Week+5+-+Feb+8th

=Thoughts & Reflections... =

** Reading #5 - "Challenging Cyberbullying" - the Media Awareness Network, available at: ** []

This week's article is about cyberbullying, why it can be worse than traditional bullying, and what can be done to prevent it. According to the article, what makes cyberbullying worse than traditional bullying is the fact that it is easily done outside the realm of the school and watchful eyes of adults, it can encourage children to be nastier than they would normally be because it offers anonymity and does not force them to see the consequences of their actions, which in turn decreases feelings of empathy and remorse, and information can be spread in seconds on a mass scale. That said, the article offers many suggestions for the prevention of cyberbullying. Some of my favourites included:
 * Parental awareness of their child's internet usage and encouragement of open communication
 * Encouraging children to develop their own moral code so they will choose to behave ethically online
 * Educating teachers and students about cyberbullying, how to spot it, how to stop it, and that some forms of bullying are considered criminal acts
 * Implementing curriculum-based anti-bullying programs in ALL schools

Interestingly, had I read this article before entering this course I would have taken it as a reaffirmation of my belief that social networking technology, and cell phones do not belong in the classroom. However, after only five weeks of learning about technology and its application in the classroom, the above reaction was not how I interpreted the article. Much to my surprise, my initial thoughts were that although it is shameful that students abuse the technology in such an awful way, the technology is here to stay and it is now our responsibility as educators to teach students why cyberbullying is wrong, what the consequences can be, how to advocate for one another, and how to avoid/prevent being bullied themselves.

Check out this brief YouTube video that touches on some of the pertinent aspects of Cyberbullying

media type="youtube" key="AvaUcrIr_-E" height="252" width="406"

=Information & What I Have Learned... =

This week we...
 * looked at Smart boards and how they work. There are essentially 3 important aspects to every Smart board:
 * The Smart board itself
 * The USB and connector cables that hook the board up to a computer
 * Smart notebook software (the software that makes the Smart board smart!) - this software can be downloaded onto __any__ computer legally as long as there is 1 Smart board within the school board (as you need a serial number off the Smart board to be able to download the software onto your computer) [[image:SmartBoard.jpg width="160" height="118" align="right" caption="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/SmartBoard.JPG"]]
 * It is not legal to use Smart notebook software with a competitor's hardware!!


 * Some interesting Smart board facts:
 * Although the Smart board offers many "cool" features such as being able to hide a image with a screen that you gradually pull back, and a tool that allows you to write in happy faces, if not used conscientiously, it can become a very "teacher-centered" way of teaching (with the teacher at the front of the room doing all of the work)
 * Many of the applications seem to be very oriented towards elementary school students
 * The "gallery" of images available in the Smart notebook software does offer an interesting repertoire of "stuff" for history, geography, math and science teachers especially


 * Discussed cyberbullying and how teachers can/should deal with this problem. According to our Professor
 * Cyberbullying is becoming a bigger and bigger problem and is very hard to catch
 * If a teacher catches a student bullying he/she is supposed to write that student up and this is to be put in the student's OSR and will remain there throughout the student's academic career
 * Teachers should exercise personal/professional judgment when deciding whether or not to report a bullying incident, because once you start the process, you are committed to going the full way, and sometimes that is not in the best interest of the teacher or the student
 * All bullying in any form should ALWAYS be dealt with, but if it is not serious, perhaps it can be dealt with one on one between the teacher and the bullying student?


 * Discussed whether or not we liked the expressions "Digital immigrants" and "Digital natives" - many students did not like these expressions because they felt they were too vague, they pigeon-holed people, and they left out a group of "in-between" people. I happen to like the expressions. I think they do a good job differentiating between those who grew up with the technology and those who did not. Likewise, I believe that an "immigrant" can become a "native" if they work hard enough at it.


 * Discussed Assessment & Evaluation and how intimidating these two practices have become for teachers
 * This practice is not as straightforward as it used to be and this scares many teachers
 * What does a numerical percentage mark mean anymore? With the way the system is set up now, these numbers mean nothing but....Universities want percentages, so levels have to be switched to percentages and the marking process becomes more subjective
 * The ERG (Educators Resource Guide) - all about assessment and evaluation


 * Collaborated as a class to create a rubric for the multimedia presentation


 * for the final multimedia presentation, a list of all software and hardware used in its creation will need to be posted below the presentation (when it is posted on the wiki)

=Software & How to Use... =

PhotoStory
 * A very user-friendly program
 * Allows you to insert pictures in a sequence that can be then set to music and/or can be accompanied by a narrative
 * However long your narration is, that is now long the photo with which the narration is associated will appear in the presentation - *this is an advantage over Windows Movie Maker, which does not offer this option and forces users to guess how long their narration is and then attempt to match the photo/movie scene to that length
 * This program offers an easier alternative to Movie Maker and more interesting options than PowerPoint
 * A sample assignment using PhotoStory would be to give students a series of images that relate to the subject of study and have them add text/music/narration to the images OR give students a song and have them add images to the song
 * If you run a genuine version of Microsoft Windows on your computer, you can obtain a free download of this program from the following site: []

Checkout the montage I made about my honeymoon in Las Vegas: [|PhotoStory1.wmv]

Markbook (see this website for ordering information: [])
 * A useful assessment and evaluation tool - albeit slightly complicated
 * It only costs $29 to purchase, although many school boards will/have purchased it for everyone in their board
 * Associates a photo with each student profile
 * Allows you to change your seating plan online and allows you to import student photographs into the seating plan - a very useful resource for when there is a supply teacher in the class)
 * Contains a "student report" for each student that summarizes all of their marks - this facilitates reflection on the student's mark (a practice that is supported by the Ministry) as it allows you to see trends and anomalies
 * Does allow you to print out hardcopies of your marks ("Printed Forms" section)
 * Offers an email option from within the program - this encourages teachers to communicate with parents - an important and recommended practice

Turnitin.com (available at: [])
 * An online anti-plagiarism, marking, and peer review tool
 * Students submit their assignments online to this program and it gives them a mark between 0-100 on a plagiarism scale. Thus, the ideal would be somewhere around 20-30 which shows they have incorporated some quotes and outside sources into their work
 * Allows teachers to collect assignments online and to mark them online. Advantage: you do not have to give students a "mark" - you can simply hand back the assignment with comments and make use of "assessment AS learning" by asking them what mark they think they deserve, and giving them the opportunity to redo the assignment
 * Likewise, it facilitates peer review of work, another "assessment AS learning" and allows the teacher to choose who marks whose work

Check out this YouTube video exploring some of the advantages and disadvantages to using this program:

media type="youtube" key="F-46qsj0Yjc" height="344" width="425" align="center" Rubistar
 * A free online rubric making tool. Check it out at: [] [[image:3032678828_a0a74991d7.jpg width="400" height="223" align="left" caption="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3215/3032678828_a0a74991d7.jpg"]]