Philosophy of Learning

What do you believe is critical and non-negotiable in teaching and learning? 


Support your ideas using the learning and instructional theories you embrace as a part of your personal theory of learning.

Blogs I posted to.

I posted to Lou Ann Morris http://educ7015.blogspot.com/ and  Sara Beckers  http://edtechblogwaldenu.blogspot.com/2011/08/module-5-blog-sara-becker.html blogs.

Module 5

In the past two years, I was the Instructional Technology Coach for our district in grades 6 - 12.  Most of my hardest "customers" to change and incorporate technology into their lessons were the high school teachers.  In their minds eye, they did not need nor want technology integrated into their lessons.  They believed they all they needed in their room by having their whiteboard and their textbooks.  At first I felt it was because they were "high school" teachers.  Being a K - 8 teacher, we all know how high school teachers are. They feel nothing pertains to them and all they need is their knowledge and want to impart that onto their students. But, what I actually found out was that a lot of the High school teachers were sort of scared to use the new technology and it was easier to continue to do what they had always done rather than to learn something new.  


In essence, I actually used Dr. Keller's ARCS model when working with the High school teachers.  


Attention:


To grab the teachers attention, I asked them if it would be ok if I taught a lesson to their class on a topic they were teaching at the time, but with the technology I was trying to get them to use.  If they didn't like that idea, I would make games for them to play with their students while they are working on the lesson.


Relevance:


In order of using Relevance, I used the teachers experience, and the future knowledge using the technology would enhance their lessons and again the modeling and choice.


Confidence:


I would offer to teach a lesson then stay while the teacher taught the same lesson using the technology or give them small steps in using the technology so that they would feel empowered.


Satisfaction:


By helping the teacher in using the steps and scaffolding them with the new technology, they would have the satisfaction of learning and then wanting to learn more. 

Responded to:

Module 4

Collaboration Assignment 1 Module 3

Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to"interact and work as a group", as Rheingold proposed in his discussion of the evolution of Wikipedia as a collectively developed encyclopedia?

Yes, from early man, he has been known to move towards working in nomadic tribes and traveling in clans.  From the time of early agriculture, when man worked in groups and they began using specialization in agriculture this is when communities began to be formed.  According to many sociologists of our times, man learned when they work together much can be accomplished.

How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?

Technology is increasingly viewed as an “optimal medium for the application of constructivist principles to learning” (Murphy 1997b). Although the advent of the personal computer has streamlined and economized the processing of information, new technologies such as e-mail, listservs, synchronized chat, and the World Wide Web have facilitated the exchange of information and expanded access to a global environment. The constructivist approach to learning is facilitated by the World Wide Web because
“the theory focuses on making connections and making meaning in the learning process. Web-based courses that are designed with a constructivist approach encourage the learners to navigate, create,
and construct their unique knowledge base” (Conceição-Runlee and Daley 1998, p. 39). They afford the opportunity to engage learning in creative and collaborative activities that promote knowledge construction. They encourage self-directed learning, collaborative learning, and critical analysis by expanding the environments from which knowledge is constructed.

Find a current research study that has been conducted in the last 5 years that supports collaboration as an effective tool for learning.  Include the link and reference for this study in your blog.

I found the following research that was very interesting on research and collaboration.  Highlight and copy this link into a browser.

http://sprouts.aisnet.org/10-3

Blogs I posted to - Kimberly Dean

I posted to the following blogs:

http://learningsmarternotharder.blogspot.com/2011/06/cognitivism-as-learning-theory.html?showComment=1309739464955#c983491618352269382 - John

http://smcdow.blogspot.com/ - Sabrina

http://educ7015.blogspot.com/ - Lou Ann

 

Module 2 Cognitivism As A Learning Theory by Kimberly Dean

I agree with Kerr's s conclusion that "isms are important as a filter, just not a blinker".  His statement could mean that yes all of these behavior/learning theories are important, but not one is the be all end all.  And as Kapp states as educators we should take the best of all to help us  examine how our students learn and how they view ideas and thoughts and what they think about their thinking.  We know that all of us learn differently, we could all see the same sight and give different explanations.  That's because we all view things differently. 





Kerr, B. (2007, January 1). _isms as filter, not blinker [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html
Kapp, K. (2007, January 2). Out and about: Discussion on educational schools of thought [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/index.php/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational/

Blogs I posted to

http://educ7015.blogspot.com/2011/06/module-1-blog.html  Lou Ann's Blog

http://edtechblogwaldenu.blogspot.com/2011/06/module-1-blog-sara-becker.html  Sara Becker

Module 1 posting

What are your beliefs about how people learn best?

My beliefs about how people learn best tend to change with the learner.  For most people who tend to be born through the 60's, 70's and early 80's; we tend to fall into a different category than people born in the late 80's and 90's and even in the year 2000.    In the early category we were taught that the teacher knows everything, we sit in our seat, study, read, and learn by receiving information.  Students nowadays, do not necessarily learn this way.  Most of our students in elementary, middle and high school tend to do what we would call "backwards learning".  Whereas, I for example, would learn "to do"  our later students do "to learn".  An example would be a coworker and I have the same job, but different levels in the school system.  I was born in 1963 and she was born in 1985 or 1986, we both have a Masters Degree and are Instructional Technology Coaches.  If my director asks me to learn something, I will read about it, search for it on the internet, and of course google or youtube it; I will then, with my new found information, go and play or learn what I need to learn (providing it is technology).  But, my co-worker, she just is asked the same, she goes directly to the program or technology and plays with it until she figures it out.  Our students today are so engulfed in technology and learning whether it be at school, learning a new game system, figuring out how to work MySpace, Facebook, or other items; that learning by doing comes second nature to them.  So in essence to the question, what my beliefs are about learning, my belief falls with Stephen Downes through Seimens paper (2008, January 27), his view of connectivism fit perfectly with this type of learning as he states that knowledge is distributed across many networks and that the actual act of learning is forming network connections and recognizing patterns.

What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology?


The purpose of learning theory in educational technology is to gauge what type of learner you/ your students are.  By knowing what type of learners are, we can increase their learning by the way we teach and present material.  I found a website that helps to determine your learning style, check it out!  Click here


Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Paper105/Siemens.pdf