Self-Evaluation

Site Name and URL: Computer Networking in Communication Disorders  http://kmk22.wordpress.com/

Accuracy
1. Does the author cite sources to develop the site? yes
2. Is it possible to verify the legitimacy of these sources? Yes, active links to the sources, if appropriate, are available. Other sources are listed with all of the bibliographical information for the audience to locate and verify.
3. Does the background of the author point to knowledge of the subject covered? Yes, the information about the author indicates she is an undergraduate student studying the field of Communication Disorders.
4. If the site is research-based, does the author clearly identify the method of research and the data gathered? Yes, websites that were used to conduct research are listed, links are available, and sources used  for research are correctly cited.

Aurthority
1. Do you recognize the author’s name? Yes, it’s Me!!
2. If you don’t recognize the name, what type of information is given about the author? Position? Organizational affiliation? E-mail address? Biographical information? An About the Author page is linked providing details about her, and links to the school she attends, Marshall University and the school’s Communication Disorders department website are provided.
3. Was the site referenced in a document that you trust? Yes, it was  for class.

Objectivity
1.  Determine what is the aim of the author or organization publishing the site. I think if I did not already know, I would assume the site is for some sort of class
2.  What is the purpose of the web site. Serves as a research project.
3.  Do you trust the author or organization providing the information? Yes

Currency
1.  Is the date clearly displayed? Yes, dates and times are listed beside each item. 
2.  Can you determine what the date refers to? When the page was first written? When the page was first posted on the Internet? When the page was last revised or updated? The copyright date? I would assume the different dates indicate when they were written. Some things are also divided into the different weeks. 
3.  Are the resources used by the author current? Yes. Some are current and some are older.
4.  Does the page content demand routine or continual updating or revision? To this point, the content seems to be routinely/continually worked on when referring to the dates.
5.  Do the links on the page point to the correct Internet site addresses? Yes.

Coverage
1.  Are the topics covered on the site explored in depth? Yes
2.  Are the links on the site comprehensive or used as examples? Most don’t work
3.  On the site, are the links relevant and appropriate? Yes, they are appropriate.
4.  How valuable is the information provided? Pretty valuable for those interested in the topic.

        After doing this evaluation on my own MRP I see a few things that I need to add to my website.  However, I am not exactly sure where to add them since we have so many different pages that are linked to our sites.  I also tried to think as someone else while filling out the evaluation, but I still know that my view point about the website is biased since I am the author.  I think it would help to have someone else view the site and fill out the same evaluation information to get a more realistic and unbiased point of view.  I feel like that would really let me see what other information I need to add in order to make it more reliable and valid.

A13.5: Week 13 Reflection

Aims and Objectives: This week was pretty busy but I wanted to continue revising my MRP and complete all the assignments correctly and on time.  I wanted to make all the correct additional pages for the MRP and correctly site the references.

Declarative Knowledge: This week I learned what we had to include in our Table of Contents page.  I learned that I had to list links to my MRP and all of the different genres.  I also learned how to revise my work with the SCAR method.  I learned that S stands for substituting, where you substitute other words which helps with improving the clarity of the work.  I also learned that C stands for cut, where you remove something to make the idea more clear.  A stands for add, where you add something, and R stands for rearrange, where you rearrange the information. 

Procedural Knowledge:   In order to make theTable of Contents page I used the page feature on my weblog.  I provided links first in order of Preface, Acknowledgements, About the Author, Unifying Genre, References, and last the Reflection.  Then I provided links to each different genre.  I did this by highlighting the word I wanted the audience to click on to go to the link, clicked the link icon and typed in the pages URL.  I then hit insert and this made the link active.  After finishing each link, I saved and publish the page.  I then sent an e-mail to the class list with the link to my Table of Contents page.  Next, I reviewed Abby and Alyssa’s 7th genres.  I went to each of their pages, examined their genres and then made comments using the comment feature on their weblogs.  I commented on the voice the work was in, the audience it was intended for, what I thought the author was saying, something I liked, and something i thought the author should address. I then saved the comments to complete the assignment.  Next using the page feature on my weblog I cited all of my references and titled the page References.  I did this by using the APA manual and the sources I have previously cited.  I then saved and published the References page.  I also sent a link to this page to the class list.  To revise my poem I went to my 2nd genre page and clicked Edit.  I then made the correct revisions using the SCAR method.  I substituted words, removed words/phrases, and added a few ideas and sources to help make the work more clear.  I then saved these changes and wrote a reflection about them in a post on my weblog.  Last I sent a note to the class including the link to my revision.

Conditional Knowledge: Knowing what and in what order to include in the Table of Contents page is very important for both the MRP and for future academic work.  It is important to remember that the way you organize your work should/will ultimately help your audience have a better understanding of the information.  I think this is important when doing any type of project.  More practice citing sources for the References page is very useful.  We have had some practice throughout the semester, and I feel like it is slowly getting easier the more practice I have.  I understand citing more now and I think I will continue to cite sources throughout my education and career.  Revising work is a long and ongoing process for everyone.  I found the SCAR method to be very helpful and practical.  Using this method made my work more clear and I hope more reliable to my audience.  I think this method would prove to be effective for my MRP and for any other type of work no matter what subject area is addressed.  I have never had anyone really explain how to revise work so having a method like this is very enlightening.

SCAR Revisioning

    I first had some difficulty deciding which genre to revise for this particular assignment.  I realize that I need to go back and use this method for each of my different genres in order to create a better overall MRP.  I was actually glad to learn about the SCAR method because I have never really been given any method to go by when revising my work throughout school; I have just always been told that I needed to do it without any real instruction.     

     I decided to keep my poem in the same voice, however I changed the message in order to make it more informative and clear concerning cochlear implants.  I debated whether to keep it more on the emotional side or not because my journal entry is also emotional.  I finally decided to keep the poem with a few emotions in it, and I intend to later revise my journal entry to make it less emotional and to also serve as my unifying genre.       
      I first started to revise my poem by cutting out the first line.  I later cut out a few other lines, but I cut out the first line to introduce the particular client to the audience and provide the reason for him receiving a cochlear implant.  I also felt like the first line should be one of the most important pieces of information in order to gain and keep the audience’s attention.  I continued to cut different lines or words out of the poem in order to make the message I wanted my audience to receive more clear.  I decided to change the message from being more about how the mother was worried about the surgery to why the client was receiving the surgery.  I additionally wanted to show how he qualified to get a cochlear implant.  The next step I did to revise my poem was substitution.  I substituted the word “decide” for the word”choose.”  I do not really think this made the message any clearer, but when I read the specific line, I felt like it flowed better in the poem.       
       I did not really rearrange any of the lines because when I added different lines and words, the lines I left in the poem seemed to fit how they originally were.  I did however add different information to the poem in order to add more substance.  I added more sources to provide more evidence for my MRP.  I also felt like I should add this information to illustrate why it is important for children to be implanted at an earlier age instead of later in life.  I believe adding evidence will also help my audience find my information more reliable and valid. 
     I feel like using the SCAR method to revise my work was very successful and helpful to make the message I wanted to express to my audience more clear.  I will continue to use this revising method to work on my other genres, and additionally in my work for other courses in the future.  

Week 12 Reflection

Aims and Objectives: This week I wanted to make my PowerPoint presentation, edit some of my genres, and create the preface, acknowledgments, and about the author pages. I wanted to do these thoroughly and on time.

Declarative Knowledge:  This week I learned to make pages about the author, the acknowledgements, and why I chose my research topic for the MRP.  I also learned what all digital literacy involves.  I learned that all of the literacies we have studied make up digital literacy.

Procedural Knowledge:  In order to complete my 7th genre, I created a PowerPoint presentation. I did this by using Microsoft OfficePowerPoint.  I made a new presentation, chose the color scheme, and made different slides about Cochlear Implants.  I cited and referenced the information and then saved the presentation.  I then went to Pages in wordpress, briefly described the presentation and then included the link to it by hitting the browse button, highlighting the file, clicking upload, and then clicking send to editor.  This put the link on the page so I then saved and published the page.  Following this I sent the link to the class for them to view my 7th genre.  Next I reviewed Abby and Alyssa’s 6th genres.  I went to each of their weblogs and used the comment feature to remark about each of their 6th genres according to the voice the piece was in, the audience it was intended for, what I thought the author was saying, something I specifically liked, and something they may want to consider addressing.  I then researched and summarized what I had learned about digital literacy.  I referred back to my reflections about the five different literacies we have reserached throughout the semester.  I told what digital literacy was, what skills I thought were required, and how it will change/changed schooling/education.  I then saved this to my weblog and commented on my groupmates postings about digital literacy.  Next, I created a Preface page that explained why I chose Cochlear Implants as my research topic for my MRP.  I also created an Acknolwedgements page thanking and giving credit to the different people who supported and helped me through this process.  Last I created an About the Author page telling the audience who the author is and some of her experiences.

Conditional Knowledge: The assignments this week were very enlightening and functional as students.  Creating a PowerPoint presentation is defintely helpful both in educational settings and career settings.  These types of presentations can greatly enhance an oral presentation when used the correct way.  They can be very professional or personal depending on the context you want to use it in.  Learning about digital literacy has been very interesting through the semester.  It is very important for everyone to know what it takes in order to be literate in a digital world.  It is not a simple concept and people must possess a number of skills.  After learning about this, I hope to enhance and work on my digitally literate skills as a student, and in the future as a professional.  Learning how to make the preface, acknolwedgements, and about the author pages is very important; both for this project and in general.  If I ever do anything else like make my own web page, I will definitely include these types of pages in order to give the author more credibility to the audience.

A12.3: Digital Literacy

As a very technological generation, I know more about digital literacy than I originally thought I did.  However, I have learned a lot about what it means to be literate in a digital world through research about various types of literacies.  Digital literacy is a very complex subject.  According to an article in the EDUCASE Quarterly digital literacy is a person’s ability to use a technology, primarily a computer, to effectively find and use information.  I have learned that as technology advances, more and more literacies are required in order to be considered digitally literate.  Someone who is digitally literate has the ability to do several things on the computer.  These things include: using other senses to understand images, objects, or symbols (photo-visual literacy), locating, evaluating, and effectively using information (information literacy), effectively navigating one’s way in hyperspace (branching litearcy), using forms like art or images to create your own ideas (reproduction literacy), and being precautious when using the Internet (socio-emotional litearcy).  From the research I have conducted, all of these literacies are required in order for a person to be considered digitally literate.  Because we live in such a digital world, being digitally literate is practically a necessity for people in today’s society.  Those people who are digitally literate probably use their knowledge daily, and those who are not are probably practicing and attempting to become digitally literate in order to keep up with everyone else. 
       I definitely agree with the idea that there are certain skills someone must possess in order to be digitally literate.  Although I have previous listed different types of literacies that help someone become digitally literate, there are still other literacies out there that I did not mention.  I believe that to be literate in a digital world, a person must have certain skills along with using their intuition and some trial and error to survive.  Even though I personally possess many of these skills and consider myself to be fairly digitally literate, I know that I still have a lot to learn about the Internet and computers.  I can typically fix minor problems with my computer or the internet, however there are times I still have to call technical support because I have no idea what is going on with my Internet/computer.  I actually seem to call my local Internet providor on average about once every month or two months; which by the way typically turns out not to be any fault of my own.  I also have dealt with people who are not digitally literate, like my own mother for example, who has to be told over and over again how to use the Internet, e-mail someone, and several other daily tasks.  This leads me to believe that it is not only a person’s intuition, but certain skills are required in order to use a computer/Internet. 
       As we have become and will continue to become a more digital society, I think this “new” literacy will change education/schooling in many ways.  Knowing that teachers taught us how to do different things on a computer starting in elementary school leads me to believe that they now teach children to do several things on computers in schools.  Although I think most of the skills acquired to be digitally literate probably currently happen primarily in the home, I feel like schools will start to offer more and more classes to utilize technology.  I am not sure however whether these classes will be required or simply elective for students.  I feel like education about this “new” literacy will be very beneficial to students in the future providing more sources and quality information.

A11.4: Week 11 Reflection

Aims and objectives: This week I wanted to choose and complete my 6th genre, edit my other genres, and learn about socio-emotional literacy.  I wanted to pace myself with the assignments, completing them thoroughly and on time.

Declarative Knowledge: This week I learned that socio-emotional literacy deals with a persons experiences on the Internet.  Basically it is being able to distinguish good and bad, right and wrong, and being precautious when dealing with different people and things on the Internet.  I learned that this type of literacy is very important for both adults and children.  I also found that being socio-emotionally literate is extremely important when taking part in chat rooms, instant messenging, or any type of forum.  People can often provide ficitious information about themselves, in turn possibly being harmful to someone they talk with on the Internet. 

Procedural Knowledge: In order to complete my 6th genre I had to chose from the ones I had not yet done and then create it as a page.  I chose to do my podcast.  I wrote the text of my podcast and then went to gcast.com to record it.  I called the number, recorded it and then pasted the link on my page.  After completing it I saved and published the page, then sent the link to the class list for everyone to view.  After this, I completed the peer review on Abby and Alyssa’s 5th genre.  I did this by using the comment feature on each of their weblogs.  For this I discussed the voice each piece was in, the intended audience, what I thought the author was trying to say, something specific I liked/”blessed”, and something they may want to consider addressing. Next, I saved the comment.  After this, I continued to find information on socio-emotional literacy.  I conducted a search and found the site Creativity at Work: Articles and Tips, which provided information on what socio-emotional literacy was.  After this I discussed what I found out about this type of literacy, how I felt that certain skills were required to be socio-emotionally literate, and how I thought it had/will change schooling/education.  I then saved and published the reflection to my weblog.  I also commented on my group mates reflections about socio-emotional literacy using their comment features. 

Conditional Knowledge: Before this week I did not really know what a podcast was.  I’m very surprised that it is so easy to record an audio file on the Internet.  These could be used to enhance any type of project or just for your own personal amusement.  I actually let my roommate listen to mine and she was impressed also.  Knowing about socio-emotional literacy is important for everyone.  I think people have recently become more aware of this type of literacy and will continue to use it accordingly.  The Internet poses very many opportunities for people to get themselves in danger so we must all remember this when utilizing the technology.  I think educating people about this type of literacy will be a primary concern now and in the future. 

A11.3 Socio-emotional Literacy

       Before this assignment I did not have any knowledge about socio-emotional literacy, other than what I had seen in passing when researching the other forms of literacy.  To learn about socio-emotional literacy I conducted a search.  According to the site Creativity at Work: Articles & Tips socio-emotional literacy deals with a persons intuition, in a sense.  More specifically, socio-emotional literacy refers to what is right and wrong, along with knowing good from bad when being on the internet.  Being precautious when using instant messengers, chat rooms, or any type of forum is important for socio-emotional literacy.  When people are on the Internet, they can often easily lead people to believe they are someone else so it is very important for people to be socio-emotionally literate. 
       Like I previously stated, I do think there are certain skills that this type of literacy requires; However, I also feel like it has a lot to deal with a persons intuition/conscience.  Most people know when they are doing right or wrong, and often get a bad feeling about something, but often choose to ignore their intuition.  I know when I was younger that I often wanted to join chat rooms, just because I was curious and my mom and dad told me not to.  I knew that I wasn’t supposed to, however I chose to ignore that and do it anyway.  Luckily, I only joined one once or twice and there were no pedophiles or anything that I talked with.  Although, I’m sure most of you have seen the Dateline shows about catching pedophiles on the Internet so we all are aware that it can and does happen.  I think it is very important for people to be aware that even though the internet can be very resourceful, it can also be dangerous.  This is why it is important for people to be socio-emotionally literate.
       Unlike the other types of literacy, I am not sure if this literacy has changed schooling/education yet.  I do however feel like it has the potential to change it.  Since students of all ages are beginning to use technology in schools more, I can imagine that they will also have to teach students how to be socio-emotionally literate.  Teaching children about reliable/valid sources, making them aware of the dangers of chat rooms, instant messenging, etc. will be very important, and making sure that families are involved when younger children are utilizing the digital world.  I personally feel like the family will play the biggest role in this, simply because the majority of the research and things will be done outside of the classroom.