Networking Project

Acceptable Use Policy

The approach to developing an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is going to be determined by a school’s culture, community, and desired objectives for implementing a BYOD (“Bring Your Own Device”) plan or any other form of technology integration. Thus, because it is a largely individualized and unique task for each school to develop a policy, it is important to consider the primary purpose of integrating technology in the classroom.

In an article titled “Why BYOD Makes Sense: Thinking Beyond a Standardized 1:1” by Andrew Marcinek, Co-founder of EducatorU.org, emphasizes the importance of creating technology choice when implementing BYOD. Marcinek writes that, “We need to promote more choice in technology usage and trust that students and teachers will work well in any environment. But giving choice makes it less about the device and more about the learning” (2013). His statement then serves as the backbone for developing an AUP. A given policy can’t be geared towards any specific or standardized technology. Rather it must engage in the principles of real life where choices are constantly presented and standardization is at times foreign.

At the foundation of educational technology it is vital to acknowledge the truth that the current definition of educational technology is only a temporary definition to depend upon. The world continues to grow at such a rapid pace that to cling to one definition wholeheartedly is dangerous. Thus, to standardize a technology plan in any form, whether the device to be used or the terms to which it is used, would be unreasonable. Therefore, an AUP must remain flexible, adaptable, and logical in meeting the evolvement in technology integration.

To develop an effective and appropriate AUP the National Education Association suggests that the policy contain the following elements: “a preamble, a definition section, a policy statement, an acceptable uses section, an unacceptable uses section, and a violations/sanctions section” (“Getting Started on the Internet: Acceptable Use Policies,” n.d.). For specific definitions of these terms view “Getting Started on the Internet: Developing an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)” published by Education World.

If these broad elements are used as the skeleton of an AUP’s development then school sites must account for the specific needs of their students. This would include considering the following:

1. The level of schooling to which it is being applied (university vs. secondary)
2. Student demographics
3. Intended educational purpose for technology integration
4. Necessary measures to ensure the particular student demographics safety
5. Alignment of current school policies and procedures for misconduct and transferring those to fit appropriately with the digital citizenship design through the AUP

Lastly, it is important to compile an appropriate team that can voice all areas concerns in regards to acceptable use policies. While Steven Anderson’s blog post on Edutopia is centered on creating social media guidelines, the principles or organizing a team are transferable. Anderson wrote of a recent experience where a district, “chose to have a teacher and administrative representative from each grade level in the district, along with their heads of instruction and technology, school attorney, and two student representatives. You have to find a combination that works” (2012). The key is that all groups affected by the AUP must have a voice present in the development.

These examples showcase how I believe AUPs are specific to each site, but each one has components that align with what I believe.

Brown University’s Acceptable Use Policy

Interim Acceptable Use Policy of Information Technology Resources

UC Merced Acceptable Use Policy

Fresno Unified Acceptable Use Contract

Resources

Anderson, S. (2012, May 7). How to Create Social Media Guidelines for Your School. Retrieved

January 26, 2015, from

http://www.edutopia.org/how-to-create-social-media-guidelines-school

Getting Started on the Internet: Acceptable Use Policies. (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2015,

from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr093.shtml#sthash.7h2KMUKs.dpuf

Marcinek, A. (2013, December 11). Why BYOD Makes Sense: Thinking Beyond a Standardized

1:1. Retrieved January 26, 2015, from

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/byod-makes-sense-beyond-1-to-1-andrew-marcinek  

Relative Advantage Spreadsheet

ID Job Description

The first assignment in EDTECH 503 was to create a fictitious instructional design position. Below is the position I created.

Megan Poindexter

EDTECH 503

Position: Instructional Designer for community college level course in the San Joaquin Valley

Part 1- Synthesis

Job Description

The primary role of the instructional designer is to act as support for all faculty so as to ultimately create a better online learning environment for students. Instructional designers will engage with educational technology tools and outside parties to create academic curriculum appropriate for the community college level. Moreover, the position calls for designers to work closely with faculty in the design of curriculum and develop a trustworthy system for the evaluation of online teaching practices. The position also requires an individual that is willing to be on the frontlines of managing internal affairs in the development of courses.

Duties:

• Contribute to the editing and revising of existing curriculum material.
• Designs course curriculum that seamlessly integrates technology. This would include developing assignments, quizzes, formal assessment, projects, activities, etc.
• Develop a technology plan that meets the need of the school site and includes a proposed method for training teachers on using technology in their courses.
• The technology plan must specify standards and acknowledge desired site goals.
• The plan will need to be assessed to monitor the plan’s progress bi-annually.
• Create workshops and educational opportunities for employees to learn new ways to integrate technology into their curriculum.
• This also includes planning and conducting professional development opportunities.
• Be available to assist and consult faculty when it comes to technology integration.
• Communicate and collaborate with other community college employees within the Central Valley and outside parties that have the knowledge to consult on projects.
• Develop relationships with outside parties in the Central Valley to enhance curriculum development.
• Provide objective feedback for faculty members by creating a system for assessing the effectiveness of curriculum using proper data analysis.
• This involves offering productive suggestions for faculty improvement and facilitating workshops (digitally) to troubleshoot areas of weakness.
• This also involves meeting with faculty both individually and in groups to assess the productivity and effectiveness of courses.
• Maintain a professional working environment.

Required Skills:

• Proficient in using a wide variety of digital devices
• Bachelor’s degree in instructional design, communication, or a related degree
• Knowledge of proper netiquette and methods for teaching teachers how to monitor class netiquette
• Working knowledge of basic principles in regards to instructional design and courseware development
• Ability to collaborate and communicate with colleagues both face-to-face and in a digital format.
• Ability to create a technology plan that fits the specific needs to the site and faculty.
• Ability to use data from the assessment of the site technology plan to develop workshops, tutorials, and learning opportunities for faculty to learn from. This also includes making recommendations for technology improvement.
• Fluency with Google resources (Google+, Google Drive, Google Classroom, etc) and the ability to teach others how to use these resources.
• Maintain knowledge of video and photo editing
• The willingness, discipline, and ability to learn new systems
• Ability to convert traditional course curriculum (activities, assessments, projects, etc.) into curriculum that embraces technologies
• Ability to remain flexible and adaptable
• Ability to work well under the pressure of deadlines

Desired Skills:

• 1-2 years of instructional design experience
• Masters degree related to instructional design
• Experience with converting traditional course curriculum into curriculum that embraces technologies.
• Proficiency with HTML and CSS coding
• Experience with developing technology plans and creating a reliable system for assessment.
• Experience collaborating with faculty on the development and design of new course material.
• Experience providing professional development opportunities for faculty to learn and self- assess
• Project management experience

Part 2- Summary / reflection

The role of the teacher is to facilitate and guide student learning experiences. The teacher is a direct resource for students and the position is intended to act as the funnel through which knowledge is communicated and application is demonstrated. Assessing student understanding and re-teaching to assure mastery learning are additional expectations. The teacher acts as the primary vessel for transmitting information and developing student literacy in various subjects. Moreover, the teacher’s goal should be to lead students to be college and career ready. All of this differs from the role of the instructional designer because an instructional designer is not present in the classroom and does interact with students directly.

In contrast, while the teacher acts as a direct resource for the student the instructional designer acts as a direct resource for the teacher. The instructional designer offers new means for communicating knowledge and assesses the validity and authenticity of those means. Moreover, the instructional designer offers tutorials and meaningful feedback to help guide teachers in their implementation of strategies or technologies in the classroom. Instructional designers must collaborate with faculty members to assess needs and develop plans for meeting those needs. This differs from the position of the teacher as the teacher is hands-on when it comes to applying the design created by the instructional designer. The teacher contributes to the curriculum design or technology integration of coursework while the instructional designer is acts as the expert creator and developer.

There are three major differences between a teacher and an instructional designer. Those differences include the below:

1. Audience- The teacher’s audience is his or her class, while the audience of the instructional designer is his or her colleagues. Instructional designers must spend time collaborating, coaching, and creating instructional designs with staff. In contrast, teachers offer instruction, provide guided practice, and teach practical application to students. The needs of each audience is unique and thus the role of each position must accommodate to meet the needs of the audience.
2. Purpose- The teacher’s primary purpose is to offer students the best possible opportunities to learn and advance to become college and career ready. Thus, the objective of the teacher is largely student-centered. The technology and design of curriculum must be shaped to fit the mold and needs of each unique class. Instructional designers are not in charge of student achievement, but rather they are responsible for developing curriculum that grows the educator’s abilities to effectively do their job. The instructional designer job is heavily centered on developing resources and acting as a support system so as to help teachers thrive.  
3. Expertise- Both of teachers and instructional designers have invaluable roles to play in the educational system, but their roles are each distinct. Teacher’s expertise lies in the areas of classroom management, teaching content, using various instructional methods, assessing student needs, analyze student progress, and preparing students to be college and career ready. The instructional designers focus is in the design of how to present content to students and involves integrating technology to enhance a teachers teaching practices. An instructional designer is more likely to have knowledge of a variety of technological tools that would be effective in the class and have develop a fluency of how to use those tools. In contrast, the teacher is often limited in time and exposure to these resources as their area of expertise lies in the teaching of content.

Part 3- Job Posting URLs

• Instructional Designer - Instructional Technologies Support
• Instructional Designer (School of Business)
• Instructional Designer I
• Instructional Designer for Bisk Education

Vision Statement

I will be hosting my EDTECH 541 project at this site. Here is the link my first assignment for this course which is the vision statement. I have also posted my vision statement below. It is my hope that this statement clearly justifies my belief in the power of technology integration in the classroom. 

The primary role of the educator is to help prepare students for life in the real world. Content is important, but it is knowledge of how to apply skills that becomes transferable across a wide range of real world situations. It therefore comes as no surprise that the educational world has embraced a huge shift with the adoption of 21st Century Learning standards and college and career readiness standards.

Within these standards is a large emphasis on the importance of digital literacy. Some are highly critical in believing that technology only acts as a secondary resource or that it is more of a distraction that anything else. In Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching  M.D. Roblyer  and Aaron Doering (2013) acknowledge the criticisms of technology integration and highlight the issues in regards to lack of funding, misuse of technology, safety, and the digital divide. In a perfect world there would exist a 1:1 student to device ratio where appropriate teaching and safety precautions would accompany the integration of the technology in the classroom. While technology integration is becoming more of a mainstream requirement it takes time for the concept to be completely embraced, and for teachers to transform from traditional roles as lectures and instructors to facilitators that guide and oversee student acquisition of knowledge through technology. Adam Bellow, who was voted the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) Outstanding Educator of the Year in 2011, defined technology integration as “Using whatever resources you have to the best of your abilities” ("An introduction to technology integration", 2012). Thus, the job of the classroom teacher is to embrace the technology available and facilitate student learning through the accessible tools to help them appropriately learn to apply critical thinking skills.

Roblyer and Doering (2013) illuminates the core of technology integration by introducing the information and communication technology (ICT) framework. The framework is divide into three levels:

- Technology literacy—Needed to “prepare learners, citizens, and a workforce that is capable of taking up new technologies so as to support social development and economic productivity.”

- Knowledge deepening—Increases “the ability of students, citizens, and the workforce to add value to society and the economy by applying the knowledge of school subjects to solve complex, high priority problems encountered in real world situations of work, society, and life.”

- Knowledge creation—Intended “to increase productivity by creating students, citizens, and a workforce that is continually engaged in and benefits from knowledge creation and innovation and life-long learning” (p. 21).

This framework bleeds into mainstream educational standards as the Common Core college and career readings standards require that students learn to “use technology and digital media strategically and capably” ("Students who are college and career ready in reading, writing, speaking, listening, & language"). To use something “strategically” requires critical thinking and access of deeper knowledge. While various models and approaches to technology integration exist, the premise remains the same: prepare students for real world application.

Edutopia acknowledges the reality that “Technology is continuously, and rapidly, evolving. It is an ongoing process and demands continual learning” ("What is successful technology integration?", 2007). This truth serves as a powerful platform for meaningful learning. It does a student no good if they master the use of one technological device and never expand their horizons to other digital tools. Learning goes beyond the traditional and commonly accepted way of comprehension. True learning occurs when students access the top levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy where they must demonstrate their abilities to evaluate, create, analyze, apply, and innovate. Technology acts as the means for developing critical thinking skills that can be applied to diverse situations, which makes it an instrumental component of the modern day classroom.

References

An introduction to technology integration. (2012, December 12). Retrieved January 19, 2015, from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction-video.

Roblyer, M., & Doering, A. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching (6th ed.). Boston:  

Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Students who are college and career ready in reading, writing, speaking, listening, & language. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2015, from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA- Literacy/introduction/students-who-are-college-and-career-ready-in-reading-writing- speaking-listening-language/

What is successful technology integration? (2007, November 5). Retrieved January 19, 2015, from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide-description.