Module 6 Learning in the Digital World

(Sorry this post is not posting correctly. It is posting as one paragraph even though I keep updating it into paragraphs and references) In the video (Laureate, 2009), George Siemens stated “In a stable environment, the intent of education is to produce clarity and clear thinking.” I believe technology has a high impact on the way one learns. Everything we want to know is at our fingertips. As teachers we can scaffold learning so everyone can be learning on their own level. Students can take charge of their own education and take it as far as they want to. Almost everything we do not know can be researched and found answers to. “Connectivist teaching and learning must optimize the ability for learners to form effective networks” (Laureate, 2009). Being able to connect to others is vital to learning. The critical part is that both teachers and students need to decipher what is true and what is not true in their findings. This can be difficult for the reason that there are many convincing writers that we need to know what types of sites are reliable and which types are not. “Human existence is a quest to understand. Our spaces and structures need to be aligned with our new understanding of knowledge…and the manner in which it moves, flows, and behaves” (Siemens, p. 4). There is a slight difference in learning in an online environment as compared to face-to-face learning. All classes should strive to create an equal learning experience as far as the concepts being taught, however, with the use of technology, when going to a certain website, it can lead to another website and another website and so on so the student can have a higher order of thinking. The student can learn more than what the teacher initially wanted them to learn. The sites can lead to a totally different concept in which the student could become interested in and want to research that concept along with the original concept. In my philosophy of education, I believe that the teacher needs to fit the program to the child. Every child is different and learns in a different way. They have different interests. If you teach the way a child understands and relate it to something that has to do with them, they will be interested in learning. With the use of collaboration, based on the basic ideas of the constructivist learning theory, the constructivist suggests that instruction must take students' prior ideas, experiences, and knowledge into account while giving the opportunities for students to construct new understanding. I often wonder about students with IEP’s. When I found out I had twenty students and 7 of the students had IEP’s I thought in a negative way of how will I do this. I thought one of these days everyone will have an IEP in my class. Then thinking in a positive way, I thought yes, everyone has their own IEP but they all aren’t in writing and made official. We have to teach a class like everyone has an individual educational plan. We have to get to know the student and find out what is their way of learning and adjust our lessons to each child. The purpose of any learning theory is to supply a framework to education to help the students to learn and retain the information and then be able to apply the information they learned at a later time. “Connectivist learning requires mashups, or taking content and ideas that others have produced and reusing and repurposing them in different contexts” (Siemens, Laureate 2004). This is vital in teaching the students that will soon be running our world. References Laureate Education, I. (Director). (2009). Connectivism Learning Theory [Motion Picture]. Siemens, G. (2004, 12 12). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from Elearnspace: http://elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm Siemens, G. (2006). Knowing Knowledge. Copyright 2006 by George Siemens. Used by permission.

Module 5 - New Technologies

(For some reason I had a very hard time posting this)

I am a team leader and produce many meetings throughout the school year.  I have observed great teachers and not so great teachers.  Many of the teachers are very caught up in going strictly by the book and in order that they do not take time out to do what is best for the students.  In the virtual classroom, we have endless possibilities to help students to reach their full potential through the use of technology.  We can use collaboration rooms and insert many programs into our classrooms.  I have heard of some great teachers in my school but yet they do not utilize the collaboration rooms for students to work together.  When I ask why they do not use them, they say they do not have time.  There is too much material to cover.  They would rather put a math problem on the board and have each student take a turn doing the work so they can see that the child understands the work.  When I tell them they can do the same thing in the collaboration rooms and cover more material and scaffold the learning so everyone can work on their own level, they quickly say no they are not changing because it is working for them.  I cannot seem to convince most teachers to change their lessons to fit what the child needs. Using Kellers  ARCS model could have given me a way to help motivate my team to be encouraged and successful at stepping out of their normal routine and trying something new.   I have also encouraged teachers to use and create videos with the children’s work.  It is quick and simple but requires a little extra work on the teacher’s part.  A few teachers have tried this but not many.  I included a short video of the children’s work on a project on volume. 

Reference

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Boston: Pearson Education.

Posted to http://kwagoner7105.blogspot.com/2013/08/module-5-new-technologies.html

Very nice post Karen.   I agree with you in that if I had known about ARCS I might have been able to convince my team to try some new technology in their classes.  With knowing what I do not, I certainly will try in the next couple weeks during our meetings. 

http://martinedtech.blogspot.com/

Gus,

I think that with doing training with step by step directions with teacher participation and having a final project to show in the end, helps to motivate teachers to utilize new technologies that they might be scared to try.  I like that their is support after the training also.

Lori