Reflection: Final Blog (Educ 6711)

If I reflect on my personal theory of learning that I developed in week 1, there is a modification that I would make based on my learning from this course. While I still lean heavily towards the Constructivist and Cognitive learning theories, I realize that I need to adjust my learning theory to incorporate more of a mixture of the other learning theories as well, such as the Behaviorist and Social learning theories so that my approach is more well rounded. I think that the best personal learning theory that I could have would integrate a little of all 4 of the theories we’ve explored in this course. I think that each of the learning theories is best for a certain instructional strategy or situation and my job is to be able to identity which one to use for each the learning experiences that I design. I was happy to see many strategies that I already use but also learn a few new ones. With all of my new knowledge from this course, I can consciously make informed decisions about instructional strategies, learning theories and technology tools. I think that this was the point of the course so I feel like I have achieved the course objective.

An immediate adjustment that I will make to my instructional practice regarding technology integration as a result of this course is to make sure that my technology tools are learning tools that make my classroom more student-centered. Until now, most of my technology use has been teacher-centered as an instructional tool. Two technology tools that I would like to integrate are the wiki and voicethread. A wiki sounds like a great way to have the class collaborate on a semester long project from anywhere and at anytime. Voicethread is a great way to integrate multiple representations of information, students can use visual images and verbal sounds while collaborating with each other.

A long term goal that I am making for my instructional practice regarding technology is to integrate more technology. Since my integration at the moment is very little (other than the use of the graphing calculator), I plan to slowly incorporate technology tools into my lessons. I plan to accomplish this by gradually re-writing or re-designing my lessons with possible technology integration in mind. If I start changing a few lessons at a time, I can eventually re-vamp my entire collection bringing it into the 21st century.

A second long term goal is to keep myself current with technology. This program has made me realize how far behind I have fallen when it comes to technology that is available. I have learned about many things that I never knew existed. Now I plan to make sure I continually update my knowledge on technology that I could use professionally and personally.

My First Voice Thread

Here is the link to my voice thread about a situation in my school that I am confronted with.
http://voicethread.com/share/530014/
I knew immediately what I was going to talk about, however, the images, documents or video was a little bit harder for me. I wasn't sure what type of images or documents to use to be a visual representation of my situation. From this exercise however, I realize the potential for the use of voice threads in my math classroom which I think was the point. I like that I can have a math problem up on the screen, my voice can be explaining it and I can doodle to show what I am talking about at the same time. Then the class can add comments about what they did and add any additional information.

Social Learning in Practice

In Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, a strategy that aligns with the Social learning theories is “Cooperative Learning”. We have had the chance now to correlate a few different learning theories with strategies and this pair seems like the most obvious fit so far. The Social learning theory is based on the belief that people learn while working with others in a social setting. As cited by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007), “The instructional strategy of cooperative learning focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance learning. When students work in cooperative groups, they make sense of, or construct meaning for, new knowledge by interacting with others”. By definition, cooperative learning is working with others in a social setting for the purpose of learning which is exactly what the social learning theory says.

There are many ways to implement cooperative learning in the classroom and now with the use of the internet there are even more. “Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not face to face” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Some technology based cooperative learning ideas presented include, creating videos, webquests, keypals, web site creation, blogs and wikis. All of which require students to work together towards the same learning goal while helping each other and learning from each other throughout the process. At the same time, these strategies bring cooperative learning into the 21st century.

References
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.