Blog Journal 4

During my early experiences using social media tools such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat for my Personal Learning Network, I interacted with multiple different aspects of my PLN. Mainly I would interact with my family and my friends through comments, likes, and other interactions on social media. I have found it to be beneficial because social media has allowed for a broader understanding of social tools and other aspects of social media. These platforms may be beneficial in my future career because tools such as Pinterest and Instagram have allowed for me to see more of my peers in healthcare and what they are doing currently and what they are looking to pursue which helps me gain a greater understanding of my future career. 

The digital divide is the division/gap between people who have access to technology and those who do not. Growing up, I went to a digitally rich school as it was a school focused on STEM programs therefore we had a computer class. Through my experience from K-12, I think that the integrated use of technology within classes allowed for a higher level of college preparation and the use of technology within college. My early experiences around technology allowed for computer class and other tools such as Google Docs, Canvas, and other tools that allowed for me to develop my understanding of digital tools. 

Collaborative writing is writing with someone else and it allows students to work together digitally such as using tools like Google Docs, Microsoft Word 365, and Microsoft OneNote. Social annotations are digital bookmarks, highlights, and comments among a group of online users. I would use these tools to foster learning by having students work together to annotate studies and write reports together for different classes, therefore promoting teamwork as well as other skills such as analyzing texts and writing. A lesson I would implement that would include collaborative writing and social annotations is having students annotate a study or a historical document and then write a report together in groups about the time period or the study.

Blog Post #3

 To deal with copyright and fair use as a teacher, I would promote the use of originality within the classroom, therefore setting a good example for my students as well. I would try to develop my own instructional materials and use a little bit of inspiration from other sources, but would make my work mainly original. I have learned some new information about copyright and fair use as I didn’t know that plagiarism was not illegal and that even if you provide credit for copyright, one can still be sued for copyright infringement. Overall, I believe that in order to avoid problems with copyright infringement, I would tend to make all of the materials I use in the classroom my original work. 

An issue that has arisen from the use of technology within the classroom is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a form of bullying and harassment through the use of technology and online means. This issue could occur if a student or students were using their digital devices to spread hateful messages or rumors about another student or students. A possible solution to this problem would be to block and filter hateful words and to limit the websites or apps that the students could download or use at school. Therefore, the students that would try cyberbullying would be unable to use their digital devices to spread hateful content.

Through working on the Newsletter Design Assignment on Microsoft Word, I have gained an array of skills. I was able to create columns on a page, shadows on the text, add borders to the text, create an email hyperlink, and more. In the future, to improve my newsletter, I would add more graphics and make the newsletter more aesthetically pleasing to look at. In my future career, the skills I learned would be useful as I could add email hyperlinks so my patients would be able to contact me quicker and the added columns would be helpful for typing up research for experiments.

Blog Post 2

Using MS Word as a student, I have found it to be beneficial but complicated in its setup. I do think that MS Word has many more tools than other word processing software, however, the tools are more difficult to access and understand. I mainly used Google Docs in high school, however I have used MS Word before in high school, but I find Google Docs to be more efficient. Usually, I find Google Docs to be more simple and direct with the tools and I don’t usually require the massive array of tools that MS Word offers and since MS Word is so confusing, I usually stick with Google Docs as the pros outweigh cons. 

I think the standards most important in the ISTE Standards for Educators are the Learner and Leader standards. The Learner Standard helps showcase how teachers need to keep improving their craft through their different tools such as their PLNs, research, and more. The Leader Standard shows teachers that their leadership plays a formative role in their student’s success within their student’s futures. Therefore, I think both of these roles together play a big part in setting a good standard for teachers. 

A digital native is the view that the younger generation are native speakers of technology and digital media. I have seen a few differences on how the older generation uses technology versus the younger generation, such as a difference in the apps they use, how they utilize different tools, and acceptance of digital aid within daily life. The impact of using digital aid as a younger generation has allowed for more access to materials that are important to certain subjects and knowledge that would be harder to receive if we didn’t have access to digital tools. Some differences in the future that I would anticipate between my future students and I are possibly the embrace of AI into education.

Blog Post #1

As a public health major, within this class, I wish to learn all of the facets that educational technology has to offer for the scope of the healthcare field. Educational technology includes many different forms of helpful tools such as AI, Canva, and more. Therefore as these tools are integrated into healthcare, I believe that it is essential to learn how to properly manage and use technology to its greatest extent. Through this class, I hope to further learn and understand how educational technology allows for students to learn about healthcare, which would allow for the scope of public health to broaden as people become more informed about healthcare. 

As a student, I have had many prior experiences in using technology within an educational setting. As technology grows, the use of computers and other tech within the classroom has grown with it. Therefore, I have used tools such as Canva, Google Drive, AI, and other tools commonly used within the classroom. Using these tools have benefitted my work as it has helped me create more cohesive and well thought out assignments, helping me think outside of the box and improve my skills. 

My existing personal learning networks consist mainly of different resources such as social media, Canvas, and Google. These tools help me with school, as the different subjects I learn require research. For example, I use Google and other search engines for help as it leads me to information created by peers or by mentors/advisers. On the other hand, I also use other resources that are offline in order to help me with studying such as tutoring and advising by other people. In addition, these technological tools also help me with my hobbies, as I enjoy hiking and pickleball. However, both of these hobbies require other people, so I use social media in order to view who else would like to go hiking or play pickleball with me. Overall, both my online and offline PLN's are beneficial to me towards my education but also my other interests and hobbies. 

Title: The greatest wealth is health.

Author: Kate Ter Haar

License: CC by 2.0