Reading Review - Part C

 

My research focused primarily on websites and web resources. Some of these sites are ones I was familiar with from my past, the UBC article was shared with me by Darcy, and the Microsoft resources are ones I came across during work related research into available MS Teams tools.

In many cases these resources contain additional resources, like links to research papers, additional articles, topic specific games, and teacher training. Finding resources on the Internet is something I have considerable experience with and do almost daily. To find the materials I want, I will experiment with various word combinations until I find what I deem to be the best results.

Each of the resources I listed give specific information on the three areas of interest I decided to research. As noted, one of the primary benefits of the resources I selected is that they act as both an information site and a portal to additional information. Each of the sites noted are either government or non-profit, reducing the overall bias of the site and giving me confidence with the information they contain.

Media Smarts provides me with a Canadian perspective, which is great when trying to gather information that is not American centric. They host some excellent and engaging topic specific online games for students. While no longer available due to the retirement of Flash, they hosted "Cybersense and Nonsense: The adventures of the three cyberpigs", an excellent and engaging pair of games for teaching about online privacy and netiquette. New tools and curriculum have been added to support teachers' media literacy efforts which I will definitely access in the future. They also support an annual Media Literacy week for schools.

common sense is a well respected organization that provides information on digital citizenship. I have used their digital citizenship curriculum with kindergarten and grade 1 students in the past to great effect. The information they provide for teachers on digital citizenship is thoughtful and thought provoking. I would definitely use it in the future and need to dive further into the information housed in the site. There is a lot of excellent material for starting and supporting discussions on digital citizenship.

The exception is the Microsoft resources, which are product specific. However, the creator of the resources highlighted is the Principal Product Manager, so I am confident that the information I reviewed is providing me with an accurate understanding of how the product works and is intended to be used.

As the product matures, I will continue to look for perspectives other than Mike Tholfsen to see what kind of success teachers/schools are having with the tool. With the proliferation of MS Teams access in schools, I see real potential in the use of the Reading Progress tool as an extension of in-school supports for reading fluency. With tight budgets, having access to a reading fluency tool at no additional cost that supports students in closing any reading gaps that may have arisen due to COVID interruptions is valuable.

The key learning and takeaway for me from this research is the need to continually monitor and explore these and other topics. As technology changes we have to change and grow with it. What a citizen is and how we consume media of all types is constantly evolving, and so must we if we are to be leaders in our schools and informed supports for our school community.

References

MediaSmarts. (n.d.). MediaSmarts. Retrieved September 17, 2022, from https://mediasmarts.ca/

Digital literacy. (n.d.). Province of British Columbia. Retrieved September 17, 2022, from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/teach/resources-for-teachers/digital-literacy

Literacy with ICT. (n.d.-a). For Teachers. Retrieved September 17, 2022, from https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/teachers/index.html

Digital citizenship. (n.d.). Common Sense Education. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship

Tholfsen, M. (2021, August 24). Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams to improve student reading fluency - Now rolled out globally! TECHCOMMUNITY.MICROSOFT.COM. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/education-blog/reading-progress-in-microsoft-teams-to-improve-student-reading/ba-p/2675732

mec-sa. (n.d.). Support reading fluency practice with Reading Progress - Training. Microsoft Learn. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/support-reading-fluency-practice-with-reading-progress/

Tholfsen, M. (2021a). How to use Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCZUAfRW3H0&list=PLdHjJccRYryM-P58YBWFwMqKAcmlINdXj

Tholfsen, M. (2022). Reading progress in Microsoft teams. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdHjJccRYryM-P58YBWFwMqKAcmlINdXj

Images and Video

Research picture

License: Creative Commons 3 - CC BY-SA 3.0

Attribution: Alpha Stock Images - http://alphastockimages.com/

Original Author: Nick Youngson - link to - http://www.nyphotographic.com/

Original Image: https://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/wooden-tile/r/research.html

Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/wooden-tile/images/research.jpg

Media Literacy week video

MediaSmarts. (2021). Teachers’ hub [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_AtBjpemAQ&t=27s