Blog Entry III: Openness

I think that the term "openness" is a term that both current educators and future educators need to be familiar with. When it comes to education, openness can be seen as a standard for progression. It's the standard that embraces change. It's the standard that brings down the barriers that are restricting access to education. It's the standard that is empowering not only the learners, but the educators as well.  

"He who receives ideas from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine receives light without darkening me." -Thomas Jefferson 

Whenever the topic of openness in education is brought up in discussion, I think to myself "Why would anyone be against this?". David Wiley's discussion on open education is proven to be quite insightful. One thing I agree with him saying was as simple as "if there is no sharing, then there is no education". If you are against openness stop and think for one second, what do you have to lose from sharing your ideas? Wiley also mentions in his presentation that the most successful educators share most thoroughly with the most students. This is a statement that I 100% agree with.  If you're an educator, and you're paranoid about other people taking your ideas then I think that you may be in the wrong profession. 

Technology is also making education more accessible. With the internet, everything we need is almost at an instant and almost free. There's no doubt that the number of people that are attending school at a college level continues to grow. With that in mind the idea of classroom space and access to resources come into mind. Surely we won't be able to rely on physical textbooks and large classrooms forever, right? I personally think that libraries will and should always exist, but with technology, we have the opportunity to get rid of those extremely expensive textbooks (that will probably be outdated shortly after their release). We don't have to fight for the availability of that resource. With technology everyone can have access to a cheap digital book. Online classes also help those access education when they may not normally be able to do so. The lack of social interaction is not at risk in online classes because the internet already does a good job of enabling it.   

The gift of technology and being connected does come with its drawbacks. Despite there being so much content available, there is also content that is not safe for our k-12 students. If left unmonitored, children can be exposed to unsafe content such as phishing (a fraudulent practice to gain access of someone's private information), or could be victims of catfishing (using false identities) or other scams.  On top of potentially being exposed to unsafe content, due to the ease of anonymity that comes with social interaction, internet harassment (also known as cyber bullying) is common, and it can be awful for someone to experience. Obviously educators cannot monitor their student's activity. Even though educators are not able to monitor their student's activity, we can still provide them with information on some of the dangers that they may encounter; we can still guide them on what's appropriate to share and what should stay private. 

Open education combined with technology will help reduce the cost of education, improve the quality of it, and make it more accessible. Being open and sharing allows us to gain a lot while not losing anything. Being able to provide quality education is something that I will strive for as a future educator. 

Blog Entry II: Sharing

Technology has given teachers a more accessible means of sharing information. The internet and social media pushes this even further. When you are expanding your Personal Learning Network (PLN), you are opening yourself to countless resources and knowledge all at the click of a button. Twitter, for example, allows you to subscribe to things that you are interested in, and when you see this information pop up on your news feed you immediately have access to it. I think that it is important for teachers and leaders to share their work. 
Jennie Snyder makes a good point when she is talking about the importance of sharing throughout a PLN; it is not seeking knowledge for my own benefit, but creating and sharing with others to work toward a larger purpose that matters. Whether it is through positively changing things in education or even society our ability to share can play a crucial role. While I think that many people would agree with these statements, there are some people who would prefer to stay away from this habit. On the topic of blogs, George Couros shares some ideas on why people may be turned off from the idea through thoughts such as some people are private or the feeling that people aren't going to care about what you say. As I can understand the thoughts behind some of these criticisms, I personally don't like some of them. Take the second comment for example. When you are building a PLN, you are connecting with people who share the same interests as you. As mentioned before, following certain pages on twitter that you are interested in and creating a PLN that shares a common interest can help make sure that your opinion doesn't go unheard.  As for the first comment, as long as you are keeping the content you share professional then I don't think privacy would be too much of an issue. 
Now technology has made sharing more convenient, but that doesn't mean sharing face to face should be looked over. Being able to discuss, create, and collaborate face to face can be even more valuable than doing so through technology. You can even take this idea and use it in the classroom. Open ended discussions, peer reviews, discussion boards (more technological based), can all prove to be quite beneficial to student success. When I do begin to teach, I will definitely attempt to use all of these strategies in the classroom.
For the benefit of classrooms, it is important that we share. In an era that we are in now, it would be silly not to. By using technology, the expansion of PLNs, and taking the time to collaborate, we can give students great opportunities to go above expectations. 

Blog Entry I: Introduction

Welcome reader! You are now reading my first blog entry. I'm Jordan and I am looking forward to both learning about and utilizing technology and networking on social media. I'll start by talking about myself a little bit. I'm 25 years old and from Warren Ohio but I am now a current resident of Willoughby. When I'm not making the hour long commute to UAkron, I am working as a substitute teacher in Lake County schools and I also work in an after school program in Mentor Exempted Village school district. I work with students of all ages and I enjoy working with every age group. I completed my undergraduate studies at Kent State University. I initially entered college as a math major. As I completed my studies I began to realize that I wanted to teach, which is why I am now pursuing a licensure to teach math in grades 7 through 12. Although most of the inspiration for me wanting to teach came from my  11th and 12th grade high school calculus and physics teacher, I can definitely say that all of my math teachers were an inspiration. Every time the topic of math teachers comes up in conversation it usually turns into something along the lines of "I hated my math teacher, they weren't good" or "I didn't learn anything from my teacher". I loved my math teachers, they did an awesome job of presenting content and keeping us (the students) engaged.  

I don't use many types of social media. The social media I do use is Facebook and even though I didn't have a twitter account until now, I occasionally will view tweets on twitter from sports players or a topic or news that may be trending. Despite having a Facebook account I hardly ever post on it. I usually just use it to follow those that I have connected with in person. Even though I do not use social media too often I like to think that I am fully aware of how big of a role it plays in the world. Technology and the use of it is very important and should definitely be implemented into all classrooms. As for social media being used for classroom purposes, I think that it can prove to be quite useful but I also think that teachers might want to tread with caution when using it. 

Now on to discussing the two articles. The articles: My Favorite Teachers Use Social Media: A student Perspective and A Teenager's View on Social Media are very insightful. These articles are interesting since they aren't your average articles. The articles aren't based on a scholar or an analyst conducting research or analyzing the impact of social media with teenagers. The articles are written by teenagers and are their personal experiences and opinions, which makes the articles unique. The authors views and experiences in the articles were pretty standard. They see social media as something that's important and something that is apart of everyday life. Students feel the need to stay connected and, as author Katie Benmar described it in so many words, use social media as a measurement tool for the social ladder. 

The viewed articles prove to be informative, they give a view on to how important social media is to students and how utilizing social media for classroom uses to teach and keep students engaged can prove to be beneficial. The articles also give opinions on how important and useful certain social media sites are. Getting this type of information can help teachers maybe tailor some kind of classroom activity that can be used on social media. Something as simple as sending out a tweet on twitter about a reminder for an assignment or posting homework on Facebook or Instagram can help keep students updated and engaged with school activity.   

Article links: 

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/22/my-favorite-teachers-use-social-media-a.html

https://backchannel.com/a-teenagers-view-on-social-media-1df945c09ac6#.id8myoycr