Roles and Functions of Online Learning

No longer are we in an educational age in which the key players are the student, parent, teacher and principal.  It takes a village to educate a pupil. The world of the learner, especially the virtual learner is afforded with a cabinet of advisors to assist with the multiple challenges a learners faces. As in a traditional brick and motor school there are several departments that see to a students need; academic advisors, financial aid advisors, in-processing advisors, graduation advisors registrar to help sign up for and drop classes and to whom send out your transcript as you search for your dream job post-graduation. In comparison, although slightly different, is the team of professionals who support the virtual learner and can be accessed at a finger tip via email, messaging or so either online communication.

Virtual students have two teams that assist them throughout their academic career at the school. The Student Information System team is smaller and part of the larger Learning Management System. The SIS is more familiar with the student as a person and scholar while the other one assists with logistics in a academic career. The SIS is similar to traditional schooling in which there is a student, a teacher and an administration but also a facilitator/advisor which is a similar role to a school counselor but more on the academic front.

The Learning Management System (LMS) is very similar to the different departments a college student uses but is brought to the primary and secondary learning level. This is a team which includes the SIS team as well as the parents/guardians of the young learner.

Asynchronous and Synchronous

Asynchronous classes are online classes in which the learner can work at their own pace. This is a perfect learning environment for older, working students. Many online universities adhere to the asynchronous learning style  by giving their students a deadline to work towards and are almost hands-off  by proving study guidelines and due dates. We use asynchronous in our every day lives through the use of  social media and text message and email. While it is polite etiquette to give a response to the afore mentioned digital messaging systems it does not require an immediate response.

The immediate responses fall under synchronous which is real-time. Synchronous learning is a more traditional style of learning in which a class meets with a teacher. This is best suggested for recent high school graduates for at least the first two years of college in order to acclimate to the college learning style. We use synchronous in our daily lives through the use of verbal communication whether in person or a phone call and instant messaging.

Digital Health

We are lucky to live in a society in which we can connect to people all over the world. I personally have friends in Australia and United Kingdom who I can "talk" to via social media almost every day. The downside is we get to wrapped up in newsfeed and posts of Game of Thrones memes. I will be the first to admit that I have a digital addiction. Instead of flowers or pictures my child brings me my phone. This wasn't healthy and serious changes needed to be made. However, it is never a good idea to go cold turkey when trying to change your habits.

One day during a weekend, I forgot my phone as we were heading out for a family outing. Most of my pictures are of my family but I am rarely in them as I am always behind the camera. On this day I was unplugged and it was lovely. I made actual memories instead of freezing them for later inspection. I felt better as I was able to enjoy my family and even have a picture of all of us and for once I do not look distracted. I wanted this feeling to last even if it was during the weekend because, let's face it, working in the 21st century means we need to stare at technology; but the weekends are our free time.

My plan:
I set my phone alarm to turn off my devices during the morning on Saturday and Sunday in order to spend a quality breakfast and time with my family. I also set up a calendar on my iPad to remind my self of my unplugging goals. I informed students, colleagues, friends and family that my digital life would be limited on the weekends and when I was home.

Results:
I don't feel disconnected from my friends who live in my phone. My school work never suffered and my family life improved. It's good to unplug and take a digital mental health break and through it all I have discovered that I love to garden which helps me relax and everyone in my 3-D life benefits when I'm relaxed and not stressed out.

Digital Safety and Security

To ensure our digital safety we as educators must understand what the threats are and the difference among those threats and how to identify them so as to avoid them. When we have mastered identifying these threats we will be better at teaching how to identify and avoid these threats for our 21st century learners. 

Our students are skilled in technology but the danger of identity theft and online predators are real. As a social studies teacher it is my responsibility to create knowledgable citizens. My students are savvy navigating the internet and are very kinesthic and visual learners for the most part. However, when it comes to safety and security they are novice. I have often found that scavenger hunts are a great strategy for engaging my students in a topic that might seem cumbersome and daunting. When they have focused questions and "quests" they produce better results and remember the content better.

The best online resource I have found to teach students about internet safety and security is  

Internet Safety for Kids

Bonus! There's even a section for teachers and parents. 

As educators we must be masters of our content to ensure high quality and rigorous lessons for our students. It is imperative that we know the terminology before we teach it. The online world can seem overwhelming for educators who were students themselves when computers were not a main tool and resource in our every day lives. I have found  Kaspersky presents terminology for online safety and security as the best resource for 20th century students turned 21st century teachers. 

Kaspersky Terminology

Digital Rights and Responsibilities Plan

You have the right to protect your personal information and privacy. All social networking sites allow you to restrict your privacy settings. You can further protect your privacy by ensuring your passwords are strong and you change them frequently, and make sure not to use dictionary words as passwords. Another way to ensure that you exercise your right to protection and safety is to make sure you don’t publish personal information such as your school name, home address, telephone number or social security number online. Under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act it can also be a crime to access or use a computer without authorization, to alter data in a computer without authorization, to transmit computer viruses over computer networks, to send spam, or to engage in other such activities that negatively affect other people. Engaging in such activities can also make you liable for monetary damages to any person who is harmed by your activities.

You have a responsibility to respect and protect yourself and others. If a studentor someone close to you is experiencing cyberbullying, trolling, unwanted contact or sexting, encourage them to report it and seek support by talking to a trusted person.Playing games online and using consoles or games on a computer is entertaining, but you to need to be careful how much you play and whom you play with. Too much gaming can affect your school or social life. And if you chat with other gamers, you need to protect your privacy and keep your personal or private information to yourself.  Your digital reputation is defined by your behaviors in the online environment and by the content that you post about yourself and others. A poor digital reputation can affect your friendships, relationships and even your future job prospects.

Netiquette Do's and Don'ts

Please review my Prezi on what to do and not do on the internet information super highway.

http://prezi.com/kkjsxx2jyryg/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy


Wondering how your Netiquette is? Take the quiz!
http://www.learnthenet.com/test-yourself/netiquette/index.php

Access to Learning Communities

Upon reviewing the two articles Economics and Statistics Administration: Computer and Internet Use at Home and WEB AIM: Accessibility in Mind I drew the comparison that technology is adaptable to the learner as long as it is available. Most public schools are outfitted with 21st century tools, but what happens when the students leave school? We as teachers often seem to forget that while we have access to the internet both at school and home many of our students do not. Many public libraries allow patrons to use the internet and computers there free of charge but I know from first hand experience that sometimes the parents cannot get the kids to the library because they have to work and do not want their child alone outside the house.

Some barriers that might come up that would impede the digital learner is the lack of access to the actual hardware such as a computer. According to Economics and Statistics in October 2010 only 68% of Americans had access to broadband, which is the most preferred choice of internet connection, and 77% of Americans had a computer in the home. This leaves 23% of our students from 2010 without access (http://www.esa.doc.gov/Reports/exploring-digital-nation-computer-and-internet-use-home). Differentiated learners also encounter barriers because according to WEBAIM some sites can only be accessed using a mouse and websites often lack closed captioning for videos (http://webaim.org/intro/). 

Important

The major categories of disability types are:

Visual

Blindness, low vision, color-blindness

Hearing

Deafness and hard-of-hearing

Motor

Inability to use a mouse, slow response time, limited fine motor control

Cognitive

Learning disabilities, distractibility, inability to remember or focus on large amounts of information

Source: http://webaim.org/intro/

The above five categories are disabled categorize who currently experience barriers in accessing technology. 

People with motor disabilities are not able to use a mouse and sometimes struggle with timed websites. One way to resolve this is to bring the hardware technology out of the 20th century and into the 21st. If people can access to the internet by different means then the hardware should match. Much like XBOX's Kinect is voice controlled so too should the computers. We live in an age of Siri who could assist differentiated learners.