Reflecting on Technology, Theory, and Strategies

            I indicated in week one that my personal learning theory was eclectic.  I don’t believe that one theory fits all.  It is like a $5.99 set of pajamas that says one size fits all. The pajamas would size much different on my daughter who is 5’6” and 115 pounds than it would on me at 6’3” and 210 pounds.  One size does not fill all and one learning theory does not fit all students all of the time.  I continue to believe that all of the learning theories have merit. This course has forced me to learn in depth about each of the key theories including behaviorism, co

nstructivism, cognitivism, multiple intelligences, social learning, and learning styles.  This class has made me more aware of the learning theories and the impact that they have on my students’ learning.  I have had thought provoking discussions with my colleagues about the learning theories. In theory, this class has not just had an impact on me, but my colleagues as well.

            As a result of this course I have made some immediate adjustments to how I use technology in my classroom.  I have used my SMART Board as a tool to lecture in the past.  Now I look at my SMART Board for all the possibilities it holds to create engaging instruction and learning.  Dr. Orey spoke to the use of SMART Boards and how they tend to lead to teacher centered instruction.  Orey goes on to say that lecturing while using presentation software and a SMART Board is one of the worst things you can do with technology  (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011b).  I am not sure I totally agree with Dr. Orey, but I do believe that teachers can find better ways to use the technology when delivering a lesson. Let’s face it, Dr. Orey is delivering his message in the same way that he was decrying.  Some may say that it is the only way he can deliver his message.  That may be so, which is my point.  Teachers may have to use the lecture method at times because it is the only way to get the message across for the material that needs to be delivered. Based on Orey’s remarks, I have looked at other ways to deliver instruction besides lecturing with technology.  I will try to occasionally use just visuals as Obey suggests (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011b). Two technology tools that I plan to use in my classroom, which I have not used extensively, are VoiceThread and Virtual Field Trips.  I would use VoiceThread to deliver flipped lessons.  Students would be encouraged to leave feedback and questions about the mini-lessons.  That way I would not have to wait until the next day to know what students did not understand.  I could address the issues right away. The second technology tool I will incorporate into my class is virtual tours. Dr. Orey sees virtual field trips as a powerful way to inspire students and provide episodic memory (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011a). For our virtual field trip assignment I used a Tahj Mahal virtual field trip with my class.  I was impressed with the quality of the field trip and the excitement it generated with my students.  Next year I will select a virtual field trip for Mt. Everest because I have my students read the first book of Gordon Korman’s Everest Series. Before the students begin the book, we will 

create a KWL chart on Mt. Everest using the SMART Board.  Then we will take a virtual field trip of Mt. Everest.  After the virtual field trip, we will complete the KWL chart.  If there are any questions still unanswered, we will use the Chromebooks for find the answers. I am not sure my repertoire has expanded greatly, but how I will use the technology, which I explained earlier, has changed. Technology is integrated into all of my lessons in some way.  According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald (2008), educational technologies should be used to augment and support instruction and learning.

SMART Boards should be interactive.

            One of the two long-term goals for change that I will work to achieve is to use Google Forms to receive and provide immediate feedback to formatively assess my students.  I feel providing immediate feedback to my students is an area that I could improve on. I will begin by

completing a Google Forms tutorial.  Then I will find YouTube videos that address the use of Google Forms in the classroom.  Over the summer I will experiment with creating forms and create forms for my units of study. Beginning the next school year, I will use the forms I created over the summer to gather and provide feedback.  After applying the forms, I will reflect upon the results of each form and revise as needed.

            My second goal for change is to make my SMART Board lessons more interactive and student centered. I will achieve this by creating lessons where the students are doing and creating.  Instead of using the lecture method, I will create interactive lessons.  If I am i

ntroducing vocabulary, instead of using PowerPoint, I will create a concentration game or a drag and drop activity.  I will use virtual field trips on the SMART Board and have students come to the board and manipulate the trip. I will know that I achieved my goal by evaluating and reflecting upon my practices.  I should see lessons where kids are using the SMART Board as a learning tool.

            In conclusion, this class has provided me with insight regarding learning theories, technology tools, and learning strategies.  It has changed the way I now plan my lessons. It has also inspired me to challenge my colleagues to be reflective practitioners. I believe I am a better teacher now than I was seven weeks ago.

           

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Program six: Spotlight on technology: Virtual field trips [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). (2011b). Program thirteen: Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool [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

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

Voice Thread: Selecting a New ELA Series

https://voicethread.com/share/5825371/

Learning for the Social Butterflies?

This week we discuss the social learning theory, social constructivism.  Orey describes social learning as constructionism with a social component (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011). The constructionism comes from the product built and social learning comes from working with others.  We live in a world where we must be able to work with others.  It starts when we are small children.  Children begin organized activities as early as two years old.  Children begin working together when they join teams. As adults, most jobs require its employees to work together.  The social learning approach is learning by doing with others, which prepare kids for life.

Dr. Kim (2001) gave an example of social constructivism using Shakespeare.  In her example, students were struggling with reading and understanding Shakespeare.  It was decided to group students and have them rewrite an act of a Shakespeare play in modern language and then perform it as a puppet show.  Kim explains how the students were motivated by this task. The students each had a special talent that they contributed to the group. All of those talents added to an outstanding presentation.  This made me think.  Isn’t this how most businesses work?  In a business, everyone brings his or her special talents to work.  No one does every job. If we are talking about a factory, you may have laborers, machine operators, mechanics, electricians, sales people, human resource, accountants, managers, and executives.  Each has a role that helps make the company successful.  Being able to work as a cohesive team is also very important to the success of the company.  This is where I see social constructivism important because it helps prepare our students for the real-world.

Of all the social media sites out there, I do not believe that there is a better suite of social apps than Google Docs.  Students are able to create documents and share them with anyone who has a Google account, which is free.  People can simultaneously work on a document. The apps range from a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, Blogger, Google Maps, photo editing, Sites (webpage creator), translator, and many more. When students work in a coop

erative group, they no longer need to meet in person.  They can set up a shared document and work together from the comfort of their own homes. Students can leave notes to members of their shared document group. Groups can even share with other groups to get their feedback.  The possibilities that Google Docs provides is unlimited.  It takes social learning to another level.

I am intrigued by Second Life.  It is a virtual world.  I was exposed to Second Life about three years ago when I saw a PBS program on social networks.  One segment was about IBM.  IBM encouraged their employees to work from home.  The camera showed one of their corporate buildings, and the hallways and cubicles looked like a ghost town.  The reason was that employees embraced the notion of working from home.  IBM still needed its employees to collaborate and meet over projects.  One way IBM made this happen was to have virtual meetings in Second Life. IBM has found that virtual meetings are a good way hold round-tables with employees from all around the world (Gandhi, 2010).  I believe this could be the future of education.

Glogster is another technology tool that supports social learning and allows students to work together to collaborate on a project. Students create multimedia presentations that can be stored digitally for other students to read and learn from. The application is web-based so students can collaborate without being together physically.  The application is easy to use and extremely motivating for students.  It can even be used on an iPad or iPhone.

This week in class we created Voice Threads.  It is another way that students can collaborate to build something together. When creating a thread, it works much like iMovie works.  To be honest, Voice Thread was a bit limiting for me.  It is possible that it was the basic version that made it so limiting.  It was strong in the area of collaboration, but I just felt it was cumbersome. If I were to create a project like the one I created in Voice Thread, I would probable use iMovie.  The negative aspect of iMovie is its lack of collaboration tools. I do like the way that people can view and critique projects and leave feedback.

The final social learning resource that is becoming very popular is Instagram.  Most of the students in my sixth grade class have an Instagram account and are actively using it.  On the other hand, only one of my students has a Facebook account.  With Instagram, students can share photos for a project, document science experiments, or snap a picture of a piece of writing for a peer to give tips and suggestions.

There are many technology tools at our disposal that foster social learning.  I don’t believe that it is necessarily the tool that matters as much as the way we use them.  We do have to give students options and the ability to think critically.  As Dr. Orey stated, social constructivism means student/ peer-centered learning.  This leads to actively engaged learners (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011).

Resources

Gandhi, S. (2010, January 19). IBM dives into Second Life. Retrieved June 4, 2014, from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/os-social-secondlife/

Kim, B. (2001). Social Constructivism.. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

 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