EDUC 6711 Reflection

Upon reflecting on my personal learning theory, the biggest change that I would make as a result of completing this course would be to have my students working with each other to build their learning. My learning theory is that I believe we learn by doing, but that we often need to be directed or guided into the learning that we want for our students. I think using cooperative learning strategies more often will help learners learn by doing because people are learning by doing through the interactions they are having with other people. I made this change because according to Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007), students construct meaning for new knowledge by working with others in cooperative groups.

Along with making the change to my personal learning theory, I have also benefited from learning new educational technologies presented in this course. Those technologies are using virtual field trips within my classroom, as well as utilizing VoiceThread as a tool for students to present what they are learning. I will try to use virtual field trips more often in my class now because it is a way for students to see how the content we are learning applies to their lives. It is also an interesting method where students have input into what happens in the lesson. VoiceThread is an easy to use tool that my students will be able to use right away. I will definitely try to use this tool in my classroom soon. I like the fact that students can easily add text or voice recording to their presentation with this tool. I would use this as a culminating project for students to show what they have learned after a particular unit, or as a way for students to review for an exam or test.

The two long-term goal changes I would like to make to my instructional practice by integrating technology are to use multiple virtual field trips in my classes during a school year, as well as having students make presentations using VoiceThread on a regular basis. My plan for using virtual field trips is to try to find one virtual field trip per unit that applies the standards of the unit to a real-world situation. I have six units in my current course, so six virtual field trips in one year would be a good number without overusing this method. The hard part is finding these field trips for higher-level math courses. I may try to contact business owners from math-related fields in our community to get ideas for resources. I plan to use VoiceThread as a method for students to present their findings through learning tasks at least once a unit. We do several learning tasks per unit, and I often have students create a short presentation using poster boards or other mediums to demonstrate their findings to the class. I think we could have students make them more formal with VoiceThread by going to the computer lab at least once a unit.

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

Week 5 Voice Thread Assignment

http://voicethread.com/#q.b1713761.i0.k0

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

The instructional strategy of cooperative learning correlates with the social learning theories because it focuses on having students work together in order to improve their learning (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Students working together to create artifacts and discussing ideas is a major tenet of social constructivism (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). Part of working together through cooperative learning has students talking and debating, which allows students to learn from others who are more knowledgable than themselves on different topics, whether they be academic or socially. This is the concept of the more knowledgable other in social learning theory (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). When students work in groups cooperatively, they construct and new knowledge through these interactions (Pittler, et al., 2007) Having students work together and take ownership of their own learning allows them to deeper their understanding because they are using higher level thinking skills. I agree with this because I believe we learn from our experiences with other people. Even people who are self-motivated and driven to learn and succeed mostly by themselves have learned or observed that behavior from others in my opinion. Using the cooperative learning strategy keeps students interested and motivated, especially if they are working on problems that are meaningful and worthwhile. Having students interested allows them to delve deeper into the concepts they are learning to construct new meanings because they will have more lively discussions.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program eight. social learning theories. [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

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