MS Word Experience and View of ISTE Standards

     Hello again! This post, as the title states, is going to talk about the experience I have had with MS Word throughout my life. I will also go over the ISTE standards for educators and highlight some of my opinions on them. Furthermore, I will also go over my opinion on the term "digital native" as well as a discussion on the topic of badges. I hope you enjoy reading! 

    MS Word is by far the word processing software I have the most experience with. All throughout elementary and middle school, it was the word processing software I solely used. It wasn't until I reached high school I was introduced to other methods such as Google Docs. MS Word is both comfortably familiar yet arguably difficult. I will probably always prefer Word simply because it is familiar and the one I have the most experience with, but it admittedly has a few quirks. For example, when moving images it can be very disagreeable and mess with the format before it can be righted. However, over the years I've learned a few tricks to make it work. The real downside of Word is that it is harder for collaboration, whereas google docs is better for group work. Realistically, Google Docs is preferable over Word for collaborative work especially over large distances. For example, just yesterday I helped my brother edit and write a paper on Google Docs which was very helpful since he lives all the way in the Czech Republic. The easy collaboration process of Google Docs helped tremendously with such a large distance between us as well as a large time difference, as he is six hours ahead of me. Though, I haven't quite figured out how to tell the word count while on Google Docs, so in order to do so I would copy paste into word! While Google Docs is more practical for group work, for individual work I will probably stick to Word. While at FSU I have had experience with both of these word processing softwares, with Word being almost exclusively used for individual work and Google Docs with collaborative work. 

    Moving on, I will first go over what the ISTE standards are and then highlight some of my opinions and thoughts on the matter. The standards are: learner, leader, citizen, collaborator, designer, facilitator, and analyst. The learner standards include applying pedagogical approaches through technology, actively participate in local and global networking, and staying current with research. The overall purpose of this standard is to encourage teachers to keep on learning in order to better educate not only themselves, but their students as well. We don't exactly want teachers only knowing outdated facts...The next standard is the leader standard which includes expectations such as creating a shared vision to share with others, advocate for access to technology for all students, and to be a model of the use of technology. Overall, to meet the leader standard you need to be an example and spokesperson of technological education. That is a close look into the first two standards as examples of what these standards expect. The most important standard in my book, however, is the collaborative standard. This standard includes planning with colleagues, co-learning with students, providing and using collaborative tools for their students, and demonstrating cultural competency. Essentially, the purpose of this standard is to encourage teachers to work with others to improve the learning environment and quality. I find this standard particularly important because when you teach, it is so much easier when you have others to help. Teaching is a community service, and to have the support of your colleagues can be very helpful in preventing burnout as well as generating new ideas and tips. Furthermore, co-learning with your students can help foster an important and safe learning environment and demonstrates that even after you graduate college, you can never stop learning more. Lastly, to keep open communication with both the parents and the students is important in implementing the best learning tactics and practices for that individual students education. 

    Personally, the term "digital native" is not super helpful. For one, there comes a time when everyone will of been born into some sort of "digital age", only for the next one to overshadow it. Right now, my generation and those younger are often the ones referred to as "digital natives", but eventually the next generations will be born and when they are they will grow up with more advanced technology, or even just different technology since it may not necessarily be more advanced, and will be deemed the new "digital natives". Older generations will always have something new to learn or get used to that younger generations can do second nature since they grew up around it. Not to mention, to label a whole generation digital natives ignores those that don't have much digital experience despite being apart of the younger generations. This could be due to lack of resources, lack of interest, or lack of knowledge. A younger person can be just as digitally inept as an older one, yet the labeling of digital natives to whole generations ignores this. This can be detrimental because it can lead to assumptions of younger generations. For example, when hiring an employer may make the assumption that the younger candidate will be digitally experience, more so than the older candidate. This can lead to two main issues. One, this may result in the employer not providing adequate training for the younger candidate due to the assumption they are a digital native and therefore will already know how to work the needed software. Secondly, it disqualifies the older candidate who may of been more digitally capable than the younger one, but was not given the chance as they are seen as a digital immigrant. The main thing that distinct those who are known as digital natives from those who are digital immigrants is practice. Digital natives are typically raised around current technology and don't need formal practice with it. Digital immigrants typically need a formal "practice" time, but once they do they are often just as capable. I must make it clear, all generations has technological inept people, so there will always be those professors who can not quite figure it out no matter how many years pass using the current technology. A major current example of this is zoom. The whole world pretty much became introduced to this platform at the same time due to the pandemic, and those labeled as "digital natives" did have an easier time adjusting to it. However, that can be due to experience with similar platforms such as discord. The "digital immigrants"  have less similar platform experience, and like I said, often needed a practice period. Now, the majority of teachers and students alike understand how to operate zoom regardless of their digital label. 

    Badges provide a way to show and reward achievement. They can come in many different forms I believe. The most common one I was given in my elementary years was little ribbons and stickers. While this may be less of a conventional badge unlike the badges earned in Girl Scouts, I would still label it as an effective badge system. Badges are useful in allowing children to feel acknowledged of their accomplishments and allows them to feel proud of something they did. It can also encourage good behavior in the classroom and helps models to other students what is expected and encouraged. Overall, badges can be used very well in the classroom, though it should not be overly relied on. To over-saturate the classroom with them would diminish their value. 

    Thank you for taking the time to read, and feel free to let me know your thoughts!