Standard One : Content Knowledge

AECT Standard 1 - Content Knowledge

Candidates demonstrate the knowledge necessary to create, use, assess, and manage theoretical and
practical applications of educational technologies and processes.

1.1 Creating

Create instructional materials and learning environments using a systems

approach.

Digital Citizenship Blackboard Mini-Course (ETEC 6253 - Spring 2014)

Early in our Ed Tech courses we were introduced to several models of instructional design that
can be used to create courses, lessons, and instructional materials. The one I most frequently used
during my time as a grad student was the ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate)
method. I used ADDIE to design my Digital Citizen mini-course. First, I analyzed my instructors
expectations, the anticipated learners, delivery options, and estimated class/course time frames. Second
I designed a map of my course, basically an age appropriate scope and sequence based on information
gathered in the analysis phase, internet research, and curriculum from our schools computer teacher.
The third step was actually developing the lessons. Fourth, I implemented a prototype of the course with
peers and had tweens and teens participate in sample lessons. The fifth phase of ADDIE is evaluation.
Throughout the process of creating the course and lessons, I performed various formative evaluations.
Summative evaluation was provided by peer reviews, my instructor, and students.

Analyze

My primary learners were middle school students, but I also determined that teachers
themselves could benefit from the content so I considered them a secondary group of learners. My
primary learners were mostly 10 to 12 year old digital natives with a typical attention span of 10 15
minutes. At that time, I was teaching 5th and 6th grade students part time in our schools computer lab. I
was able to observe some of their desktop computer behavior and discuss with them their digital habits.
Discussions and observation enabled me to determine their beginning skills and the gap between those
skills and my course goals. Students typical attention span and the 30 minute period of time I had with
each class of students provided a general framework for the lessons.

Design

It was predetermined by our professor that this project was to be hosted in Blackboard.
Therefore, all mini-course content would have to be housed on the web and delivered via Blackboard. I
created an outline of the course that included main topics and a sketchy idea of materials and activities.
It was at this time that I determined the primary goal and five key objectives of the course:

The primary goal of this course is to help middle school students become safe,
productive, and responsible users of electronic media.

Students will:

demonstrate safe online behavior.

discuss and present guidelines for becoming respectful and responsible digital
media users and creators.
demonstrate proper netiquette.
recognize and help stop/prevent cyberbullying.
create and protect a positive digital reputation.

I used Common Core language arts standards and National Educational Technology Standards for
Students (NET-S) standards to guide me in selecting engaging materials and activities. I spent a
considerable amount of time searching the internet for developmentally appropriate materials and
activities that would create a safe learning environment for self-reflection, collaboration, and active (as
opposed to passive) learning. I also, collaborated with a co-worker who taught elementary and middle
school computer classes. Each year, she taught a digital citizenship unit to all of her students. She was
excited to share her lessons, online resources, and experiences with me. I am grateful she pointed me to
the NetSmartz and CommonSenseMedia websites since a large portion of my mini-course content came
from those sites.

Develop

During this phase, I began to fill the lessons with learning activities and materials by loading
them into Blackboard. I created an infographic about electronic device usage by U.S. teens and designed
an interactive study guide (you can view these and other course content in my e-portfolio) which could
be printed and used as a traditional study guide but when downloaded on a computer or smartphone
contained live links to NSTeens videos about digital citizenship. When necessary, I reformatted materials
such as the infographics so they could be easily viewed without having to visit an external site. Activities
were chosen and created with various learning styles, preferences, differences in mind.

Implement

During the first part of the implementation phase, I worked through the course myself and
made links and videos worked properly. Then, my own teenaged daughters worked through some of the
lessons. Finally, our instructor had grouped us with peers in our class who would provide peer reviews of
a draft version of our course. From the peer reviews and their suggestions, I made improvements to the
course before submitting the final project.
Evaluate

Formative evaluation was provided by peers, colleagues, and teens during each phase of
building the course. During the analysis and design phases, I conducted informal interviews with my
students and the elementary computer teacher about content, materials, and activities. And during the
implement phase, peer reviews provided excellent formative evaluation. When my test students
actually took the online netiquette quiz in lesson two and worked through the interactive study guide
their successful completion of these activities provided summative evaluation. Finally, I created an end
of the course survey as another summative evaluation tool.

1.2 Using:

Select and use technological resources and processes to support student learning.

Digital Citizenship Blackboard Mini-Course (ETEC 6253 - Spring 2014)

When creating this mini-course, my three most helpful resources were the computer teacher at
my school (Ms. Mac), CommonSenseMedia (www.commonsensemedia.org), and NetSmartz Workshop
(netsmartz.org). I also drew on my experience teaching middle school students; I observed what types
of online activities and sites they gravitated to in their free time in the computer lab; and interviewed
them about their digital device usage.

Our assignment required that we create a Blackboard course; this provided me valuable
experience using Blackboard as an instructor. Since Blackboard was already chosen as the mode of
delivery, I selected learning activities that could be presented through Blackboard. Ms. Mac provided
helpful suggestions of web-based activities she had already used successfully with her students and
pointed me toward CommonSenseMedia and NetSmartz websites for a plethora of digital citizenship
content. NSTeens is a teen site created by NetSmartz specifically for the purpose of teaching teens and
tweens how to stay safe online. NSTeens boasts a series of videos covering several digital citizenship
topics. After watching all the videos they had available at that time, I chose to use, 6 Degrees of
Information, Two Kinds of Stupid, Gaming, and Post to be Private. Since the CommonSenseMedia
lessons and activities were already aligned with NET-S, I simply chose the ones I found the most
informative and that I thought would capture (and keep) the students attention. Also, having a
collection of activities and lessons that were already aligned provided a foundation for selecting
additional activities. As a bonus, most of the CommonSenseMedia and NetSmartz videos were closed
captioned and some the other activities offered the option to participate in English or Spanish.

I chose to include activities using Blackboard wikis, blogs, and discussion boards because I
wanted the students to have hands-on practice demonstrating some of the digital citizenship skills they
were learning. By using the wiki, blog space, and discussion boards provided within Blackboard students
could practice these skills in a safe place with teacher supervision. I felt it was important to include these
types of collaborative and social activities in the course since middle school students already engage in
similar activities on the web.

1.3 Assessing/ Evaluating

Assess and evaluate the effective integration of appropriate technologies and

instructional materials.

Digital Citizenship Blackboard Mini-Course (ETEC 6253 Spring 2014)

I watched the videos and played the games myself before including them for consideration.
Then more formally assessed all technology and instructional materials by asking whether it aligned with
the course goal and objectives. From there I reviewed Common Core language arts standards for middle
school and National Educational Technology standards for students (NET-S) to determine age and
developmental suitability. Then I collaborated with my peers and teachers concerning appropriateness.
During the Design and Development Phases of creating this mini-course one of the main ways I
evaluated the technologies and materials was by using my own teenaged daughters and middle school
students as testers. Prior to finalizing plans to use or not use a particular technology, video, or other
instructional materials, I watched my daughters or a couple students use it and then asked each to
provide feedback. While not at all a scientific method for selection, this observation and (informal)
interview process gave me first hand insight into the tool which was under consideration.

More specifically:

Digital Dirt YouTube video Ms. Mac had used it successfully with her 5th and 6th graders. It was
shown during teacher technology professional development. The video was positively received
by students and instructors.
Nsteens videos I cross referenced them with NET-S standards
Interactive Safety Review Study Guide my daughters actually worked through the draft version
of the guide and made suggestions. They pointed out parts that were confusing and helped
streamline its look. After making suggested changes, I tested the guide on a middle school
student; observing while he worked and interviewing after. His ability to answer the questions
on the study mostly unaided was also an indication of its appropriateness and effectiveness.
In addition, peer reviews from two of my Ed Tech classmates provided additional insight and
suggested a website that explained the rules of netiquette specifically for tweens and teen.
1.4 Managing:

Manage people, processes, physical infrastructures, and financial resources to

achieve predetermined goals.

Prior to my Grant Writing and Strategic Planning courses, I had very little experience managing
anything other than a class full of 10 year olds. These courses provided me the chance to manage
people, resources, and processes, while working with a group of adults toward a common goal.

IT Strategic Plan (ETEC 6223 Fall 2016)

Working on this IT Strategic Plan provided an exciting opportunity to work toward a large
common goal with a diverse group of people. I worked closely with two key contacts: the vice president
of the IT department, Joan, and a board member, Ben. Between the two of them we were able to build
an outstanding Strategic Planning Team consisting of board members, company presidents, IT and other
employees. We worked together to dream a vision, create goals, determine needs, and develop a plan.
As the project facilitator, I was required to manage people, processes, infrastructures, and resources.

I collected and analyzed information on current and potential resources, including finances,
equipment, software, and humans. Most of the initial information was gathered through interviews,
existing records, and metrics reports. I designed the tools used to gather information specifically for this
project. The tools included a request for existing records, an IT inventory spreadsheet, an OS metrics
request, and an interview guide; a copy of each is provided in the appendix (Appendices A, B, C, and D
respectively). Data sources included Monograms CIO, tech support, and key ERP/MES users; IT reports;
and software manuals. Data from the individual inventory spreadsheets and OS metrics reports were
entered into two master spreadsheets for easier analysis. The interviews provided mostly qualitative
data. Information gathered was grouped and analyzed by topic and re-occurring themes. Frequently
mentioned topics were noted and organized.

The main tools I used for managing our human resources were planned communication,
meetings, and timelines.

Planned communication:

1x week Group Email: from myself to the team

1x week Team members submit progress emails to Joan which she summarized
forwarded to me
Every 2 weeks I co-led team meeting with presentations/updates from anyone
responsible for current actions
1x month Newsletter to company (graphics/marketing dept) during the planning
process I provided this information
1x month Update meeting with executives or as needed during
particularly productive periods of implementation
 Every 2 months Presentation of progress to board members to continue after the
planning phase and into the action and evaluation phases
End of project Email company, press release/news article
Emergency Text or phone call

Meetings:

Vision meeting: agenda, outline, led Dream Big Activity provide a description of vision activity
Prioritizing Needs meeting: create agenda for my part of the meeting, lead my 30 minute chunk
of time and guide participants in prioritizing needs activity
Solutions Meeting: create agenda for my part of the meeting, lead my 60 minute chunk of time
and guide participants in providing and ranking potential solutions.
Timelines:

Evaluation Timeline (Appendix K)

Action Timeline/Checklist (Appendices F & G)
Both timelines included dates, actions or evaluations to be performed, and the party responsible for
each task.

CCS Grant (ETEC 5263 Summer 2016)

Working on this grant was somewhat similar to working on the IT Strategic Plan in that it
provided me with another opportunity to collaborate with a group of people who were working on a 2 -
3 year strategic plan. While working on the IT Strategic Plan, I had a high level view of the department,
like an overview of the forest; but working on this grant forced me to take an extremely close look at a
comparatively smaller department within a small organization, like examining the details of one tree in a
forest. Writing the grant proposal required me to more closely manage financial resources and
technology infrastructure and to be more detailed with tasks and in my timeline.

I used informational meetings, detailed timelines, and time sensitive measurable objectives with
corresponding evaluation methods to manage the people and processes involved in writing the grant
and preparing to carry out the project. More specifically, the grant proposes that the technology
administrator would create and distribute a technology needs survey to all staff and faculty at the start
of each school year. This survey would be used to evaluate specific needs but also would hopefully track
an improvement in the technology programs and infrastructure. Data from the surveys would be shared
with staff and faculty at informational meetings. I carefully examined the schools existing technology
budget and created a program budget justification before finalizing the budget outlined in the actual
grant proposal. In order to stay within the schools pre-existing budget and use grant money wisely, I
researched several vendors and prices via the internet and used the best prices available to estimate the
proposed budget. Budget summary, rationale, and sustainability report provide evidence of managing
financial resources.

1.5 Ethics:

Demonstrate contemporary professional ethics of the field as outlined by the

AECT Code of Ethics.

An excellent description and discussion of the AECT Code of Professional Ethics

can be found at :
https://www.aect.org/intranet/publications/ethics/ethics04.html.

IT Strategic Plan (ETEC 6223 Fall 2016)

The AECT Code of Ethics was created with educators in mind. Even though I facilitated the
strategic planning process with a for profit corporation, as a University of Arkansas graduate student, I
served as a representative of the school, U of As Ed Tech program, and the educational technology field.
As such, it was vital that I conduct myself professionally and ethically throughout the planning process. I
have included some specific examples below.

Section 1 Commitment to the Individual

1.4. Shall conduct professional business so as to protect the privacy and maintain the personal integrity
of the individual.

At the request of the company, I redacted confidential and private information from my project.
In other words, I have not published, nor did I include in my assignment some confidential information
that was present in internal documents.

1.5 Shall follow sound professional procedures for evaluation and selection of materials and equipment.

We carefully followed selection process for the ERP as outlined in the plan. A team of people
made important decisions and selected equipment. Only vendors meeting the stringent RFP
requirements were considered.

Section 3Commitment to the Profession

3.1 Shall accord just and equitable treatment to all members of the profession in terms of professional
rights and responsibilities.
 Meetings and interview guides were carefully designed to promote open, courteous, and
respectful communication. For example, employees were not required to provide their names on
interviews, when discussing needs, or submitting potential solutions. This allowed managers and V.P.s
to view constructive criticism, information, and suggestions more objectively while allowing employees
to speak freely without fear of repercussion. Another example of demonstrating just and equitable
treatment is evidenced in the timelines and checklist. I dont even know most of the actual people
assigned to some of the tasks. I assigned the tasks based upon the existing job descriptions of a
particular position without knowing who that particular person was.

Digital Citizenship Blackboard Mini-Course (ETEC 6253 - Spring 2014)

An important part of ethics requires that the instructor or designer preview all material before including
it in a lesson!!!

1.3 Shall guarantee to each individual the opportunity to participate in any appropriate program.

I designed the course with this standard in mind. I wanted the course to be accessible to as
many pre-teens as possible. Therefore, I designed the course in such a way that it could be used
independently or with a group, in class, at school, at home, or using a computer at a public library, Mac
or PC. For example, all of the content is easily available and compatible with almost any computer with
internet access and speakers. One does not need special equipment or exceptional computer skills to
present or view the lessons. In addition, I selected videos with closed captioning so that hearing
impaired could have access to them without assistive technology if so desired.

1.8 Shall in the design and selection of any educational program or media seek to avoid content that
reinforces or promotes gender, ethnic, racial, or religious stereotypes. Shall seek to encourage the
development of programs and media that emphasize the diversity of our society as a multicultural
community.

I thoroughly previewed all activities, videos, and games before selecting them for this course.
Videos feature both males and females and teens of various ethnicities and races. None are presented in
a prejudicial or stereotypical manner.