D.J. Hill's Journey Through ETEC

I would say that the most powerful learning moment I had this week was the realization that federal policy regarding educational technology is one of the most important, yet least talked out aspects of teaching. Over the last ten days, I learned more about FERPA, COPPA, IDEA, CIPA, and PPRA than I had in the previous five years . The shocking realization I’ve come to after learning about these laws is that there are a tremendous amount of violations of these federal laws that go on ALL THE TIME, and my guess is many teachers have no idea they are breaking the law. As I mentioned in my letter this week, I was recommended a scanning app by a fellow teacher just last week as an app to recommend to students so that they could scan written work and submit to Schoology. Yet, the app required the creation of an account, and a quick scan of acceptable apps and websites on our district website showed me that this was not an approved app. Thus, I would have been committing a federal violati...

Educational Technology Policies and Regulations   Key Takeaways and Impacts Key takeaways from the readings/videos: I learned a tremendous amount of information this week that all educators should know, and that I should have learned years ago, before I started teaching kids in a classroom. The basis for our learning this week is that there are many laws (Federal, state, and local laws) that protect the privacy of parents and students by protecting identifiable information. Identifiable information is data like grades, learning disabilities, special needs information, test scores, disciplinary information, and more. The most impactful law protecting the privacy of parents and student's identifiable information is the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act , or FERPA . Understanding FERPA is critical in our roles as educators. It requires educational institutions to keep identifiable information private unless given written consent to share with someone else. Of co...

This week, I learned and read about many different Learning Management Systems. As a teacher who has been using Schoology for two years already, I thought I knew all of the features that Schoology had to offer. Over the last two school years, I have used Schoology to organize the content for my students, create folders, assignments, drop-boxes, quizzes, and tests. I truly thought I was a master of my own Learning Management System. Yet, the assignment this week forced me to go out of my comfort zone with my LMS. I discovered that I can create discussion posts for students and have Schoology put my classes into small groups that I can edit. But that wasn't the most important discovery I made. I also learned that Schoology has an entire gradebook system that links with the assignments I create! This could potentially save me tens of hours of work next year if I set this up in the beginning of the year. As I currently do things, I sort through student work in the dropbox, copying th...

Key takeaways from the readings/videos: This week, I learned a lot about LMS, or Learning Management Systems. Learning Management systems are web based systems, where a teacher or business owner/manager or other professional can gather all their learning materials in one place, making them available to all learners. Learning Management Systems can be adapted for a diverse group of learners depending on learners grade, profession, job position, and more. They can be used by any number of organizations, including schools to large corporations. Administraters can post files or links to be viewed, or assign work or tests. Or, administrators can assign a series of materials called a learning path.  Corporations can also use LMS in the following ways 1)  Corporate training budget can be reduced by conducting training online -        Less $ on Classroom rentals -        Less $ on Transport and accomodati...

Networks System Management Post Key takeaways from the readings/videos: In terms of academic knowledge and vocabulary of the internet, I learned more this week than every before. First of all, I learned that the internet itself is actually a physical wire, or rather, a network of physical cables, including copper telephone wires, TV cables, and fiber optic cables. Our personal computers aren't directly connected to the internet. They need to connect to special computers, called servers, that are directly connected to the internet. To connect to these servers, personal computers need to connect to the internet through a service provider. I also learned the Bluetooth is a technology that uses radio waves to communicate over short distances Older gadgets can also be converted to use with blue tooth using plug-in adaptors. There are different classes of transmitters that go from 3 feet to 300 feet. Bluetooth devices automatically detect and connect to one another and up ...

Computer Environment Management Post Learning Outcomes Create a computer lab design and configuration Create a plan to manage mobile devices in classrooms Explain the required maintenance for a computer lab  (desktop, laptop, mobile devices) Identify computer lab management software (LanSchools, Apple Remote Desktop) Know how to troubleshoot computer lab issues Know the computer lab supervision and acceptable use This topic is a tough one for me, because I find it less applicable to me than the topics of the previous weeks, as I don't manage a computer lab and I literally never take my classes to the computer lab. I also have only used the Chromebook cart twice, in 5 years. This being the case, I have decided to make my focus questions of this week to be the following: How can I increase learning in my class by having students use one of the chromebook carts in class? At the same time, how can I keep students engaged in prolonged activities on these ...