There are so many things to take in to consideration when dealing with copyright: your audience, the amount of the original work you wish to use, your intended use and so many other things. One lesson learned is that you should never assume that just because someone shared something with you that it means you have their permission to use it, even if you cite it properly. You should always clearly ask permission to use any work [unless you are 100% sure permission is not needed as in the case of work done by someone who died 70 or more years ago (in some areas it is 50 years after the end of the year in which the author died) ]. Melanie Wrobel did a great job explaining the many aspects of copyright law and I will put this knowledge to use moving forward.
Reference
Wrobel, M. (2016). A Guide to Copyright [Audio recording]. Retrieved from https://moodle.royalroads.ca/moodle/mod/page/view.php?id=347413
I found Dr. Veletsianos’ advice quite valuable. He warned against narrowing our research too much on specific technology. He used the example of FaceBook (FB), stating that when FB eventually fades away, the research would become irrelevant. He suggested instead on focusing more broadly on technology in general where FB could be one example. He specifically suggested the topic of Diversity of Thought and how technology could be used to expand the number of opinions beyond that of only the students in the room. This advice will help me to think more broadly when choosing a research topic in the future.
In one of his most recent podcasts he discussed the use of Twitter and mentioned that many it was “researcher friendly” due to the fact that more user data is available; for example, the date of tweet and the location where the user was when they tweeted. He also warned that this could cause bias when choosing a platform and that we, as new researchers, should keep things like that in mind when we read articles and when conducting our own research.
I appreciate being reminded to always read research articles (and any other kind of research) with a critical eye. At first I found myself accepting every word in every article as 100% ‘correct’ but I need to remember to think beyond the words and critically analyze the source of all the information and any possible bias present.
Reference:
Veletsianos, G. (2019) Answering Questions on Research [Audio recording] Retrieved from https://moodle.royalroads.ca/moodle/mod/page/view.php?id=347414
A couple things to keep in mind when trying to identify a good research question are:
It takes time to find a research question that is interesting to both you and to others, is clear and focused and complex enough that it requires analysis
It is important to re-evaluate your question as you do your research by asking questions such as: Is my topic too broad or too narrow? You may find a revised version of your original question is more appropriate
This article, Teaching 21st-century Skills in 20th Century Schools: Impact of Digital Learning was a collaborative effort by my MALAT team for: Unit 4 – Activity 1 | Discussing Impacts of Digital Learning
Overview
With the advent of digital learning, educational policies and pedagogies of the past century have become obsolete. Formal education has shifted from the 20th-century 3Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) to today’s 4Cs: creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration (Keane, Keane & Blicblau, 2014). In today’s hyper-connected and digitized society, we need to empower students with these higher-order thinking skills to adapt to a rapid-changing world and an unknown future. There has been a definite shift from why we are teaching the content to how we are teaching the skills. To date, however,
schools and education systems are, on average, not ready to leverage the potential of technology. Gaps in the digital skills of both teachers and students, difficulties in locating high-quality digital learning resources from among a plethora of poor-quality ones, a lack of clarity on the learning goals, and insufficient pedagogical preparation for blending technology meaningfully into lessons and curricula, [have created] a wedge between expectations and reality (Cuban, 1992, p.190).
The impacts of digital learning on this topic may be described and summarized as follows:
Role of Administrators
• Administrators and educators continue to face significant challenges due to the open-ended and dynamic nature of 21st-century skills and the conformity of the traditional structure and organization of the formal education system. “Systems of education need to establish structures that are amenable to more active and dynamic teaching and learning and assessment paradigms” (Care, Kim & Scoular, 2017, p. 33).
The biggest influence on my digital presence and my digital identity by far right now is this MALAT Group. Building these new relationships and having the advantage of being able to collaborate on an ongoing basis has huge advantages to learning. Having people from different backgrounds and cultures creates a diversity which strengthens the group (or Network) by offering many more perspectives on any given topic which, in turn enhances the overall problem-solving capabilities of that group (Dron & Andreson, 2014).
I have also thought more deeply about the relationship between social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence as Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) talked about in their Community of Inquiry diagram (p.88).
I hadn’t thought that deeply about the importance of the social aspect for a meaningful online educational experience. The importance of participants to feel like “real people” (p. 89). Also, how the teaching presence “may be performed by any one participant in our Community of Inquiry” (p.89) but stress that it is more than likely to be the teacher holding the primary function. Nineteen years later, it is obvious that the role of the teacher has been shifting to all of the participants in an online learning environment (vanOostveen, DiGiuseppe, Barber, Blayone, & Childs, 2016, p. 4).
I ask my fellow MALAT members: Do you feel like you are shifting roles from student to teacher yet?
One of the first things I noticed while creating my visual network map is how small my network is in relation to many others. My biggest active network by far is through WhatsApp and that is almost entirely through work. While I have a fairly large network on Facebook it is rarely utilized. I have gained a clearer sense of the difference between a Group and a Network (Veletsianos, 2016 and Dron & Andreson, 2014). I would have said I belong to different online groups but realize now that I am a node (Dron & Andreson, 2014) in a number of different Networks.
What a great journey we have begun. My goal in this MALAT program is to become more of a resident (White & Le Cornu, 2011) with many of the online tools I use, especially with the new ones that I’ve been introduced to over these past weeks. I want to become more confident with posting to my blog and commenting on the blogs of others. I also want to create a strong personal brand (Lancaster, 2014, 9:36) in my digital space and expand my Internet realestate (Lancaster, 2014, 10:39) through tools such as LinkedIn, WordPress, Twitter and others. I want to become more immersed in the participatory culture (Jenkins, 2009) of the digital world.
I will continue to learn more about the online tools we have been introduced to and expand on the ones I already use. I will also try to better organize my days and weeks to allow the time needed to do the necessary research and to become more of an expert with all these new digital tools. There is quite a learning curve to adding a program like this to what seemed to be an already full schedule. Work/life/study balance is something that is currently one of my biggest hurdles to navigate (and that I will overcome!).
Hi all, I’m Dan and I’m currently working in education in the UAE, about 2 hours outside of Dubai. I am assigned 3 schools ranging from K-12 where I assist and help with the development of teachers. I deliver professional development sessions a couple times a month and I’m also teaching some classes myself as we wait for new teachers to arrive (let me know if you’re interested!). I have had this role at different schools in the UAE for 6 years now. Previously I taught at a college in neighboring Oman and previous to that was teaching English in Japan for 3 years.
Before leaving Canada to teach abroad, my wife and I lived in New Brunswick. We now have 2 dogs (rescues from Oman) and love to travel whenever we get the chance. I’m excited (and a bit nervous) to get started on this course and am really looking forward to meeting everyone and working together.
I hadn’t thought that deeply about the importance of the social aspect for a meaningful online educational experience. The importance of participants to feel like “real people” (p. 89). Also, how the teaching presence “may be performed by any one participant in our Community of Inquiry” (p.89) but stress that it is more than likely to be the teacher holding the primary function. Nineteen years later, it is obvious that the role of the teacher has been shifting to all of the participants in an online learning environment (vanOostveen, DiGiuseppe, Barber, Blayone, & Childs, 2016, p. 4).
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