Three Technologies Related to Digital Citizenship, Ethics, and Netiquette Which are Beneficial to Adult Learning

Three Technologies Related to Digital Citizenship, Ethics, and Netiquette Which are Beneficial to Adult Learning

The first technology I found important was posted by Rachel Normand on her blog at http://rach084.wordpress.com. This is a website called Ethics Game which may be accessed at www.ethicsgame.com. Rachel posits that this site would be great for teachers, administrators and students. It teaches ethical awareness, critical thinking and ethical decision making. I explored this site and was satisfied with Rachel’s findings. As an adult educator and Interim Director of the Writing Center, I would introduce this site to The Writing center tutors and all students that I teach in my courses. Writing Center tutors need to be aware of ethical protocols in research, avoiding plagiarism, sending online communication, and even the level of how to communicate with students. Students in classes need to know how to interact within the online community with their professors and colleagues. This site will also help students to understand the difference between communicating with friends versus communicating with classmates in groups as well as college staff in the Financial Aid and student services areas.

I explored Aaron Schlott’s blog posts at http://aaronablog2013.blogstop.com and also found two great sites on Netiquette and digital citizenship. He first introduced a site that referenced the nine elements of digital citizenship, yet focusing mainly on digital security. This site may be accessed at http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/be-good-digital-citizen-tips-teens-and-parents. I would introduce this site to the incoming freshmen and second semester students. I would also introduce this site in my digital speech communication class. All these students would learn and understand that there are protocols to follow even on social media sites. Respecting privacy of family and friends are important. Shared pictures and information should not be necessarily forwarded to others without the permission of the original sender. Posting the where, when and location of family events, outings, vacations will sometimes expose your family to danger such as homes being burglarized and other serious crimes.

Another great site posted by Aaron was a site which focused on online communication remembering the human side of cyberspace. This may be accessed at http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html. This site reminds us that there is always a human face on the other side of our digital communication. Before sending a brash and harsh email or text message; one should stop to consider whether or not the same message would be delivered face to face. Only cowards and bullies use digital communication to hurt others while hiding behind online communication. At least 95% of my learners are on face book during any given semester. I would introduce this site to them. I would also introduce this site to youth groups at church, community center youth meetings, student activities club meetings, and to all young and mature adult learners. All these sites are great tools of learning for digital citizenship and netiquette.

References

Normand, R. (2013). Themes relating to digital citizenship and ethics. Retrieved August

            22 from http://rach084.wordpress.com/

              Schlott, A. (2013). Digital citizenship and ethics. Retrieved August 22, 2013 from

            http://aaronablog2013.blogspot.com/

 

 

                       

 

Technologies That May Enhance Adult Education in Digital Citizenship and Netiquette

In my exploration of technologies that elaborate on digital citizenship and netiquette, I came across the following:
The Core Rules of Netiquette by Virginia Shea: Though this is a book, the site may be accessed on the internet and all information within this book is available via the internet. The website is www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html. It begins with an introduction, followed by rules. The rules that caught my attention were rules 2, 3 and 8.

Rule number 2 focus on adhering to the same standards of behavior that you follow in real life. For example: This focus on not causing humiliation to others with your words, respecting others and avoiding bullying methods.

Rule number 3 focus on knowing where you are in cyberspace. This basically means that domains vary from one domain to another. Learn the language and protocols before you start sharing. A journalism site does not tolerate idle gossip, versus a TV entertainment site. Rule number 8 is highly important and that is to respect other people's privacy. For example: Do not read other people's e-mail.

Another site that elaborates on internet safety especially for teen and young adults may be accessed at
www.teenlit.com/netiquette.php. There are many times teens and young adults put their family at risk without even realizing. They put every event, place time, meals consumed, and stores that they shop at on facebook, instagram and other social networks. They discuss every method of payment, every name brand purchase and otherwise on the internet. This site is called Netiquette and Internet Safety- Teenlit.
It informs the reader of the do's an dont's of netiquette safety. Examples: Do not give put information about your family without permission.
Do not open or accept e-mails, files, links, urls or anything from people you do not know or trust.

References

Crump & Carbone, (1998). A students guide to the internet and the world wide web. (2nd ed.).

       Houghton Mifflin, New York. Retrieved from www.teenlit.com/netiquette.php.

Netiquette and internet safety- teen lit. (n.d). Retrieved from www.teenlit.com/netiquette.php.

Shea, V. (n.d.). The Core Rules of Netiquette. Retrieved from www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html.

Open and Distance Education Technologies That Have the Potential to Enhance Adult Education

Web based VoIP is the integration of voice over IP technologies into the facilities and  methodologies of the World Wide Web. It enables digital communication sessions between Web users. Graduate level courses  may benefit tremendously from this mode of communication tool. VoIP is a communication method that would promote active dialogue and increase the perception of learning among adult participants. "( Lehman, n.d). When adult learners utilize VoIP they are able to connect their past experiences to course content. Research has also shown that VoIP enhances professional developmental "pathway to enhance communication and sharing of instructional strategies" ( Lehman, n.d. ). 

 

Another technology that may enhance learning is Web conferencing.  These are sometimes referred to as webinars . Webinars enable interactive conferencing, and online workshops. Writing centers, distance learning departments and professors may conduct webinars to enhance learning. Online students may engage in Webinars to learn research skills in APA, MLA, and referencing.

 

 

Reference







 

Lehman, J. (n.d). Student perception of learning using voice-over internet protocol in online graduate

             level courses. Retrieved from http://udini.proquest.com.

 

 

 

 

Two Games That Have the Potential to Enhance Adult Learning

Mind 360 is a program/website that has interactive games designed to improve cognitive functions. The site may be accessed at http://www.mind360.com. I explored this site and it was awesome. I find it applicable to adult education. From my experience, I see older students over the age of 52 enrolling in college for retraining or to obtain their masters degrees.
 Because everyone can improve their cognitive function at any age, whether you are a student, senior citizen, or young adult, your mental fitness can always use exercise. "Games have crossed generations; they have taken their place alongside books and television....(Squire, 2011). Within mind360 the following games are offerred: At school: improve your test scores, increase memory, better homework scores, and learning to enjoy studying.
There are also games that cater to executive functioning. These games focus on building the ability to problem solve, plan, make decisions and adapt to changing situations. There are also game to build logic and reasoning. They include good decision making, abstract thinking and arriving at favorable conclusions. Mind360 allows you to track your progress, play with friends, track your progress with friends, guide you on how to improve and even give detailed results after each exercise. I tried one of the executive games on more than one occasion. At first I scored 86% accuracy, average response time of 2.68 seconds, total solved 22 and my total score was 7540. On my second try, I improved with accuracy of 96, 1.9 seconds, total solved 30 and total score 11580.
Mind360 has appealed to me, and I will certainly introduce it to my Introduction to Psychology class when studying intelligence and cognitive functions. I will also introduce it to friends and colleagues. Memory games may also be accessed at http://www.mind360.com/games/internal/wordseek.

Another game that will enhance adult learning is called Puzzlejuice. These games may be accessed at http://puzzlejuicegame.com/. These games improve your motor skills and brain power. this consist of stacking blocks that turn into words. Rotation of blocks of different colors finds you managing, matching and tapping colors and also finding words. these are enough to keep your brain challenged and fully entertained. There are difficulty levels, along with objectives. There are apps for the ipad and the ipod touch. Puzzlejuice is available and featured by Apple for under $3.00. I would recommend this game to my basic writing and speech communication learners for vocabulary building and constructing orderly sentences.

References

Mind 360 Program: http://www.mind360.com.

Puzzlejuice: http://www.puzzlejuice.com
    
Squire, K. (2011). Video games and learning: Teaching and participatory culture in the digital age.
New York, NY. Teachers College Press.





  

Two Mobile Learning Technologies That Have The Potential to Enhance Adult Education

The U.S Dept. of Education's National Technology plan (NET) published November 2010 notes that "technology is at the core of our daily lives and work, and calls for "leveraging" it to provide engaging and powerful learning experiences and content" ( Allen, 2011). The popularity of mobile devices being utilized as learning tools in adult education, only means educators are conforming to meeting 21st century learners at the crossroad of learning engagement and making sense of their learning.
Two mobile technologies that can be utilized in adult education for great learning outcomes are the smartphone and the ipad.

Smartphones including "Droids, iphones, have GPS, texting, voice, and multimedia capabilities. These small computers motivate students, provide access to a wealth of knowledge, tools and experts on the web" ( Allen, 2011). Just yesterday evening I heard the following on TV: "Smartphones are like tutors who bring learning to life" ( ABC Channel 7, New York). I looked up and was lost, only to snap back to reality and realize that this was a commercial for Smartphones by SPRINT. Smartphones may be used in adult education to create teaching episodes such as creating videos, record, take pictures of learning situations for later review, learning games and video conferencing. Communication students may utilize the Smartphone to record street interviews and other events. For further information on the use of Smartphones in education the following website may help: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs//herrington-a.pdf.
For the latest smartphone gadgets any of the current phone companies have great selections on their web sites from which to choose.

Another mobile device is the i-pad. It's now changing everything in the classroom. Apps may be purchased that allow students to engage interactively. These educational apps teach everything from science to sign language. Utilizing FaceTime is also possible on the ipad. Teachers and students are also able to put together professional looking documents and spreadsheets. presentations may also be created with stunning animation and effects. The following website may be utilized for more information:
http://www.apple.com/au/education/ipad/.

References

Allen, R. (2011). Can mobile devices transform education? Retrieved July 23, 2013 from
<http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update>

Apple in Education (n.d.): The device that changed everything is now changing the classroom. Retrieved July 26, 2013 from http://www.apple.com/au/education/ipad.

Herrington, A. ( 2008). Adult educator's use of smartphones to create digital teaching resources. Retrieved July 25, 2013 from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/herrington-a.pdf.







 

Using social network technology to enhance adult learning

Within the last ten years institutions such as colleges and universities reached their student body via e-mail. However, within the last few years it has been found that many of these e-mails sit in their in boxes without being read. This is because students are communicating more via social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter and others sites. Therefore, promoting campus events, keeping students informed, and alert has taken on a new dimension in terms of communicating via social networking.

in order to facilitate and engage students participation, administration, faculty and staff are finding ways to keep up with the tech savviness of students and reaching them via social network. I recommend the use of a social networking site called ConnectYard. This site may be utilized to reach students in terms of planning events, keeping them informed, student activities current events, the latest news and more importantly alerts in terms of weather, school closings and otherwise. As an adult educator, student groups may be able to communicate via ConnectYard when planning meetings, progress reports and reviewing work. This may be done on the ConnectYard site via "text messaging, picture and video
messaging" (Hagen, 2013).
For a free trial of  ConnectYard for SharePoint Online, visit the Microsoft Office 365 store at
http://tinyurl.com/cy365app.

Another social networking site that educators may use to enhance and reinforce a lesson is Twitter.
I recently watched a demo of a prospective adjunct professor teaching the five paragraph essay. she focused on Writing a proper thesis statement utilizing three points. Her culminating activity was for students to tweet their thesis statements to her. How cool, innovative, and sensible. I am sure that if that's utilized in our basic writing classes, excuses would be non-existent. Accessing and setting up an account may be done through http://www.twitter.com.

Hagen, B. ( 2013). A faster more effective way to communicate with students using sharepoint online and connectyard.  Retrieved, July 15, 2013 from http://blogs.technet.com/b/educloud/archive/2013.

Applications and multimedia resources that have the potential to enhance adult education

Applications and multimedia resources that have the potential to enhance adult education.

 

BEST EDUCATIONAL APPS

 

 #1 Kahn Academy URL: www.khanacademy.org

 

 App Description  In my research, I have found that Khan Academy allows you to learn almost anything for free. It is a "high profile non-profit online tutoring library created by Salman A. Khan" (Sparks, 2011). It doesn't matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge. Examples of how you would incorporate the Khan academy into your professional practice-        The Kahn Academy video can be used as a credible resource for research papers. In addition it can be used with multimedia resources as it allows the user to upload clips which can be added to powerpoint presentations, interactive blogging and student progress tracking. There is also a "free Khan Academy app for ipad which delivers more than 2, 700 videos to the viewer covering a range of topics including math, science and humanities" (Saltzman, USA Today, 2012). 2)

Kahn academy is also an excellent resource for adults with learning disabilities and ESL issues. Video are presented with subtitles and they are interactive in design. This application allows students to learn at a comfortable pace and scroll back and forth through the videos, creating the opportunity to increase comprehension.

 Kahn academy allows the professor to create tutorial videos which are interactive and can be used across a variety of subjects. I find that this would be very helpful for Developmental English writing classes. I could upload videos of me teaching the five paragraph essay outline with examples.

Kahn Academy also has a platform which will provide interactive testing for the student to use as a study tool.  As an instructor, Kahn Academy allows you to track your students’ progression in real time. This technology gives the student and instructor a one on one interaction outside the classroom. I have found as a professor that the use of video is an effective learning tool as it engages the student while allowing them to work at their own pace. It is portable and easy to use. I have also found that learning tools which are interactive increase the ability for the adult learner to absorb and assimilate knowledge. The quiz counter is an excellent way to test knowledge and measure progress.

 #2- REVISION APP

 URL: http://revisionapp.co.uk/

Description Revision App is The Ultimate Revision Tool & Flash Card App. With over 1 million flash cards & Revision Notes covering GCSE, A-Level, University and College subjects & many more. Revision App allows you to share revision notes with other people, and even email yourself revision notes.• • Over 5 million revision notes/flash cards - from College and University to GCSE, • • Group revision - Share flash cards with you friends or study group using Revision App• • Quiz yourself using Revision App - Create your own flash cards with Revision App• • Track Your Progress - Check your score and see how well you are improving Revision App• • Create text answers, record audio answers or even film video answers all using Revision App• • Import flash cards from your desktop with Revision App• • Revise maths, science, French and many more educational subjects with Revision App.

 Examples of how you would incorporate the Revision app into your professional practice-Revision app can be used as a study guide and tools to prepare students for examinations and status of progress. The great aspect to this application is that it can be tailored to the student’s level and course. Revision cards can be used on the go thus eliminating the use of some textbooks which is where many colleges and university are moving towards in this world of educational technology. There are many multimedia uses for revision app as it can be uploaded to a you-tube presentation, group study sessions via skype and as an interactive in classroom group quiz via smart room technology. Revision App allows you to do group revision and send flash cards to other students who have Revision App.

.This is also a great tool for students who are presenting informative and persuasive speeches. It helps in their preparation.

References

 Saltzman, M. (2012). Khan Academy: free education in app form. USA Today.

 Sparks, S.D.(2011). Schools 'Flip' for Lesson Model promoted by Khan Academy. (Cover story).