Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology

When thinking back to my personal learning theory I created 7 weeks ago, I feel I have a strong sense of what I believe works for my students and my environment. The biggest adjustment I have made from my new knowledge from the course Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology is the difference between constructivism and constructionism. The “N” and the “V” seemed to be the same thing to me. Now I know that I focus way more on the “N” rather than the “V”. The process of constructionism, creating and artifact to represent knowledge and application of content and social learning theories are a vital part of my teaching.

I love gaining knowledge about new learning technology tools for my students to use. Voice threads will fit into my classroom so well. I am already in the process of having students upload and discuss the meanings and implications of artworks and styles on culture with students from around the world using epals.com. Voice thread is also a great way to get parents involved from the comfort of their own home. Virtual Field Trips (VFT) are a tech tools that I have already implemented and will delve further into with my students. VFTs offer the opportunity to go places and see things that money and time would otherwise not allow. Concept mapping is something new for me to include into my teaching in the sense of both a learning and teaching technology tool. It provides a great way for me to display goals and objectives while allowing my students the opportunity to organize and reflect on their thoughts on those learning targets and goals.

It is important as a life-long learner to take new knowledge and set goals for my instruction. My first goal is to try and manage class time better so that my students can have the hands-on time to explore and apply these technology tools into their learning. Time is my worst enemy as a teacher! Another goal of mine is to keep the difference between instructional technology and learning technology in the front of my mind. As teachers we often shy away from putting technology into the hands of the students. We worry that we may not have all the answers to their questions. I have learned that that is the beauty of learning technology, problem solving and exploration provide such a great base for learning. I often see teachers using a PowerPoint to share notes with students and they check off their 21st century technology integration CSO’s. While instructional technology tools are wonderful for teachers to use; that is not putting the 21st century tools into the hands of our students. Learning technology tools should be a vital part of all curriculums! I have already implemented lesson and unit plans that put the students in charge of their technology. I will use some trial and error to find ways to manage the time we have together to make these lessons possible.

Professional Learning Community Voice Thread

http://voicethread.com/#q.b884732.i4716567

Above is the link to my voicethread that I created for a grad class. I was asked to think of a problem I faced in my career, and that is what I came up with. Voicethread is AWESOME! I can see it as a great tool for my students to post and critique artwork. I am already working on getting other teachers to do the same so my students could give and get feedback about thier art from students at other schools. I may even use some online collaboration resoursed from my course text to see if we can find a place that is willing to share from other parts of the world. So cool, I am really excited about using this tool.

Socail Learning

There are so many strategies that align with the ideas of social learning theory. When students work in cooperative groups, they make sense of, or construct meaning for, new knowledge by interacting with others (Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 2000). Cooperative and social learning gives students a chance to bounce ideas, gain assurance, new perspective and so many other ideals that are needed in a 21st century workforce.

Multimedia projects are like chameleons, they can take on so many contents and give diverse roles to students. I am very excited to try out www.ePALS.com, which would allow my students to collaborate with students in other classrooms and other parts of the world. I have had student groups work with wiki's and podcasts and would also like to try www.coolpages.com and allow them to easily create their own webpage. All of these strategies provide student interactions that can foster learning experiences.