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.