3.7 Communication and Collaboration
Candidates utilize digital communication and collaboration tools to communicate locally and globally with students, parents, peers, and the larger community. (PSC 3.7/ISTE 3g)
Artifact: Screenshots of my use of Edmodo to communicate with my classes and collaborate with my peers.
Reflection:
Standard 3.7 is all about using technology to communicate with students, parents, peers and the world at large. To that end, I chose to use some screenshots of some of my Edmodo groups as my artifact for this standard. The screenshots are of posts and assignments that I sent to my students as well as of communications between myself and my colleagues and my robotics team. I created the groups for my classes and the robotics team myself and joined the professional development and peer groups that had already been created by others.
Locally, I communicate with my class through the use of Edmodo. I utilize the service as a class blog as well as an alert system. I use weekly notes to notify students and their parents of the happenings in the classroom and the upcoming topics that we will cover. I also utilize the attachment functionality of the notes to add resources and references that students may find useful in completing assignments. In class, I also utilize the assignments feature of Edmodo to assign projects and activities for my project-based technology classes. Edmodo also allows my to integrate outside websites that include more information. Those outside websites include a still-under-construction Weebly site for all of my technology classes, webquests that I have created or found, and online sites with additional information about projects.
I also use Edmodo to communicate with my peers for professional development. The professional learning team at my school created an Edmodo group to which videos are posted. That group can also be used as a message board to discuss various topics with which other teachers may need assistance and to share ideas. I am also a member of a global professional development group on Edmodo in which other teachers share their knowledge and ask questions.
In addition to Edmodo, I communicate with parents, students, and colleagues through e-mail. In the past I have used Remind to text students and parents, but since I began using Edmodo more frequently, I have used Remind less and less. In the past, I have also used YouTube to disseminate flipped classroom style professional learning videos to my colleagues, and in the past, my school subscribed to PD360, an online professional development service with videos and message boards.
The main lesson that I have learned through online communication with parents, students, and colleagues is that specificity is paramount. In many cases, I have sent messages with directions that I thought were completely clear only to have students, parents, and even other teachers have no idea how to follow through. I have begun, and will continue to include enough detail that there can be no confusion. The difficult part of that is that I need to balance enough detail that no confusion exists with too much detail that obscures the point.
The creation of this artifact had two main impacts: professional development and student learning. The professional development impact came for myself in learning new tactics from my peers as well as for my peers in my spreading of the practices that I already use. The impact on student learning stems from the ability of my students to independently find information about class, to help themselves when they have issues, and to remain abreast of the coming events in the classroom. The professional learning impact can be assessed through the new methods and tactics that I incorporate into my lessons, and the student learning impacts can be assessed through my students’ preparation for class.
Standard 3.7 is all about using technology to communicate with students, parents, peers and the world at large. To that end, I chose to use some screenshots of some of my Edmodo groups as my artifact for this standard. The screenshots are of posts and assignments that I sent to my students as well as of communications between myself and my colleagues and my robotics team. I created the groups for my classes and the robotics team myself and joined the professional development and peer groups that had already been created by others.
Locally, I communicate with my class through the use of Edmodo. I utilize the service as a class blog as well as an alert system. I use weekly notes to notify students and their parents of the happenings in the classroom and the upcoming topics that we will cover. I also utilize the attachment functionality of the notes to add resources and references that students may find useful in completing assignments. In class, I also utilize the assignments feature of Edmodo to assign projects and activities for my project-based technology classes. Edmodo also allows my to integrate outside websites that include more information. Those outside websites include a still-under-construction Weebly site for all of my technology classes, webquests that I have created or found, and online sites with additional information about projects.
I also use Edmodo to communicate with my peers for professional development. The professional learning team at my school created an Edmodo group to which videos are posted. That group can also be used as a message board to discuss various topics with which other teachers may need assistance and to share ideas. I am also a member of a global professional development group on Edmodo in which other teachers share their knowledge and ask questions.
In addition to Edmodo, I communicate with parents, students, and colleagues through e-mail. In the past I have used Remind to text students and parents, but since I began using Edmodo more frequently, I have used Remind less and less. In the past, I have also used YouTube to disseminate flipped classroom style professional learning videos to my colleagues, and in the past, my school subscribed to PD360, an online professional development service with videos and message boards.
The main lesson that I have learned through online communication with parents, students, and colleagues is that specificity is paramount. In many cases, I have sent messages with directions that I thought were completely clear only to have students, parents, and even other teachers have no idea how to follow through. I have begun, and will continue to include enough detail that there can be no confusion. The difficult part of that is that I need to balance enough detail that no confusion exists with too much detail that obscures the point.
The creation of this artifact had two main impacts: professional development and student learning. The professional development impact came for myself in learning new tactics from my peers as well as for my peers in my spreading of the practices that I already use. The impact on student learning stems from the ability of my students to independently find information about class, to help themselves when they have issues, and to remain abreast of the coming events in the classroom. The professional learning impact can be assessed through the new methods and tactics that I incorporate into my lessons, and the student learning impacts can be assessed through my students’ preparation for class.