Gathering Research and Narrowing my Topic - Assignment # 1 - Part B

I am narrowing my keywords to student participation in “digital content” and “on-line discussions/blogging.”  As the week has progressed, I have included a couple more topics to aid in my understanding.  Many of the words I originally listed as topics to understand fall under the umbrella term of “digital citizenship.”  To this term I have further added an understanding of government policy around “digital literacy,” as well as “blogging in the classroom” and “effects on on-line discussion in the classroom.”  I also began exploration of my own district’s new portal and found a lot good information in their various web pages. 

The resources I have collated are as follows:

1)      Digital Citizenship Learning for Teachers

School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay)
- great information on the following:  difference between consumption and creation technologies, the SAMR model, our district policies around teacher use of social media, use of our school portal (a platform our district uses just as UBC uses Canvass), district resources, and guidelines for password creation
- excellent information for teachers in our district and library staff to guide online activities in classrooms for our district

and

DigitalCitizenship (Classroom Resources)

School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay)

- amazing collection of resources for helping to teach students about digital citizenship.  This pages includes links to  many good sources of information such as Media Smarts, Cyberwise, and Common Sense Media, which each offer a lot of resources/lesson plan ideas for teaching students to become good digital citizens. 
- Cyberwise and Common Sense Media seem best for junior high and senior students

"Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool, it is a way to prepare students for a society full of technology." 

- Dr. Mike Ribble

 

2)      Digital Literacy Standards 
BC Ministry of Education

- a definition of digital literacy and an outline of six characteristics of digital literacy (as identified by BC leaders in education).  The documents outlines "the types of knowledge and skills learners need to be successful in the 21st Century" (pg 1).

3)      Teaching with Blogs

Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching

- provides a number of topics which require consideration and prior teaching in to students in order for blogging to be productive and a positive learning tool.  These include such issues as knowing about copyright guidelines and understanding what constitutes plagiarism.

                                                           Blogging in Education

4)      Why You Should Start Classroom Blogging (and How to Do It)

Lee-Watanabe-Crockett, Global Digital Citizen Foundation

- provides rational for using blogs in the classroom and helpful suggestions on how to implement their use in the classroom

5)      Literature Review: The Affects of Online Discussion on In-class Discussion

Richard Hutton

- An article looking at the possible affects of using online discussion on the dynamic of the classroom (student relationships and oral discussion in the classroom)

Do on-line Discussion Boards Increase the Quality of Students' Discussions?

                                    (Great tips on setting up online discussion in the classroom)