How to be a digital citizen?

 

Empowering teachers and students with digital citizenship!

Social media has brought a lot of negative impacts on their users in one way or another. Research have shown that people are being subjected to higher risks of bullying and harassment on online platforms. To avoid such incidences, and to protect ourselves and our students from them, it is important to explore the notion of digital citizenship. 

So, digital citizenship is a term that describes how should a person act while using technology and hence the ability to participate and get involved in the society online. It is a term that is directly related to internet safety and etiquette of acting when we are on the internet. 

Technology is embedded in our homes and is allowing us to cross over boundaries in our personal life, work, and society. Not only it has became a part of our homes but rather a part of our schools as well. As educators, technology has became a concern as we spend a significant amount of time while working with it. Here, a part of our role is to teach students how to conduct themselves while using technology and how to deal with the fear of letting strangers enter our life via online platforms. 

Students use the internet at various ages and for many purposes including gaming, watching YouTube, communicating with others, visiting pages for news, sports, social activities, and educational purposes. Teaching safety practices and good behaviours are also a part of our responsibilities because we do all want to create a digital footprint that will make others happy to see. 

Here are some tips to be used by teachers as models for digital citizenship:  

• The teacher must know the proper use of the sites he/she is using and the purposes behind using these sites.
• As teachers, we must utilize technology for the development of our students. 
• Upon using some materials from the internet, teachers must know how to give credits for the sources used.
• Teachers must be ethical online. We must not post pictures or contents without permission from the owner or post any inappropriate material, must not insult or bully people, respect the privacy of others, show good morals especially on social media and treat others the way we like to be treated!
• In addition, teachers must not share lots of personal information and stay informed and aware about all the things that are happening in their communities and all around it.

It is highly recommended that digital citizenship should be embedded into curricula as educators can provide advices hence making schools as gateways for teaching learners as well as their parents about ethical and safety rules, security, responsibilities and respect of rights while using the internet.  

Online Assessment: Tools That Can Be Used!

 

Here are some tools for online assessment.. Set your belts teachers! 🔐📝

As teachers we understand the importance of assessment data in our instruction as this helps in guiding us regarding planning for any future lesson. This actually happens through the identification of any misconception and the continuous check for understanding of a given topic. However, with all the circumstances we are passing through nowadays regarding remote learning, it is a challenge to make sure that we are offering students meaningful lessons as well as assessments. So, basically, here are some ideas that we as teachers can use while performing online instructions and which in turn helps us in gathering assessment data that we need to move further. 

One of the tools that probably the majority of teachers are using is the Google Suite which includes Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Forms. These are considered as great ways to collect data when assignments are given on Google Classroom for example. These applications can be used in a wide array of assessment. For instance, Google Docs can be used to perform extra worksheets, or they can go even beyond that where students can use Google Slides to present a certain concept and play the role of the teacher themselves. Such tasks can be done either individually or as group work. In addition, Google Forms can be used in the form of quizzes which has the option of being auto-graded hence saving time and efforts in one way or another depending on the question types created. Exit slips on Google Slides or posting questions on Google Classroom are also other ways to use the Google apps in evaluating students' understanding.  

Another online assessment tool is Flipgrid which a platform that allows both students and teachers to post short videos of themselves answering a question or discussing a certain topic. This is considered as a funny way to assess students' understanding and let them present their ideas instead of using the regular paper-and-pen method. It can be also used in the closure part; at the end of the class to recap some major points discussed right away. When the teacher watches the video, he/she can easily identify any misunderstood ideas and basically clarify them. 

An extremely interesting and popular game-like platform is Kahoot. It allows the teachers to create online quizzes that can be done either individually or as small groups as well. It is engaging for students because it is done in a game-like and competition-like way. The teacher will be sharing the questions from his/her device and the students basically are going to observe the answers and interact with questions. Kahoot provides an opportunity for an active and engaging learning process using games which is a thing that kids will definitely enjoy. 

Pear Deck is another online assessment tool that can be used as an add-on in Google Slides. It allows teachers to insert interactive slides within their presentations. These are slides where students can submit responses or where you can insert polls that make the slides more interactive and more engaging as students will be giving real-time feedback. Speaking about real-time evaluation, other tools including Wordwall, Mentimeter, Jamboard, and Padlet are considered highly effective in summarizing some major points mentioned throughout the sessions so that teachers can figure out where do students stand and whether we can all move to the next step. They also include a wide variety of  game-like questions that students will definitely find attractive and hence get engaged in the activities posted or shared. 

These are actually some of the ideas about online assessment tools that we can begin using in our instructions to help save some time, efforts, and most importantly grasp our students' attention and make them feel involved, interested, and enjoying the learning taking place. 

Successful Integration of Technology Into Teaching: "Modern Education!"

Should technology be used in education? If so, then how should technology be integrated in a classroom? 📱📡💻

Technology is rapidly evolving and being introduced to children at very young ages. Kids are playing less outside and being more likely spending time on their gaming counsels, tablets, and cell phones. At school, this can be a major distraction instead of paying attention in class. Such distractions can cause the grades to slip and produce off-task or even disruptive behaviours hence impacting the learning negatively. These are actually some of the misconceptions that are related to the use of technology in classrooms.

Beyond this view, many schools are integrating technology in their curriculum. An important note to be highlighted here is that technology is not a solution for our nowadays educational problems, but rather a tool that can facilitate the learning process in various subjects and under several circumstances. 

Interactive educational sessions that require students to use mobile devices can keep students engaged in the studies by delivering knowledge through a medium that they are comfortable with. Introducing students to technology in the classroom using computers and smartphones attract students more than whiteboards and books do. I am a biology teacher and I can easily sense the excitement during the Profuturo program sessions where I work along with my students on simulations and online games using individual tablets. 

Familiarizing students with this technology will also help prepare them for jobs where they will definitely need to know and have more practical skills related to technology than just academic theories. These skills can include the beneficial use of social media and coding. It is very important to mention that teacher should be trained well to effectively use technology in their classrooms so that the tools they use such as active boards become as entertaining as regular TV shows for students. 

An effective teaching is basically the one who is student-centred. Teachers should be aware that using technology does not always mean interactive classes. For example, teachers may use active boards or visual presentations but they keep talking the majority of time. Moreover, taking online quizzes with immediate feedback for both students and teachers can sometimes ignore problem-solving and critical thinking skills in students even though the majority would think about it as the best alternative for paper-based tests. 

So, how would you, as a teacher, use technology in an effective way in your classrooms? First, you may allow students to simply make research and google facts. At the same time, the students are learning from very valuable resources. Within every week, there is always a session dedicated for research about different Biology topics that I give my students to increase their knowledge in the content studied and present their findings using PowerPoints or Google slides. In addition, technology enhances critical thinking skills where students can evaluate and criticize the content presented. Another important point is the use of technology for collaboration among students and their teachers as well. Group work allows people to share ideas and their voices, discuss them, and build on their previous experiences and knowledge. Moreover, one of the most exciting aspects of using technology is designing or creativity. Students are able to create contents of different types with wide  range of sophistications and present their ideas from videos, PowerPoint presentations to creating designs or data bases on a software. 

Technology is actually present at all stages in the education process. It renders learning more dynamic and related to life. The key is to smartly use technology hand in hand with education in an attempt to prepare our students for brighter futures.