Mini-Course on Technology: A User-Experience Framework for Selecting Classroom Technology

This mini-course was developed with the idea that selecting a technology to incorporate in the classroom is much more involved than just picking a cheap option a teacher is familiar with. I believe that there should be a controlled, logical framework that allows educators to consider their students first when determining what to use. Given that, I have developed this min-course, basing it on common usability testing and design principles where the goal is the safe, efficient use of a system by its intended user.

With that in mind the course is set up around three modules; the first being conducting "user research" to understand what requirements should I technology meet to accommodate your students? The second module is centered on analyzing the user data to select a technology to validate for classroom use. Finally the last module is on how to exercise that technology to determine if it is actually the appropriate tool for your class use. I have included lots of reading material to help the intended audience learn about the usability methods in more detail and also to provide education professionals guidance on how to select a technology.

Digital Toolbox Showcase

I have been utilizing technology, especially digital, online tools for approximately ten years in my educational and professional career. There are a whole slew of applications I use frequently and without much consideration: SharePoint, Firefox, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office, Tableau, SPSS and many others. These are all specific to my professional career, human-computer interaction. Given that, it is interesting to consider what is the best way to discover and implement technology for the classroom. After reading the assigned weekly content I started to review technological frameworks to identify the criteria that make the most sense to me.


I ended up settling on a framework designed for elementary and middle-school students. It consists of the following requirements:

• Active - Do students actively use the technology or are they passively learning?
• Usable - Is the technology easy to learn and use? Does it accommodate students with special needs?
• Collaborative - Does the technology allow for collaborative, team-based learning?
• Relevant - Does the technology pass on a skill or competency that is useful outside of the classroom context?

As a user interface designer I have a passion for technology that meets the needs of the expected users (in this case elementary and middle-school students). It must be accessible and usable, it must promote active learning, it should accommodate collaboration and team-building, and it should be a technology or skill that is useful outside of just the classroom environment. Other considerations (not included but probably critical before final approval): cost, complexity of implementation and use for instructors and staff, length of license (yearly renewal or do we own the product?), and also can the student access and use the application at home?

Digital Citizenship

During this weeks module I came to realize that a lot of the knowledge I take for granted regarding technology use is perhaps not quite as obvious as I thought. For example, I was noticing that in the article, 'Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship' the author highlights digital commerce as a theme. They go on to describe it as, "The mainstream availability of internet purchases of toys, clothing, cars, food, etc. has become commonplace to many users. At the same time, an equal amount of goods and services which are in conflict with the laws or morals of some countries are surfacing (which include activites such as illegal downloading, pornography, and gambling)." I just assumed this was generally common knowledge.

As an employee of the federal government (US Navy Reserves and Dept. of Veteran's Affairs) I have to take annual computer security and usage training. I have taken some form of this training every year for 10 years, of course it's common knowledge to me! I realize now that is really the point, Digital Citizenship as a curriculum should be taught to everyone, not just people with technology-centered jobs (and really how many jobs are there that are not technology-centered these days?). I think that teaching people when they're young how to be competent, respectful, safe users of technology and the internet is the smart and responsible thing to do.

I think the best way to do that is through the action plan that my Module 4 partner, Sarah Newsome and I put together. We propose utilizing free resources (including curriculum) from Common Sense Media to teach school staff. We then propose directly instructing the students with a lesson plan designed around digital citizenship. Our next step is to incorporate the tenets of digital citizenship into our regular course materials. Finally we propose utilizing parent nights to provide them with basic internet security tips and materials so they can reinforce the digital citizenship tenets our students learned in class.

For more on our action plan, please view our presentation here:

The Digital Divide 2016

My question regarding the digital divide: What are the contributing factors between highly computer-literate homes and non-computer literate homes?

Ten years ago the Digital Divide was a term that described a growing gap in access to modern technology. In the years since that gap has been filled by a ubiquitous presence of mobile devices and public wireless access points. Despite this prevelance and easy access, most users understanding of the technology their weilding is fairly shallow. In our weekly readings it was demonstrated to us that even though technology is orders of magnitude more effective than before (faster, easier to use, cheaper, etc) it is not always something that caregivers and role models are aware of.

Given that the divide is now competency and literacy based in addition to just concerns about stable internet access and the availability of devices that are conducive to interacting with writing and learning (laptops/desktops). I think the question is a fair one and I think it might have as much to do with what teachers and parents know about technology as it does what the student does. I have seen my children pick up and use technology at a very early age, I'm convinced a large factor in that is familiarity. They see my wife and I using our Surface Pro 4's, our iPad Air 2's, our PlayStation, my new Galaxy S6, etc. It's natural to them in a way that it never was for us and certainly wasn't for my parents. 

Are today's parents #FutureReady?

Technology today is pervasive and ubiquitous. Many thermostats can connect to a wireless access point and be controlled via a mobile application on a device far away from the home. We see that pervasiveness creep into every aspect of our lives; at work, in the car, entertainment options, shopping, dating, the list goes on and on. One thing I don't often think about is how this technology has begun to change the learning environment for children.


Prior to reading this weeks articles and approximately half of the book, "A New Culture of Learning", I did not think about technology in the classroom because it is generally outside of my daily life. My oldest daughter just finished her kindergarten year and I am in no way an educator. But I think once you know to pay attention you can see aspects of the 21st century scholarship debate creep into our Pike classrooms. For one thing, my daughter goes to a computer lab at school and plays educational games and is being familiarized with computers.


Having said that, I think there are lots of ways the school (she attends Fishback Creek Public Academy in Pike Township) could increasingly incorporate technology into the class curriculum. For example, they went on a field trip to the Pike High School planetarium this year. While I think that's cool I do think they could use that as inspiration for other trips. I recently discovered something called World Wonders by Google; I was playing around with the application and thought that it might be a really awesome way to take American kids on "virtual field trips" to some of the most famous world heritage sites - places we might not have a chance to visit otherwise and seem much more interesting when experiencing it at a 'street level' as opposed to just reading facts in a book.


Despite all the potential, my main concern and question is: are parents ready to embrace the new wave of learning? I think that changing educators minds is a little bit different as they live in the contextual space, they can physically see the effect and benefits of using the newer literacies. But for parents I think there is a lot of concern about what is a game/gamification, how much screen time is too much, can you afford the technology to keep up with what is required in the classroom? All these questions and more seem to be an important distinction I didn't see addressed directly in this weeks reading.

Hello!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my brand new blog space. I have never kept a journal or wrote in an informal manner for a class/job before so this is a new and exciting opportunity for me! I'd like to start by introducing myself; I'm Kyle, a 32 year old father of two. I have been married to my best friend for 9 years and we have a six year old daughter - Lily and a 15 month old daughter - Harper. I suppose any discussion about why I am in school should start with these three people. 

I have an AS in Human-Centered Technology, a BS in Informatics and am now pursuing my MS in Human-Computer Interaction. I was able to get an internship with the Department of Veteran Affairs Veteran Engineering Resource Center (VERC) and was hired to a Human-Factors Engineering position from there. My job consists of going into the field to gather user requirements to inform product (usually interface) design, I critically review and propose product (interface) redesigns and I investigate medical devices for safety concerns related to usability. 

I am taking this course because of my daughters and my interest in technology. I am constantly impressed with how my children (probably all kids I'm sure), regardless of their age at the time, are able to pick up mobile, touch-based devices and navigate through the various menus to find content they want. This led to the insight that kids are excited to interact with and learn from technology. So that insight led me to take this course as one of my two electives.

My experience with technology is interesting. I love gadgets and devices of all kinds. I have console gaming systems, laptops, mobile devices (3 tablets at our house!), mobile phones, on and on. But I find that I tend to be a late-adopter when it comes to new technology. This isn't because I don't want the newest thing necissarily, it's just that with my current family/work/school/military reserve dynamics I really don't have a lot of time to follow a lot of shows, play a lot of video games, or watch a lot of youtube. I find that most of my free time is spent playing with my kids, whether its reading books or drawing or it could be playing Nintendo Wii U or a game on a tablet.

I picked 'Creativity Inc.' and 'A New Culture of Learning' for my two course books for similar reasons to why I selected this course in the first place. They align with my professional and personal interests and I believe that they give me the best opportunity to take away insights I can directly apply to my life (of the books offered, I'm sure we'll learn tons of important stuff in this course)