Final Audit

https://edtechmethods.com/student-posts/final-reflection-13/

To my surprise, this class has helped me in many different aspects of life. I hadn’t realized that it had helped me in as many ways as it did until I had to start reflecting on it. I learned many things about digital literacy that tie into both children and adults. I also learned how to navigate different parts of technology better. The information that I have learned will be helpful for me as a teacher, and as a person that is living in the digital age.

There are a few different topics that I have touched in this class when it comes to posting on social media or my blog. To begin, I have related a lot of my posts back to the fact that I am going to be a teacher in the near future. I want to think about the topics of digital literacy in a way that will help me with teaching. I can think about the effects that technology will have on my students and myself. I will also understand what is appropriate for different age groups.

For my ILP a topic I touched was self-care. Once again, this topic can relate back to my career and every aspect of my life. It is about taking care of yourself. I have to say that this has been my favorite topic of the class. I have learned a lot about how self-care can affect your life. If you do not implement self-care into your life, I highly recommend!

Other than my ILP, I have made a lot of posts about what I have learned from this class. We have talked about digital activism, how technology affects people, and so much more. These topics touch on a lot of things that I would have never thought about without this class. A lot has been brought to my attention in terms of digital usage and how it affects us on a daily basis. I have also learned how it affects different age groups of people. 

One theme that has been prominent in my writing throughout the 8 weeks is the fact that I think creativity and life without technology is important. Children are using technology at such a young age now-a-days. They do not know how to be creative and how to come up with  games and activities to keep themselves busy. I have thought back to my childhood many times during this course. I remember using my creativity to stay busy all the time. I think that it is important that parents do not let their children get too dependent on technology at such a young age. We need to stress human-to-human interaction.

Another topic that I have stressed this semester is that self-care is important. I have done quite a bit of research on it for my ILP and I continue to find the importance of it. People need to have some self-care in order to go on with their life. Self-care can relieve many people of stress, anxiety, and all sorts of feelings that they have. I found a quote/analogy one day that I have really enjoyed throughout this course; We need to fill our cup before we can fill others cups.

After reviewing my posts, I would not say that the nature of my posts have really changed. I would say that this class has helped and reminded me to keep an open mind. We were all able to participate in this class with others that may or may not have the same opinions as us. I learned how to give constructive feedback, to not say anything at all, or to just ask them about why they feel the way they do.

Since I don’t really feel like the nature of my posts have changed, I would like to say that I learned many new things. I was glad to see many different insights. I was able to then think about how I really felt about the topic. I could alter my ideas based on others ideas to figure out what I really believed in. This will help me down the road when I am a teacher and I have to collaborate with others.

I am not all that surprised by my work because I think that it shows a pretty good representation of all that I believe in. I feel as if I was pretty consistent with my thoughts throughout all of the assignments. Something that I did notice is that you can tell what topics I am more passionate about than others. I feel like my ILP post were written better as a whole because I was super into the topic. When I am interested in something, it comes easier to me.

If I had to pick some of my posts that would be worth re-visiting, my ILP posts would be what I picked. There are many helpful tips on there that will help people of all different ages and kinds. My Independent Learning Project is helpful when it comes to trying to figure out ways to implement self-care. It also talks about how self-care can be helpful in your life. If others read my posts, they might want to think about self-care and how they can implement it into their life. They might also decide to persuade others into having more self-care in their life.

Along with my ILP, I enjoyed writing a lot of the blog posts that we had to write. I feel like blogging is a great way to reflect on what you are learning and it also allows others to look from the outside in to see what kinds of view-points there are out there. Aside from the learning, I liked having to blog each week because I was able to figure out blogging more. At this point, I can say that I have figured it out pretty well. I know how to attach links, pictures, and all of that good stuff. I feel like a pro now.

After reviewing the ‘Course Learning Outcomes’ I can say that I feel like I have reached all the outcomes expected. This class has taught me, not only things about technology, it has also taught me a lot about myself. I was able to be a part of a community of other learners like me that are aiming for the same goals. This allowed me to see different view-points and it helped me figure out what I truly believe in. Most importantly, I will be able to relate this to my career and I will have a better understanding of why my students interact with technology the way that they do.

Overall, this class has been very helpful. I have learned a lot of things that I am going to take with me down the road. I have started to master blogging, tweeting, and creating. I have also learned how to have self-care in my life. This will be helpful for me as a teacher. Most of all, I have learned how important digital literacy is and I know how it can affect the people around me. I look forward to implementing this information into my daily life as a teacher and a person.

Self-Care Independent Project

https://www.geckoboard.com/the-tickets/simple-self-care-card/

I can say that as we are coming close to an end with this semester, I have learned a lot about myself. This project has been a big help with that. I did not think that a project could have quite the effect on me. I have always been the kind of person to go through the phases just so I can get it done and over with. I have to say that I have really enjoyed this project. I really enjoyed that I was able to pick a topic that would benefit my life in many ways.

Freedom of choice for this project has been amazing. It is crazy how much you can learn when you chose to learn about it. It makes me think about when I am a teacher. I want to teach my students things that they want to learn about. I need to make learning fun so that they will be interested everyday.

This project has helped me set some goals for myself. I love goals because it holds me accountable for what I want to do. I am not typically the person to set a bunch of goals for myself. Of course, I have things that I want to accomplish and get done, I just do not write them down or make a note in my head that it is a ‘goal’. Typically, If I want to get something done I do it and there are no if’s, an’s, or but’s about it.

I am super excited that I was able to learn different forms of self-care this semester. It helped me realize that I do have a lot of self-care in my life. It also helped me realize that I could be implementing more very easily. It has been fun to explore the different forms. I am ready to continue implementing self-care in my life so that I can live a healthy lifestyle.

To finish up, I created a list of 10 reasons why we should all take care of ourselves and take part in self-care. I also attached a video with Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian. It is close to the holiday’s where stress is evident. I thought the video was funny but true.

1. Self-care does not have to be hard or lengthy.
2. It helps in all aspects of life.
3. Self-care should be talked about more.
4. Self-care helps with confidence, energy, and so much more.
5. It relieves stress.
6. It can give you more time alone.
7. Self-care makes you feel more positive.
8. Practicing self-care will make you more productive.
9. It will help you learn a lot about yourself.
10. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Self-care will fill you up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu21BcyLGNc

Adolescence in a Digital Age – SA #3

https://unitedfamilymedicine.org/digital-media-use-in-young-kids/

Digital use in adolescence is becoming more and more prominent. Children all over the world either own a mobile device, or have basically taken over their parents devices. I have seen this and I am sure many others have as well. The question is; what kind of effect is it having?

Something that we have talked about a lot this semester, is that young kids do not know how to communicate as well. They are constantly on their phones, even when they are surrounded by friends and family. Kids are missing out on the face-to-face reactions that they could be getting if they would put their phone down. Having a mobile device makes it very easy to pick up a phone during the awkward times and look at your screen.

I watched a TED talk video (posted below), that touched on what a young boy learned when he gave up his mobile device. He talks about how he didn’t think he could live without. He was sending and receiving 1000 Snapchats a day!!!! He finally decided to give it up with some encouragement from family and friends. There were many things that he took part in during this month of no phone. He worked out on a daily basis, he read (for fun), and he even communicated with people when he saw them since he couldn’t text them about it later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w8vZ2NiCTY

Kids could be a lot more productive if they would put their phones down for awhile. They could get extra homework done, they could talk to their friends face-to-face, they could read, workout, and so much more. Digital use is not always bad but we all need to learn to limit ourselves. If we are constantly glued to our phone, we will miss out on a lot.

Children in their adolescence need to be limited especially. They need to learn how to be creative and they need to pick up on communication skills. If we do not tell our kids to get off of digital devices, they will slowly become addicted to it. They can learn a lot from a technology device but they can also learn a lot from not using one.

Overall, I think there should be a happy medium when it comes to technology use in adolescence. Children need to know how to use technology so they are not behind, however, they also need to learn a lot of life skills without technology. If kids become heavily reliant on internet and devices, they could struggle in the real world.

Technology Usage

https://www.smallbiztechnology.com/archive/2016/02/new-survey-finds-digital-technology-usage-linked-to-small-business-growth.html/

I am not oblivious to the fact that our world has become heavily reliant on technology and social media. Just like many other people, I find myself to be on my phone way more than I want to be. According to Paul Miller in the TED talk that we watched, he stated that the internet was defeating him, but why?

From my experiences, and from what I have picked up from others, the internet and social media give us an unrealistic idea of what our life should look like or be like. I think that many people feel a lot of pressure from just that. They think that they need to make their life look perfect with pictures and other forms of communication. Is there a way to stop this feeling?

Maybe we should all try and take a break from the internet. It could have many different affects on our life whether for the good or for the bad. I think I would see a lot of positive things come out of it in my life. I would not become so reliant on my phone. I would be able to enjoy the face-to-face interactions with many others. Something that I think would be hard, is that even if you give up the internet, that does not mean everyone else will. The question is, will you be able to not be on the internet and your phone while everyone else is? Will you be able to sit and have a meal with your friends while they are all glued to their phones? The answer is obvious, yes you could. However, it might not be the most ideal situation.

I would like to learn more about this from a teachers stand point. I want to know how students would react to going without the internet for some time. Would they gain confidence from doing this or would this sort of thing create anxiety? I also wonder if there are some techniques to helping students be less reliant on their mobile devices other than just telling them to spend less time on it.

The video below is a TED talk by Paul Miller that discusses how his life went when he took a year off from the internet. He felt like he was constantly on the internet from the age he was 12 and up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trVzyG4zFMU&t=948s

Overall, I am not a complete debbie downer of the internet. I do wish that we could learn how to portion ourselves to a healthy amount. I think that face-to-face reactions need to be stressed more than ever. People are loosing sight of how to hold a conversation and how to express their emotions when they are not behind a screen.

Self-Care Independent Learning Project

https://medium.com/matthews-place/drewsviews-self-care-during-the-holidays-b80bda0597b9

My independent learning project has been moving right along. How could it not be after spending time with the ones I love over Thanksgiving? I think that spending time with the people you love is a great way to show some self-care in an easy way. Along with spending some time with my family, I have picked up a few other habits or practices.

One thing that I have done is read every day. What I am reading might include a book of my choice or a devotional. I have a devotional book that has a devotion for everyday so I try and keep up to that. This kind of self-care is something very easy. All you have to do is find a little time in your day to pick up a book and read.

Now that I am back from break, I plan to start working out as well. In my life, I have found that working out brings a lot of positives to my life. It helps me have more energy throughout the day, it makes me feel better, and of course it makes me look better. I was working out religiously during the summer and it stopped when school started. I am looking forward to seeing how it helps my life during school.

Because it is around the holiday season, I decided to read a few articles about self-care during the holiday season. There are some things that I do that I had never thought about. One of the things they talked about was washing your face. This might not seem like something that would help you out, however, it gives you a sense of routine. I have gotten a lot better about washing my face lately. I have also taken an interest in skin care. They also talk about how taking a walk and hydrating can help you feel better about yourself. My point is, things that do not seem like self-care might be self care. If it is something that is giving you routine/keeping you busy, it can be very helpful in your life.

This video gives some tips on how to take action with self-care.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0iVTQS8ftg

Digital Activism

After reading the articles about digital activism, I realize that it happens on every platform that I follow. On these platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), digital activism can be positive or negative. For example, many people try to spread positive and helpful information such as a TED talk or an inspirational video. Other people might post something that will not help them in the future. I see a lot of people my age posting things I would never think about posting. I think that something people my age are lacking is the realization that the things they post now are something that could hurt them in the future.

I do not like to consider myself a huge participant of digital activism. Of course, I will post a video that I think has a good message or a quote that I relate to every once in a while, however, I do not like to get to into my opinions online too often. One reason is because I do not need others re-assurance to feel the way that I feel. Another reason is because I do not want to bring a lot of drama onto my social media platforms.

One way that I see digital activism being helpful is by following people that you have the same beliefs as. I think that it is okay to follow different accounts and see different points of view, however, we should not focus on the sole fact of disagreeing with someone. We should use different information as a way to build on what we truly believe in. If you do not see things that you do not agree with, I think it is harder to figure out what your own opinions are. By seeing both sides of a story or idea, you are able to invest in what you think is right and what you think is wrong.There are a few things that I wonder about when it comes to digital activism. I wonder if students are learning about this in the classroom. I also am very curious on whether or not people have re-precautions from the things they post online. I would be interested in finding out how important social media accounts are when it comes to getting a job. I take my social media accounts pretty seriously as I have gotten older because I do not want to ruin any chance I have of getting my dream job. I want to be able to set a good example for my students. I want them to realize the positive and negative impacts they can have when it comes to making their own social accounts.

Below is a video that describes digital activism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN-kIJI_5wg

Teens and Social Media -SA #2

https://austincountynewsonline.com/teens-social-media/

Who has sat at a table where every single person is on their phone? It seems like it happens to me more and more everyday. Often times, when I am with my friends we will each set our phones at the middle of the table. Whoever touches their phone has to pay for everyone’s meals. This actually works really well because what college student can afford to pay for a bunch of meals?

As for teens and technology, I think that it is becoming more and more of a big deal. The amount of teens that struggle to hold a face-to-face conversation is starting to become larger. I read an article that discussed how parents worry about the effects that technology may have on their young children while they are developing. Teens are still also developing at a rapid rate. Along with still developing, they are more developed than a child, which means that they can understand and remember a lot more.

There are studies that have shown that social media lowers a teens self-esteem and causes them more anxiety, but why? Almost all social media platforms have made teens feel depressed, anxious, lonely, and have a poor body image. Many teens are too focused on the idea of having a bunch of likes and comments. If they are not competing with other teens in that aspect, they might feel very bad.

A quote from Childmind says “When they’re not doing their homework (and when they are) they’re online and on their phones, texting, sharing, trolling, scrolling, you name it. Of course before everyone had an Instagram account teens kept themselves busy, too, but they were more likely to do their chatting on the phone, or in person when hanging out at the mall” (childmind). I find this to be very true. When I was a teen I did many things other than spend my time on technology. I played sports and when I was done with sports I went home and ate supper with my family. Then I did homework and hung out.

https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/

Another important part of being a teen is learning how to make friends. Making friends forces you to be aware of your emotions and it also helps you come to senses with talking to others. You have to talk to your friends about good and bad things and you have to learn how to communicate them. If you can’t learn how to do this without the internet, then you have some issues.

In my opinion, social media has more negative effects than positive effects. I see it in my life too. I need to start spending less time on my phone and more time with the people that I love and care about.

Digital Citizenship

As a future educator, I know that it is very important to make sure you teach your students internet/technology etiquette. Not only do you want to teach them for in school scenarios, you want them to learn so that they will also carry out these strategies at home.

The video below is a video that shows you some younger students talking about the internet. After watching the video, you will see that kids are not entirely sure what it is and I think that we need to make sure that they are more informed about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ourb9j-dq8Q&list=PL8TjVyuBdsCnTZiAYcQcF4v-6dw0nlRJm

Like we have read in many articles, cyber-bullying is a big deal. We want to make sure that our students know how a situation like that can end up. It is not okay to cyber-bully just like it is not okay to bully at school or anywhere else. One of the articles I read talked about 7 ways to avoid cyber-bullying. I think that it had a lot of good hints on how to take care of the situation after it is done and over with. I would be interested in hearing some ideas on how to inform students of it before they do it. I think it would end better if the students never did it because they learned what could happen if they did.

Something that I find disheartening about digital citizenship if it goes wrong, is that it can fall back on the teacher. This makes it a huge responsibility for the teacher to enforce the rules. Even though teacher’s do not have 100% control over what happens in the classroom, we can still get in trouble for what our students do if it is in the classroom or during school time. Because of this, we want to make sure that we do our best to teach our students the rules of digital citizenship. We also SHOULD NOT ever let them be on technology without supervision.

The next video that I found is about being ‘netsafe’. This video is the first video in the series. They make it more of a fun way to learn how to be safe on the internet/computer. You could have you students watch a bunch of these videos in a row or you could spread it out to different days. Either way, I would recommend having your students watch almost all of them before using technology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7FOk1-Jzus

Self-Care Independent Learning Project

My Independent Learning Project did not go as planned this week. I was planning on starting to work out to see how it would affect me. I ended up coming down with a stomach flu that put a damper on that idea really quick. I decided that if I couldn’t practice what I had originally planned I would try and practice a few different things. I also continued with researching more about self-care.

Like I talked about in my post last week, there are 6 forms of self-care. Today, I want to discuss different activities that you could do to touch each of these forms.

Emotional	Social	Physical	Practical	Mental	Spiritual
-Become aware of what you think of yourself -Learn to identify triggers in your emotions -Practice meditation -Ask for help -Be responsible for your actions	-Help Someone -Call your family and friends -Go out in public and be around people -Cuddle with someone -Compliment others	-Do Yoga -Drink more water -Spend 10 minutes a day out in the sun -Workout -Go to bed early	-Create a budget -Organize -Take a professional development class -Clean -Prepare for something ahead of time	-Challenge your brain -Take a nap without an alarm clock -Write a poem -Read fiction for an hour -Engage your hands	-Attend church -Do something nice for someone is secret -Donate money -Pray -Practice relaxation techniques

https://secure.everyaction.com/p/Pg5bqblugE6-NGId09RIcQ2

Luckily, since my original plan of working out did not go well, my old roommate came to Chadron from Wisconsin this weekend. I was able to work on my social self-care by catching up with a friend and spending time with her. I think it is very important for your health to maintain relationships that are important to you. I am not the kind of person to reach out to my friends very well so I was very happy that she was able to come and visit again.

While being sick, I was also able to practice a form of spiritual self-care. I was able to just lay and bed and relax a little bit. This did not go as well because I was sick and had to make a trip to the bathroom quite often. It was, however, nice to take a break from work for a bit.

For my next week of self-care I am hoping to implement a lot more than just a few techniques I am hoping that I will not be sick so that I can practice the forms of self-care that I want to.

Exploring Different Platforms

This week, I have been able to explore a lot of new and helpful things that I will one day be able to use in the classroom.

I want to start by talking about ds106. I would like to say that when I first got on this website I was slightly confused. I was unsure of what to look for and I had troubles telling what it offered. As I started to explore the website more I found out that it actually offers you great ways to express yourself with digital tools. There are many different classes that you can partake in and they also have a Daily Create that I am able to experience. Something that I think is really nice about ds106 is that you can join and leave as you please. You do not have to pay for anything and you can decide how much you want to participate. Below, you will see the first Daily Create that I took part in. I had to create a book title using Emoji’s.

Emoji Book Titles: 1⃣🐟2⃣🐟🔴🐟🔵🐟#tdc2864 #ds106 #diglitclass pic.twitter.com/fIvp6PjHu5

— Shayla Dockweiler (@ShaylaDockweil1) November 15, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

http://daily.ds106.us/

Along with ds106, I have also been introduced to digital storytelling (which is basically what ds106 is). This was a new concept to me. I guess I have seen it many times but I had never thought about how I could use it one day. Basically, digital storytelling is a way to tell a story through different kinds of digital tools. You can use music, your own voice, pictures, short videos, and whatever else to make a short video to explain your story. I think this would be a great tool to use in the classroom.

Podcasts were another great tool that was brought up this week. I know what podcasts are, however, I do not listen to them religiously. Podcasts are another way to spread information without having to write the words on a piece of paper. People are able to talk about what they want while recording themselves so that people can just sign on and listen to what they have to say. Once again, I am wondering how in the heck I never thought about using these tools in the classroom.

I think that all of these platforms could be used in the classroom if used correctly. I want to stress that there are always ways to use these platforms incorrectly. For example, you do not want to use them so much that students just use them as a time to not pay attention. You also want to make sure that they are relevant to what is going on in the classroom. Students could learn a lot from all of these tools if they are shown correctly.

Another thing that I have realized, is that even if teachers cannot fit these activities into class time, they can still use these platforms for themselves. They could learn many different things and it might help take their mind off of what they are stressed about for awhile. This could be another form of self-care that teachers could use to help them out.