Monday, February 20, 2012

Reflection

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to write down my personal theory of learning.  Over the past few weeks, I have made subtle changes to this theory.  I now understand all of the theories of learning a bit better.  Behaviorism, constructivism, and social learning theory all have their place in the classroom and in educational technology.
A great place to use behaviorism in the classroom is coolmathgames.com.  This site allows students to practice their current skills in a tutorial type environment with plenty of opportunities for positive reinforcement.  I often allow children to play on this site as part of their homework. 
Social learning theory and constructivism are used in tools such as virtual field trips and VoiceThreads or blogs.  I intend to include more constructivist activities in my classroom by allowing the students to go on virtual field trips.  We will build background knowledge about subjects before we read them.  The students enjoyed going on a virtual field trip of a battle of the American Revolution.  After reading George Washington’s Socks, the students were able to take a field trip based on their reading at http://teachersnetwork.org/teachnetusa/tgould/gould.htm
Another personal goal for me is to include more social learning tools in the classroom.  Cooperative learning gets all of the students involved in a task.  I plan to use Voicethread.com and a class blog to encourage collaboration.  I also am planning to include the use of googledocs in my classroom.  I have learned of many ways to incorporate technology into my classroom.  It is important that these tools be in the hands of my students and not just used during the direct instruction portion of my classroom.
Long term, I hope to create a class Wiki.  My district is still unsure of how and when teachers may use a Wiki in their classroom.  Because I am moving to the media center, I think a Wiki for the library would be a great project for the students.  They do a lot of research throughout the year and we could share it all on there for future classes.  Another goal that I have is that I want to put more technology into my students’ hands.  I have a lot of resources in my school, but I struggle to find the time and opportunities for the students to use the programs.  By collaborating with the technology integration teacher, I can use technology with my students and maintain the focus of instruction.

Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Program two: Brain research and learning [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 three: Instructional theory vs. learning theory [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). (2011c). Program four: Behaviorist learning theory [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). (2011d). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [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). (2011e) 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). (2011f). Program seven: Constructionist and constructivist 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

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011g) 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

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011h). Program nine: Connectivism as a learning theory [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). (2011i). Program ten: Spotlight on technology: VoiceThread [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). (2011j). Program eleven: Instructional strategies, Part one [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). (201k1). Program twelve: Instructional strategies, Part two [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). (2011l). Program thirteen: Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved fromhttp://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Social Learning Theories

This week I studied cooperative learning.  These strategies correlate to social learning theories.  Dr. Orey noted that it is important for students to work together and bounce ideas off of each other because it builds their confidence (Laureate, Inc., 2011).  Students are often excited to work in cooperative groups and feel a sense of pride for their role in the group.  It is important to keep groups small and have the students take responsibility for their learning.  This type of learning prepares them for the workplace where they will be required to work together on a problem using technology.




The class resources had many exciting ideas for ways to include technology in the classroom during cooperative learning.  One of the resources that I look forward to incorporating in my classroom is http://secondlife.com/.  On this blog, http://secondlife.com/, teachers can gain ideas for how to use Second Life in the classroom.  Students can work together to solve a problem in the virtual world.  Students should be given a rubric for the multimedia project and an advanced organizer for the group tasks (Pitler, et al., 2011)



Another site that allows students to collaborate with people all over the world is http://voicethread.com/.  I often use this tool for students to have discussions and work with their peers.  Recently, I helped a teacher create a voice thread for her students to peer edit.  It was engaging and allowed them to collaborate in the learning.  My students are currently reading “George Washington’s Socks” and will be completing the next set of discussion questions using a voice thread.  They will have to support their ideas with details from the text and build off other students’ responses. 



On this voice thread http://voicethread.com/share/2687352/, I worked with my colleagues to share a current problem we are having at school.  Please take a look and let me know what you would do to solve this problem.

References

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.

Palmer, G., Peters, R., & Streetman, R. (2003). Cooperative learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved , from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

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