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.

Constructivism and Technolog

Generating and testing hypotheses correlates with constructivism because the students are at the center of the learning. The students are also constructing a theory and through a chosen application or artifact, students show a conclusion. It is great to think outside the box and apply the previous notion of hypotheses and science to other content areas. It really is a versatile process that can create the need for students to participate in assimilation and accommodation. Web resources provide engaging and interactive applications to apply in various problem-based learning situations.

Generating and testing hypotheses is something I had never picked out for my art class. After some research and focus on the constructivism theory there are several ways to adapt to my classroom. My students could do historical investigations to determine the role that location plays into an artist work. Younger students could go wild with the process of experimental inquiry with primary and color mixing. In which case, instead of my telling them that red and blue make purple they could use data sheets, hypotheses and elimination to accommodate the learning of color mixing on their own. The experience of coming to conclusions on and individual level allows students the equilibration of learning new things that constructionism highlights.

Cognitivism in Practice

Concept mapping is a great way to aid student's cognitive learning. Showing a student the "big picture" allows them to grasp where it is their learning should be going. I personally am a very visual learner, however, simply seeing a picture does not a long-term memory make. For me. like many students, they need to organize incoming information and sort it in a way that makes sense to them. Once the big picture is processed them students can dig in further and build on that foundation.

Relating information in any way possible to things that can remind a student of something they already know will grant ques for remembering and storing information. Students need to form attachments to the goals they are learning. It seems to me that a student would better retain information that they organize themselves rather than copying notes from a book, overhead projector or lecture. I could write or copy something one hundred times and still not understand what it is that I am writing. I need to make those connections, attach meanings and organize my thoughts in a way that works for me. Technology has granted us many options these days. We have new and exciting ways to organize and sort incoming information. Even our blog reader provides us with and easier way to sort and chose the new information coming in.

Behaviorism in Practice

Behaviorism and education seem to be evident, as reinforcement and punishment seem to be needed in different facets of education. However, it is safe to say that there should be no salivating students at the sound of a ringing bell... well except around lunch time. In the text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, there are several examples provided that have a behaviorist resemblance. To me, rewarding effort seems like a no-brainer and comes instinctual as a teacher. Focusing on the positives and allow a student to see the benefits without resorting to negative stimulus seems very appropriate to me. Are there situations where punishment is needed, absolutely, but defenatley not always.

I use rubrics for every project in my art class and effort is always a major part of that. At the elementary level the interest in learning and applying skills can be just as important as the end result. I love the idea of using software like Survey Monkey to question the students about their own personal reflection of their efforts. I have done this in the past with reflective blogging but plan to implement some survey reflections instead. My hope is that students find reinforcement in realizing the great effort and job that they have completed.

Any stimulus that draws in a student works as motivation. Motivation seems to be a self-reinforcement. When you take and interest in something you tend to give it your best shot rather than just getting by for the sake of being done.

Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology

New year, new class. I am really looking forward to this class.

I love these hands-on tech classes!

Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society

While working towards my Master’s degree I have recently completed a course that provided me with a great insight into the ways technology has impacted different facets of our world. Throughout this course I was able to take concepts that I had heard of or dabbled in and fully understand their power and abilities in my classroom. Not only do I now understand the inner workings of Web 2.0 applications such as blogging, wikis and podcasting I have expanded my knowledge of the ways these applications affect the business and education world as well as society.

The first thing that caught my curiosity in this particular course was the posed question of how does technology allow you to do something differently or to do something different? This is an important reflection. There are plenty of teachers who replace an overhead with a PowerPoint and fill out their technology standard. Using PowerPoint instead of writing on the board or lecturing is a way of doing the same thing differently; giving students a new way of taking in information is doing something differently. As technology and education change and evolve so should our role as educators. Students no longer need to rely solely on their teacher or a single textbook to learn information; they have a wealth of information at their fingertips. We as educators must stay current and readjust our role in the classroom. We now need to move into a facilitator role providing students with experiences rather than lessons and tests. Using various technologies and learning experiences allows students to be higher level thinkers and retain information that they themselves take ownership in.

It is unfair to ask a student to walk into a school building and ask them to turn a blind eye to the technologies they have been surrounded with since they were young. As posted in an earlier blog today’s students are digital natives and we need to cater to that so we do not bore them. We cannot expect them to pick up a paper and pencil and take a test and compute in a today’s working world. We also should not limit our students to our own depth of knowledge; it would be egotistical to think that I know everything a student needs to know. If I am teaching about Van Gogh, it would be a shame to only pass on the knowledge and experiences I have. I want to give my students my own experiences and information as well as let them have their own and teach me things as well. I learn something new daily; sometimes useless and sometimes very pertinent. Most importantly I want my students to have the access and the opportunities that are out there in today’s technological world and I too will learn with them as well as better my role as the facilitator and educator.

Two short term goals that I will hold for my classroom in this upcoming year is to become more of a facilitator in my classroom and to uphold the duty of doing different things by making sure I am not just doing the same things in a different way. I want to implement all of the Web 2.0 applications in different facets to expose my students. Another goal is to keep reflecting because as I conquer these new application there will be new ones. Reflecting and keeping my lifelong commitment to learning will allow me to evolve into a better teacher.

Podcasting 101

I have delved into the wonderful world of postcasting. I have used a free site called podbeam, the free voice recording software of audacity and a conversion program to convert audio to mp3 format. The podcast is an interview with a teacher about the use of technology in the classroom and 21st century learning skills. It was a great experience and I cannot wait to use this web 2.0 application in my classroom. The URL is:

http://ajg.podbean.com/