ITEC 7430 Task 3.

Lisa Flicker Blog Posting: Social Networks,

Virtual Environments and Digital Divide.

Social Networking

Twitter is a social networking tool that I have used, but have never really understood
the true potential as a collaboration and professional learning tool for educators. My
experience with it is to periodically post a personalized learning activity my students
are creating or to post a picture from a field trip we had attended earlier that day. I
now understand the great potential twitter has as an excellent professional learning
tool for educators. Twitter allows teachers to be able to participate in on-line chats that
are relevant to what they are looking to find more information on, to find and share
resources on best practices, or even a resource for differentiation strategies geared
toward specific student populations (Solomon and Schrum, 2014). I very much feel this
is an excellent tool for high school students, even more so than middle school, who
tend to already be using it. This tool limits the characters that a user may utilize and
forces them to create a tweet or message that includes only the most important
factors. This would be very useful with ESL students and learners who struggle with
writing as it is not so intimidating to write a much more limited response.

Instagram is another social networking tool that I do want to use more with my
own students. As I teach middle school, most of my students use this as one of
their social networking applications. However, and interesting to note, my
generation tends to use Facebook more often. It is also what I am most
comfortable with and what I primarily use in my personal life to communicate
with friends and family and as a tool for joining groups that I relate to or that I
wish to find more information on. This information can be in regard to travel,
college info for my daughter, or social action.

However, Facebook is not appealing to most of my students. Therefore, I feel it is

necessary to go where my students are, and that is Instagram. Instagram, in my
class, could be used as a means to engage my students in more research and
discussion. I could even use it as a ticket out the door by asking them to provide a
short response to an image or short video of a strand within the standard we are
studying. For example, I could post a political cartoon or image from a specific
time period and have my students make a brief comment on it. I could also use
Instagram posts as a prompt for a choice board assignment. My students love
visuals, on average, and Instagram is made up of millions of them. Instagram
even allows you to upload short videos, which makes it more appealing. I would
like to utilize Instagram as a source for students to use hashtags, just like on
twitter, and to find specific visuals, and even short videos, on some of the places
and people we are studying. With Instagram allowing video uploads, I could do
voice over directions with the images I upload and in order to assist my diverse learners in better understanding the
task. I very much am interested in the idea of app mashing with this tool!
Virtual Environments
Before beginning this module, I was not very familiar with Virtual
Environments. They seemed a little daunting to me in regard to
finding the time to learn how to use them, making the time to
implement them, and finding potential MUV’s that would be
beneficial for the very specific standards to my grade level and
what I was trying to accomplish with my students. Yet, I
understand, to a greater extent, the benefits this technology tool
can provide to students in the everyday classroom setting. They
give students the opportunity to see past experiences in a whole
new light, to challenge themselves through games, and to create
in more collaborative and personalized ways that can reach
outside the four walls of the classroom. Our text for this course
states that virtual environments are like the real world, in that
there is often times no single right answer for a problem and that
an explanation of a final product can take many forms (Solomon
and Schrum, 2014). This was one of my most favorite points made
on this topic. As I delved in to the links provided in the module,
there were two virtual environments I found very applicable to
my own teaching, Mission US and Tour Builder.

Mission US is a site that is easy to navigate, has excellent

resources for teachers, and includes handouts for students. It is
an MUV that I found myself very excited to use. Coincidently, I happened to be at a standard that one of the game sets
covers when I first researched it. Therefore, as I was completing this module, I decided to also implement the game for
the first time with my students. I have registered for an account, had the iPad version uploaded in to our school catalog
and asked students to access it to begin their “game”. The game I chose will immerse them as a farmer during the Dust
Bowl. This follows along with our SS8H8 standard. With my ESL students, I have paired them up and will be utilizing the
Google translate, as needed. My room is set up in pods, which allows collaborative learning opportunities. Therefore,
students who may be struggling with the higher order math and reasoning challenges in this game, will be able to
collaborate with their peers to problem solve.

Google Tour Builder is a Virtual Environment that I am also excited

about using with my Georgia History classes. I have several topics for
tours that my students could create, giving them choice and voice on
how they want to present their information while allowing them to
show me what they have learned or what is important to them.
Examples of ideas I have already put together for students to create
include Civil Rights Tours on different important sites and events found
in Atlanta or they could use this tool to chart Sherman’s March to the
Sea in Georgia during the Civil War. Another example could be for
students to locate specific important Patriot gathering sites or battles
in Georgia during the Revolutionary War. The example I created,
Important Civil Rights Sites in Atlanta, could be used with my students
when explaining the type of products they will be able to create using
this technology tool. Modifications for this can be made regarding the
number of stops made on the tour or the descriptions required.
Read&Write can be used along with this tool for my learning disabled
students who are struggling with writing and in order to create their
descriptions. I will provide keyboards as an assistive technology tool for students, as this helps with preventing glare and
allows some students better ease with typing.

Digital Divide
The article on Education Equity and the Digital Divide was very interesting and allowed me to see certain aspects of this
concept in greater detail. The middle school that I teach at, Holcomb Bridge Middle School, is currently going through its
third year of 1:1. We are a very diverse Title I school. We have a high percentage of ESL, transient, and students who
qualify for free and reduced lunch. The socio-economic and cultural divide is great, and many of the factors that may
naturally affect a school, fortunately have not affected us due to grants we have received over the past couple of years
since transitioning to 1:1. Our school provides iPads to each student along with a 5GB per month data package provided
by Digital Promise and Verizon. However, and as I am quite aware, there are great discrepancies in digital equity even
among the schools within my county.

The Digital Divide (Gorski, 2005) article was very informative, and the section I found most relevant to my particular
school’s situation was the discussion on multicultural education. I very much agree with the comment that multicultural
education should replace an equality orientation. This concept includes the transfer from a specific one group
domination to a multicultural education that is broader, more contextualized and now fully represents our global society
(Gorski, 2005). As I read through the article, I kept referring to the fact that this was written over ten years ago and it is
still such a hot topic in education and reform. I am concerned that there is so much inequity within schools and school
systems for our students, allowing for unfair advantages. A concept that I often think about and wish would change in
regard to the free and unlimited access to the internet. So many doors and opportunities would be opened if this was
permitted.

Strategies I could utilize to ensure equitable access to digital tools and resources include my actively participating and
become involved in professional learning networks that are geared toward my multi-cultural and diverse learners. The
discussions and resources I could gather from these PLN’s would enable me to keep updated on the newest technologies
for my students and also allow me to collaborate with educators outside of my school and district (Sheninger, 2014).
Furthermore, as I am currently involved on my school’s Personalized Learning Leadership Team, I could promote this
concept with my colleagues within our school’s grade level meetings. At these meetings, I could discuss the benefits of
PLN’s and the various forms they are able to take. The end result would be to give teachers an additional resource while
allowing them the opportunity to become more cognoscente of strategies and tools available for all of their learners.
This, in the end, will help to lessen the digital divide while also ensuring equal access for all of our students.

Gorski, P. (2005). Education equity and the digital divide. AACE Journal, 13(1), 3-45.

Sheninger, E., & Zhao, Y. (2014). Digital leadership: changing paradigms for changing times. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin,
a SAGE company.

Solomon, G. and Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0 how-to for educators (2nd ed.). International Society for Technology in
Education.

THIRTEEN. (n.d.). Retrieved February 01, 2018, from http://www.mission-us.org/

Emma,

Although we do come from very different schools, and I find that wonderful and interesting
to be able to compare how we are using technology with our students, I see that we are both
using several of the same programs with our students. I also very much like the idea of using
Instagram with my students. The images and short videos can be incorporated within my
units to support our standards and for students to be able to create and share their own ideas
and products. You had mentioned that Instagram could be used to connect students to other
educational sites and I had not yet thought of that and need to spend some time researching
in to specific accounts that could help them to deepen their understanding of the topics we
are studying.

I agree with your comment on BT's digital divide existing through classism. I am very
familiar with that school after having taught at an elementary school right down the street
from there. Many of my former students would and do attend BT. It is a wonderful school
for those who can afford to attend and the students have a wonderful complex. The facility
and the parents who have the resources and knowledge in technology to assist their children,
do help to make a difference. My current school is within a very old infrastructure.
However, we have been given many grants to update the wireless system and we have been
able to provide iPads to all of our students. They are provided a data package, at this point,
but that may end at the end of the year. I am very concerned at how this will all come
together for our students once they may potentially lose the data link at home. We have a
somewhat transient population, and those students very much rely on the data to complete
their work and study at home using the technology-based resources we have provided to
them.

Furthermore, I agree, for the most part, with the Gorski (2005) quote you included. This was
in regard to students within greater education and income areas being reached by
deployment of technology first. However, I think he should have also added that it does not
have to be rural areas that are the last to be reached with this. I very much feel that some
very urban poor areas could be added to that list. I have seen major discrepancies in
technology availability even within my own county and between the schools and areas
within it. I feel it is getting so much better, but there is some work that needs to be done in
the areas of professional development and community outreach. It is wonderful that you are
already thinking about community outreach in your own practice. Do you think their others
in your school who would like to join you in this endeavor and who would support you?

Great post!
Lisa