6711: Final Reflection

My personal theory of learning in technology is to establish grade level skills, having every year build upon the previous one. While I establish essential skills, I continue to take great strides in encouraging exploration and developing skills beyond what I formally teach, in that respect my personal theory of learning has not changed. What has changed is a deeper understanding of different learning styles and how technology can aid in engaging all learners. “Individuals all have preferences as to how they best receive information. Each of us has a preferred sensory gateway, that is, the sense that is most effective for receiving and decoding information” (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008, p. 13). When presented with a number of key theorists and their theories, an educator can select one, or pieces of some, but in the end our main focus is to provide the best possible learning environment for each student. That may sound like a monumental task, but as we get to know our students, we learn what method of delivery works best for each one of them. For me, that means incorporating text, images, movement, music, and nature into as many interpersonal and intrapersonal projects as possible, allowing students freedom within the structure of a lesson.

Expanding my repertoire, with the use of Spiderscribe.net, wikis and blogs gave my students in grades third through sixth a taste of local collaboration. It also gave me a taste of collaboration and lit, in me, a desire to take it further than just local, as I believe students will benefit from this first step into global awareness and collaboration. “To find out the skills students need, look, for example, at the work of the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, which highlights such areas as computer and technology skills, critical thinking and problem solving, teamwork and collaboration, ethics and responsibility, and global awareness” (Prensky, 2008).  

My first long-term goal is to continue to explore, learn and teach technology-integrated lessons, and to give classroom teachers skills, building their confidence in technology integration. To accomplish this, I will be exploring Lynda.com this summer, and beyond, learning new software, such as Final Cut and Flash and brushing up my skills in a number of other applications, such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

My second long-term goal is to prepare students, to the best of my ability, for a future that is not yet on our radar. Though unsure of what the future may old, I can instill confidence, curiosity, skills and an understanding of the technology devices that are available now. Using that information will hopefully allow my students ease, as they continue through life surrounded by technology and the gifts and challenges that come with technology.

References

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Prensky, M. (2008, March). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.

Voice Thread Link

The following link is to my first Voice Thread.

https://voicethread.com/share/4656695/

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

As educators, we look to our PLCs, grade level meetings, in services and conferences to gain new knowledge, often sharing with our colleagues as we disseminate the new knowledge and plan for its implementation. Through cooperative learning, "students can reflect on newly acquired knowledge, process what they are learning by talking with and actively listening to their peers, and develop common understanding about topics" (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012, p.73). How often do we bounce ideas off one another? We look to peers, colleagues and friends for social learning and understanding, taking that into the classroom is a natural extension of what goes on throughout our lives. 

Building these collaborative opportunities into our classroom structure not only benefits the students in school but it also prepares students for "the fast-paced, virtual workplace that they will someday inherit"  (Pitler et al., 2012, p. 74). Using technology tools, such as blogs, wikis and online collaborative graphic organizers this year, I have seen increased engagement in students. Getting over the initial confusion of collaborating without talking, they became fully engrossed in the process of building an artifact "together, but separate" as one of my fourth graders said.

Reading through the different ideas, software, programs and websites mad my head spin with ideas. I found the possibility of creating a WebQuest with a group of students from another school, a great way to collaborate on a problem or subject. Extending that to another country through the use of ePals or The Teacher's Corner, would allow the opportunity to learn about other cultures and traditions wrapped up into the inquiry based activity. Collaborating with classmates taking notes and summarizing information through the use of Type with Me, is a great resource for group studying without being in the same room, as is Skype. Watching my own children, a few years ago, utilize Skype with classmates to study for an upcoming test, reminded me of the power of the Internet. Incorporating social learning theories into the classroom environment has become more seamless and natural, and if there is any question as to how to operate a program, navigate a website, or apply an app to a situation, we need to look no further than the students in the classroom; they usually have already figured it out.

References

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Any advice, warning and/or ideas...

Hey all,

I am, excitedly, leaping into a new adventure this summer. I will be leaving my school of 17 years and moving to a private K-8 school as technology specialist, launching one to one laptops in grades 6-8 and iPads in grades 2-3. I am looking for any knowledge, sources, lessons, etc. regarding iPad usage in classrooms. We had a very limited pilot program of iPads in one first grade classroom and I would love to hear from others who may have had experiences with iPads.

I would also love to hear experiences from any and all regarding laptops usage in classrooms, what worked, what didn't.

If you know of someone outside of Walden that you think might benefit from the information shared, please forward this blog. I would like to open this up to anyone and everyone.

Thank you for any and all information you are willing to share.

Constructivism in Practice

“When students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaging in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary, and enhancing their overall understanding of the content” (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012, p. 204). No longer confined to science labs in schools, hypotheses, predictions, data collection, reflection and results are used in classrooms throughout schools, providing students with constructing their own learning. In classrooms where constructionism takes place, teachers are facilitators and students, using critical thinking and problem solving, construct artifacts relevant to their lives.

Incorporating problem based learning, students focus on solving a real-world problems where there are no definitive answers; “knowledge is constructed within each individual or community based on the learner’s or community’s prior knowledge, values, beliefs, and perspectives” (Orey, 2001, para. 21). Students’ work collaboratively to synthesize their information, compare findings and create a project that demonstrates the learning and illustrates their results and possible solutions. Students are lead, not by curriculum, but by finding a solution to s real-world problem.

Through project-based learning, students plan a project lasting more than a few class periods with multiple steps. Learning is student centered, stressing collaboration, reflection, time management, authentic content and assessment, and culminating with the creation of an artifact representing knowledge learned. Project based learning is assessed by peers and teachers, in addition to self-assessment and reflection, allowing for revision of projects and artifacts.

Another example of constructionism is learning by design, which “emphasizes the value of learning through creating, programming, or participating in other forms of designing” (Orey, 2001a, para. 5). Given clear expectations, students understand what is expected, the learning objectives and the evaluation used, and, at the same time they are in charge of their learning. As the teacher becomes a facilitator, the student makes decisions regarding their project while planning the construction of their artifact. Throughout the process, learners receive feedback and self evaluate, from which they can reflect (Orey, 2001b, para. 8).

Whether one uses project or problem based learning, or learning by design, they all exemplify the theories of constructivism and constructionism; learning is constructed within the mind of the learner, not transferred from the teacher. Students lead their learning, examining real-world problems or issues and ultimately finding solutions depicted in artifacts that are reflected upon and shared.

References

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001b). Problem Based Instruction.  Emerging perspectives on learning,

 teaching, and technology. Retrieved from: http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Problem_Based_Instruction

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001a). Constructionism, Learning by Design, and Project-Based Learning. Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from: http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Constructionism,_Learning_by_Design,_and_Project_Based_Learning

Cognitivism in Practice

"Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand"

(Confucius circa 450 BC).

Confronted, day after day, with diverse learning styles and students who have a “dominant sensory gateway” our students, and we as educators, benefit from the use of instructional strategies (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008, p14). Involving our students through kinesthetic, auditory and visual methods, along with knowledge of differences in information processing, we can provide each student with success.

Utilizing some of the instructional strategies this week, we are given the proverbial net by which to catch the majority of students. For the visual student, the use of a graphic organizer allows dual coding and the ability to elaborate by assigning an image to a word, phrase or concept. As mentioned in the book, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012, p. 154-155), the use of a graphic organizer template, such as definition frames or problem/solution frame gives students guiding questions by which to summarize their knowledge. Incorporating images within these frames accesses the dual coding taking what is in the working memory and processing it through to the long-term memory. I have used Wordle with my sixth graders, but not as a note taking or summarizing activity. Using Wordle, or even WordArt in Microsoft Word could have great potential with visual learners as they summarize information. As stated by Dr. Michael Orey, getting information into the long term  “is what we want to do in the classroom” (Walden Laureate, Inc 2011).  In addition to the graphic organizer

Teaching the auditory student, use of video and/or audio gives the student opportunities to listen to the material multiple times. Through numerous listenings, students are able to relate the audio/video into episodic experiences. Using what is heard and relating it to personal experiences, or events, assists in the transfer of short-term knowledge into long term. Additionally, the ability to absorb declarative facts and information aurally, gives those students a clear path for sustained knowledge. With regards to note taking and summarizing, the use of an app like Dragon Dictation, gives students the opportunity to verbally record their knowledge, transferring into text, by which they can edit and organize. Using this application myself allows me to record thoughts in random order, as that is how my brain works most often; after transfer into Word, I can apply order to those notes. Coming from the other direction, taking text from a word processing program or online app like Evernote and transferring them into a text to speech program such as vozMe, gives the auditory student and audio recording of their knowledge. This can prove useful for organization of notes or checking the completeness of a summarization.

For the kinesthetic learner, the “motion portrayed in the video” (Pittler et al., 2012, p.96) connects with their need to move. Also, the use of graphic organizers gives the kinesthetic learner hands on experience manipulating the nodes and information. Using the graphic organizer, students can get their information out and then organize it moving and positioning the different and related nodes. Using multimedia to summarize information can easily display the knowledge of the students. Working in iMovie this week with a group of fifth grader, they created short movies regarding what they had learned in history. One group of boys created a movie about taxation without representation. This allows the boys to be outside, verbally express their knowledge while in costume and staging a protest, a much more exciting way to demonstrate their understanding of the material, than writing a paper.

With the reality, that short, (working) memory can process seven, +/- 2 pieces of information at one time, we as educators need to utilize ways to present information to our students. With enough diversity in our lessons, we will be able to involve all our students, creating a successful environment.

References:

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1: Theoretical Foundations

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

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