Skill: Participate 1.1.3 Ideal Digital Learning Community Quest

I really liked this video created by April Cummings that I found on YouTube (https://youtu.be/TcRAlTIzJ5g) where she describes eight qualities of a good Digital Learning Community; I thought that 4 of them were the most important ones.

FREE 

 Students who do better on the SAT often have taken an expensive test prep class.  How well you do on the tests really has nothing to do with what you know, but if you have been taught how to take the test. I feel as thought there is enough inequality in our educational system that a good DLCs should be free and accessible by everyone. Everyone should have the opportunity to join, learn, and better himself or herself. By giving everyone an opportunity we are really bettering our community as a whole.

COLLABORATIVE

I think that for a DLC to be really rich in content that there has to be collaboration in the content. One person cannot write, disseminate, etc all of the information for an entire site or even a subject. Collaboration among peers and even learners will enrich the whole learning environment.

DIFFERENTIATION

For a DLC to really be great - there has to be differentiation of the content. Not everyone learns the same way - some people need to hear the material, some people need to read it. Whatever you modality it, a good DLC would hit upon each one for each topic. The DLC cannot just be about reading content, watching a video, etc - there needs to be variety.

ENGAGING CONTENT

Going along with differentiation, another important component of a DLC is appealing, appropriate, and engaging content. For all of the se qualities to be true the content must be continuously monitored and updated. The DLC will make sure that the content that the user is getting is appropriate for where they are at in their learning with pre and post formative tests. The differentiation will help make content engaging - but the DLC should also offer a variety of courses. 

I think that nay DLC that takes these four components into consideration will most defiantly be successful for anybody. 

Participate 1.1.2 Joining a Digital Learning Community Quest

I just did a quick Google search for Digital Learning Communities (DLCs) and I got over 32,000,000 hits. When I narrow that search to science education it gets narrowed down to just over 20,000,000 hits. I don't think I ever realized how many DLCs are out there! I spent quite bit of time exploring them and booked marked several. Here are five in particular that I thought were interesting: 

• 1)National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Collection of PBL cases on almost every topic in science. 
• Harvard Extension School - Offers free or low cost courses taught my Harvard professors.
• Khan Academy Review subject matter for almost every subject in grades K-12. Resources are great for reteaching, reviewing, or a flipped classroom. 
• Peer-to-Peer University Online courses driven by the values of peer learning, community, and openness.
• Allison  Advance Leaning Interactive Systems Online. ALISON enables anyone, anywhere in the world, to learn new skills and get certified. 

 I think that each of these is a fairly reputable DLC. Depending on what you are wanting to learn, some maybe better than others. I did join Allison mainly because I have never heard or used it before. I was intrigued by the variety of courses they offered - over 500 in total. Many of the courses would allow people to get certifications including project management and human resources. This site is not exclusive for K-12 education, but does have a secondary education area. I feel that the DLC is easy to joint and is appealing for several reasons. First it is a DLC that can be used while in middle or high school and BEYOND the realms of a K-12 education. So getting to know a platform that can be used for a lifetime is appealing. You can also work at your own pace, which is often appealing to learners. The variety of classes is great as well - business, computers, finance, and even languages just to name a few. 

Skill: Participate 1.1.1 Character Traits Quest

The site Cyber Wise Describes digital citizenship as 

Whether we are interacting with people in a face to face manner or online, there are standards of behavior that we must adhere to. The standards of behavior for the online world is after referred to as being a good digital citizen.  Digital citizenship and is defined as "..the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use" on the website Digital Citizenship (DC). 


After doing research on what it means to be a good digital citizen, I found many common themes with what the characteristics of being a good digital citizen is. DC says that there are three overarching themes in being a good digital citizen which include Respect, Educate, and Protect. As a teacher, I feel that these overarching themes which are mode up of nine distinct elements really encompass what it means to be a good digital citizen from a teacher's perspective.

After reading the themes and the elements on the  Digital Citizenship website I can summarize these characteristics from the lens of a teacher in the following way:

Respect

As a teacher for me to be a good citizen in the digital world I need to have respect for my self and others.  The most important element to me under this theme is law. Teaching students copyright law and when you can and can not use material is key. 

Educate

As a teacher within the digital learning community I need to be able to educate students and also myself. One of the most important elements under this there is literacy. As an online teacher, I need to be able to help students with technology and teach them how to use it properly. In order to be able to do this, I need to educate myself and then educate my students how to use that technology quickly and appropriately.

Protect

As a teacher in the digital world, I feel a responsibility in helping to protect my students. Just as in the real world there is a basic set of right stat extend to people in the real world including but limited to privacy, freedom of speech etc. Many young people feel that they can post EVERYTHING - but I feel it is It is my job to protect them and to teach them how to protect themselves in this digital world by teaching what is appropriate and safe to post and what is not.

Welcome to My Journey

After looking at several blogging sites, I went with what I knew - Blogger. I documented the first couple of years of my Son's life on Blogger so I was some what familiar with the process. Though things have changed a bit since 2013 (when I stopped actively blogging) and I have been going around in circles for about a half an hour trying to to figure out how I want the layout to be.

This experience has not been hard - but it has been tedious. I know what I want the blog to do and look like - I am just not sure of the most effective way to get it to do what I want :). But the great thing about a blog is that it is a living document and I can change it as I grow and learn as I complete this course. I have worked for GaVS since 2012, and hope that this program will help me strengthen my online teaching skills. I look forward to growing and learning with the TOOL community in the next several months.