Tech Play 4: Information Literacy

What is Information Literacy?

Information literacy is the knowledge and capability to find, evaluate, organize, use, and communicate information in all its various formats. It requires decision making and problem solving through the combination of research skills, critical thinking, computer technology aptitude, and communication skills. Information literacy has quickly become a requirement in the 21st century for academic success, workplace effectiveness, and participation in society as knowledgeable citizens.

Information Literacy Tools

• Edmodo: Edmodo is a learning platform that effectively addresses blended learning and remote learning with communication and collaboration features. Edmodo merges familiar social networking features with those frequently found in classroom management systems. It provides a safe and easy way for students to connect, share content, and access homework and school announcements. This tool supports the visual literacy, computer literacy, and critical thinking skills needed to become an informationally literate learner. It does neglect research and library skills which are critical tools needed for the 21st century. However, teachers and students could use Edmodo to share artifacts of learning and assignments that require students to learn and share their sources and Boolean search processes to develop these skills that Edmodo doesn't hit on directly.

• Diigo: Diigo is a social bookmarking website that allows users to bookmark and tag webpages. It also allows users to annotate web pages and PDFS directly online, organize links, references, and personal input to create a structured research base, and share their research easily with others. Diigo supports the development of information literacy skills by building students computer literacy, research, and critical thinking skills, yet neglects the area of information ethics. Since students will be bookmarking information directly from webpages, sources will naturally be cited which helps in the justifying the lack of informational ethics and helping students learn to identify and use credible and authoritative sources.

• Whooo's Reading: Whoo's reading is a website that challenges students to think critically about what they read. Students answer open-ended questions about the book they are reading and write reviews using audio or typed submissions. Students can see what their classmates are reading and offer recommendations to one another. This encourages students to think critically about what they are reading and to collaborate with their peers to gain reflective insight about unfamiliar text. This is a tool geared directly towards critical literacy that overall neglects the other informational literacy skills listed in the graphic above. The justification for using this tool despite the skills it neglects is in how strongly it helps develop critical reading and thinking skills. These skills are practically a prerequisite that students have to have to be able to effectively develop and learn the other NFIL skills listed in the infographic.

• Common Sense: Digital Passport: Digital Passport by Common Sense is a suite of 6 interactive games that hit on issues that students face in today's digital world. Students learn important digital citizenship skills that teach them to use technology responsibility to create, learn, and collaborate. The interactive games address creating safe and secure passwords to protect your security online, online multitasking and the benefits of focusing on one task at a time, deciding what information is appropriate and inappropriate to share with others online, cyberbullying, using effective key words for searching online, and using media content to create a new piece while giving proper credit to sources they used. This is a great tool that addresses each of the skills needed to be informationally literate listed in the infographic. 

Collaborative Research Projects

In small groups based on topics of interest either chosen or assigned, students will use Diigo to collaborate, share sources, and critically think through sources. This activity transforms learning to the modification level of technology integration because Diigo allows for significant task redesign of research through the learning affordances it provides.

Content (C): 5. 7 E- Students will interact with sources in meaningful way such as notetaking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating.

Pedagogy (P): Inquiry-based learning pedagogy uses teaching and learning strategies that include student-centered research and investigation. It fosters the development of critical thinking, reflection, and authentic, meaningful discussion. 

Technology (T):  Diigo allows users to bookmark digital items as well as highlight and add sticky notes to keep track of specific sections. These annotations can then be shared with groups created by the teacher, leading to greater, more effective collaboration with their peers as they determine which sources are useful, engage in critical thinking discussions, practice appropriate commenting, learning how to tag items for archiving, and ultimately simulating an authentic learning experience where students participate in the exchange of information and critical thinking in a way that adult professions do.

Social Book Review Activity with Whooo's Reading

Students will use critical reading skills to compose a book review recommendation once per grading period that will be added to the class's bookshelf on Whooo's Reading website by analyzing plot development, text structure, and author's purpose. Students will then choose a book by reading classmates' recommendations and collaborating with their peers about books using critical reading skills. This activity transforms learning to the augmentation level of technology integration.

Content (C): 5.7B Students will write responses that demonstrate understanding of texts, including comparing and contrasting ideas across a variety of sources.

Pedagogy (P): Learner-centered pedagogy creates an environment that speaks to the heart of learning. It involves students by engaging them in the material through discussion and reflection. This activity allows students to share their opinions and thoughts about text through using their critical thinking and reading skills. to  

Technology (T): Whooo's Reading allows students to give a book a rating and review once they have finished reading it. Students rate the book with 1-5 stars and then respond to a prompt that guides their review. The review prompts are different each time to keep students engaged and thinking. Students book reviews are shared with the class on the classroom's class shelf to help other students discover what their classmates recommend or don't recommend and why.

Creativity Tools

Creativity Tools and Their Importance

Creativity tools are mediums that allow users to create or produce work that is both digital and shareable.  Creativity tools are important for educators to know about and use with students because they have the ability to create knowledge that didn't exist before by synthesizing information and bringing engagement and meaning to learning experiences. Creativity is necessary for innovation and has quickly become an in-demand job skill and will continue to be one in the future. Using creativity tools with students will ensure we are equipping students with the skills they need to develop a creative mindset. Online creativity tools are superior to other tools due to their tendency to motivate students to learn, light up their brain as they use higher order thinking skills, and spurs= emotional development through resilience as they go through trial and error in completing their projects. Scratch, Pixton, and Buncee are three creativity tools I've explored.

Scratch

Scratch is a coding community for children and a coding language with a simple visual interface that allows young people to create digital stories, games, and animations. I like how Scratch gives students the ability to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively with others as they learn how to code to create art, games, interactive stories, and other projects. It offers starter projects that students can use to learn the basics of coding, or students can jump right in with a blank project and learn as they explore through trial and error. Coding cards with sequential steps and educator guides are provided for projects that can easily be implemented in the classroom. Due to its explorative nature, it is fairly challenging to figure out. Scratch purposefully did this so students could develop their understanding through problem solving what did and didn't work. I could see this becoming very frustrational for my students to understand and think there could be more guidance provided without sacrificing on their explorative learning model. I can also see this tool being very time consuming to use in class without a stand alone coding time. Time is a huge commodity for teachers. Therefore, I do not think the benefits of this tool justify the amount of time it requires and would most likely not use it personally or with my students.

Pixton

Pixton is a comic creation website for classrooms where teachers and students can create and share comic strips. It is very user friendly and uses self-directed learning tutorials to teach students how to create projects in minutes. Students and teachers can share their work using a link which fosters more collaboration and makes it possible for teachers to make templates tailored to whatever project or content matter is addressed. The website offers a free version that allows users to make avatars and class photos but not much else. Teachers can subscribe monthly or pay a yearly membership fee to gain access to much more content including word bubbles, special effects, backgrounds, templates, character facial expressions, and much more. With the paid content, students can easily get lost or overwhelmed by the amount of choices and possibilities which can result in lost instruction time. I could also see students getting too concerned about the artistic component of their comic where the writing and dialogue suffers. I think this tool is highly engaging for students and I like the shareability aspect. I would consider using this personally and for my students if it was completely free. If I did decide to purchase it, I would have to be sure to teach clear guidelines about how much time can be spent exploring the artistic content.

Buncee

Buncee for Education is a platform where teachers and students create and share multimedia presentation boards by adding Buncees, or slides. The website provides tools that can be embedded or shared by email, social media, QR code or URL. It is much simpler then other popular multimedia presentation sites and therefore much easier for students to use. Students can create projects that include drawings, animations, videos, emojis, stickers, and lots more. Students can add images from the extensive library and search online for pictures, videos, and music. My favorite feature is the Buncee idea lab where 2,000 plus templates have been shared to be used by teachers to instantly start using Buncee in the classroom. Buncee has a freemium model where a lot of features are free but some, such as organizing a class, recording audio, and adding more than 3 slides to a project, require purchasing a Buncee Plus plan that start at $20 a year. An example class of 25 students would cost $80 a year which seems pricey to me when teachers already have tight purse strings. Buncee does offer plans for school districts that would make using the premium version of it much more feasible and affordable. With so many options for content, it would be essential to provide students with tutorials on design effectiveness to avoid an overpowered presentation. It will also be important to set clear expectations for students to avoid projects that continue to linger on due to a student spending too much time exploring and not enough time creating. I definitely could see using Buncee in the classroom for my students and myself, although I would start off with the free plan and only upgrade if there was a legitimate learning need for it.

Affordances of Buncee

Out of the three, Buncee is by far the creativity tool I can most see myself implementing in my classroom. One of the affordances this tool offers is the many add-ons that students could use in their presentation. Text, animation, video, recording, stickers, lists, drawings, quizzes, QR codes, and even more are all options students can explore using with their presentation, thus ensuring that each student's work will be unique and different from others. The plethora of creativity options students can use encourages work ownership and engagement at a deeper level and allows the user to customize their presentation to their particular interests and purposes. It provides an authentic medium for student reflection on their learning which provides invaluable information for both student and educator. Another affordance of Buncee is its idea factory. Buncee's idea factory provides tips, tutorials, and templates to help administrators, teachers, and students discover innovative ways to learn. Ideas are searchable by topic areas and give descriptive ways to extend the learning beyond the classroom. This added feature frees up time for the user and allows them to get started with Buncee in minutes to enhance parent engagement, build a school brand, or support project-based or blended learning activities.

Using Buncee in the Classroom (TPACK Model)

Buncee can be used for so many projects in the classroom in virtually any content area. One idea I would use Buncee for is a biographical research project where students would choose to research someone who is important to them.  I did a similar project when I taught 4th grade ELAR. This activity would cover the following content standards:

• ELAR TEK 4.13 Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes

• Technology Application TEK 4.4: Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. The student researches and evaluates projects using digital tools and resources

The pedagogical approach falls in line with the constructivist theory where learners construct their learning through being involved and an active participant in what they are studying. Students will need to read texts and explore other informational sources to learn about their chosen person. Students will then have to reflect on what they learned. determine what should be shared in their presentation, and how it should be shared by making design and layout decisions. Buncee affords the learner a vast library of options and choices that can be used to share students' evidence of learning in an effective, appealing, and meaningful way that fosters and encourages further student ownership of their work and learning journey fulfilling the ultimate goal of constructivist learning theory.

Another idea I would use Buncee for in my classroom is for student-led conferences. The learning objective for this task would be to encourage students to take responsibility and ownership of their learning by involving them in goal setting and the assessment process. This objective would be long-term and ongoing. This idea is backed up pedagogically by the humanism learning theory where the focus is on producing an environment that is conducive to self-actualization where the learner's needs are met and they are free to set their own goals, with the support of the teacher, in light of their self reflection of their performance and growth. The affordances of Buncee supports the humanism approach to learning by maximizing on student engagement with the massive amount of personalization options provided from backgrounds, animation, media uploads, variety of formats for artifacts, and much more. Students also have to make decisions in choosing which artifacts to use to demonstrate their skills and learning ability and how to best do that. Buncee gives students the ability to tailor their presentation to their individual needs and provides a medium that gives students choice in format, layout, and design they feel best works for their vision and message. The shareability feature of Buncee also makes it easy for students to share their work with other family members, teachers, and coaches, and it makes it a working document with a longer shelf life as it can be added to and share with future teachers and advisors, in essence creating an ePortfolio for the student.

Eportfolios

 "Folio Thinking"

An eportfolio is a collection of online artifacts and reflections assembled by an individual that provides an overall view of their philosophies, interests, achievements, skills, and more. Eportfolios have become a more favored form of assessment over traditional essays, quizzes, tests, and homework due to their ability to provide a holistic view of an individual in one place. Eporfolios are a type of assessment where the assessment itself helps the individual learn through the process of creating and assembling their collection of work. Eporfolios have many benefits over traditional forms of assessment such as their ability to develop skills in creativity innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, digital citizenship, and technology operations and concepts. Eporfolios also allow students to use various forms of media to display their learning and understanding of concepts including videos, audio files, documents, calendars/timelines, graphics, links, and discussions. As a learner pursuing a graduate degree, articulating what I know and have learned from educational technology from my academic, professional, and other experiences and providing evidence of that learning with a collection of artifacts I've created is far more relevant and beneficial to my academic and career goals. Therefore, I prefer portfolios over traditional assessments of learning as eportofolios can tell the story of my learning by outlining what I've learned and how I've learned it. They provide a peek inside my brain and allow me to be an active participant in my learning by teaching me how to present myself and my work to outside observers. 

Technology Affordances

The concept of portfolios, in education particularly, has been around since the mid 1980s. Traditional print based portfolios provide an artistic way to showcase a selection of best work for a specific audience that documents student progress, process, competency, and achievement over time. Print based portfolios are superior to standardized testing and traditional forms of assessment as they allow an individual an opportunity to share what they have learned, how they have learned it, and evidence of their learning that tells far more than any quiz or test. However, with the advancement of technology and the myriad of online resources available in the 21st century, the way in which portfolios can be assembled has changed drastically. Eportfolios allow for many more possibilities than print based portfolios due to their ability to be ever evolving, fluid compilations of work. Eportfolios can also include more variety of media including audio files, videos, graphics, and links. Eportfolios have more flexibility to show varied content that can be regularly added to and updated over time making them a great tool to show both lifelong and lifewide learning and interests.

While eportfolios provide more affordances in learning over print based portfolios, deciding on a platform to share an eporfolio opens up another wide range of possibilities. There are dozens upon dozens of different website builders, wikis, and propriety tools for building eportfolios, and they all claim to be the best of the best. Hostgator, Weebly, Wix, and Google Sites are four options I explored for deciding which would best fit my needs and purposes. All four are user friendly and provide simple drag and drop design features to make it quick and easy to customize and get your site up and running as fast as possible. One major concern is the amount of space each builder allows. Weebly and Wix both have free options, but space is very limited on these plans making it not suitable for larger projects that you plan to add to regularly. Intrusive ads are also a deal breaker for myself with both of these platforms because it distracts from the intent of the eportfolio and makes it less appealing to use in the classroom with students. Upgrading to a paid plan fixes both of these issues, but personally I am not willing to pay a subscription monthly for an eportfolio. These upgraded plans are geared more to ecommerce and small business websites, so while I would benefit from the increase in space and removal of ads, the rest of the added benefits would be a waste for my purposes. Hostgator offers all the features needed to create an appealing, engaging eportfolio, but there are not any free options offered as the most basic plan starts of an a subscription plan. Google sites provides easy to use features, appealing design choices, and plenty of space while remaining completely free. There are no obtrusive ads to contend with and works well with embedding other programs in the Google suite. While I read about many negatives to using Google sites as an ecommerce or small business website, it seems to be a smart choice for other projects such as an eportfolio. 

Shift in Perspective

Using eportfolios in the classroom is a great way to help students learn to take more ownership and be more reflective of their work and learning. As a special education elementary teacher, the platform my students use needs to be simple to understand, easy to interact with, and have some sense of familiarity. Google sites provides all of these things making it the perfect platform for not only me but also my students. Google sites is completely free making it a sustainable and realistic choice for educators and students. The simple drag and drop design features make it a cinch to create a site and also easy to guide students in their own creations. Google sites are very easy to edit and customize which allows students to add their own style. My students are familiar with other Google apps such as Docs, Slides, and Forms. Using another Google app to build their eportfolio will provide some familiarity and make it easy to share their artifacts and reflections they created on other Google apps straight to their site. Google also has great privacy features making student's sites well protected. 

Uses in the Classroom

Using e-portfolios in the classroom will teach students the importance of their work, how to select their best pieces, and how to reflect on their learning and the progress of their learning. Too many times students are assigned an project, essay, quiz, etc. just to have it graded and handed back to them to be put in a folder that sometimes makes it home only to more than likely go in the trash. Eportfolios will challenge students thinking to view their work as a process and journey rather than a one and done task. 

One way I can use eportfolios is by having students keep a collection of their writings throughout the year to see how they grow in their writing skills, how any of their stances change on certain topics, and to receive peer editing/revising through comments from other classmates. Using the TPACK model, the pedagogy behind this task is students need to be think carefully about the purpose of their writing, plan what to say, plan how to say it, and understand what the reader needs to know. Research supports teaching the writing process under this lens lead to stronger, more effective writing. Using the affordances of technology, students can take these compositions and writing samples they have created and make them digital by typing them in a Google doc or blog post. This augments learning by having students type up what they have written with the added benefits of spell check, formatting options, and the ability for others to access their work in more meaningful ways. By the end of the year the students will have a collection of their best writing pieces to showcase what they learned and achieved that year. As a special education teacher, many of my students stay with me from year to year, making it possible for the work to be added to throughout their entire elementary career.

Another way eportfolios can be used is by showcasing students best projects. Students can create pages on their eportfolio to share different artifacts and reflections. For example, students could have a page for journal entries, writing pieces, projects, about me, clubs/achievements, etc. Research projects require hours of reading, writing, creating, reflecting, synthesizing, problem solving, and so much more. What better way to showcase those skills than by including it in a student's eportfolio rather than it becoming another one and done assignment? Students in my class complete a research project concerning something that is of importance to them. It can be an animal, person, current event, country, etc. Fortunately for my students, I am able to allow more freedom in their topic choice as a special education teacher. The pedagogy behind this inquiry-based learning boosts students engagement, creates curiosity in the student, and transfers more ownership to the learner than the teacher in the direction of learning. The affordances of technology allow students to share their hard work in a more public, creative, and accessible way. For example, students can use Google slides to compile a       presentation to share with the group. This project can be easily added to their Google site when finished. Students can also include a reflective journal throughout the duration of the research project where they can share their thoughts and learning experiences. Using the eportfolio as the final method of publishing/sharing their work modifies learning for the student by significantly redesigning the research assignment through how it is presented and the added reflective journal.