EDUC639: Trends and Issues in Educational Technology

 It is a scary world out there, and as we go completely digital in the 21 st century our information is accessible with the click of a key. Education is now also going digital, and it is important to protect the digital rights of our students. Pangrazio (2023) states that because of this, teachers now have an important action to take, which is educating our students on critical digital literacies, how platforms work, and the power that they hold. She explains that educators need to research the platforms that they are using and then teach students about them so that they can be aware (Pangrazio, 2023). As educators, we must make sure that any digital platform that we use not only fits with our instruction but also that it is safe for our students to use. Nieves (2021) explains that as she considers integrating platforms into her lessons, she now reviews the privacy and security statements to make sure that the platforms comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act an...

 We all know that everything out there on social media may not be true, but do our students know? Why is it important to understand this? We can easily be influenced by what we see if we are not media literate. There was a video that I remembered seeing a while ago that I never thought wasn’t real, but after researching this topic of media fluency I learned that it was totally fake. Ketchell (2023) shows a video of a dog being rescued from a train and questions his student about whether it was fake or real.  Once they figured out that it was fake, he asked them why they think it was created (Ketchell, 2023). To me this video was created for likes, which we all know now that the more followers and likes you have, the more money you make. Many love dogs, but not everyone is going to look at a video and think that’s fake. They are just going to move on to the next one. But what if a faked video was something that later affected someone’s life? Fort (2020) discusses how teachers...

 

Paine, (2019) describes learning culture as taking information from outside an organization and dispersing it to those inside an organization quickly to turn it into action and being able to adapt to the changes internally and externally. Basically, a learning culture is a culture in which a community or organization can learn incoming information and make necessary changes. Morris (2019) states that an important skill essential in this new digital age is self-directed learning, where learners take responsibility for their own learning to meet the demands of current situations they may face or their own goals. He explains that all will benefit from learning the skill of self-directed learning because it will help them adapt to complex changes (Morris, 2019). Educators need to ensure that they are teaching students how to be self-directed learners by taking a step back from direct instruction and being a facilitator of learning. Birkinshaw, (2014) discusses the phrase “A little learni...

  References Blaj-Ward, L., (2019). Engaging students as digital citizens. Higher Education Research & Development 38 (5), 879–892. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1607829 Edwards, L. (2021). What is Storybird for education? Best tips and tricks. Tech Learning. https://www.techlearning.com/how-to/what-is-storybird-for-education-best-tips-and-tricks Edwards, L. (2022). What is Flip and how does it work for teachers and students? Tips and tricks. Tech Learning. https://www.techlearning.com/how-to/what-is-flipgrid-and-how-does-it-work-for-teachers-and-students Flip. (n.d.). About Flip. Microsoft. https://info.flip.com/en-us/about.html   Freckle. (n.d.). Renaissance. https://freckle.com/en-us/ ISTE. (n.d.) ISTE standards: Education leaders . https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-education-leaders Mango, O. (2021). Flipgrid: Students’ perceptions of its advantages and disadvantages in the language classroom. International Journal of Technology in Educat...

Educators have a social responsibility to young learners and as technology advances that role has changed.   It has always been the role of educators to ensure that the students under our tutelage have the knowledge to be good citizens and are successful. Gangone (2019) states that educating students means creating new knowledge in our young children. As educators we need to teach children how to grow and succeed while also caring for those around them. Every word that we speak creates new knowledge, and every piece of technology we use creates new knowledge. We need to be mindful and ensure that what we are saying and what we are using ensures that our students will not only be successful but will also be socially responsible themselves.  Therefore, we need to teach students their own responsibility to citizenry (Gangone, 2019). But technological advances have changed how to be socially responsible educators. Not only do we need to teach students knowledge to be successf...