Thursday, March 7, 2024

Diversity in the Classroom. Media Influences

To Do: Begin by analyzing the short “State of the village report” from 2005 originally created by Donella H. Meadows.

To Watch: What it takes to be racially literate? Watch this short TED talk by Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo, the two amazing teenagers and the authors of the student-run organization, CHOOSE, to overcome racism and inspire harmony through exposure, education, and empowerment AND authors of  The Classroom Index, a textbook devoted to racial literacy:



Ask yourself: Could I be racist? How to tell if I am?  Racism is when you draw conclusions about people based on racial stereotypes and believe that some races are better than others.  Consider the questions, answer them to yourself.

image source: benettongroup.com


To read, print or bookmark, and use in your classroom: Although equity has become a popular term, many teachers are uncertain about achieving it. Dr. Gail Thomson created an “An Equity Affirmation for Educators" sheet that you can use in your daily work as a teacher.

To read: “Key Characteristics of a Multicultural Curriculum” by P.Gorski.
www.edchange.org/multicultural/curriculum/characteristics.html (here is a pdf version of that resource)

To read: Communicating Cross-Culturally: What Teachers Should Know. This is a good article for teachers with ELL students in their classrooms. It highlights five points of cultural difference that all teachers should be aware of when teaching diverse backgrounds.

To do: Books Matter! As a teacher, you will build your classroom library. Browse and save the list of titles collected by ADL  (The Anti-Defamation League) with the power to instill empathy, affirm children’s sense of self, teach about others, transport them to new places, and inspire actions on behalf of social justice. 

To watch: “Misconceptions; Do’s & Don’ts of a 1st Year Teacher” created by Mississippi State University students about racial stereotypes (4 min)

To browse and bookmark (pin?) the Kid World Citizen organization on Pinterest  for a variety of multicultural activities and resources

To browse: learningforjustice.org (browse classroom resources) 

To do: Take a quick tour of Dollar street -  Everyone lives on Dollar Street. We all have some things in common. See how people around the world live. Could the investigation of different living styles and conditions help your students build a global perspective?

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Additional resources (not required):

Extra Credit opportunityComplete Google's Support English Language Learners training. This activity provides strategies for educators to create culturally responsive learning environments. - When done take a screenshot of the course page showing your login and when the course was passed, and submit it to the Extra Credit assignment submission folder. 

Link to Annual African American Children and Families Conference organized at the UNI campus https://aac.uni.edu/  

ISTE Standards  for students

#2 Digital Citizen: Students recognize the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal, and ethical.

#3c Knowledge Constructor: Students curate information from digital resources using various tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
#3d  Knowledge Constructor: Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories, and pursuing answers and solutions.

ISTE Standards for educators connection:  


#3a Citizen: Educators create experiences for learners to make positive, socially responsible contributions and exhibit empathetic behavior online that build relationships and community.

#3b Citizen: Educators Establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and fosters digital literacy and media fluency.

# 4d Collaborator: Educators demonstrate cultural competency when communicating with students, parents, and colleagues and interact with them as co-collaborators in student learning.

To browse and bookmark (pin?) resources collected by Dr. Gail L. Thompson. She shares great equity-related resources for teachers https://www.drgailthompson.com/reso-for-teachersaz/ 

To read:  a short article about challenges in defining Multicultural Education and the areas of social transformation.
www.edchange.org/multicultural/initial.html

To browse: gapminder.org - Free tools for a fact-based worldview

 
To read: We use media in different ways. The same media content may gratify different needs for different individuals—the resources below explaining the media's effects from the point of view of audiences.

    Needs and Gratifications model of the Media by Blumler &  Katz)

To read: 10 Ways Youth Can Engage in Activism.

To do: Explore resources for older students to help stop discrimination and bias lookdifferent.org   

To watch:  the An Anti-Bullying Message From the NOH8 Campaign (2.27 min)

To watch: 10 Misconceptions about Muslim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUvnD5GVAXg 

To read: Information for Teens: The Media &Your Life - How the media affects Teens & Young Adults.

To watch:  The digital story about the depression and issues faced by Asian American girl - pay attention to the poem in the story (also typed under the video) (5.29 min)

To watch: video about Microagressions in a classroom

To watchElders React to Nicki Minaj - Anaconda  (Age diversity)

Everybody in advertising is blonde, beautiful, families are happy, cars are never in traffic, everything is shiny, food looks like it's incredibly tasteful. I ask myself ... Controversial artist Olivero Toscani on ad influence

"Everybody in advertising is blonde, beautiful, families are happy, cars are never in traffic, everything is shiny, food looks like it's incredibly tasteful. I ask myself ... How Stupid are we" Controversial artist  Olivero Toscani on ad influence 

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Information Literacy

Do you want to know...

Remember, all I'm offering is the truth... nothing more.

The Matrix could be an excellent allegory for finding truth in the chaos of disinformation. It could be about breaking an information bubble we may live in and choosing the right path. Unfortunately, we cannot load the skills like Neo could. Fortunately, our information and fake news Matrix is not as grim as the one in the movie...or is it?
“You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
I hope you choose the knowledge, aka the red pill. So, here it goes: 

Information literacy is more than possessing information. Information literacy is the ability "to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information." (ACRL, 2000)

Developing information literacy skills requires a combination of tools, educational resources, and critical thinking practice.




What practical steps can you and your students take to critically evaluate information found on the Internet? How can we protect them and ourselves from fake news, scams, and phishing?

  • Read about those Facebook 'Like' Scam Posts - by Better Business Bureau

  • Watch the short video from Commonsensemedia.org about 5 ways to spot fake news. Look around the Common Sense website. Notice organizational tabs for Parents, Educators, and Advocates. Add useful links to your bookmarks or pins collection.

  • Read Stephen Downe's post about Principles for Evaluating Website

  • What is a Filter Bubble? How does it isolate you? - watch this short video (2.37min ) explaining just that!

  • Browse and bookmark (pin?) for later - Fake news and misinformation advice hub from internetmatters.org where you can learn about fake news, how to spot it, and how to empower children to recognize what fake news is and how to stop the spread of it.

  • How to check the credibility of controversial information?
    • Browse and bookmark snopes.com - a reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.  

    • Browse AllSides.comBalanced News from the Left, Center, and Right
      Look for resources about media bias, and check the incredibly well-developed 
      resources for schools!

Learning (and teaching) today is much different than it used to be. So, it is logical to look for new learning theories!

Connectivism is a relatively new but mighty theoretical framework for understanding learning in a digital age.  
  • It is a theory that argues that learning is not just about memorizing facts but about how you connect those facts together. It's like building a network of information in your mind, where each piece of knowledge is a node, and the connections between them are what help you understand and navigate the world. So, instead of just storing information, you're actively creating a web of understanding. It will be important to keep in mind when building your Personal Learning Network (PLN)
  • Connectivism acknowledges that learning is a social process and individuals bring unique perspectives and experiences to the learning process. Interacting with diverse viewpoints enriches understanding and fosters creativity and innovation.
Watch this short video explaining the theory of Connectivism (3 min). This will be further discussed in the lecture. 



What strategies could students adopt to make decisions or solve an information problem?  
  • Analyze the Big6 and Super3  process models of how people should solve information strategies. S per 3 is a simplified model for the youngest students. 
    • Connect it to the ISTE Student Standard #5: Computational Thinker: Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems that leverage technological methods' power to develop and test solutions.
      • 5b Students collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.
      • 5 c Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving. 
Consider pinning or bookmarking the resources for future use (build that PLN!


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Additional resources (not required; to use, bookmark, or pin for later):

Chat GPT for media literacy -an interesting article about why using AI could be a great media literacy instruction tool.

Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning (pdf) provides a conceptual framework and broad guidelines for describing the information-literate student.

Siemens and Downes theory of Connectivism


Poynter.org - The International Fact-Checking Network is a unit of the Poynter Institute dedicated to bringing together fact-checkers worldwide.

opensecrets.org - Follows the money. D ta on campaign finance, Super PACs, Industries ect.

factcheck.org - nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. A dress public policy issues at the local, state and federal levels.

truthorfiction.com - Get the truth about rumors, inspirational stories, virus warnings, hoaxes, scams, humorous tales, pleas for help, urban legends, prayer requests, calls to action, and other forwarded emails.

hoax-slayer.com - dedicated to" debunking email hoaxes, thwarting Internet scammers, combating spam, and educating web users about email and Internet security issues"

sourcewatch.org - a collaborative resource for  documented information about the corporations, industries, and people trying to influence public policy and public opinion

domaintools.com - a collection of domain name ownership records in the world (also look easywhois.com)

Breaking News Generator 
Fake News templates
News Paper clipping generator

ISTE Standards for Students connection:

Standard # 3: Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.
  • 3a. S udents plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
  • 3b. S udents evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility, and relevance of information, media, data or other resources.
Standard #2 Digital Citizen: Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical

Standards #5: Computational Thinker: Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.
  • 5b Students collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.
  • 5 c Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving. 

ISTE Standards for Educators connection:

Standard #2: Leader: Educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning
  • 2c. Educator model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation, and adoption of new digital resources and tools for learning.
EdTech fastest growing minor - fake yahoo news
Standard #3: Citizen: Educators inspire students to positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world.
  • 3b. E ucators establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and fosters digital literacy and media fluency.
  • 3 c mentor students in safe, legal and ethical practices with digital tools and the protection of intellectual rights and property.
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Activities during the lab (we will work on them together)


Quote from The Matrix movie: There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path


Using Stephen Downe's Principles for Evaluating Websites, lecture, and resources above, analyze the resources below.

  • Can you find an argument to support or discredit the legitimacy of your resource? It is not enough to use "gut feeling" or common knowledge.
  • How can you prove it? 
  • Can you see the purpose of the resource? 
  • Could you use it in your classroom?

Exhibit A: (elementary):
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Exhibit B:
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/hierakonpolis/zombies.html

Exhibit C:
https://insttech.uni.edu/240-031/images/infliteracy-vaccinate.jpg

Exhibit D:
https://insttech.uni.edu/240-031/documents/mail_SlowDance.pdf



Thursday, February 22, 2024

Copyright & Creative Commons


Image source: Wikimedia Commons (this image is in the public domain)
These RWLDs introduce you to fundamental principles of U.S. copyright law, fair use, public domain, and creative commons. Understanding these concepts is key to making legal/ethical decisions about incorporating media into your educational projects (and guiding your students to do so in the future).

List of Terms and Concepts You Should Know:

  1. Copyright (What is it, and when is it obtained by a creator?)
  2. Fair Use (when it can be used?)
  3. Public Domain (explained in a YouTube video)
  4. Creative Commons (How do you obtain a CC license?)
  5. Jammie Thomas-Rasset's case, who illegally downloaded 24 songs. Read the follow-up to the story of Capitol v. Thomas on Wikipedia.
  6. Copyright BriefNotes for Students. this is an interesting compilation of the meaning of copyright. Review the Copyright Decision Tree on page 2. It helps you decide if you can use a work in your projects. 

RESOURCES   

If you are a reader,
familiarize yourself with pages 1—6 of Copyright Basics (PDF) from the US Copyright Office (copyright.gov). This introduction to copyright law describes what works are protected and defines ownership as well as the typical duration of copyright law protection.

If you would rather watch videos to learn
review the 3 videos below:

Using Copyrighted Works in Our Own Creations: Fair Use, Creative Commons, and Permissions

 

Copyright History and Rational in 6 minutes!



Creative Commons

This 5-minute video explains why Creative Commons was created:


Creative Commons licenses make it easy for people to share their works which are otherwise protected by copyright law. This provides terrific opportunities for teachers and students! It's what you might say is a happy middle ground between All Rights Reserved and the public domain.

Food for thought:  

You probably heard about ChatGPT and the concerns it raises among schools.  We are witnessing the rapid development of chatbots and artificial intelligence that can imitate human conversation and generate essays, poems, and even art.  

I asked ChatGPT two questions:
Q1: What do you think about students using ChatGPT to complete their assigned essays?

Here are the chat-generated answers: 

Q2: Is ChatGPT in violation of copyright laws?

Answer: 

What are your thoughts on using chatbots to complete your homework?  

Other Resources (As FYI, not required)

- To listen: NPR interview with an artist, Kelly McKernan, who filed the lawsuit after discovering that her artwork was used via an AI art generator to produce more work in her style.

- To read: Grappling With AI Writing Technologies in the Classroom - article but a high school social studies teachehttps://www.edutopia.org/article/chatgpt-ai-writing-platforms-classroom 

- Bookmark and explore these UNI sites related to copyright: UNI Copyright Policies and Rod Library Guide to Copyright.

-Take a look at the Key Moments in Social Media Law from 1984 to today.

- To bookmark for later: How to cite ChatGPT 

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Visual Literacy

an eye ball
Image: Ray eye  Creative Commons license

To Read: Color matters! Read about color symbolism in different cultures and explore other parts of this website to learn more about the significance of color in our lives.

To Watch:  You are in the process of designing your teacher's website.  It should be important for you to make conscious decisions about how you present the content of the pages.  
What makes the page user-friendly? 
What are the most common design mistakes made when creating websites?  
To help you answer that, I created a short video about web design considerations



To Watch: Visual Diagramming, Concept Mapping, Mind Mapping - these phrases apply to visually brainstorming or organizing ideas. This video explains the benefits of it:



To use in the early elementary classroom (or with your kids): C.A.R.P. junior - Design Principles for kids - ideas for practicing them in an elementary classroom.

To challenge yourself: Look at these 25 of the most iconic photographs (according to CNN) - How many can you name just by looking at them?

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Additional optional resources:

ISTE Standards for Educators:
2.5c Educators explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning.
2.6d. Educators model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge or connections.

ISTE Standards for Students :
1.1b Students build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process.
1.6c Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models, or simulations.


Thursday, February 8, 2024

AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a relatively new field in K-12 education. It exploded at the beginning of 2023 with the release of a free version of Large Language Model, Generative AI, ChatGPT.  As a new-era educator, you probably want to have a basic understanding of how AI works,  how it will influence teaching and learning, and how to teach about it to your students.  Since we are in a lifelong learning profession, it is on us to keep up and understand the implications of the current trends. The changes are coming, and we are living in exciting times! So, let's dive in.

cute machine learning AI from code.org
Machine learning from code.org

To Watch and Do (15 minutes):  Start by completing this short eight-step unit from code.org designed to help you and your students learn about types of machine learning and training data, pattern analysis, classification models,  ethical issues such as bias, and even how AI can be used to address Global Goals! Don't skip this part! 

A human-centered approach to AI:

A human-centered approach to AI prioritizes the well-being and needs of humans in developing and implementing artificial intelligence systems.

It advocates that AI should be used to amplify human capabilities, creating collaborative interactions between humans and AI rather than replacing them.

UNESCO’s 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI provides a framework for addressing controversies around generative AI in education and research. It advocates for a human-centered approach to AI 

    • AI should be used to develop human capabilities for inclusive, just, and sustainable futures
    • Human rights principles should guide the use of AI
    • Human dignity and cultural diversity should be protected
    • Proper regulation is needed for a human-centered approach to AI


To watch: (2 min.33s) Machine Learning and Human Bias - How it can perpetuate human bias, why it is important to know, how Google approaches this problem, and what you can do about it. 


The Artificial Intelligence (AI) for K-12 initiative (AI4K12): https://ai4k12.org/ :
Organize the topics surrounding Artificial Intelligence and organize them into 5 Big Ideas. Each Idea has a progression chart similar to DOK that can help you teach about AI in a different grade level.  

To do: Go to this link: https://ai4k12.org/gradeband-progression-charts/ and open a progression chart for each idea. Try to make sense of what kind of AI concepts and topics should be taught in each grade. Would you be able to teach them today? 


5 Big Ideas in AI



To browse: Resources from aiedu.org The AI Education Project. We used some resources from there while working on Digital Citizenship activities. 

To watch: Ted Talk How AI could save (not destroy) education (15 min)
Sal Khan (founder of Khan Academy) thinks AI could spark the greatest positive transformation education has ever seen.  See what opportunities he envisions for students and educators working with Khanmigo AI. Do you like his vision? What are the positives? Are there any downsides?  Do you agree with his statement that AI can be used to enhance HI?



To read and think about Reconsidering Student Learning Outcomes in the Age of Generative AI - do you agree? What other skills, if any, will be important, and which should be revisited for their usefulness? 





Please create a free account on magicschool.ai - we suggest using a private account. We will look at it and evaluate in labs. 

Other Resources (not required, but useful) 

To listen: Pondering AI podcast How is using artificial intelligence (AI) shaping our human experience? Kimberly Nevala talks with a diverse group of innovators, advocates, and data scientists.

To read, think, and interact: Is the modern development of "god-like technology" a new fire?  A philosophical question for the insomnia minds: Read and consider posting your response 


Approaches & Guides to Prompt Engineering in LLM like ChatGPT
To browse: Secondary Idea for English 12: An Exploration of British Classic and Contemporary Science Fiction Literature Focusing on Artificial Intelligence: 

To read: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Computer Vision.

To browse and bookmark: Applied Digital Skills with Google.

UNI resources for AI in Teaching & Learning: https://ai.uni.edu/

Train a computer to recognize your own images, sounds, & poses with  Google Teachable Machine


To read: about the new market for low-paid workers. : Behind even the most impressive AI system are people. Huge numbers of people label data to train it and clarify data when it gets confused. As the technology becomes ubiquitous, a vast tasker underclass is emerging:



ISTE standards for Educators connection:
  • Standard 2.2 Leader: Educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning.
    • 2.2.c Model Digital Tool Use: Model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation, and adoption of new digital resources and tools for learning.
  • Standard 2.3 Citizen: Educators inspire students to positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world.
    • 2.3.b Evaluate Resources for Credibility - Establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources, and fosters digital literacy and media fluency.
    • 2.3.c Teach Safe, Legal, Ethical Practices - Mentor students in safe, legal and ethical practices with digital tools and the protection of intellectual rights and property.
  • Standard 2.4  Collaborator: Educators dedicate time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover and share resources and ideas, and solve problems.
    • 2.4.b Learn Alongside Students: Collaborate and co-learn with students to discover and use new digital resources, and diagnose and troubleshoot technology issues.
  • Standard 2.6 Facilitator: Educators facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students.
    • 2.6.d Model and Nurture Creativity: Model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge or connections.