EDUC 6305 Advanced Educ.Tech. Locus of Control Activity #10

What is Locus of Control?

Locus of Control Survey

To begin with, it seems that Locus of Control has a direct impact on student/teacher relationships.  Teachers tend to focus on learning styles of students, but how often do we examine or predict success based on Locus of Control?  Teachers administering a Locus of Control survey to students would have data that is beneficial to teacher and student.  Data that shows an external locus of control should be a flag to the teacher and lead to conversations with the student to gain a better understanding of why the student feels a learned helplessness.  Guidance should be given to the student about how best to deal with the current classroom setting, online or face-to-face.   On the other hand, students with an Internal Locus of Control with an optimistic outlook should be supported by the teacher.  This support would include helping the student maintain a level of optimism and self-control.  Students with a very strong Internal Locus of Control could easily represent narcissism and need guidance as well.

As a student, not only interpreting the results of a Locus of Control survey, but “what” to do with the results in an online/face-to-face classroom setting  would seem to be directly correlated to achievement.

My Locus of Control Score:  17  (Internal Locus Control)

The Locus of Control survey questions that I struggled with were the questions that made reference to fairness in grading and studying for tests.   Reflecting on my personal experiences, being a teacher, and witnessing my son’s experience made the questions about fairness in grading and studying for tests difficult to answer.   It’s quite possible that since this survey is a “snapshot” of what is happening now, my answers to the above mentioned questions were indicative of “in the moment feelings”.

Qualifiers that seemed to be present were:  Age, Gender, Occupation

This score seems to be valid at this point in my life.  I would find it intriguing to have taken this survey at a much younger age.

According to NETS-T, teachers engage in professional growth and leadership.  Requiring students to complete the Locus of Control survey would show teachers evaluating and reflecting on research, and making effective use of a digital tool.

EDUC 6305 Advanced Educational Technology Introductory Post

Greetings!   My name is Mary Jo Swiger and I'm a 5th Grade teacher in Marion County, WV.  I've been teaching for 18 years and have teaching experience in grades 1, 3, 5, and 6.  Currently, I'm working at Fairmont State University as a Professional Development School Coordinator and teaching Instructional Technology.  My "at the moment" goal is to complete a Masters in Digital Media and New Literacies.

EDUC 6814: Game Design and Learning (Introductory Post)

 I was born in Fairmont, WV and reside in Fairview, WV. Currently, I am working at Fairmont State University as a Professional Development Coordinator and teaching an Instructional Technology course for the 2011 - 2012 school year.  I'm employed by the Marion County Board of Education as a fifth grade teacher at Fairview Middle School. 

 Not only do I want to learn the technology skills to create games, I want to understand the role that games play in students learning content.

 I enjoy games on my ipad and android phone.  Games such as, words with friends, scrabble, monopoly and yes, Angry Birds!  My sixteen year old often "ropes" me into a few Wii and Wii Fit games and xbox games.  ( I'm partial to Mario Kart.)  When our son was 3- 5 years old, my husband and I really got involved with playstation games (frogger, pacman, bugs life, to name a few).  We've tried to explain to our 16 year old what it was like to play "pong" in the late 1970's.   I'm extremely competitive and really enjoy all kinds of games.  We still play many board and card games as a family, along with video games.  

   My position on kids and video games is one that expects a balance.  For example, I understand my son's fixation and need to complete levels in various games, because of his competitive nature (I don't want to be a hypocrite). But I expect him to participate in some social activities, read books (online is fine with me), and have conversations with others (and during these conversations he often quotes football, basketball and golf statistics that he learned from his games).   

On the other hand, it's hard to ignore the stories that elementary and middle school students share; staying up all night playing games (falling asleep in class), refusing to complete minimal homework assignments because their entire evening is consumed with video games...it's these types of stories that fuel the fires of conversation around the "lunchroom" table, about "what's wrong with today's youth".   

 I've chosen the article Video Games Don't Cause Children to be Violent  because the opposite is often stated in the media, by parents and teachers. 

List three major world events that happen during the year you were born:  (1965)

1.  1965 Voting Rights Act:  The Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote becomes law.

2.  Lyndon B. Johnson announces his program to create Medicare and to expand his war on poverty.

3.  Mandated health warnings appeared on cigarette packages, and smoking became a no, no.

Welcome 2201 Students!

PSA Literacy Feud

My PSA focuses on the classroom teacher being a role-model for Critical Media Literacy.  My Instructional Technology students (pre-service teachers) helped me create this video. (They had a lot of fun!)  What better way to promote teaching media literacy skills?  I believe that if I'm modeling media literacy skills, and requiring my students to participate, then these future teachers will implement Critical Media Literacy skills in their classrooms.  All students in the video gave permission for this video to be public.

Literacy Feud

PSA Annotated Bibliography

1.    Abilock, D. (2010, November). Seven Power Lens on 21st Century Literacy. Mulitmedia Schools, 10(6), 30.  (DEJ 2)

"The tools of visual, media, and information literacy must be taught in school because they will

(or won’t) be used at home."   This article focuses on teaching students to use the "seven powers" (senses, inference, research, contexts, evaluation, synthesis, and teaching) to ask questions and participate in discussions that are relevant to a democratic society.

2.  Semali, L. (2001, November). Defining new literacies in curricular practice. Reading Online, 5(4). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=semali1/index.html    (DEJ 4)

"A reconceptualized vision of new literacies education would include an explicit effort to enable students to acquire the ability to understand how visual media work to produce meanings. This effort would strive to develop literate people who are able to read, write, listen, talk, analyze, evaluate, and produce communications in a variety of media, including print, television, music, video, film, radio, hypertext, and the arts."  This article is about students being literate in not only print text, but also moving images and graphics.  We need to develop literate students in reading, listening, speaking, analyzing, evaluating and producing multimedia messages. In addition, the expansion of communication technologies have exceeded the curriculum.  So, teachers need to ask themselves, what role new literacies will play in the classroom.

3.  Learn Critical Thinking through Media Literacy Education. (2010, October). In Medialiteracycolloquium'sblog: A Study in Media Literacy. Retrieved September 27, 2011, from http://medialiteracycolloquium.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/learn-critical-thinking-through-media-literacy-education (DEJ 6)

“Teachers who recognize the goal of teaching thinking rather than just imparting knowledge help students make connections beyond the content of the coursework” (2005, pp. 2) She suggests teaching critical thinking by applying it to the study of media literacy. This practice gives students the skills and knowledge needed to “access, analyze, evaluate and communicate” (NAMLE) media messages."  In short, this article focuses on teaching students to use critical media literacy skills to develop critical thinking skills that will assist in achieving higher scores on standardized testing.

4.  Hobbs, Renee, and Richard Frost. "Measuring the Acquisition of Media Literacy Skills." Reading Research Quarterly 39.3 July (2003): 330-55. Web. 7 Oct. 2011. (DEJ 7)

Why did the authors do this study?  The researchers examined " the impact of media literacy instruction in  a secondary language arts curriculum, which was developed in one district, to determine its effects on students’ reading, listening and viewing comprehension, writing, and skills of message analysis" (Hobbs and Frost 335).   In summary, after reading and analyzing the data from this article, an instructor that correlates media literacy skills with  critical thinking skills will be able to design authentic instruction for students without the burden of worry that he/she is not meeting the necessary requirements of literacy.

5.  Hobbs, R. (n.d.). Teaching Media Literacy: Yo! Are you hip to this?. In www.medialit.org. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/teaching-media-literacy-yo-are-you-hip  (DEJ 8)

  "Now that the culture is almost totally transformed by the compelling electronic and visual experiences that enter our living rooms each day, the ostrich stance seems more and more ridiculous. It's time to face up to the media culture we have created and the media culture we have consumed. It's time to help ourselves and our children to embrace and celebrate the messages worth treasuring, to analyze and understand the economic and political forces which sustain it, and to develop the skills and new habits we need to think carefully and wisely about the messages we create ourselves and the abundant messages we receive ."

This article provides information to help students acquire the necessary skills to manage in a media saturated world.  Also, the article suggests the need to think carefully about the messages that we create and receive.