, students should not be allowed to access certain "dangerous" information. To drive his point home, Osuna uses guns and alcohol as comparison points - we teach our children not to drink and not to use guns, but we also make these things unavailable to them until they are older - why can we not do the same thing with certain content on the internet?

Christopher Johnson, who argues against internet filtering, stresses that we now live in a digital world and we need to teach our children the skills they need to safely and ethically access information throughout their lives. According to Johnson, we only control a small portion of a child's online life, thus it is important to teach them how to intelligently use the internet so they are able to do so when they are on their own. The way to accomplish this goal, is to have parents and teachers step up to the plate and work on teaching children proper internet navigation skills, but also to reform the curriculum so it will become mandatory to teach students ethical internet navigation skills.

Personally, I am not sure whether or not I am for or against internet filtering. I agree with the first author that there is a lot of VERY dangerous content on the internet, and I do not feel that many young adults are mature enough to be able to properly deal with it. However, content filtering can go overboard and filter out many useful and educational sites. Likewise, it can be used in malicious ways to suppress forward thinking and out of the box ideas. The government's misuse of content filtering in both China and Iran are perfect examples of this.

I do agree that students need to be taught how to properly and ethically access information on the internet, and I would hope that this might be enough to deter most students from accessing "bad" internet sites. I suppose that in an effort to give students free and open access to information, we have to take our chances that students will ultimately make the right decision.

Another dilemma posed by content-filtering is banned access to YouTube. YouTube will always be blocked if content filtering is used as it contains a plethora of videos on all sorts of topics that include topics that would be deemed inappropriate for younger viewers. There are some useful and educational videos available on YouTube. Perhaps a solution would be only allowing teachers to have access to this site, that way they can pick and choose which videos to show their students.

A second roadblock to using YouTube in the classroom is their statement that their material is not for public viewing. Technically a classroom is considered a public place, thus a teacher who shows a YouTube video in his/her class is breaking the law. That said, many educators will argue that since they are not benefitting or profiting from the showing of the video, they should be allowed to show YouTube videos in the classroom.

=Information & What I Have Learned... =

This week we....

Devoted the entire class period to group lesson plan presentations. Following is a brief summary of each presentation...

Group #1 - My group!!

Please take a look at the following links to review our "Great Canadians" lesson plan in detail
 * I was partnered with Jenny Chapman-Laprise for this assignment. Since we both have history as a teachable, we decided to create a history lesson plan for a Grade 10 Academic History Course - Canadian History since World War I.
 * More specifically, we conducted a brief lesson on how to do historical research on the Internet, and we then divided students into groups of two and had them explore the history and significance of a Canadian individual who has made an important contribution to the development of Canadian identity since 1914.
 * Upon completion of their research, each group was to create a wiki page showcasing their individual that contained three pictures, a brief written description, and a 2-5 minute podcast interview that showcased the individual's contribution to Canadian identity and/or their historical significance.

[|PED 3119 Technology Lesson Plan.docx]

[|PED 3119 Technology Lesson Plan powerpoint.pptx]

[|Great Canadians - appendix 1.docx]

[|Great Canadians Rubric[2.doc]]

Class Wiki - http://greatcanadians.wikispaces.com/

Group #2 - High School English Lesson (Poetry)
 * This lesson centered around students' interpretation of the Gordon Lightfoot song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
 * The song was divided into stanzas and students were required to download or copy and paste a legal and free image from the internet that they felt represented the feel of the stanza
 * I like this approach to teaching poetry because it makes it interesting for students - something which is no feat when it comes to poetry!

Group #3 - High School Religion or History lesson (Aboriginal Spirituality)
 * This lesson was centered around a free online program called [|Prezi] that is best described, in my opinion, as a more engaging and interesting version of PowerPoint
 * Using Prezi, students were required to research various spiritual practices and beliefs of a specific Canadian aboriginal group. The findings were to be presented to the class in a Prezi presentation (modern-day PowerPoint)
 * The neat thing about Prezi is that it is free and available online, which means student work can be saved online and then accessed from ANY computer with an internet connection - gone are the days of "I forgot my USB key, "my computer crashed and I couldn't save my presentation onto a portable device," "this computer does not support my version of PowerPoint"....etc....

Group #4 - High School Science Lesson (Optics)
 * After a brief lesson on light and refraction, students were sent to the E learning website [|explorelearning.com] where they were to play around with a variety of online and interactive activities and quizzes related to refraction

Group #5 - High School Science Lesson (Astronomy)
 * This lesson was an exploration of the universe using a free and online program called [|Celestia]

Group #6 - High School Religion Lesson (the Gospel Values)
 * Using an online bible site: [|biblegateway.com] students were to choose a parable (options provided by the teacher) that offered a good representation of some of the major gospel values, and were required to create a short film (using MovieMaker) that represented a modern day interpretation of that gospel value

=Software & How to Use... =

[|OERB] (Ontario Educational Resource Bank)
 * This website offers over 19,000 online lesson plans and resources ranging from kindergarten to grade 12 and covering ALL subjects
 * I took a quick glance at the site and was VERY impressed with what I saw. I found many interesting and useful resources that could apply to both of my teachable subjects - History and French
 * One of my favourite finds was a Grade 8 History Unit looking at changes in Canadian society from Confederation up to the First World War.
 * Students are asked to focus the evolution of women's roles, labour interests, military interests, immigration, agriculture and industry. The culminating task for this unit has students break into groups, pick one of the above topics to research and then present their findings to a mock Royal Commission on Change in Canadian Society
 * In my opinion, the content and focus of this unit are interesting and relevant, and I find the culminating task to be very engaging and student centered. I also like that it offers an alternative to the standard paper and pencil test.
 * Check out this link to view the unit in its entirety: []

[|OSAPAC] (Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee)
 * This site has information on hundreds of pieces of educational software that may be used by teachers both at school and at home. More specifically, it provides general information about the software (what it is, what it is used for, for what grade levels it is appropriate), technical information about the software, whether or not teachers can also use the software at home, and it provides information on how to go about acquiring the software
 * One of the pieces of software I found that would be especially useful to me as an intermediate/senior history teacher, is called [|Making History: Louis Riel] - this software offers students access to a comprehensive and interactive collection of material on Louis Riel and the 1885 Northwest Rebellion (a topic that is studied in Grade 8 history)
 * It is often difficult to find exciting and interactive resources relating to early Canadian history, hence I believe this resource would be extremely useful and would really engage the students
 * This resource also has teacher take-home rights, which makes it that much more appealing as teachers can work with it at home as well as at school

Creative Commons (CC)
 * Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that is based out of San Francisco (United States)
 * They are devoted to increasing the range of creative networks available for other to build on and legally share
 * They have created a "Creative Commons (CC) license as an alternative to traditional copyright - it is simpler to navigate that traditional all rights reserved copyright, and it allows creators to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of others
 * Instead of "All rights reserved" there is now the option of "Some rights reserved" (CC)
 * In my opinion this organization is an excellent step in the right direction. With the over-availability of information these days it is hard to avoid finding something that you could make use of or adapt. However, it is hard to know whether or not you can legally re-use the information and it is even harder to resist the temptation to make use of the information even though it might be illegal
 * Creative Commons offers an excellent solution to this dilemma - instead of ALL information being illegal for re-use (which encourages people to use it anyway), some information will be legally available for reuse, and since it will then be easier to find information that is available for reuse, I believe many people will stop using information from the internet illegally

Take a look at this YouTube video that explains what Creative Commons is, how it can be used, and why it is a necessary evolution in today's Internet dominated society

media type="youtube" key="1DKm96Ftfko" height="325" width="398" align="center"

I think respect for copyright is an important issue that should be addressed with students. In my opinion, most students do not set out to break copyright, but they do so because they are ignorant of the laws. I believe if the teacher takes the time to teach his/her students the difference between free and legal material and copyrighted material, and how to access free and legal material, students will do their best not to break copyright.

What do you do if a student does not respect copyright? That is a good question. Can you ever be sure that the student knew they were not respecting copyright? Is the teacher going to check each source on each student's assignment to see if, even though the source was properly cited, whether or not it was legally or illegally utilized? As with internet filtering, I do not think the answer to this question is a simple one. I think we need to give students to tools to do things legally, and hope for the best.