Module 2 Reflection

Sometimes it is hard to imagine not using the Internet every day for substantive research as well as entertainment. My typical day is intermixed with legal research on Lexis-Nexis (haven’t actually research from a book since the first year of law school!) and monitoring Facebook postings by family and colleagues alike. Learning to differentiate between less popular or vetted websites, however, can often be a daunting task!

In preparation for addressing and reflecting on the assignment for Module 2, I accessed the website for the textbook and each of the websites listed in the textbook reading. In accessing the websites listed for this week’s assignment, I tried to look at them through the eyes of someone searching for some vital piece of information – a phone number perhaps, or a course listing. I found, as I suspected, that some sites are more user-friendly than others. I determined to bookmark each of the sites that interested me and re-organized the folders in my Favorites to trigger my memory for various topics – this seems to work best for me since I understand how it works! In doing so, I found several sites that I’d saved from other courses and it gave me the opportunity to organize more and search further.

As I am not currently teaching and wasn’t familiar with the way that Districts are drawn in Florida, I began looking for the website for “my” District. I located www.ocps.net and was quickly able to enter my address and find an overwhelming amount of schools nearby! It was a little frustrating that there weren’t direct links to the school’s websites directly from the list I located and I found myself struggling to locate the information I’d set out to find, “in character” as a new mom researching local schools for my 1st grader. The resources I eventually located did provide me the information I was “looking” for and, after surfing the site further, I located contact information, statistics, articles, etc., that would be helpful for teachers, students, and parents alike, but it took more work than I would have liked. At the end of the day, I would give the site a thumbs up for thoroughness of coverage, but a thumbs down for design and facilitation, a thumbs up for modeling and promoting digital age learning/citizenship, etc., but a thumbs down for professional leadership.

Due to some legal cases and other class assignments I’ve completed during my studies, I have been quite familiar with Florida’s Department of Education website located at http://www.fldoe.org/ and am able to navigate it with some ease. I realized after looking through the new posts and changes to the website since I last accessed it that some of my frustration with the Orange County website probably stemmed from my lack of familiarity – not only am I not a teacher at the moment, I also am not a mom yet, so I haven’t had to enroll any children in real life! I am, however, quite familiar with statutory authority and the “interpretations” of court rulings and I found myself relaxing some with the familiar language. The site has a perspective (yes, a bias) towards promotion of education and the efforts of Florida educators – I would say that the front page was nothing but “cheerleading,” something much needed at this point from what I hear. The site itself is tastefully and professional designed with easy to locate buttons and explanations for how to locate needed information. In looking at other state’s websites, I found Florida’s to be comparable in the depth and breadth of information, but certainly not the most creative – I have to say Ohio’s was much better (http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDefaultPage.aspx?page=1) and not just because that’s where I went to high school!

From a researcher’s perspective, I would give the Department of Education’s site a thumbs up in facilitating learning, developing digital-age learning experiences, modeling digital age work and learning, promoting model digital citizenship and responsibility and engaging in professional growth/leadership. I wonder how much of these conclusions are in light of my own unique perspective and the fact that I’m not actually in the classroom, but viewing education much more from an academic perspective? I’ve also been accused of “thinking like a lawyer,” and I would count myself most often guilty of analyzing each piece of information I receive without rest. Regardless, the website accomplishes what it sets out to do and I would count it among my favorites for purposes of the assignment.

I next turned to UCF’s main page (www.ucf.edu). It has been quite a while since I wandered through the site since I’m so infrequently on campus and I found myself waxing nostalgic a bit from my undergraduate days. While I would admit to some bias myself towards UCF, I would suggest that the website does a fair job of meeting each of the ISTE NETS Standards for both students and teachers. However, I cannot count the site among my favorites.

In addition to the Department of Education site I listed above, the National Association for Multicultural Education (http://www.nameorg.org/) is a favorite. The colors and aesthetic organization of the website is both playful and useful. The information shared throughout the pages are informative and inspirational. An individual from varying perspectives can locate information pertinent to varying perspectives and the contact information is clearly labeled along with links to varying chapters and other associated organizations. Since my Husband and I come from differing cultural backgrounds (I’m a Midwestern and he’s originally from Jamaica), I must also admit to a certain amount of bias towards this topic as I find myself increasingly interested in the affect on children coming from multicultural households. I would give the website an enthusiastic thumbs up for facilitating and inspiring learning, creativity, and awareness, in the design and development of digital age experiences, in modeling digital-age learning, in promoting digital citizenship and responsibility and engaging in professional growth and leadership. In short, I think the site accomplishes its goals with a little flair.

While working on this assignment this week, I found myself paying more attention to the content and design of various websites. In slowing down and not just focusing on the information I needed from the site, I noticed more of the details, the packaging. The wide variety of web sources listed on pages 110-134 reminded me of how many different resources are available when just about any need arises. This review reminds me just how careful we all need to be – just Google yourself and see what comes up!

Module 1 Discussion Posting

Taking in conjunction the question: “Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?” and Karl Fisch’s video, Did You Know, I have to wonder whether any one individual can truly keep up, can truly prepare any other human being for what that other, younger, human being might encounter. It seems that technology and “advancements” move at such an alarming rate that any attempts to stay current could be quite futile. How can anyone know what is to come? Isn’t the point of the video that the future is quite certainly unknowable? How can anyone avoid being depressed by the enormity of the issue?!

And then I think of the student I was. Everything was brand new. Knowledge and understanding were mysteries to unlock. Some things were interesting. Some things were just inconsequential. Adults were often incomprehensible, but some served as guides. Those that tried to force knowledge or ways of thinking were discarded, those who enticed were noticed.

I believe, for an adult, for any leader, who hopes to impart wisdom and understanding to a learner, convenience must be set aside in favor of enticement, comfort must be replaced by preparation, and a love of knowledge itself must be bestowed. However, in an age where big business has gone to school and results are rewarded far more than the process, teachers have had to become assembly workers. When a teacher is forced to choose between a certainty of a contract renewal and whether to pass a student, there is a serious problem. Is the teacher then choosing the more convenient route or does that teacher have to make a choice as to his/her survival? Is it really that simple?

Granted, I’ve not experienced this problem myself since I am not actually teaching, but I have heard enough horror stories to know that things are not great. Teachers across disciplines and grade levels are being forced to set aside their professional opinions in favor of teaching to a high stakes test that creates ulcers in children as young as five (5) years old. Where is the convenience in that?

Yet, what is the solution? Is the public school system in danger of being privatized as so many other government services have become? Is that actually a bad thing? Isn’t a little competition good for everyone? I do not know the answers to these questions, but I do know that to impart a thirst for knowledge is one of the highest goals a teacher can strive for and that is not a measurable task.