My name is Addison Masters. I am an Education Major at Grand View University in Des Moines, IA. I will be graduating in the Fall of 2016 with an endorsement in social studies. As an aspiring teacher, it is crucial to understand how to incorporate digital media into my classroom. Advocating digital citizenship is the first step to incorporating technology in the classroom. An educator without an extensive understanding of what digital citizenship is should not incorporate technology in his or her classroom at all.
I have been a part of the digital world ever since my parents bought a Windows 95 computer. I spent countless hours playing NBA Jam, The Sims, Roller Coaster Tycoon, and The Oregon Trail. As I grew and evolved, so did the technology around me. Internet chat rooms and Instant Messenger were popular throughout my middle school years. Myspace was the big thing when I was in high school. Although I am relatively young, looking back on that technology seems archaic. The technology that today's students have at their fingertips is mind boggling. Technology is an ever evolving field. We as educators better get with it, or get lost. Rather than fight it, a teacher must embrace it. This site is intended for anyone with a computer/smartphone or anyone that knows someone with a computer/smartphone. Basically, this site is for anyone that lives in the modern world. More specifically, this site is for teachers and parents to first educate themselves so that they can educate their children and students. Sources While gathering my sources, I used the all-mighty Google search engine. I sifted through the myriad of information to hand pick sources that I felt most credible. I took a lot of information from Mike Ribble, author of Digital Citizenship in Schools and Raising a Digital Child. Ribble is a leading expert when it comes to digital citizenship, so he is an obvious choice. I also found great videos on Youtube to help describe each element. The videos are from a school in New Zealand, which is sort of odd, but goes to show you the power of the Internet. A college student in the heart of America can connect by a click of a button to a school about as far away as possible. I then gathered statistics from reputable surveys conducted by Pew Research Center. When doing online research it is essential to have sources to back up the claims and numbers that are displayed. In addition to the statistics, I backed my claims up with expert opinions from news sources like New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor. These news sources are well-established and professional enough to have the confidence that the information is truthful. Reflection Throughout the process of creating this website, I learned that getting everything to layout exactly how I wanted was sometimes difficult. I was frustrated with the alignment issues that I had with pictures and text. The undo button was also something that troubled me. If I made a mistake I had to delete it and create it again because the undo button was only available for text. On a brighter note, I came to realize that through programs like Weebly and Wix, anyone can have a website. Gone are the days of having to call a programmer to write code for the needed website. Now, all the coding is done behind the scenes and everything is just click and drag. This process makes me curious of what types of technology will be more user-friendly in the future. |