Interent Safety

As a teacher I feel it is important to ensure that students understand the potential hazards of giving out personal information. There are many ways a person can accomplish this. I think you need to answer the so 'what if I do?' question.

Students also need to understand the power of information. How hard is it to exploit someone who you know nothing about. If you have a phone number, you can pinpoint approximate location and try to relate to them given general assumptions of what is prevalent in that area. For example someone with a (780) prefix you may assume loves the Edmonton oilers. Once someone makes you feel comfortable you are not as careful with the information you give them and this can be very dangerous.

One way to accomplish this would be to provide examples of how information was exploited. Use recent news articles; for example the boy whose 16th birthday party ended up trashed just recently. Or more serious situations where individuals have actually been abducted. To illustrate the power of information you could ask students to explore others profiles and learn as much about them as you can. They will be amazed at how free the information is and if someone had ill intents how easy it would be to take advantage of them.

Just make students aware of preditors and stress not to give out personal information.

Running

 

Discussion Boards

Pros	Cons
Decreases learner isolation Provides a history of learners contribution Ease of retrieval and exchange of information Encourages collaborative learning Student – centered learning Empowers the learners Highly interactive discussions Higher quality (time to reflect) Encourages ALL students to respond Flexibility Peer tutoring Professional development opportunities Development of written skills	Increased complexity from F2F Fragment discussion within topic Technology not available to all Disadvantage for students with poor writing abilities Misunderstandings may occur due to lack of body language

How can discussion blogs enhance classroom interactions?

(1) Many times a teacher simply does not have time to discuss topics in depth and this is where a discussion board could be used. At the end of the day/week a teacher could post tangent topic(s) that time did not allow him/her to address. The students are then able to connect to their peers on a more personal level, talking about material that may be somehow related to the curriculum but not required. (2) A teacher may also encourage peer learning and tutoring by posting unanswered questions and requiring students to formulate possible answers. (3) Rather than having F2F debates a teacher may want to create a discussion board. This requires students to all participate while giving students time to reflect and research different views before formulating their own. (4) In group activities it can often be challenging to find a time convenient for all to meet. A discussion board would allow groups to collaborate without a F2F meeting thereby accomplishing what they need to together but when it is convenient for each individual. Pieces can be posted on the discussion board and glued together by an individual. (5) A discussion board could be used to explore other cultures. Individuals could post comments, pictures, stories, reports, recipes, and all sorts of cultural relevant information for all to explore. This could be used to create understanding and respect for others perspectives in the classroom. There are many ways that discussion boards enhance classroom learning.

Concept Mapping

The forest ecosystem concept map could be integrated in a number of ways to teach Grade 6 students about the importance of our forests. One way that this technology could be integrated would be to have the class break into groups of two at the end of the year and come up with a review on one of the topics such as, forest ecosystems covered in the science curriculum through the use of a concept map. The class could then combine their concept maps into a booklet and this could act as a guide for achievement exam studies. This technology could also be used in the writing process. If students were expected to come up with a report on a topic such as ecosystems, the teacher could require the students to use a concept map to formulate ideas before they start writing. As a teacher you could present them with the concept map and have them write out a review of the details of the individual thought bubbles.

The Inspiration Software would meet the following outcomes:
General Outcome C4: Students will use organizational processes and tools to manage inquiry. In particular, students will be able to organize information using a variety of tools (2.2).
General Outcome C5: Students will use technology to aid collaboration during inquiry. Specifically 2.2 require students to record group brainstorming, planning, and sharing of ideas through technology.
General Outcome C6: Students will use technology to investigate and/or solve problems. In this section specific outcome 2.3 has students use graphic organizers, such as mind mapping/webbing, flow charting and outlining, to present connections between ideas and information in a problem-solving environment.

An Ecosystem Presentation

This lesson requires Biology 20 students to design a presentation on biospheres. The presentation will fulfill the general outcome by requiring students to explain a biospheres composition (ecosystem, biotic). Specifically students will define species, population, community and ecosystem and explain the interrelationships among them (20-B1.1k), identify biotic and abiotic characteristics and explain their influence (20-B1.3k), and explain the impact of human activity on the ecosystem (20-B1.1sts). There are more outcomes from the Biology curriculum that could be incorporated. First have groups of students choose an ecosystem they want to research. Explain to students what they need to cover and how they should present it. The ICT general outcome C1 is also incorporated by requiring students to communicate information using a number of technologies such as a PowerPoint, blog, webpage, etcetera in their presentation. In particular students will have to achieve ICT 1.1 and 4.1 which necessitate that students retrieve appropriate information for a specific inquiry using electronic sources and that they execute a complex search respectively. Many other outcomes are fulfilled as well such as specific outcome C1: 2.2, 3.5, 3.6, and C7: 1.2. Many more outcomes can be fulfilled or touched on by requiring students to include images (general outcome P3) or to hyperlink to a source (General outcome P5). The possibilities are endless.

The Alberta, Naturally Webpage and Ecosystems – Environment Canada Webpage can be emphasized and a brief search on one of them can be demonstrated using the Proxima. Students will gain an understanding of biospheres through the study of a particular ecosystem. They will search for animals, abiotic and biotic matter in that ecosystem, and humans impact on that ecosystem using the Internet and academic sources. Diagrams, charts and statistics from these sources can be used as a visual aid. The presentation will be given using technology to showcase their findings. Students will be able to take pride in their work and creativity and share this with fellow classmates.

The use of technology in his activity forces students to be active learners. Technology assists them in finding information and in presenting it in a unique and interactive manner. It can inspire creativity and provide structure. As a presentation tool it is a beautiful visual aid. It connects the entire class to the material and helps them connect to it. Technology makes the material come to life and provides meaning.

URL’s:
Alberta, Naturally (2005)
Retrieved October 1, 2007, from online: http://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/index.htm

Ecosystems – Environment Canada (2007)
Retrieved October 1, 2007, from online: http://www.mb.ec.gc.ca/nature/ecosystems/index.en.html

Education. (2007). Biology 20 – 30. Page 28
Retrieved October 1, 2007, from online: http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/bySubject/science/default.asp

Education. (2007). ICT Program of Studies.
Retrieved October 1, 2007, from online:
http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/ict/pofs.asp