Chapter 12 -- What is educational technology literacy? Why is it important for educators?

Educational technology literacy is vital to educators; it is not only knowing how to use various types of technology, but also being able to apply the technology in a way that enhances their teaching and the students’ learning. Due to the importance of educational technology literacy, NETS standards have been released for students, teachers, and administrators, and most states have adopted these standards to at least a small degree. Because states have begun to require the use of technology to such a degree, it is important that teachers accept this and begin planning ways to implement the use of technology in their lessons.

Most, if not all, states also have technology requirements as part of their state teacher licensure. For example, this course is part of my licensure requirements. For teachers who began in the profession before such technological requirements, courses are required before teacher licensure is renewed. National certification is also available and looked highly upon; technology literacy is also important there.

Many educators are very resistant to technology because it is new and different, and even as these people become more familiar with the various forms of technology, they are usually hesitant to incorporate it into their teaching. I believe that requiring the use is a good start but will not necessarily totally “cure” the problem.
Technology is something that should now be accepted as a part of life, because it influences every aspect of our daily existence to some degree. Teachers are expected to model what they are teaching, so the proper use of technology is one of the things that needs to be modeled. It would not make sense to expect our students to be successful citizens if we as teachers were to just gloss over many of the points that have now become part of being successful; technology is one of these new points. Also, if teachers are seen by students as being too “old fashioned” then it will be more difficult to fully reach them.

What four questions related to the fair use guidelines should teachers ask before using copyrighted materials?

The four questions related to the fair use guidelines that teachers should ask before using copyrighted material are:

*What is the intended use?
*What type of work is it?
*How much of the work do you intend to use?
*What impact does this kind of use have on the market for the work?

What is the intended use?
This question is to determine the purpose and character of use. Determine if you are using it for educational purposes, and if it is noncommercial in nature. If the use is not educational, then permission for use needs to be granted. Also, commercial use would be cheating the publisher.

What type of work is it?
Determine whether the work is factual and if it contains a lot of creative or imaginative substance. If the work is primarily factual, then it is likely that the information could also be found in other places. If it is creative or imaginative, however, then using it without permission would most likely not fall under fair use.

How much of the work do you intend to use?
If you are using a work in its entirety, then it’s not likely to be fair use . . . for use to fall under “fair use”, then only a small portion should be used.

What impact does this kind of use have on the market for the work?
If the way you are using the work would serve as a substitute for someone purchasing the original, then it is not fair use. Also, if it has a negative impact on the market demand, then it most likely is not fair use.

There are a lot of stipulations for copying work created by somebody else, and sometimes it can be frustrating to have to deal with all of these stipulations. There are times that it becomes quite confusing when trying to determine whether or not something falls under fair use. Probably the most common type for a person to have to question fair use is when photocopying a document for classroom distribution. However, things such as showing a video in class or using a website for instruction also fall into this category.

While showing an old movie to a few students can be considered fair use, showing the same video for the entire student body would be questionable. By the same token, copying a portion of one page out of a magazine for article analysis in an English class may be acceptable while copying the entire magazine would not be.

At my school, the librarian handles both making photocopies and approving videos to be shown in class, so I’m very grateful for that . . . there are a lot of gray areas when determining what is and isn’t fair use.

Why is giving feedback a challenge in distance environments? How can this challenge be met?

In distance learning, students must work through lessons without the benefit of a teacher present. Although students are prepared from the beginning to work in a traditional classroom setting, they do not have that preparation for distance learning. A distance educator has the responsibility of not just teaching the content but also preparing the student for the distance environment.

In the distance environment, the teacher is not able to give nonverbal feedback such as reactions and body language as the students work. The teacher is unable to evaluate student progress as the student works through something; he or she must keep up some form of regular communication to assess learning. Adequate and frequent feedback is key. This is one of the many added challenges for distance educators. The teacher should seek to use new and creative lessons to remedy this problem.
Distance education is a definite new asset to the education system. It provides opportunities for all sorts of varieties of education that would otherwise be inaccessible to students. There are constant improvements and innovations to distance education and students and teachers alike are embracing these. As these improvements are made, new ‘problems’ will make themselves visible. However, distance education is becoming an increasingly more important part of higher education.

What is visual literacy? Where and when is it learned? Why is it important?

Visual literacy is essentially the developed ability of associating different visuals with certain information. Throughout life, people acquire information allowing them to interpret visual cues allowing us to function in society. A number of elements are presented in a deliberate arrangement; for visual cues to be effective several elements must be included – the visual must be relevant, coherent, consistent, and proportionate; it must have contrast, unity, and direction as well. All teachers have a responsibility to nurture visual literacy. However, students begin developing visual literacy long before even starting school.

Visual literacy incorporates things such as reading charts and recognizing symbols. Even very young children recognize a red octagon as a stop sign and a heart as a symbol for love. In the classroom, charts and graphs are often used visuals. My school using Thinking Maps to organize information, and the different types of maps are used for different purposes, and each map has a distinct look. By simply seeing what type of map we are using, my students are able to tell what sort of information the assignment is looking for.

The phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” definitely applies to this situation. One visual can easily and accurately convey quite a bit of information in an easier to comprehend format.

Text and affective elements are two other parts of a visual. The text needs to remain clear and visually pleasing as well as relevant and easy to understand. Affective elements include anything that elicit a response from the viewer, and a visual should have the appropriate affective elements to get the response the teacher or whoever designed the visual is looking for.

Because we live in a very visual world, it is important for students to be able to understand and interpret visuals fluently. To some degree, I think teachers incorporate visuals into lessons without even realizing it. Teachers should become more aware of the visuals being used, though, in order to use the best quality visuals.

What is an acceptable use policy? What impact does it have on the use of the Web in the classroom?

An acceptable use policy is the way a school system prevents students from abusing the Internet. The policy gives regulations on how the Internet can be used by students. Parents are asked to confirm their understanding of the policy and the consequences for using the Internet in an unacceptable way. If a teacher is going to provide links for students, they should also be familiar with the acceptable use policy.

The rationale behind acceptable use policy is quite easily understood. While most school districts have intricate filtering systems in place, at times unacceptable websites can slip through. Website creators are very creative, and students can be very determined. It is ironic that at times filtering systems are much too thorough and can block perfectly legitimate websites but at the same time allow inappropriate sites through. Since the filtering systems are not perfect, acceptable use policies seek to minimize student determination and curiosity.

At my school, computer access is fairly limited and very structured. Since it is very rare for students to have access to the Internet other than sites on the school’s network, the filtering is very liberal. Also, the filtering when logged on with a teacher network login and password is extraordinarily liberal compared with being logged in as a student. Because of this, my school’s acceptable use policy isn’t very limiting at all for me as a teacher. I have only had one instance this year where a site I wanted to access was blocked. It was a site I had never visited before that I found through a Google search, and I wasn’t certain of what was on it so blocking the site was only a minor inconvenience.

In schools where perhaps students have more access to the Internet and the network has a stronger filter or a more detailed acceptable use policy, I can see where that could be a problem for the teacher. Teachers would have a lot more work in monitoring student activities on the Internet and making sure that he or she models the acceptable use policy in giving assignments. The teacher would need to be certain that any websites he or she has students visiting isn’t linked back to an inappropriate site after several clicks. A perfectly harmless site may have inappropriate ads, or it could be linked to a site that’s linked to a site that’s linked to a site, and so on and so forth until, after just a few clicks, the student is at a site that the student doesn’t need to be at.

Acceptable use policies are definitely a necessity in technology-driven education and the reasons far outweigh the aggravation.

What are streaming audio and streaming video? How have they altered the use of audio and video on the Internet

Streaming audio and streaming video allow the user to use the media as it is being downloaded. Although there may be some delays, for the most part, you are able to listen or watch as you download. Most people’s Internet connections today are fast enough for audio streaming to not be a problem at all. Video streaming may be a bit choppy but the user will still benefit somewhat from the “instant gratification” most people crave.

There are many uses for streaming audio and video in a technologically equipped classroom. United Streaming has many resources available for a teacher to use in his or her classroom. While these resources can be downloaded and used, the teacher doesn’t have to wait to download the entire file before evaluating it, and valuable disk space doesn’t have to be used. Educational videos are available on many websites. Many topics are covered, from Language Arts to Science to Social Studies. Audio files are available for streaming such as interviews and musical pieces as well as other vocal art.

In higher education, universities are able to offer satellite classes using streaming video. Some classrooms also set up partnerships with classrooms in schools across the country or across the globe. Students in south Mississippi are able to develop a relationship with students in South Dakota or south Africa. A similar set-up can also allow teachers to give parents or students at home sick the option of being “in class” without actually being there.
Streaming audio and video are two new technologies with many options to be used within the classroom.

Chapter 6 -- What are authoring systems? How are they used for teaching and learning?

Authoring systems are a category of academic software that allows teachers to create their instructional software. Some programs create multimedia lessons or lessons for online presentation. These types of programs use a hypermedia format; the way these programs are set up allow students to move through the learning experience in their own way. Some authoring systems are very easy to use, while others create “commercial looking programs”.

One of the earliest forms of authoring systems created a stack of digital flashcards. PowerPoint is one of the more popular software programs for creating hypermedia lessons. Most shows are meant to be shown in a linear sequence but it is possible to create slideshows meant to be shown in a nonlinear sequence. Web authoring tools are another means of creating hypermedia productions. Some web authoring tools are very sophisticated while others are very simple and easy to use.

Authoring systems allow both teachers and students to create “customized, targeted lessons.” These lessons allow teachers to meet specific lesson objectives, and they can be used in large or small group presentations. These lessons can also be targeted to specific student needs.

In a classroom where the technology is available, authoring systems can be a tremendous asset for teachers. They would allow students to work and learn at their own pace . . . when one student needs review, the other students would be able to move on to new material. This can prevent boredom by allowing the students who don’t need the review to enrich their skills and re-teach the material for students who need it. The biggest drawback would be the lack of access for many schools.

The school where I work does not necessarily have authoring systems software; however, there is a program called “Orchard” that is used within the school system to target specific learning objectives with each student working at his or her own pace. The program adjusts itself to use student strengths and build up student weaknesses. I can only imagine how much more effective it would be if I, as the teacher, could use the program to work with whatever I am teaching in class rather than using it with whatever material the Orchard instructors are working with that week. As it is, the program has been shown to be very effective with students who actually apply themselves.

One of the other large weaknesses that any computer program would have is lack of student motivation. Even the best-designed programs are useless if there is a complete lack of initiative on the part of the student. Good programs must be combined with good teaching and many other things for that.