All About Me!!

Hi!  Since I am now blogging and have to do (another!) introduction I might as well throw in something a little different than what I’ve done in the last twelve.

Soooooo… My name is Crystal Moore – this is me (on the right) and a very close friend at a WVU game .

My husband and I, along with 60,000 of our closest friends, like to tailgate and go to the games whenever we can get the time.  I also like to travel every chance I get!  I’ve been to all but two states east of the Mississippi River plus Nevada and Texas.

My son and his coach at the state regional tournaments last spring

 

 

I live in southern WV with my husband and two kids.  My son is now a junior in high school.  This spring he turned 16 and started driving, much to his mother’s displeasure!  He plays tennis for the high school which keeps us both pretty busy in the spring.

 

My daughter in competition.

My daughter is about to turn 10 and is starting her 5th year in competitive cheerleading – which keeps us all VERY busy from Sept – May!!  We travel to cities throughout the US approximately every 4-6 weeks to compete.  We’ve competed in 13 different states and she and her squad have won Overall National Champions the last 3 years in 3 different divisions.  It can be extremely stressful, time-consuming, terrifying (she’s one of the kids being tossed around and hoisted in the air), competitive, exciting, and just plain fun all at the same time.

I teach Business Education classes at our local high school and love teaching my classes and students.  This year I have chosen to work full time on my Master’s Degree and therefore decided to take an educational leave for the school year.  Things haven’t quite worked out like I planned since I let a friend convince me to teach some classes at the community college this semester.  So now I am taking 3 EDTECH classes and teaching 2 college classes.  I’m hoping I can get things settled into a routine sooner rather than later because it’s a bit overwhelming right now.

I chose the EDTECH program because I feel it is perfect for me.  I love technology and anything technology related!  I have been searching for that perfect degree – the one that is something I am actually interested in, I can relate to my field, and I could do online to try to work into my schedule; I think this program fits the bill!!

Wish me luck with this new and exciting journey!

Professional Ethics in Educational Technology

This weeks assignment dealt with Professional Ethics and Educational Technology.  I feel ethics is something any and every professional should be aware of, but not all abide by the same code.  Ethics isn’t necessarily laws or rules but more a list of acceptable behaviors and ideals.  Sometimes the lines between ethics and laws blur and/or intersect, i.e. copyright and plagiarism.  Each profession should develop it’s own code of ethics based on it’s values and objectives.

When it comes to ethics and technology, since technology is constantly evolving and changing, so should its code of ethics.  Since the world of technology is exploring new territory every day, the ethics surrounding it can’t always be cut and dry; most situations should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

While a code of ethics is often defined by a profession, I feel it is often a common sense issue.  I can’t say that I actually learned much from this particular assignment (other that I STILL despise APA ), because to me ethics is about knowing right and wrong and making the right choice.  If you are questioning whether a situation is wrong, it probably is and you probably shouldn’t do it.  The need to have a written code of ethics does however say quite a bit about our society and it’s diversity.  Not all people think or feel the same and what’s wrong to one person may be perfectly acceptable to another and it is sometimes necessary to define professional actions and behavior.

 

This is the AECT take on ethics as published within it’s Standard 1:

1.5 Ethics – Candidates demonstrate the contemporary professional ethics of the field as defined and developed by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology.

 

The AECT Code of Professional Ethics can be found here:

http://aect.site-ym.com/members/group_content_view.asp?group=91131&id=309963

 

A link to my paper on professional ethics

https://docs.google.com/a/u.boisestate.edu/document/d/1XpzUJUU_QOG6BYTFm7IHOaB8mLlQtle-kGEbbu1H9gk/edit?usp=sharing

EDTECH Graphic

When I started thinking about how to represent the Definition of Educational Technology all of these highly creative and over the top images started running through my mind.  I’m very creative like that!

I could see words fading into one another, images of electronics, social media, various forms of hardware and software all streaming into a students head, classrooms in the clouds, and on and on.  The possibilities were endless!!

Then came the time to actually make these visions a reality.  I’m not very creative like that!!

What I chose to use was something I am familiar with and able to manipulate to my satisfaction.  I used Microsoft Word with a little SmartArt and WordArt.  Am I happy with the results?  Pretty much.  Does it meet the expectations of my overactive imagination?  Not quite.

Although it isn’t on an epic scale, I do feel the importance is to show the relationship between the various elements to Educational Technology and how there is no easy, clear-cut definition.  Educational Technology is a broader method (term used loosely) of using what works for the student(s) to show them how to be in charge of their own learning (facilitate) and the traditional pencil/paper/chalkboard/textbook learning is too narrow to keep up with the world our students were born into.  It is an ever changing world of knowledge and information and we must adapt to meet this knew society and new way of learning in order to give students the best possible advantage.

RSS in Education

You can copy and paste directly to your post page, embed an Evernote or Google Doc or any number of ways to display your artifact. Include a reflection for each artifact, along with assigning the proper AECT Standard.

As you can see in this post, the AECT Standards, “3.1 Media Utilization” and “4.4 Information Management” have been assigned to this post.

You will want to include a discussion of how the AECT Standard aligns with your artifact, why it is important, and probably revisit this artifact later in the program to identify how the artifact connects practice to theory.

You will need to decide which artifacts to use for your final portfolio for the M.E.T. program. You can easily “hide” artifacts from view by changing their status from “published” to “draft.”  That way, you will always have the artifact in your website.

Category Widget

Can you also see how the Categories widget shows the AECT Standard assigned to this post? Think about how handy this will be as you continue to post your artifacts to your learning log, assigning the AECT Standards. All you will need to do is click one of the standards in the widget and all of your posts will appear for you to review. This will come in very handy at the end of the program.