Tech Trend: Data Collection in Higher Education

In my last position at the college, data collection and compilation was a huge piece of what I did every day. I tracked the students I made contact with, as well as the usage of our tutoring center. In the summer I would collect data on our summer camp programs by administering surveys. In my new position as Financial Aid Manager, I track and submit data for our institutional reports in terms of what students are funded, and how they’re funded. Data is something that I think about a lot, as every department tracks different data to improve our programs and outcomes for students. It’s good to know that we’re moving in the right direction since data collection is looking to be a large piece of higher education in the future. I am unsure if we’re using a dashboard integrated with Moodle, but it’s something I plan to look into as I think this could really benefit our students, especially on the retention and persistence end of things.
For this artifact, I developed a basic PowerPoint presentation that outlines how data collection can work to the benefit of students in tracking progress and improving outcomes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9JzLjKGqVo5dXJJVFQ4Nkc3akU/view?usp=sharing

RSS in Education

RSS in Education Lesson Plan

I had a really hard time finding a way I could apply this to my job or even how to apply it to benefit those where I live. I ended up having a discussion with my husband who works in training and development to come up with a way I could use this information to assist teachers here on the North Slope. I settled on a two-hour workshop to demonstrate the technology, and allow the learners to apply it as they saw fit to their unique circumstances. I’m very happy with how this turned out, at least on paper. It is very learner-driven which I hope would encourage the students to really make this their own and develop a better understanding of the concept of RSS and how they can utilize it.

Having sat in on a number of workshops, I think it’s always best to stick to basic concepts and stay very hands-on to keep the attention of the learners. I designed this lesson plan with that in mind. The learning goal here is to demonstrate hands-on ability to use the RSS technology presented.

AECT Standard 2 (Content Pedagogy) applies to this artifact. 2.1 involves creating appropriate applications of processes and technology to improve learning outcomes. In developing this lesson plan, this standard has been satisfied by leaving the direction of learning up to the needs of the student. The lesson was created to improve learning outcomes for the individuals involved. 2.2 involves implementing educational technologies and processes based on content pedagogy. This standard has been met by including the relevant educational technology throughout the lesson. 2.3 involves assessing learning, evaluating instruction and implementation of educational technology. By including an assessment of the students outcomes, both the effectiveness of the lesson and the learning outcome of the students are evaluated and can be modified as needed for future workshops.

Digital Divide

This artifact is concerned with the digital divide in rural Alaska, specifically on the North Slope where I live.

See my presentation here:

https://edtech.voicethread.com/share/6100516/

One thing that struck me is how the multimedia principles are similar to design principles, in that oftentimes less is more. I kept these principles in mind as I worked, adding photos for interest and only including highlights from my voice-over. In doing research on digital divide, I realized how we are very greatly impacted by the technology that is available to us. I’m very excited for the fiber-optic connection to come to our communities, I think it will make a great change in how we deliver content to students and how we access resources. The possibilities are endless and exciting! Having this knowledge makes me appreciative that we will be given an opportunity to be connected to the fiber optic line, some places are facing similar challenges and they will not have access to this exciting new technology. If I could do anything differently for my presentation, I’d like to have gotten the chance to interview some people on their opinions and perspectives on the technology in our community. For the purposes of my portfolio, I may go back and add in such information at a later date.

Code of Professional Ethics in Educational Technology

Professional Ethics in Education Technology: A Look at Institutional Test Proctoring, Google Docs Link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/113R-GYg3dQ0ZofbENZzVQdmlEKjPqq42bTlclim15rI/edit?usp=sharing

Prior to this assignment, I had never really looked at ethics very closely. I was vaguely aware of professional ethics, and also aware that there are laws and guidelines that dictate how I handle projects and information at my job, but I didn’t really think much of it. This assignment and the readings opened my eyes to ethics as an important piece of the educational technology field.
In my assignment, I assess a situation that came up in my own job. I am not an educational technologist, but I do work on the administrative side at an institute of higher learning. I looked at this situation because it is an interdepartmental issue with ethical implications and it concerns an aspect of technology.
In the future, I’m going to be looking at lot closer at aspects of my job in terms of ethics and thinking more about the far reaching implications of existing policies and procedures.

EDTECH 502 CSS

Click-through image to see the page live.

I had a lot of fun formatting this page. The assignment called for formatting various elements of the 502 page via an external style sheet. CSS Styles were defined for the header, section and footer tags. Class tags were used in creating the alternating links and the centered copyright information. To create a clean, cohesive, look I chose to modify the horizontal rule tag as well as the styles on the hyperlinks. I used CSS3 elements in creating the stylized rounded corners.

EDTECH 501 Definition Graphic

My first artifact for my EDTECH 501 class is a graphic I developed to illustrate my understanding of the definition of Educational Technology.  I used Adobe Photoshop to create this graphic, I would like to redo it at some point with the aid of a drawing tablet and I believe I will do this before I submit for my portfolio. I chose to take the key terms from the definition and show how they relate to one another. I believe there are multiple ways to do this and interpret the definition, so this is simply my take on how everything is connected. I think the most important thing to take note of is that everything comes back to the beginning in a feedback loop. Processes and resources are used, managed and created to facilitate learning and improve performance, results can be analyzed at every step, and as the goal is to continually improve, the cycle would start at the beginning once learning outcomes are evaluated. I put study as encompassing these other terms, it’s important to continually improve knowledge by way of research and reflection and that can apply to all of the other terms. I chose to put ethical practice as encompassing all of the other terms including study, as this is the foundation of everything else. All other aspects of the definition need to be evaluated for ethics during every step.
One thing that stuck out to me in particular in the reading was how well the definition accommodates for cultural differences. I work for a tribal college that serves North Slope Inupiat people and promotes Inupiaq culture. We also serve a large multicultural base here, Filipino, Thai, Samoan, Tongan, Korean, African-American and other Alaska Native cultures are some of the cultures we serve and interact with inside and outside the classroom. The definition leaves a lot of room to accommodate for different learning styles and cultures. I like that educational technology is focused on being inclusive, in the past I don’t think this has always been the case in education, the shift in attitude is refreshing.

Learning Log, Introduction

This is my learning log. I will be sharing posts pertaining to my studies in Educational Technology as I complete assignments and learn new things related to this field.