11/25/2018

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First of all, I realized that there are students from two different Masters Program.  There is a difference on professor’s way of instruction and materials used on this course.  For example, I like the assignment sheet which has work spaces for the different parts of the assignment.  The video conferences are always a big help.  Even though there are a lot of To-Do-List, I have it in front of me to I can just check off the items completed.  For sure, I know that I am going to learn a lot from this course and the professor.  I also like that the assignment sheet has a rubric that can clarify what to expect.

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​12/2/2018

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This week we read and discussed about understanding the impact of technology especially what it means by leaving the digital footprint/tattoo behind.  This footprint contains all our activity online from all our devices.

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 I think that it is important that everyone is aware of their personal footprint. But as an ex-employer that used to interview people for various position in the education setting, these people should be aware that one can track their sites that have personal information on them.  Let me mention some that now it is easier for employers to find personal information on applicants.  For example, one time our interview committee had some positive comments on an applicant.  This applicant had many postings of her and her friends drinking in clubs and acting wild.  We had to ask Human Services Department for assistance because we did not want to get in trouble if we didn’t hire her due to this fact.  The thing is that parents can view their child’s teacher’s activity on Facebook. Another issue is that teachers should never accept students’ request on Facebook.  They can view things like the friend of the teacher, activities that they interact with others.  One of our students was able to discover the teacher’s address which caused problems.

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What is most scary is that the FBI could easily view our activities.  Therefore, people should not joke around with postings that could get them in trouble. We are even careful about posting pictures of my grand-kids. Strangers viewing children’s pictures could get dumb ideas like kidnapping them or use them as porn pictures.  Technology nowadays can do so many things with a person’s picture.  I read about a teacher who they had modified the picture with her being nude even though she never took a picture like that.  The picture went viral in her school district which affected her career.  I have countless friends who never posts anything but just comments on other friends’ postings.

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Now I am really concern when using my credit card online.  I pay bills every month but how secure are these companies.  I use PayPal to shop but how trustful are they.  Let me give you an example of what happened to me last year.  I inherited my parent’s property and my lawyer requested two family friends of my parents to witness the transfer.  Since the lawyer is my cousin, I agreed to fie the paperwork in person at the courthouse.  About three months after, one of the witness started receiving offers of credit cards, loan offers, etc.  But she used her home address not my parents.  The only thing we thought that happened is that someone working at the court is selling information to companies.  The person that is selling the information is getting two salaries—the one as a court clerk and the other from the companies she is selling the information.

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On concluding about the digital footprint/tattoo left behind, people that plan to apply for a job, especially for a professional position, should be careful on what they post online.  I have always advised my children and friends to be aware about the information they post and about using their credit card.  Since they are professionals, they should not risk having negative items on their online activities because it could ruin their career.

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12/9/2018

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Copyright in Education

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There should be a Copyright course in all colleges’ degree plans.  Every educator should know exactly what Copyrights entails.  They should know that it is a law and not take it mild as to think that they are not going to get caught.  I have known educators that do not take copyrights seriously.  When I started teaching, I did not know that it was illegal to show the entire grade level a Disney movie for things like, perfect attendance, keep the big group busy while teachers attended a training or for babysitting purposes when short of staff.  They were never used for instruction.  Then when I became an administrator, I attended a training on Copyrights for various reasons.

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I knew several campuses that were in violation of the Copyrights law.  For instance, some people were charging for students to attend a movie at the end of the six weeks.  But on our campus, we had our librarian research when and how we could show Disney movies. Last time I remembered, the fee to show Disney movies was $200 a year for the license.  But we did not charge for students to see the movies.  Another issue was that since our campus was down the street from a flea market, teachers were always tempted to buy pirated movies.  Administrators would stress that they were not allowed to show these movies in class, even if it was for instruction.

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There are several videos that administrators can show in their beginning of the year trainings.  The video Copyright Basics for Teachers will help teachers understand the basics of copyright, fair use, public domain and open licensing.  Copyright and Fair Use Animation is also another video that introduces teachers and students to copyright, fair use and the rights as creators.  I know that it impossible to hire a lawyer for each campus to discuss Copyrights but maybe the district can have a training for the campus administrators with a lawyer.  Then, the administrators in turn can train their campus staff.  This training should be for all staff not only the educators. Everyone on campus is liable for violating copyrights.

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Knowledge on how to use a Creative Commons license is another area that teachers show know before freely using software or other author’s works.  I have encountered many issues in this area such as what to do when a campus does not have a license for all teachers.  When I used to teach, I knew that some teachers had copies of programs that they would share with others in their grade level. But once the administrators heard about it, it stopped.  Most of the time, our campus had to buy more than one license since the license are usually limited to 25 users.  Our campus technician would do a routine check on teachers’ computers to ensure that they did not have an illegal program installed.  Another issue that we encountered was that the district brought in several consultants/trainers that their program was bought. The issue was that only the teachers that were trained with that specified program could use it.  But as new teachers came on board on campus, teachers were tempted to lend them the materials.  After I retired, I discovered that some schools in the Rio Grande Valley were still using materials of a consultant who no longer was contracted. I think that instead of buying his materials, they were reproducing them.  He found out and sue several districts.  The Los Angeles school district in California was sued by him and won over a million dollars.

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Therefore, every school Principal should train all staff on the Copyrights Law and its components at the beginning of the school year.  Administrators should also revise lesson plans very carefully to ensure that teachers are using copyright materials correctly.  If teachers violate the copyright law, principals are still held responsible for what happens on campus. 

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12/16/2018

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Cyberbullying Needs to Be Control

Since cyberbullying’s statistics keep increasing every day, it is the responsibility of everyone to assist in controlling it.  More people must be held accountable for any knowledge that they might know of someone being bullied.  All of us need to get involved in the prevention of cyberbullying because we have children and grandchildren.

How should teachers teach cyberbullying?  iKeepSafe (2012) gives tips for teachers on how to teach the prevention of cyberbullying.  Encourage students to be kind even if others are not.  Start with a positive focus by talking about concepts such as, citizenship and what digital citizenship entails.  Students need to know that it is better to be an upstander instead of a bystander when cyberbullying is occurring.  As soon as teachers, administrators or parents become aware that cyberbullying is occurring, they should take immediate action.  Every second counts once the victim is aware of the attack.  These teenagers are not trained or prepare to manage this kind of attacks.  Some of them might be too weak to cope with how to solve the problem.  Therefore, this might lead to harm themselves instead of facing the problem. 

Rogers (2014) stresses that if a parent knows that their child is a bully and does nothing about it, they should be held responsible.  It is astonishing when one hears that parents knew about their child bullying and just thought he/she was joking.  Bullies are not held accountable until it’s very late and harm has been done.  The sad thing is that when parents are made aware of their child’s bullying, they tend to blame the victim first.  Parents need to be educated on how to look for signs at home on their child’s behavior such as, do they make cruel fun of other kids, are their close friends acting the same, monitor their computer sites, etc.  Sometimes children have family issues that will make them bully to find the way out of the situation.  Parents need to teach and model how to be kind and respectful to others.  Of course, parents should be held accountable for their children’s actions that can lead to harm of others and they knew.

How should the community assist in preventing cyberbullying?  It does affect the community because the majority of students who are bullied are students with learning disabilities, students of different races, LGBT students and the list goes on and on.  Church leaders need to include in their sermons why bullying is wrong.  Students that attend church tend to follow their pastors’ preaching.  Law enforcement can integrate bullying in their annual community night out which occurs at the beginning of the school year.  They can ask for donations from the community businesses to buy shirts, cups, visors, posters for schools, etc. that advertise “Say No to Bullying”.  This should cover all types of bullying including cyberbullying.  Many people in the community might not think prevention of cyberbullying is important until it affects one of their family members.  Even the city public libraries should get involved. They can schedule movies and activities to prevent cyberbullying.  City leaders like to get involved in activities that are geared to the safety of their future leaders—students. 

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12/21/2018

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Final Reflection

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I unable to discuss everything I learned about digital citizenship because it is so much. By the time I left the classroom in 2011, students were just starting to use the Internet.  We were just using computers to work on Reading and Math Programs. They were not conducting research yet.  Therefore, we had no need to teach most of the elements.

            My biggest accomplishment in this course was realizing how big an issue cyberbullying is here in our country.  This will certainly make me more aware that I need to get more involved with students and my grandchildren, so they can truly understand why they should never cyberbully other people. 

            There are two challenges that I always have in all my courses.   The five-week course time is too short.  I like to read all assigned readings and view videos at least twice to really analyze the main points.  My experience producing videos whether they are short or long is not my cup of tea.  Never did I have to do this for my work which I wished I should had done for my campus presentations to make them less boring. 

            I know that I have done better work in my classes before I developed Bell’s Palsy and at this time can only use my right eye.  Therefore, I do not feel that I have done my best work.  Everything I learned will certainly connect to what I did not know in connecting with my classroom experiences.  Besides learning the statistics on cyberbullying that are getting out of control, it is extremely knowing the importance of the digital footprint. 

            It is so hard to name one most useful thing I learned in this course because everything will be useful.  I guess I would say the visual weekly conference lessons which I will use to share with other educators/administrators.  This will also be a part that will help me continue to grow as an educational leader.  Many times, we take it for granted that just by giving the staff a handout on the topics I learned will guarantee that they will comprehend.  But if I want my staff to comply with the technology laws, I must train them correctly.  My favorite aspect of this course was the weekly video conferences.  Dr. Parcell’s weekly conferences clarified any questions on the assignments.  If they were not, he would research them and clarify them on the course website.

            One of the things that I tried to do with every course but sometimes got caught with time flying by so quick.  I would like to suggest to other students to check everyday for the course website to open so they can immediately what textbooks are required.  The next thing is to start working on week one right away.  They need to start working on the following week’s assignments the weekend before the lesson begins.  Students just always need to keep their head above water.

It is hard to cut down on any of the activities because they all are so useful.  But if I must cut one it would have to be the one that usually has two parts to it.  Maybe instead of having two study cases, only one can be assigned even if more paragraphs needed to be added.  If I had a chance to speak to my friend about this course, I would say that this is one that should be required for all educators and administrators.  They need to be aware of the copyright laws to ensure that they do not do it.  Educators need to make it a big deal about assuring that all their students know the importance of cyberbullying and digital footprint.  This should be one of their priorities by including these issues their class lessons.

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