Below is my culminating project! I am so excited to share!

My mantra is:

Make every click count and be a great digital citizen! 

Attached below is my reflective essay. I hope you enjoy my thoughts and ideas!

Final Reflection 

This class has been one of the most challenging in my opinion, however I have absorbed so much from this class. Digital citizenship was a foreign concept to me. I really didn’t know what to expect when I first heard the term. After reading all the material about digital citizenship, I am cognizant of what it means now and the significance. The nine elements should be taught in all schools and shared with parents. They lay a great foundation of using technology appropriately. I learned that there is so much more than digital etiquette. Norms are important; however, you must be aware of the other aspects of using digital devices. I contemplate one of the most shocking aspects of digital citizenship was the health effects. I recognized staring at the computer could have health effects, but you should also consider ergonomics of your chair and more.

It’s difficult to determine one accomplishment in this course. If I had to choose just one, it would be creating a PowToon’s video. I have never created an animated video. It was fun to animate what I learned, showcasing a different way to provide evidence of my learning.

As I stated above, I felt this was one of my most challenging courses. I think the course load and the amount of time to complete the work is overwhelming. I understand this is graduate level work and is designed to be challenging and thought provoking. Many times, throughout the course, I felt extremely stressed, having to take off days from work to get the assignments completed.

My best work in this course were the weekly reflections. The reflections presented me an opportunity to look back over the week and pinpoint specific take-aways. For example, the week about copyright laws, I trust I learned the most. I spent the beginning of the week trying to digest all the new information, most of the time confused. However, by the end of the week, I was able to reflect, gather my thoughts, and in the end, I ascertained a lot more than I gave myself credit for.  I relished adding resources to my reflection and ultimately to my e-portfolio.

This course provided me with many applicable connections. I have confirmed my understanding that time management is extremely important. I have also learned the great importance of copyright. In my previous reflection I discussed how I unknowingly violated copyright laws. I am able to pass this knowledge on to others. As a matter of fact, I shared it with my mentor, the Principal/Superintendent of the school. She took was shocked by the information that I was able to glean from that week.

Being an administrator at a charter school, the most meaningful thing I learned was that cyberbullying can take place at any age and affects so many children, even if they don’t divulge that information. I was oblivious that this very thing could be happening to my students. That was not a good feeling.

This class was full of information. There is not one topic that won’t contribute to me being a better leader. Every week was full of new information. One of the things I know that I will be watching is net neutrality. This was a completely foreign topic to me but was making headlines that I never paid attention to. From this, I learned I must be aware of topics that can affect me, even if I don’t watch the news on a daily basis.

My favorite aspect of this course was the discussion board. I appreciated the weekly prompts and sharing my thoughts. It was interesting to see read what others had to say and see if they shared common thoughts. One of my favorite prompts involved the video of Monica Lewinsky. I had never viewed things from her perspective. This gave me a new outlook on the entire scandal.

Suggestions that I would give other students for this class, is to dig a hole in the ground and bury the word, thought, or idea of procrastination in it. This course does not allow time to lollygag. I would also tell them to take time and enjoy the readings and work ahead as much as possible.

If I could change one of the activities, it would be the case studies. In my opinion, the directions and expectations were unclear. When I submitted the assignments with the case studies, I was not confident that I answered the questions or met the expectations of the assignment. I would provide clearer expectations and more details in the case studies. Some of them lacked a lot of information, which caused me to do more research on the case. This is turn took time away from other components of the overall assignments.

I would tell my friends that I found this class stressful with the amount of work it calls for, however there is a lot of valuable information to be obtained. The amount of resources that are provided are helpful when completing the assignments. I had to learn in the course to pick certain articles to read or videos to watch. It is nearly impossible to read, watch, digest, and complete the assignments with excellence. That was a hard thing for me to do, because I didn’t want to miss any valuable information.