EDUC 6711 Reflection

My personal learning theory from Week 1 was that students learn by working cooperatively and by using hands-on activities to gain knowledge and to show the knowledge they have learned. After learning about the different learning theories and instructional learning tools, I have decided that I am keeping my personal learning theory from Week 1 and also adding that students learn from doing inquiry-based projects. Students in today's digital age do not learn best by sitting in their chair all day completing worksheets and reading incessantly from a textbook. They learn by searching the Internet to find answers to their questions, by building artifacts to demonstrate how much they have learned, by playing educational computer games, and by socially interacting with other students in the classroom and in other classrooms. The immediate change I will make to my teaching practice will be to implement more inquiry-based learning projects using Web 2.0 learning tools. Two technology tools that I enjoyed using in this class were Voice Thread and concept maps. I plan on using Voice Thread with my students when they get ready to learn about famous Missourians. They will work in partners to find information and photos about their person and then record what they learned into a Voice Thread to present to the class. I have already used concept maps to assess their knowledge of Lincoln's assassination after we took a virtual field trip to Ford's Theater. I thought my students did an outstanding job of creating the maps to show their knowledge. I would love to use these again to assess their knowledge of the three branches of government. One long-term goal I would like to make would be to integrate more social networking sites, such as wikis and blogs, for the children to interact outside of school. I have a blog site set up for my class and used it every week during the first half of the school year. However, since Christmas, I haven't been diligent enough in setting up the questions or replying to comments made. Next year, I plan to have questions set up each week for the blog and require a due date for submitting answers. I would love to implement a wiki into the classroom for use on cooperative group projects. The students would be able to talk via the wiki outside of class to help prepare their project or answer any questions they may have about the project. Another long-term goal I would like to make would be to have my students use powerpoint and Voice Thread more often. I would like to have my students complete at least one powerpoint or Voice Thread each month about the topic we are studying. The first half of the year is spent visiting the regions of the United States. After each region is completed, my students could create a powerpoint or Voice Thread demonstrating their knowledge of that region, instead of taking a quiz on the region. After Christmas, we study Missouri so for each topic the students can research the topic and create a powerpoint or Voice Thread about it to present to the class.

Classroom Need Voice Thread

Click on the title to be taken to my Voice Thread.

Connectivism and social learning in practice

Connectivism is defined as when learning is the act of forming networks and navigating networks of knowledge. Social learning is when students are actively engaged in constructing artifacts while conversing with others. In Chapter 7 of our book, they mention several cooperative learning activities that the students can complete. All of these activities are connectivism or social learning in practice. Any kind of multimedia project is definitely creating an artifact and bringing constructionism into the classroom; however, when you group the students up and have them research the content together, collaborate on what their artifact will look like, and then create the artifact as a team, you get social learning. Another activity was Keypals. This is communication and collaboration with students from another school, state, or even country. This isn't just social learning, it's global social learning. Being able to create a project with another student far away from you is challenging as well as exciting. Not only can students practice social learning, but there are several sites and ways that teachers can collaborate with each other. There are social bookmarking sites, such as delicious.com, that allow others to see what you have bookmarked. Something you thought was important may end up being a help to another person. Finally, there are web-enabled multiplayer simulation games that allow the students to play against classmates or other people around the world in educational games of strategy or construction.

Constructivism in Practice

Constructivism is when a student actively constructs his/her own meaning about a concept or idea. Constructionism is when students learn best by building or constructing something. Constructionism is what teachers call "hands-on" projects or activities. In Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, they talk about three main practices of generating and testing hypotheses. One way is by using a spreadsheet software. A teacher can create an interactive spreadsheet for the students to use when completing the project. This spreadsheet will allow the students to insert numbers and not have to worry about entering the formulas for the information. This allows the students to focus more on the connection between the numbers and answers instead of thinking of a formula. This way is constructivism because the students are constructing their own meaning about the concept by analyzing the connection between the data. The second way is data collection tools. These tools could be digital probes or microscopes and the Internet. This way is constructionism because the students are using tools to create new artifacts or to help build on to what they already had constructed. Once they have gathered data, the students can use the Internet to analyze and synthesize their data. The third way is web resources and gaming software. This way is constructionism because the students build or create an artifact in the game that helps them learn more about the concept. It could also be constructivism because the students are playing a game that may have different scenarios, which means the students are constructing their own meaning of the concept. Next week, my students will be playing an online game about the gold rush. They get to create their own path to success in gold mining. First, they have to pick a character and build up their wealth, mining skills, and health. Once they have a certain amount of points in each category, they can choose to mine for gold, buy restaurants, or own hotels. If they do not succeed in gaining points in their categories, then their character dies. This game helps the students understand the struggles and successes that came with the westward movement and gold rush.

Cognitivism in Practice

Cognitivism in Practice...

Cognitivism is a three step information processing program that your brain goes through. The first step is sensory input of information that goes to the second step, which is short-term memory, where the information is hopefully stored in the step three, long-term memory. Dr. Orey sums it up when he said that integrating multiple senses in presentations improves learning. Another part of cognitive learning theory is Paivio's dual coding hypothesis. I like this hypothesis because it says that information is stored better when a person has the opportunity to put an image with the text. I do this a lot in my vocabulary powerpoints each week. I will give the text definition of the words and use them in a sentence; then, I also show three pictures that connect to the word and have the students deduce why the picture and the word are connected. They really remember the vocabulary words better and often use the pictures they saw to help them remember the definition for the test. Elaboration is another part of cognitivism and this is the primary mechanism for storing information in long-term memory. We make many connections to the information. Sometimes we forget what we learned and Dr. Orey said that we didn't lose the information, we just lost the connection to the information. Eventually, something else will trigger the connection and we will remember it again, at least until the next time we forget it!!!

Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers

In this chapter of the book, they talk about different technology applications that can be used to enhance cognitive learning. One application was to use a word processing program to make graphic organizers. Dr. Orey talked about concept maps, which is what a graphic organizer is. Graphic organizers allow the students to build numerous connections to the information when they connect subtopics to the main topic. Another application is the Excel spreadsheet. Math is a great subject to use spreadsheets in because they are a mathematical concept map. They allow the students to find declarative information and then use procedural information to put the facts into the spreadsheet and figure out the formula to get the final answer. Lastly, a powerpoint slide show was used to show the Great Depression. This application correlated to Paivio's dual coding hypothesis because the images from the slide show help the students retain the factual text better.

Summarizing and Note-Taking

In this chapter, the author discusses different techniques for helping students summarize and take notes. One technique for summarizing is by tracking all changes in Microsoft Word. When a student is able to see the changes they made to their paper, it helps them understand the concept of summarizing and makes it easier for them to grasp the concept...dual coding. Summary frames are an example of using concept maps to help the students learn how to summarize and what is needed in a summary. The teacher creates the summary frames by filling in the subtopics and the students will answer the subtopics with what they know. A technique for note taking is to have teachers teach their students a variety of techniques on note taking. Using graphic organizers and Microsoft Word outlines are good examples as to how the students can visualize the ideas and connections between the ideas.

Behaviorism in Practice

There are lots of instructional practices in classrooms today that use the behaviorist learning theory. Internet websites are also becoming behavioristic as they are using the rote and memorization techniques to help students learn math facts, social studies dates, and science facts. The internet is also used for spelling rote memorization. In our book resource, we learned about Reinforcing Effort and Homework and Practice methods and how technology is integrated into these methods. The Homework and Practice section of the book gave examples of how tutorials are used in lessons to help students learn the parts of a lever and the three types of levers. According to Dr. Orey, tutorials are a prime example of behaviorist learning theory put to work in technology. Another huge part of the behaviorist theory is classroom management, which is the reinforcement of a desired behavior and the punishment of an undesired behavior. This part of the behaviorist theory correlates with the Reinforcing Effort section. The book resource gives examples of how technology can be used to track effort and behavior. Some classes use spreadsheets or rubrics to analyze their effort on a specific assignment or behavior. Other classes use online surveys to determine how well they behaved or how well they worked on an assignment. These two technological strategies allow students to see their growth in behavior and effort in a visual manner. The students are able to see growth or decline and figure out what works to make their "scores" increase or what they do that makes their "scores" decrease. Behaviorism is still needed in classrooms today. Even though every student learns differently, they still need reinforcement and punishment in order to function in society. There are also students who do well with rote memorization in learning their facts and technology is a great way for them to achieve their learning.