voice thread

http://voicethread.com/share/571408/

Social Learning Theory/Cooperative Learning

Orey tells us that social constructivism is collaborative learning engaged in creating artifacts and conversing with others. He goes on to say that conversation can help one understand and that context and culture are critical in constructing knowledge and understanding of the world around us. The social learning theories intertwine nicely with the cooperative learning strategy that focuses on students interacting in groups to advance learning.
Technology is a critical tool in implementing group learning and collaboration. It provides a structure for students to work together in completing projects and to communicate from where ever they might be. Some resources that support cooperative learning are Google docs, wikis, and voice thread. Also, there are resources available to help students organize information for their project-public bookmarks such as delicious and shared calendars such as Google calendar,
Pitler tells us “technology allows students to collaborate on projects without the constraint of time or geography” (Pitler, 2007, p.153). Technology is a great tool for providing anytime, anywhere learning. It provides a means for students to communicate through various means such as Skype that allow students to communicate and create a project even if they are in various places. Cooperative learning allows students to communicate so they can learn from one another and create together. Through cooperative learning activities, students stay actively engaged in learning therefore supporting life long learning.

Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Constructivism/Constructionism

Orey tells us constructivism is based on what ideas and experiences have been constructed in our own minds. We use our prior knowledge to give meaning to concepts and vocabulary. He also tells us that constructionism is based on the need of first hand experience. That we learn best when we build or create a project, especially one that can be shared with others. Basically, constructionism builds on constructivism in that the learner, not the teacher, builds learning and then the learner is engages in the construction of an external project, which allows real world learning to take place.

Generating and testing hypothesizes as learned in our resources compliments the constructivist and constructionist learning theories. It requires students to make predictions based on prior knowledge and then construct a hypothesis in which students have to experiment with and test. Technology aids in this process because it allows students to focus on interpreting data instead of gathering data. As students experiment with various data, they can collaborate and compare findings and see how it is related and what happens as variables change-it allows them to see the overall picture and to determine any patterns. More importantly, they are able to determine if their hypothesis is valid or not. By incorporating this type of activity, it gives students hands on experience as to how testing and generating hypothesis is done in “real life”. It supports various strategies and cognitive tools such as questions, cues, and concept maps that involve higher order thinking and allows students to be involved in the learning process.

Orey, M. (2009, March). Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology.“Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories”. (Laureate, CD-ROM 2009 release).

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

cognitivism in practice

Giving students a gift of cognitive tools to aid students in processing information is a gift that will be employed for a lifetime. Giving students ways to organize information and to make sensory connections with content information are methods to help students gain elaboration to aid in obtaining episodic events so students will store what they have learned into their long-term memory.

Cues and questions as discussed by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski are ways to tap into students’ background knowledge so a connection can be made to the content they will be learning. When visuals such as concept maps and other multimedia resources are integrated with cues and questions, connections, and therefore learning, can happen for those who learn through different senses. Multimedia resources such as concept maps and powerpoints support the duel coding theory presented by Orey in the DVD. They each present an image. People are more apt to remember an image than text. But, when an image is tagged with text, the brain will store both in long-term memory.

Summarizing information and taking notes are both learning strategies that require students to synthesize information and decipher important information from nonessential information. The use of multimedia resources such as concept mapping and powerpoints, aid students in tapping into their senses by helping them organize their information effectively so they will be able to make connections to the content allowing the brain to store the essential information into long term memory. Other multimedia resources such as wikis and blogs allow note taking and summarizing to be done collaboratively letting students communicate while other senses are being stimulated at the same time. One benefit of each of these learning strategies, when supported through technology, can be presented as a project and can be a great tool for reciprocal learning to take place.

Behaviorism in Practice App 2

The one common element I observed that promotes the behaviorist theory of learning between reinforcing effort and homework and practice is feedback. When students relate poor academic achievement to stimuli outside of their control, they have that “why bother” attitude because they feel they will not achieve no matter how much effort is employed. Behaviorists believe this is not true. They believe behavior can be unlearned and replaced with a desired behavior. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski found this to be true in reinforcing effort. By creating an effort rubric, students can gain immediate feedback on how their effort correlates with their achievement and then make the adjustments needed to improve so they can meet their goals, thus changing a specific behavior/s.

One essential activity teachers need to be proficient in when providing homework and extra practice on key concepts is providing immediate feedback. This is critical so students won’t internalize false/wrong concepts or procedures. Thus, teachers must immediately reinforce the desired response or replace the unacceptable response with an acceptable one, which goes right along with the behaviorist theory of learning. Another component homework usually takes on is “drill and practice”. This is a negative for behaviorism because it is rote remediation with little to no engagement. Cornell states, “The student in the behaviorist approach works on the assignment individually” therefore promoting the generalization that “Parental involvement in doing homework should be kept to a minimum” (Pitler, 2007, p.187). This also promotes the reasons for “drill and practice” and the behaviorist theory that students can only retain small amounts of information at a time.

Cornell, K. (2007). Technology influence on education. Writing.com. Retrieved July 7,2009, from http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1282195

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