3.7 Communication & Collaboration
Candidates utilize digital communication and collaboration tools to communicate locally and globally with students, parents, peers, and the larger community. (PSC 3.7/ISTE 3g)
Artifact: Web 2.0 Tools
Reflection:
To demonstrate mastery of Standard 3.7, I have compiled various ways in which I met this standard throughout the course of years that I have obtained my Master’s Degree at Kennesaw State University. Having high expectations of its educators, my school requires teachers to utilize digital communication and collaboration tools to communicate with students, teachers, parents, and the larger community. This artifact shows the ways that I engaged in communication throughout my grad school experience. These ways include, but are certainly not limited to, Edmodo, Twitter, a grade level blog, and Remind101. These all were Web 2.0 tools that I had been introduced to throughout my coursework.
Throughout my teaching experience, I have used edublogs to communicate with parents and keep them updated on the happenings in the first grade classrooms at my school. Parents and students used the blog to access homework, sight words and newsletters and to correspond with teachers. I also communicated with families by utilizing the service Remind101, which is a text messaging service that allows for mass communication and privacy. I used this to remind parents about pertinent in-school events as well as field trips and general reminders. I attended the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE 2014) Conference in Altanta during the summer of 2014. For this experience, I obtained a scholarship from KSU to attend. I tweeted about my experience using #ksuISTE2014 to communicate my thoughts and experiences. The last portion of this artifact reflects my communication with the staff members at my school through the use of the tool Edmodo. Following a training for interested staff, I created my school community an Edmodo group for communication purposes. The thought was to allow for vertical collaboration to allow for teachers to share tools, tips, and tricks with each other to promote deeper student learning.
These tools have shown that I have mastered Standard 3.7 and transferred a lot of the knowledge that I have gained to practical classroom use. I utilized the digital communication and collaboration tools of Edmodo, Twitter, blogs, and Remind101 to communication locally within my school environment as well as globally with students, parents, peers, and the larger community. Remind101 as well as the classroom blog allowed me to communicate with parents and students directly. Edmodo promoted staff communication and collaboration in vertical communication, an area that teachers indicated was weak. Twitter helped me communicate both locally and globally to affect the larger community. I even noticed that companies and others not affiliated with KSU retweeted some of my tweets! This shows a definite “larger community” connection!
Combined, the tools demonstrate my ability to utilize digital communication and collaboration tools in my professional career. This experience has been ongoing and will continue to be so! I learned that constant and consistent collaboration helps to ensure effective relationships. It fostered a community of trust within my classroom as well as at my school. If I could improve the quality of the artifact, I would have focused more on improving collaboration within my school using Edmodo. While teachers from each grade level were represented at the training that I presented on the tool, a variety from each grade level did not utilize the tool. Therefore, more teachers in my building could have joined the network and successfully communicated and collaborated.
This artifact contributes towards faculty development because not only does it set an example for others to follow to communicate effectively, but it directly involves collaboration and communication within the school environment. If teachers are able to share resources and ask questions in a conducive environment, they are improving their skills as educators and developing as a professional.
To demonstrate mastery of Standard 3.7, I have compiled various ways in which I met this standard throughout the course of years that I have obtained my Master’s Degree at Kennesaw State University. Having high expectations of its educators, my school requires teachers to utilize digital communication and collaboration tools to communicate with students, teachers, parents, and the larger community. This artifact shows the ways that I engaged in communication throughout my grad school experience. These ways include, but are certainly not limited to, Edmodo, Twitter, a grade level blog, and Remind101. These all were Web 2.0 tools that I had been introduced to throughout my coursework.
Throughout my teaching experience, I have used edublogs to communicate with parents and keep them updated on the happenings in the first grade classrooms at my school. Parents and students used the blog to access homework, sight words and newsletters and to correspond with teachers. I also communicated with families by utilizing the service Remind101, which is a text messaging service that allows for mass communication and privacy. I used this to remind parents about pertinent in-school events as well as field trips and general reminders. I attended the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE 2014) Conference in Altanta during the summer of 2014. For this experience, I obtained a scholarship from KSU to attend. I tweeted about my experience using #ksuISTE2014 to communicate my thoughts and experiences. The last portion of this artifact reflects my communication with the staff members at my school through the use of the tool Edmodo. Following a training for interested staff, I created my school community an Edmodo group for communication purposes. The thought was to allow for vertical collaboration to allow for teachers to share tools, tips, and tricks with each other to promote deeper student learning.
These tools have shown that I have mastered Standard 3.7 and transferred a lot of the knowledge that I have gained to practical classroom use. I utilized the digital communication and collaboration tools of Edmodo, Twitter, blogs, and Remind101 to communication locally within my school environment as well as globally with students, parents, peers, and the larger community. Remind101 as well as the classroom blog allowed me to communicate with parents and students directly. Edmodo promoted staff communication and collaboration in vertical communication, an area that teachers indicated was weak. Twitter helped me communicate both locally and globally to affect the larger community. I even noticed that companies and others not affiliated with KSU retweeted some of my tweets! This shows a definite “larger community” connection!
Combined, the tools demonstrate my ability to utilize digital communication and collaboration tools in my professional career. This experience has been ongoing and will continue to be so! I learned that constant and consistent collaboration helps to ensure effective relationships. It fostered a community of trust within my classroom as well as at my school. If I could improve the quality of the artifact, I would have focused more on improving collaboration within my school using Edmodo. While teachers from each grade level were represented at the training that I presented on the tool, a variety from each grade level did not utilize the tool. Therefore, more teachers in my building could have joined the network and successfully communicated and collaborated.
This artifact contributes towards faculty development because not only does it set an example for others to follow to communicate effectively, but it directly involves collaboration and communication within the school environment. If teachers are able to share resources and ask questions in a conducive environment, they are improving their skills as educators and developing as a professional.