EDTC: Blog Post #4 for Module 4

Math is a subject that people feel is a bore. In popular media it is viewed where students come in, sit down, the teacher lectures, students write down notes, leave, do the homework and repeat. With the use of technology it has allowed math teachers to get away from the myth of math being monotonous. Social media has especially allowed teachers to create more ways for students to branch out and communicate with others about mathematics. A question to help me figure this out is, “How can I teach my math students appropriate digital social interactions around mathematics with others outside the classroom?”

In order to have my students utilize social interactions online, first the students have to be taught proper digital behavior. Since the birth of social media the use of it by students has surged. This brings new situations for students to go through in their daily lives.

“The Pew Research Center’s 2011 report, ‘Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites,’ indicates that 25% of the respondents said that an interaction on a social media site led to a face-to-face argument, 22% said that it ended a friendship, and 13% reported that it made them nervous to attend school the next day.” (Ribble, n.d.)

From that a new threat focused around bullying has emerged called cyberbullying in which people are harassed or victimized using technology. All over the world, students are facing these issues as social media has become more prevalent in their daily lives. Having digital citizenship is necessary to combat these issues so students are able to feel safe at school, home, or online. Another SPU cohort student, Conrado Julian, found in his article, “The Strategies for Digital Citizenship,” that we teach positive values in everyday life, but we lack in the digital realm. By focusing on digital citizenship we acknowledge that our students’ lives on the internet require the same amount of attention (Don & Edward, n.d.). We as teachers need to focus on digital citizenship because it can have dire consequences if left alone.

To be able to teach this type of digital citizenship the teachers have to be the ones demonstrating how to act. To be able to connect students with other classrooms from around the world, teachers have to do so first (Lindsay & Davis, 2010). That means teachers have to try it out, figure out the issues that may arise, create plans for said issues, then demonstrate to the students proper etiquette. Students can then emulate what is being asked by the teacher in order for them to communicate with others from around the world about mathematics. Even with demonstrating proper etiquette students will forget. Teachers should always be prepared with consequences for misuse. When moderating all collaborative online discussions, if a student is out of line, then there are steps such as screenshotting the misconduct, having the student make an open apology, and suspending or even banning students from the social network (Lindsay & Davis, 2010). With these ideas on how to demonstrate and monitor proper digital behaviors, I can focus on working with students to be able to communicate with others on mathematics in order for them to collaboratively solve problems.

After teaching digital citizenship students can utilize online discussion boards. There are major benefits to allowing students to work collaboratively online with others on problem-solving activities and other discussions. It gives students an opportunity to create their own learning community with people separated by distance, culture, organizational, and international borders and lets students who are usually isolated in face to face observations to communicate (Brodie, 2009). One school used this idea for creating online learning communities that allowed students to work with each other in cohorts. University of Southern Queensland located in Australia looked to improve their online engineering program. They implemented more discussion boards and online meets for the students to utilize instead of having no interaction with other students (Brodie, 2009). This provided major benefits toward the students academically. The school found in comparison to their on campus classes that the online students were performing better. The number of students passing the course went up higher than their in-class counterparts. It also allowed students that weren’t already able to work in a team and more confidence in their work (Brodie, 2009).

I have already looked into ways that I want to implement social media sites into my classroom for students to work collaboratively with others on mathematical problems, such as social media sites that are made specifically for students to communicate with others about any academic subjects. The social media site Docsity allows students to connect with a plethora of other students around the globe and engage in activities, study posted materials and simply have discussions with others about any subjects. It is even available for androids and iOS devices so it can be more accessible to students since all of my students have access to an iPad everyday. I will experiment with the social media site for its potential to help my students communicate with others about mathematics. A major goal of mine is to utilize its communication potential and create mathematical problems that would have students communicating with others from around the world to solve them.

Works Cited

Brodie, L. M. (2009). EProblem-based learning: Problem-based learning using virtual teams.    European Journal of Engineering Education, 34(6), 497-509. doi:10.1080/03043790902943868

Lindsay, J., & Davis, V. (2010, April). Navigate the Digital Rapids. International Society for Technology in Education, 12-15.

Don O.; Edward C.; Illustration by Aaron Sacco. (n.d.). Independent School Magazine. Retrieved November 19, 2016, from http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/The-Strategy-for-Digital-Citizenship.aspx

Ribble, M. (n.d.). EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN AN ONLINE WORLD: CONNECTING STUDENTS TO TECHNOLOGY RESPONSIBLY, SAFELY, AND ETHICALLY. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 17(1), 137-145.

EDTC: Blog Post #3

ISTE Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

The following standards are most relevant to my triggering question

1. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. 

2. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation. 

3. Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.

Teaching students is not easy. All the factors that contribute to students’ mathematical abilities whether it is parental support, emotional needs and cognitive level creates a unique dynamic in my classroom each year. With the use of research-based strategies on technology it can become easier to assist students academically by evaluating them in order to provide individualized support. With the use of different digital formats a major goal of mine is to analyze my students’ ability in math, then create personalized education in order for them to succeed in my math course. The question I asked myself to help answer my dilemma was, “What are the different digital formats and their benefits?” With this question my hope is to construct individualized education for all my math students.

While researching I found an article on the use of a digital format that applied to the Chilean school system.  “Increasing Student Engagement in Math: The Use of Khan Academy in Chilean Classrooms” follows researchers looking for the effectiveness of Khanacademy.org in the classroom in comparison to their traditional math classroom. The digital format has been useful for showing videos, creating an endless amount of practice, and generating data for teachers to monitor student understanding (Light, D., & Pierson, E., 2014). Those main reasons helped the Chilean teachers create a digital environment that can be overseen while students are able to explore new concepts or review ones they may have struggled with.  

This type of digital format would apply to the students I teach because they have a wide variety of ability levels, just like the students featured in the article. Khanacademy.org would allow me to create a space for each student to grow at their own rate. Louise Starkey in her article, “Evaluating learning in the 21st century: a digital age learning matrix” found major benefits for creating those student-centered lessons. “The students observed spent more time learning through student-centred studies and cooperative learning activities, which may have benefits in other areas not measured directly in the standardised test” (Starkey, L., 2011). Since the students who I work with have the use of iPads everyday at school and at home, having this resource would be beneficial to analyze their achievement in my class and provide one-on-one education using that tool.

Another resource I found that will help promote student achievement is Remind.com. The digital format was originally designed as a text messaging service where teachers could send announcements to parents and students. Now with the use of the iPads, it can be used as a two-way communication tool where the recipients can communicate back and forth with the teacher. While another SPU student, Katie Adams, was looking for research for her question, the article, “The Changing Nature of Parent-Teacher Communication” discusses the effectiveness with having parents as well as students use the text messaging service to provide immediate feedback. As text messaging emerges as a way to communicate, a majority of parents studied found it to be a viable and convenient option to communicate to their child’s teacher (Thompson, B. C., Mazer, J. P., & Grady, E. F., 2015). Being able to have parent support like that would provide an immensely positive impact on their child’s learning in mathematics.

What I found useful from Remind.com’s features is the potential to assist students by having the teacher become an online tutor. I have been experimenting with allowing students to ask me questions through the app. So far it has been beneficial with students and parents asking questions about their homework assignments by sending me pictures and I analyze them and provide feedback. A goal is to extend its current use into creating an online student-centered instruction where I can provide digital materials outside of the classroom. In this way I can have students explore topics or review materials in the comfort of their home. Then they can ask me questions using the app or bring it to me the following day. Remind.com is beginning to be extremely useful to my needs as a teacher by creating an online presence to help students and hopefully to create student-centered instruction.

As I utilize these digital formats to support my students I will want to make sure I am working to provide a strong digital presence so my students can have an individualized education. There are a few minor problems for what I want to accomplish. First as with anything that is new, time is needed to create and implement. Trying to effectively create an individualized education takes quite a while to organize the intended goal, and the steps to achieve it. Another would be the issue of access to the internet. A portion of my students have limited access to food and housing, let alone access to the internet. The only way they can access digital materials is in the school. Creating an online individualized education would be difficult for those students. I would have to change my plan for them so they can utilize the digital formats also. With technology resources increasing, students are given an opportunity to expand their knowledge more easily than previous generations. As a teacher I must be able to meet their needs by creating student-centered lessons and activities using different digital formats.

Works Cited

Light, D., & Pierson, E. (2014). The Use of Khan Academy in Chilean Classrooms: Study of an      Intel Funded Pilot Program in Chile. 2014 IEEE 14th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 103-120. doi:10.1109/icalt.2014.65

Starkey, L. (2011). Evaluating learning in the 21st century: A digital age learning matrix. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 20(1), 19-39. doi:10.1080/1475939x.2011.554021

Thompson, B. C., Mazer, J. P., & Grady, E. F. (2015). The Changing Nature of Parent–Teacher 
           Communication: Mode Selection in the Smartphone Era. Communication Education, 64(2), 
           187-207. doi:10.1080/03634523.2015.1014382