Networked Identities

This was a strange week for me. Bonnie Stewart gave an excellent presentation on issues related to our digital identities. One of the most interesting aspects for me was she mentioned the dangers of identity theft/ appropriateness as a person's social media presence increases. A real life example of this was what I had to deal with this past week. Without revealing too many details, I ran a "live" discussion in my music class with the site, "Today's Meet". I was able to run a discussion in-class and virtually by having students log in on their devices. I was clear that I wanted appropriate comments and have the students sign in with their first name, but some students decided to log in with names of other students in the class. These same people then made very inappropriate comments by taking on another student's "digital identity" as posting as them. What a hassle! I spent the better part of the past week trying to track down the digital footprints of the people posting to get to the bottom of who was stealing another person's identity and posing as them.  It was discouraging to see my own students being so vulgar, but more importantly it was discouraging. Do I abandon this sort of project because of the negative actions of some?

The answer for me is no, but it illustrates some of the issues Bonnie spoke about. It boggles my mind how careless some people (especially teachers) can be with their digital identities. I have seen many examples of where a teacher posts something either maybe a little too personal or something unprofessional on their personal social media page. When they are called on their actions or some sort of discipline happens, they seem surprised like they have done nothing wrong (i.e. complaining about their principal). I know we are entering new territory, but most of what Bonnie was talking about is just common sense.

Many of the student's in our class posted valuable information on this matter. I really like the chart +Jennifer Huber used in her post (How Much Is A Child's Identity Worth). It puts the value of an identity into perspective. +Lisi Wang 's posts this week were very helpful too. +Jennifer Stewart-Mitchell always posts helpful information. These students, along with others makes me want to share better information. I appreciate that these people have clearly done a "little digging" and have found some useful academic research to support our topics. This is an area where I would like to improve.

I am hyper-aware of anything I post. I feel that anything I post is a direct reflection of me and I want to ensure I am not careless. Just this week, my wife questioned me on a post I made on my music class blog that included some pictures of students in my classes. She said, "If I was there parent, I would not appreciate someone posting pics of my kids." Fair enough comment. It was not my intention to exploit anyone, but I could see what her point was. It does not really matter if we had good intentions if we somehow "harm" someone's identity. This was a valuable lesson for me and I think the take-away for this past week is to be very aware that the internet is watching us as well as us  participating as a digital citizen.

Using Today's Meet to run a virtual conversation

And it was very good- The Maker Movement

This past week was a very interesting one for our ec&i class. Something is becoming clearer as the class moves forward is that we are directing the learning. And why not? We have over 40 professionals taking this class and there is a tremendous amount of knowledge out there from everyone. People like Kelly Christopherson, Jennifer Stewart- Mitchell, Carmen Holota, Andrew Foreman are just a few of the people that I have learned a great deal from. So many people have been generous with their talents and skills and I have in the last month discovered so many cool resources.

While not the first time I have heard of the Maker Movement, I don't have a great deal of experience with it. As I commented in Jennifer Stewart-Mitchell's post I feel in general we don't give the older kids enough opportunity to play. In early-years education is Saskatchewan there is a focus on play and exploration. At a high school level you would be hard pressed to find many areas in the curriculum document where play is explicitly documented. Many teachers might be using play at the high school level, but in my experience I would say most don't incorporate much play into their lessons? Why is this? We instinctively know we learn better when we play so why don't we allow for exploration and play in middle-years and high school (I understand this is a generalization and does not reflect most teachers taking this course)?

This week I posted a YouTube video of me demonstrating GarageBand on an iPad. I chose to do this as I had no experience with 3D printers, make-make or other tools of the maker movement. However, I use GarageBand and I felt it followed the same principles as the maker movement. I personally have you scratch and another recording program such as logic for years. In fact, my album that I released in the summer was mostly done at home using a program called logic. I have not use these programs much in my classroom because I felt hardware was an issue. I thought it would be wonderful to teaching music class with 30 laptops or 30 standalone computers and then everyone would have access to the music program. Their practical and financial issues with 30 laptops, but what about using iPads? For the last several years I have created lengthy detailed proposals for my school system to purchase these with no luck. It was because of this that I basically gave up on ever doing the project. Imagine having an industrial arts class where none of the students get to touch any of the equipment? That is more or less the reality of what I'm talking about in my music class. It's not that we don't have instruments, but without having the tool of a computer or a laptop to use in a creative way the project could not work. I was really disappointed in this, but I understood the practical problems.

Most students have smart phones and many of these smart phones have the ability to use some sort of musical program that they can use to record music. Last week as an assignment I asked the kids to come to school the next day and we would have a concert where we perform only using our smart phones. To my surprise most everyone did come the next stay with something to play even though they had no prior experience either recording or using their smart phone for making music. It was awesome to see the level of engagement that the students demonstrated. They were so enthusiastic and having fun! As a teacher, this gave me a huge boost the morale. All I want is for my students to be excited in the same way that I am about the material and I saw that finally they had arrived there.
I am looking forward to work the teacher of my lessons might take me and my classes. Today, we had an interactive the class discussion about the rest of the semester in music class using an online discussion board. I really feel that learning these new resources or incorporating the fundamentals of the maker movement have already improve my teaching.

There's An App For That

I am finally getting a chance to get caught up on all of the interesting items people have posted this week. I am doing this outside on my laptop on a beautiful fall day, with some great coffee and my kids having a blast in our back yard. . This is a reminder to me about how far we have come with access. I believe it was our first class that Alec was co-running from his phone in an airport lounge somewhere. This sort of easy access into our lives is incredible! 

There are some downsides to this integration. I can't tell you how many concerts I have been to where it seems half the people are either taking pictures with their phones or tweeting about this incredible time they are having (but are actually missing). I am guilty of this for sure in the past and I do my best to experience those moments without distraction now. A perfect example of this was a few years back I was in a touring act called, "Star Wars Live". There was a touring orchestra, but they picked up a local choir to sing in each stop and I was a ringer for the choir. Anthony Daniels, who plays C3P0, was the host and we got to meet him before the show. As he was speaking to us, there was a young lady who was texting to her friends that she could not believe she was talking to Anthony Daniels. He actually had to go over to her, asked her to put her phone away and told her, "Please try to live in the moment, dear." Burn! 

Jennifer Stewart- Mitchell recently wrote in her latest blog about the ability of technology to empower. With some pretty basic hardware (an internet connection and a smartphone) anyone can access the same information and resources our class can access. We sometimes take the privilege we have of being able to communicate via the internet for granted. We have a voice while many others around the world do not. We also assume everyone we teach in our schools have similar access and this is not the case. While Jennifer's example spoke about her class connecting with student's across the globe, there are many people in Regina who could benefit from simple access such as a smartphone and an internet connection. 

Going back to Michael's presentation, I too was a little dizzy afterwards. While it was cool to watch in real time, I was a little intimidated. Sometimes the best way to learn is rather than a complicated method of wait and I will take you through each step, Michael and the class just went for it. It did show me the potential for Google apps or other similar interactive, collaborative technology. My school system has gone to an Office 365 environment and I am still trying to get my head around that. I am coming off two full days of technology presentations at teacher's institute when all I really want to do and need time for is to play around with what is out there. From Michael's introduction to Google apps I just need some time to try those apps out and see how I can use them to deliver my classes. 

In conclusion, this is an exciting time we live in. There is so much potential and I really feel the kids are ready, but the thing holding most of us back is the attitudes of the teachers. There is fear of getting outside of our comfort zones that are stopping many of us (including me) from discovering some great ways to engage in a more meaningful way with our students. It is time we take Michael's, Jennifer's and Kelly's advice and just dive in! 

Why blog?

Hello everyone,

I have held off blogging about this week's topic as I am a newbie when it comes to blogging. It was cool to hear Sue's presentation and it seems like many in our class are already benefiting from blogging in their classrooms. I have always considered myself pretty innovative when it comes to technology, but this is one area where I feel out of my element. It is not that blogging is technically difficult, but that I struggle to find organic ways where I can incorporate blogging into my daily routine.

After giving it some thought, I realized that I already have been using "blogging" with my students. As I teach arts classes (music) I have been using journals in my classes for years. I use journals for students to reflect on an issue/ subject or two express themselves on a number of issues. As Sue said, reflection is a huge part of the learning process and I encourage it as much as possible.

I find that many students are reluctant to speak-up in class and journals give students a chance to do this. I have found often students who are the quietest have the most interesting things to say and they seem to be open to expressing themselves when they know I will be the only one reading it. Creating a class blog would be a natural extension of what I already do.

Would these shy students feel comfortable enough to express themselves freely in a blog? This is my concern as a blog is very public and once you have written something down, you also open yourself up public criticism. Would students be honest with themselves in a blog, or just post responses they think either the teacher or the class would want to hear? How authentic are people in a blog? I certainly am on guard when I post anything as I know my posts are public. What I like about journals is it gives the author a chance to be vulnerable as they know the audience. With blogging I personally feel a little guarded as I know my posts are public. Even admitting my reservations and concerns about blogging I hesitate to write as so many of my classmates seem to be prolific on blogging.

I do have some concerns about privacy and Sue mentioned this a bit in her presentation. The question was should student blogs be made public or private? While I see value in making them public, my first impulse is they should be private. At school we are very careful with children's privacy and protection from harm. I can't help but be a little hesitant as a teacher to encourage my students to post things publicly (although I know they already do this through social media). I agree that we need to educate as digital citizens and explain the various issues with authoring work that will be public. This is our world we live in and there is no denying that these skills are as important if not more important than many skills we teach in a school.

In conclusion, I am still sorting out my thoughts on blogging and how it will work in my classes. It helped me a great deal to hear Sue had similar struggles and to see how she is very effectively using blogging today.