Reflection of Learning Theories and Technology

When I began this course I described my theory of learning as a cognitivist approach. I focused on the importance of formative assessments and having the students’ knowledge drive the instruction. Now that I have learned more about different types of learning theories I also see the value in the constructivist, constructionist, and social constructivist approaches. Having students create artifacts increases student engagement and allows students to participate actively in their learning, (Laureate Productions, Inc., 2010b) which will later help with remembering what they have learned.  I was reminded through this course that the brain stores information in networks and the more connections that are made in those networks the easier it will be for students to retrieve that information later. The dual coding hypothesis states that students learn best when taught with images and text, (Laureate Productions, Inc. 2010).  Technologies such as online concept maps help to illustrate the connections of information and can include visuals along with texts. Allowing students to create their own concept maps is an even better idea as students are constructing their own maps and demonstrating their knowledge rather than sitting back while the teacher does all the work.

As I prepare my lessons I now consider the importance of providing visuals as well as text, and try to focus more on student participation in the lessons rather than always being teacher centered. This course has introduced me to voice threads, concept maps, and virtual field trips. While I have used the concept maps once, I used them in an introductory note taking situation where the students filled in a blank copy I created. I want to have students create their own concept maps as more of a summarizing tool to show what they have learned. I would also like to try having students respond to a voice thread assignment, maybe by working in groups in class.

Two long term goals I have for my instructional teaching practice is to focus more on constructionism and to create a website which has voicethreads of my lessons for students to be able to access when they miss a class or need more review. To increase my constructivist projects I am going to have to brain storm ideas that go along with the practice of the standards we are already teaching and carve out time from the curriculum map for the completion of these tasks. Creating the website with voice threads just simply means taking the time to do so. I could even set a webcam to record my teaching as I present the lesson to the class so that no extra work or time is needed in creating the lessons.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program seven: Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Social Learning

Cooperative learning supports social constructivism and connectivism as students are working together to accomplish a task that demonstrates their understanding of some knowledge. The discussion and feedback evident in cooperative groups allows students to come to a deeper level of understanding of the material. While students may take pages and pages of notes on a subject, until they have to use that information it is just writing on a paper. Allowing students to explain the information to each other forces the students to process what they have written to be able to put it into their own words and apply the knowledge. Even this week as I wrote the definitions to what connectivism and social constructionism mean, the definitions are meaningless until now when I have to explain and consider how they can be used in my classroom.  When students are given new facts we have learned that those facts are stored somewhere in the brain. The brain works by forming connections between pieces of information; when students are distributing their information amongst themselves they are forming more and more connections with that information so that it can later be more easily retrieved.

The internet provides so many opportunities for students to actively engage in constructing artifacts and conversing with others, perfectly aligned with the definition of social learning theories (Laureate Productions, Inc., 2011).  Students can work with the people in their classrooms or even in another continent through the use of blogsites, voice threads, wikipages, and keypals. Most students are very familiar with using sites like facebook to give their input on their personal lives, so providing input about their content knowledge via educational tools is often easily accepted by students as well. Most teenagers are not comfortable sharing their answers or ideas in front of the class or their peers, but feel safer to share when they are hidden behind a computer screen typing what they know.  As we continue to move towards a global economy I feel that students need to be capable of communicating their thoughts and ideas to others even if they are on another continent.

Please visit a voicethread I created: http://walden.voicethread.com/share/4087569/
to see one resource we can use to create discussion in our classrooms.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1