Chris+Finch+Portfolio

__**1. My Life as a Tech User**__

Can we escape technology?

My first memories of technology in education include playing "Orgeon Trail" on an Apple computer, or what looked like microwave, and my "Computers" teacher yelling, "HOME ROW KEYS!"

Today, technology plays a role in my daily routines. Work related tasks require email, Outlook, Blackberry, my Dell computer, SMART board, wikispaces, Dropbox and gmail accounts to name a few. My social life is fed by text messages, Facebook, online reading and video games, as well as real people and tangible objects (like weights and basketballs). Ironically, I remember yearning for a cellphone and feeling like a loser when I was one of few of my peers not to have one early in high school. Today, I attempt to look at the device as little as possible in an attempt to relax, think, live in the moment and escape work. I have yet to become supremely "literate" with all of these devices, however, I have managed to reach a point in media literacy that allows me to maintain and do, relatively, well in the workforce. I have stubbornly refused to accept blogs as legitimate sources of quality information and discussion (as I have seen it's anonymity be used negatively) and I still believe the best book is a real one, and the best source of critical thinking to be a conversation with a human being (or inside one's own head).

Despite my old-folk syndrome, I really appreciate technology used in positive, constructive, creative ways. For instance, my best experiences with technology have come on the campaign trail. I've always been around politics in some fashion and eventually found myself working on numerous political campaigns, including presidential, congressional and gubernatorial. During each campaign, our efforst were tremendously aided by various technologies. The power of the democratic process, voting and elections have, in my opinion, been greatly strengthened through media technologies. We were able to identify and target voters, and continually encourage them to the polls. Although voter apathy and civic disengagement have not been solved, technology has helped reach more voters and encourage them to the polls. However, I do believe that the amount of money campaigns spend on technologies should be checked.

__**2. Initial Reflection and Goal Setting**__


 * **NETS Category** || **Current Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions** || **Learning Goal**  ||
 * **Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity** || I will be teaching 12th grade Government in the fall. One goal I have for next year is to keep my students informed and engaged in current events. As I aim to teach civic engagement, being informed is a big part. In order to do this I would like to incorporate technology and be able to “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.” I would like to learn and explore ways in which I can use technology to keep my students engaged and informed with current events. || For my first goal, I will sign up for a news feed from a trustworthy news source, preferably the New York Times. I will read, at least, one of the articles a day and link the updates so that they come directly to my cell phone. ||
 * **Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments** || Once I learn and explore ways to keep my students updated and engaged, I would like to explore a way in which they can voice their opinions publicly. I feel that students will be infinitely more engaged if they are able to express their opinions. So by being able to “provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching”, I feel that students will more frequently and independently stay up-to-date with current events. || I will create a personal Twitter account. I never partook in Twitter action before (this will be against my morals). I will share articles that I find interesting that are sent to my phone from the New York Times. I will also attempt to see the popularity of the article I posted both in the general realm of Twitter and how many people have viewed my post, if possible. ||
 * **Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning** || On more of a logistical standpoint, I would like to learn ways in which I can use technology to make assignments more clear and public for my classes. By being able to “communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats”, I feel that there will be little room for confusion for class assignments and that I will be much more available to my students. I would like to find the most efficient form of communication with my students. || I will create a class website/Facebook for an imaginary class. On it, I will post homework assignments (imaginary). This will give me the option to respond to students questions almost immediately. I can also link this page to my Twitter account, I believe. ||
 * **Standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility** || I don’t want the use of technology in our course to compromise positive or professional behavior. The internet and its communications are not a place for anonymous disrespect, therefore I would like to “promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.” I would like to create a guideline in our syllabus that reflects this idea. || In order to promote digital citizenship and responsibility, I will learn how to post documents, such as the syllabus and honor code, onto the class website/Facebook page and Twitter page. If this is not possible, I will find other ways to create links on the page that will connect to the syllabus and honor code. ||
 * **Standard 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership** || As our students fall under narrow demographics, I would like them to learn other culture’s ideas and share their ideas with other cultures. I would like my students to think outside their social norms and “participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.” I would like to learn a way that technology can help my students communicate with other students of the same age. || I will create a Prezi for the first week of class, in an effort to clearly outline the expectations I have for my students. The Prezi will follow our class syllabus. ||


 * Personal Use Project:** My overarching goal of this project is to become involved in online learning, sharing and communicating. By signing up for a Twitter account, I will incorporate a few of my goals listed above. I will attempt to learn and share with an online community and to meet standards 1, “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity”, and 2, “Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.”

__**3. Personal Use Project + Journal**__ The twitter account that I created as my "personal use project": []

Personal use project journal entry Today, I created a Twitter account. At this stage of my life, I am on the verge of disgust towards social media; however, hypocritically, I use Facebook quite often. I have seen many advantages to using the internet for social media, primarily advantages geared towards my social life (obviously). Nonetheless, despite my past use of social media and connecting with acquaintances, I never gave in to the use of Twitter. Who cares what you think every 2.4 seconds?! The only thing that I can see Twitter is good for is messages of emergency, mass evacuation, invasion or Paul Revere’s announcement. I can’t think of anything of high urgency, at the moment, that the world should know. Regardless, for the sake of this class, I will commence my Twitter life as “ChrisFinch”/ username “cafinc05”, and I will begin by virtually stalking my brother and father (avid users of the “tool”). #whatamIdoing?
 * July 12, 2012**

I received my first email notification from Twitter today. “Barack Obama, SportsCent​er, and Oprah Winfrey have Tweets for you.” Honestly, I was not too excited about this email. First, I’m sure the tweets weren’t for me. For the sake of expanding my use and knowledge of web tools, I followed the link. Carolina quarterback, Cam Newton shared to the virtual world, “S/O @KingJames for that #MyWish segment on SportsCenter.” I understand what he is saying, which may be a task in itself. On a positive note, I was able to catch up on the news in about 2 minutes whereas navigating a newspaper might take me 30. Nonetheless, something is lost in terms of substance. The tweets are a little less in-depth than a news article. But, maybe that’s what we are “evolving” to. Less time, shorter news, less reading, different literacy.
 * July 17, 2012**

I created a Twitter account three years ago. I forgot about it but for some reason I just logged into it. That account has the same gmail linked to it that the new account I set up two weeks ago does.
 * July 30, 2012**
 * 1) Unforgettable. I am confused. Digital illiteracy at its finest.

Here is the link to that account (which I am way more popular in): [|https://twitter.com/#!/followers] Nonetheless, I have found something noteworthy and catchy about twitter: the ease of sharing news. I found a few articles on Twitter that I liked and it was fairly simple to “re-tweet” them. I also found something that my professor, Dr. Turner shared and I liked that article as it pertained to our class. I shared that one on my twitter wall.

At this stage of the class I am having regrets about my personal use project. I do not see the use of twitter beneficial to our course next year and I do not plan on using it. I did however, find web tools that I do want to use next year and I am currently exploring them on my own time. Lore.com is a good site that I wish to use to facilitate discussion and post assignments. This experiment with Twitter is not all for naught, but I am having trouble gauging the educational benefit of my choices with the personal use project.

__**4. Statement on digital literacy**__ I’ve been pretty stubborn about the concept of digital literacy for some time. Some of this stubbornness still remains. However, somewhat unexpectedly, through my continued use of media literacies in personal and academic settings, through an increased familiarity with various online tools and through the encouragement of fellow students, fellow teachers and from professors, my views towards the matter have changed. I have come to understand more what it means to be digitally literate and to appreciate the inevitability of technology use in our lives. Also, I have gone from doubting the use of digital instruments in my courses next year to developing a curriculum that uses technology as essential tools throughout the semester. In my class next year, I plan on using Lore (or a similar blog-post website) to facilitate discussion, offer a forum for healthy debate and questioning, to post assignments and the course syllabus. Technology, I have come to find out in my course planning, offers a one-stop shop for all aspects of a solid educational experience. Students have complete access to all course materials, the syllabus and pacing calendar; any updates can be made and messaged to all members of the class. An increase use of digital media in your classroom can save time AND TREES! I, as a grader and distributor of materials, will have a much more instant and direct connection with my students through the use of web tools. My students, as submitters and contributors, will have much more freedom and autonomy in dealing with class discussion and do not have to wait for me to call on their raised hand. Students are likely to become more comfortable with web tools as their digital literacy is strengthened and they will be more equipped in an evolving job-market and society where the use of such tools is commonplace. However, there are potential hurdles of using web tools in your classroom and, this being a personal statement it is my duty to address these. I don’t believe that digital literacy should be relied upon in our courses, but should be a supplement to traditional literacy and another tool we equip our students with to express themselves. It certainly cannot take the place of plain reading and writing. Specifically, one issue I struggle with regarding a reliance on digital literacy, as both a student and a teacher, is communication. Email is not a reliable form of communication when it comes to coursework, in my opinion. As a student of web tools, I have countless times missed assignments or handed them in late because of the confusion that comes with web tools and a reliance on digital literacy. I, and I suppose at least some of my future students, would benefit more from an in-person teacher to emphasize important items relating to the class. One thing I learned from my participation in this on-line class is the varying degree of comfort and know-how of digital literacy, specifically web tools. I feel that digital literacy is best taught in person, at least initially. It is much harder to teach digital literacy when relying on some form of it to already exist in your students. When I facilitate discussion and manage on-line coursework, I will go over the steps in person to make sure all students understand. This seems to be a sort of differentiation that is necessary in order for all students to be on the same page.

Thank you,

Chris Finch

__**5. Copyright Clarity Project for Students**__

Here is my attempt to share a Prezi that I created for the Copyright Clarity Product for Students.

Copyright Clarity Product for Students __**6. Final assessment and future goals**__

This has been one of the most challenging classes I have ever taken. On this page is a compilation of some of the work I have done this year through my personal wiki page and our class website.

For some of my goals I have been successful, for other I was not. I did sign up for a news feed from the New York Times and I did read, at least, one of the articles a day. I linked these updates to my cellphone as I connected my personal email to my Blackberry. I believe that this is a useful tool and I will encourage my students next year to keep up on current events through class projects. Automatic email updates can help this process. Next, I created a personal Twitter account. On this account I shared a few articles that I found interesting that were sent to my phone from the New York Times. My twitter was not "followed" by many "followers", but my overall familiarity and comfort with the site was greatly improved. Upon further use of this tool, I was able to catch up on news within mere minutes instead of an hour that I could spend with a paper-newspaper. However, the lack of something tangible in my hands took something out of the experiences. I did not complete my third goal, however, I have managed and recently became an "adminstrator" for my father's facebook "Fan Page" that you can check out here: [|http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Bill-Finch/6411019014]. With the knowledge to manage a Facebook Fan Page, I can also create a potential page for a 12th Grade Government Class. I was able to, however, learn a lot of valuable information about copyright laws and distinguish copyright from plagarism. In an age where digital literacy is of increasing importance, it is essential that we teach our students what they can and can't do in terms of original work. Lastly, I explored a great website that I plan to use in my class next year, Lore.com. On this site, we can hold discussions, post assignments, update class calendars and send out mass alerts to each and everyone of the students. In the future, I wish to expand on my knowledge and familiarity with digital literacy. However, I also wish to explore ways in which we can make digital literacy an accessible and affordable part of our educational systems.