In the first part of this assignment I had significant difficulty in narrowing
down the areas I wanted to research and ended up choosing what I now realize
area two very broad topics: Information literacy and using technology for
inclusion in education. Either of these topics could have generated a significant number of
excellent resources, but together the number of potential resources was huge. The
words I chose: information literacy, inclusion, diversity, Universal Design for
Learning, ethics, internet safety and critical thinking, were each a broad topic on their own.
Some of the resources I found using the UBC database EBSCOhost were so
technical that after reading the abstract it was obvious I would never make it
through the article. Others only had tentative connections or were so specific
to a particular problem that I thought they would not be general enough to be
useful—so most were too specific or too general to provide me with what I was
looking for. Another problem was that my focus kept shifting as I kept doing
research.
I found I was increasingly interested in the use of technology in the
classroom for inclusion. Kathy Schrock’s
Guide to Everything was the one source that I spent the most time
exploring. It is a one stop shop for information on everything and anything to do with technology and education.
This link takes you to a clickable version of the table above. You can click on each element "element" to take you to a specific edtech tool.
As well I thought more about the need for a discussion of
ethics and the use of technology as the most significant current and future challenge for education. Many articles discussed the co-opting of truth through social media
sites and the ease with which technology spreads information that is often
tailored to the user and also often false. But fewer articles discussed this
use of technology as the defining issue around educating students. Many
articles focused on some aspect of this problem such as: appropriate use of
technology; courteous use of technology; integrating technology into the
curriculum; the divide between those who have access to technology and those
who do not; ethical decision making etc.
Basically, it was like entering a maze. One idea led to another until I wasn't sure how to get back nor how to focus. I realize I have more work to do. The challenge continues to be to narrow the
topic enough to make it manageable
but leave it broad enough to make it interesting and worth researching.
Works cited
Casa-Todd, Jennifer. Social LEADia: Moving Students from
Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership. Dave Burgess Consulting, 2017.
LUKE, ALLAN. “Digital Ethics Now.” Language & Literacy: A
Canadian Educational E-Journal, vol. 20, no. 3, July 2018, pp.
185–198. EBSCOhost, doi:10.20360/langandlit29416.
Moore, Shelley. “Guiding Questions of Inclusion!” – Inclusive
Education: It's Not More Work, It's Different Work! fivemooreminutes.com/.
Morningstar, Mary E., et al. “Preliminary Lessons about Supporting
Participation and Learning in Inclusive Classrooms.” Research and
Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, vol. 40, no. 3, Sept. 2015,
pp. 192–210. EBSCOhost,
ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1075297&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Schrock, Kathy. “Home Page.” Kathy Schrock's Guide to
Everything, www.schrockguide.net/.
This is a good post that details your learning thus far. I appreciate the narrative structure and the discussion of your process. The comment about research being like a maze resonates with me, as I am sure it would for many of our students. The Periodic Table is an excellent inclusion that enhances your discussion and gives your reader a resource to take away. You stated you have more work to do in this area. Something to consider, as we move through the course, is what your next steps might be. Perhaps consider how you can use your new learnings as the foundation for your Final Vision project.
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