Blog Journal 2

    One of my requirements in middle school was to take a computer class. One of the first concepts I remember learning in this class was how to use MS Word. This allowed me to build a solid foundation for all MS platforms in my high school and college career. In my opinion, MS Word is the most easy application to use when being compared to other applications like Google Docs or Pages. I'm probably bias because I've been using MS Word for so long, but I definitely think that it's the easiest application to navigate, convert, and share. I started using Google Docs more in college when creating documents that are collaborative. I think Google Docs is the easiest platform to share a project with others, but I would still say I use MS Word on a more consistent basis. 

    I really enjoyed learning about the ISTE Standards for Educators this week because I had never even heard of them before. When browsing through the ISTE Standard for Educators, the standard the is most meaningful to me is standard 2.4 Collaborator. This standard is described as "educators dedicate time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover and share resources and ideas, and solve problems" (Crompton 2023). Throughout my experience as both a teacher and a student, I feel as though I've learned and grown the most with help from those around me. As an educator, it's easy to stick to what you know when it's been proven effective in the past. However, I think collaboration allows educators to step outside of their comfort zone in the classroom and use different methods that can make their teaching even more effective. An important aspect of this standard that stood out to me was demonstrating cultural competency. This is described as "demonstrating cultural competency when communicating with students' authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams, and students, locally and globally" (Crompton 2023). As I've learned more about diversity in and out of the classroom, I've really come to appreciate how educators are able to validate different cultural experiences and use their students' different experiences to make an inclusive learning environment. As a student I've learned so much from my classmates and their cultural experiences so this is definitely something I've come to value and want to incorporate in my own classroom. 

Helen Crompton (2023) Evidence of the ISTE Standards for Educators leading to learning gains, Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 39:4, 201-219, DOI: 10.1080/21532974.2023.2244089

    The term "digital native" refers to young individuals and their relationship to technology which is described as "native speakers" of the Internet and related technologies. I definitely agree that recent generations can be categorized as "digital natives." As a college student, I've honestly seen a lot of similarities in how students and professors interact with technology. I think education especially has become extremely dependent on technology and it's essential for all teachers to be fluent in most technological programs and applications. One difference I've seen, however, is note-taking. I've has a few professors in college and teachers in high school that required their students to hand write notes rather than typing them on a laptop. I think educators that do this want to ensure there's minimal distractions in the classroom that often occur with the use of technology. I also think that having students hand write notes gives educators a sort of validation or reassurance that their students are paying attention in class and actually writing down class material because they can see the paper in front of them, whereas they can't see what a student's doing behind a laptop screen. In my own experience I think I retain information better when I hand write notes and often do find myself getting distracted on my laptop. So, I do appreciate when professors make this decision. I think that students and teachers will continue to use technology in the future and potentially even move towards an all online system in the near future.