4.3 Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness
Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness. (PSC 4.3/ISTE 5c)
Artifact: Diversity Blog Post
Reflection:
The Diversity Blog post was written as a requirement for ITEC 7430 Internet Tools in the Classroom and summarizes ways in which teachers can use the Internet to support diversity in terms of both cultural background and learning ability levels. I have included a transcript of the blog and my response to a classmate, as well as linked to the original blog posting on this Weebly portfolio.
Elements of the blog demonstrate my ability to model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs. Using the metaphor of a one-size-fits-all garment, I explain how the Internet as a tool can be used to address varied learning styles within a single classroom. Assistive technologies such as dictation tools, Simple English Wikipedia, and SpeakIt (a text-to-speech extension available in the Chrome Webstore), make the Internet accessible for learners with disabilities. Likewise, various Web 2.0 tools, such as Powtoon, Animoto, Voice Thread, and Prezi, allow teachers to provide students with choice in digital tools to support diverse learning styles and preferences.
Likewise, the blog includes examples of using digital tools to enhance cultural understanding and increase global awareness. Skype “pen pals” in other states and countries allow students to learn history, study geography, and practice language skills, all while communicating with their global peers using digital tools. Moreover, through online pictures and videos, students can experience what life may be like in another country; the “bigness” of the Internet reminds students how small the world really is. Similarly, when synchronous communication is too difficult because of timing issues, blogs serve as excellent asynchronous ways for students to communicate, collaborate, and learn with a global audience. Students may follow blogs written by people living in or visiting other countries; blogging can also connect students to countries where natural disasters have hit and allow students to see how some of their donations may be used in the devastated areas. Likewise, students may blog themselves, writing for a larger global audience and allowing students in other countries to better understand what life in America may be like.
Writing this blog definitely reminded me of the importance of leveraging Internet tools for collaboration and communication. We live in a connected society and while students communicate with a greater audience on social networking sites quite often, teachers can harness students’ natural curiosity about other people to communicate through tools that can enhance cultural understanding and increase global awareness. If time permitted, I would like to find examples of schools employing global initiatives, such as blogging or Skyping with students in different countries, and link those websites or blogs to this post. I think it would be beneficial for teachers to see what global communication could like in action and the extent to which it could deepen and enrich students’ learning experiences.
Using digital tools in the classroom should not only improve student achievement outcomes, but should also help students improve their technology literacy. One important component of technology literacy is communication and collaboration, which encompasses using digital tools to enhance cultural understanding and increase global awareness. Students who use digital tools for these purposes become better digital and world citizens, a learning outcome that may not be “testable” but is critical nevertheless as our world becomes more connected each day.
The Diversity Blog post was written as a requirement for ITEC 7430 Internet Tools in the Classroom and summarizes ways in which teachers can use the Internet to support diversity in terms of both cultural background and learning ability levels. I have included a transcript of the blog and my response to a classmate, as well as linked to the original blog posting on this Weebly portfolio.
Elements of the blog demonstrate my ability to model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs. Using the metaphor of a one-size-fits-all garment, I explain how the Internet as a tool can be used to address varied learning styles within a single classroom. Assistive technologies such as dictation tools, Simple English Wikipedia, and SpeakIt (a text-to-speech extension available in the Chrome Webstore), make the Internet accessible for learners with disabilities. Likewise, various Web 2.0 tools, such as Powtoon, Animoto, Voice Thread, and Prezi, allow teachers to provide students with choice in digital tools to support diverse learning styles and preferences.
Likewise, the blog includes examples of using digital tools to enhance cultural understanding and increase global awareness. Skype “pen pals” in other states and countries allow students to learn history, study geography, and practice language skills, all while communicating with their global peers using digital tools. Moreover, through online pictures and videos, students can experience what life may be like in another country; the “bigness” of the Internet reminds students how small the world really is. Similarly, when synchronous communication is too difficult because of timing issues, blogs serve as excellent asynchronous ways for students to communicate, collaborate, and learn with a global audience. Students may follow blogs written by people living in or visiting other countries; blogging can also connect students to countries where natural disasters have hit and allow students to see how some of their donations may be used in the devastated areas. Likewise, students may blog themselves, writing for a larger global audience and allowing students in other countries to better understand what life in America may be like.
Writing this blog definitely reminded me of the importance of leveraging Internet tools for collaboration and communication. We live in a connected society and while students communicate with a greater audience on social networking sites quite often, teachers can harness students’ natural curiosity about other people to communicate through tools that can enhance cultural understanding and increase global awareness. If time permitted, I would like to find examples of schools employing global initiatives, such as blogging or Skyping with students in different countries, and link those websites or blogs to this post. I think it would be beneficial for teachers to see what global communication could like in action and the extent to which it could deepen and enrich students’ learning experiences.
Using digital tools in the classroom should not only improve student achievement outcomes, but should also help students improve their technology literacy. One important component of technology literacy is communication and collaboration, which encompasses using digital tools to enhance cultural understanding and increase global awareness. Students who use digital tools for these purposes become better digital and world citizens, a learning outcome that may not be “testable” but is critical nevertheless as our world becomes more connected each day.