Learning for learning

The more I do the more it all makes sense!

I am a learner, I want to be a teacher, but this doesn't stop me from learning and continuing to learn in very fundamental ways.  I've been reading the writings of Tom March's evolving framework for on-line learning 'Webquest' and am dazzled by the applications this tool has for the classroom.

When I ask myself this question:  What kind of outcomes do I want my students to achieve?  I think back to when I started my learning journey and how my learning has been enhanced & transformed by researching, creating, and playing.  I have also been challenged and rewarded for my efforts which has spurred me on to learn more.

March's "Choice-Effort-Quality-Attitude" creating a 'labor of love' for learning is the environment that I would like to foster in my classroom.  I want to create a class of students who are inquisitive and self-motivated (Ahhhh, is this too much to ask?), and make learning meaningful.

The thinking routines outlined in the course readings offer multiple choices for the collaborative classroom. 

Assessment 2 - Reflective Synopsis

Foreword

Kearsley and Schneiderman (1999) said it best, that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks.  Dimensions of Learning (Marzano, Pickering, Arredondo, Blackburn, Brandt, Moffett, Paynter, Pollock, Whisler, 1997) further suggest that in order to make a students learning meaningful teachers must put the lesson into a context that is meaningful to them. The incorporation of ICTs into the pedagogical practices of teachers provides ‘digital natives’ with an authentic platform from which to construct deep understanding.

Education Queensland states,

"Pedagogies that integrate information and communication technologies can engage students in ways not previously possible, enhance achievement, create new learning possibilities and extend interactions with local and global communities." (MCEETYA: Learning in an online world - Pedagogy Strategy, retrieved from Education Queensland, 2010)

As 21st century teachers we must consider the needs of our students and construct pedagogy that is student centred.  My learning framework is a combination of engagement theory and constructivism which supports the foundation of ICTs to facilitate meaningful learning. 

My exploration of technologies available to support learning has had me excited, frustrated, elated and exhausted!  So many possibilities, but caution is advised...it can be addictive!

Technologies for Enhanced Learning

Wikis

The new buzz word for the 21^st century is ‘collaboration’ and wikis are certainly indicative of this.  Wikis provide and support collaboration on-line and provide a scaffold from which to build ideas from.  They can be edited by anyone, anywhere, anytime and provide a valuable tool for generating new ideas on a particular topic.  In the classroom, I would use a wiki to enhance student learning by creating a ‘Book Review’ wiki.  This would allow students to discuss points of interest of a prescribed text for literacy.

I would use ‘wikispaces’ for the creation of this wiki, as it is free for educational purposes and easy to use.  I have created a sample wiki as part of this course http://toni72.wikispaces.com/SWOT+Analysis   Individual pages can be set up along the lines of:

• Introduction to students, what the wiki is for
• Overview of book, plot
• Character Analysis
• Quotes of Note
• Information about the author

As students read the book, they can comment on any themes, character interactions, likes/dislikes, feelings on the story etc in real-time.  By networking with other students, writing no longer becomes a ‘process’ but a fun and dynamic study tool, “wikis invigorate writing” (Lamb, 2004).  Therefore learning is transformed from the 'everyday' into an active learning experience.

Wikis, in general terms are ‘open’ sites, easily edited by anyone.  However, for the security of this site, I would have a log-in for every student in the class.  This also prevents the ‘intellectual property’ copyright dilemma.  For more on legal and safe issues when using on-line spaces see my blog posting 'Legal, Safe and Ethical Issues' Legal & Safety Obligations

MovieMaker

The use of ICTs in the classroom is all about fostering creativity and making learning “an active, constructive process” (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2011).  By transforming acquired knowledge, into a meaningful context the overall learning is enhanced. 

Creating a video using a tool like ‘Moviemaker’ can generate excitement and enthusiasm.  By enabling students to take control of a task their level of engagement is increased (Marzano & Pickering et al, 1997).

Students could choose a topic or I would provide one relevant for the subject, for example, ‘Road Safety’ (Stumer, 2011  Blog Posting: The Next James Cameron..Making Movies).  Students would then be involved in all facets of the production from:

• Preparing a storyboard
• Writing a script
• Finding appropriate filming sites
• Filming/Photographs
• Editing/voiceover/music
• Distribution/Marketing

This task encourages students to become literate on multiple levels, be capable of independent thinking, being able to communicate using digital technologies in an authentic way, and use digital mediums to produce meaningful learning outcomes.

The legal, safety and ethical guidelines that would need to be addressed in this activity would be any music used and students acting in the video.

There are a number of royalty-free sites available to download music from.  The site I have used is royaltyfree.com.  They offer a number of tracks free-of-charge and only require that you acknowledge them in the credits at the end of the video.  For students participating in the video as actors, permission from parents/caregivers would be necessary.

Glogster

School projects and presentations do not have to static, monotone regurgitation's of facts.  With Glogster students can truly express their creativity and design 'paperless' projects that are interactive (IWB) and reflective of their interests.  For deep learning to occur students need to be engaged and create meaning from knowledge, Glogster provides the vehicle for this.  Students can use cognitive processes (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1999) and will be motivated due to the learning environment that this on-line tool creates.  Finally, Glogster addresses various learning styles: Visual, Kinesthetic, Musical, Linguistic and Logic (Lane, n.d.). 

I love the 80s so my Glogster was reflective of my interest (Stumer, 2011 Blog Posting:Glogster).  There are many ways that Glogster could be incorporated into a class activity, and these could be individual, for example, creating a 'Interest Inventory' .  Students would design a Glog that was indicative of who they are, their likes, hobbies, family background etc.  Student Glogs would utilise the various elements of their personalities through music, colour, text and video.  These could then be collated into a class portfolio that could be embedded into a class wiki or blog and shared with others.

When using Glogster through the new educational platform, Glogsteredu, teachers can monitor student usage through the administration feature.  Teachers can also create individual student logins and passwords for added safety and security.  When incorporating music and video content into their Glogs, students would be given the sites that offer royalty-free images/music (Flickr or royaltyfreemusic.com) or You Tube for videos.  If students wish to incorporate their own images ie. their face, they would need to get permission prior to the activity from a guardian.

Dipity - Timelines

This on-line tool provides students with the ability to become active participants in the creation of their learning.  Students can create a timeline of events long ago, for example, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, (refer to my website http://learnindesignintheclassroom.weebly.com/why-dipity-in-the-classroom.html ) Students can also use an array of other topics from current affairs, sports and important public figures/celebrities (pop culture).  Dipity allows you to add pictures, videos, music and embed it into a website or wiki to share with others.

Once again the various learning styles can be addressed with a virtual timeline, taking traditional text based learning and delivering it in a context that stimulates and fosters enhanced learning.  For example, rather than look at pictures in a book, students can 'live' history by incorporating not only text on a subject, but using sound and imagery to generate an emotional response ie. Dinosaurs roaring, the sounds of their environment etc. The New Media Consortium (2005) suggests that "images and sounds in general, can be used as powerful communication tools."

I would get students to use Dipity to create timelines to look at their place in history.  Creating a timeline of what they wear, how they travel to school, how they learn compared to students years before.  Presenting a subject in a new way to generate critical thinking (higher order) and comparisons, stimulating discussion on how history is constantly being made and how it influences the future.

Once again the legal, safe and ethical issues need to be covered by adhering to copyright when using music, video and pictures and if using students or local content, keeping it general.

Conclusion

When students attend school for the first time they have often been exposed to technologies ie. PCs, DS, ipods, DVDs etc The New Media Consortium (2005) report on Global Imperative states that students come to school equipped to learn on multiple levels using multiple learning styles and their needs are not being adequately met by todays curriculum.  

Classrooms should be learner and knowledge centred, allowing students to problem solve, question, use each other as sounding boards, experiment and in essence create a 'community of learners' (About Learning: Report of the Learning Working Group, 2004 p.18).  The use of ICTs as an intregal part of good pedagogy will foster a deeper understanding of a lesson and in turn create 'productive mental' habits of mind that they will take into their eveyday life (Marzano & Pickering et. al, 1997).

As tomorrows teachers we need to successfully engage and capture the imaginations of 'digital natives' harnessing their prior knowledge in this area, and support it actively in the classroom.

References

Kearsley, G. & Schneiderman, B. (1999, 2010). Engagement Theory: A Framework for Technology- 
     based Teaching and Learning. Retrieved March 9, 2011 http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Marzano R. J, Pickering J. P, Arredondo D. E, Blackburn G. J, Brandt R.S, Moffet C. A, Paynter D. E, Pollock J. 
     E, Whisler J.S. (1997) Dimensions of Learning Teachers Manual (2^nd Edition) McREL (Mid-continent 
     Regional Educational Laboratory) USA

Education Queensland (2010) Information and Communication Technology. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from 

     http://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/area/ict/index.html

Lamb, B. (2004) Educause: March/April 2011. Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not. Retrieved April 10,     2011 from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/WideOpenSpacesWikisReadyorNot/157925

Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2011, April). Constructivism at Learning-Theories.com.

     Retrieved April 11th, 2011 from http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html

Department of Education WA (2011) Educational Value of Wikis. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from 

     http://det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/wikis/

Lane, C. (n.d.) The Distance Learning Technology Resource Guide: Multiple Intelligences. 

     Retrieved March 14, 2011 from http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html

The New Media Consortium (2005) A Global Imperative. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from

     http://archive.nmc.org/pdf/Global_Imperative.pdf

About Learning: The Report of the Learning Group (2004) Pdf document from Topic 2 'Learners and Learning'  
     Pedagogical Content Knowledge Readings, GDLT Program CQU

Mind Mapping

My Mind Map on Group Technologies.

This was a very easy site to use, however, the work is in developing the words/ideas you want presented.

The mindmapping tool allows you to generate and brainstorm ideas on a specific task.  This tool then provides a 'scaffold' to build upon.

In my recent volunteer work at a local primary school, I've seen the year 3 students use the mindmapping tool (in written form) to generate ideas for their practice persuasive writing task.  The teacher reads them a persuasive story, then the students analyse it using a mind map to highlight the arguments presented.  She then gets the students to write a piece of persuasive text using their mindmap.  

Students are able to hone their semantic skills and collate these thoughts into their own piece of writing.

Mind maps can be used for other writing tasks including summarising texts and the relevant ideas gained from them.

Legal and Safety Obligations of On-line Use

Understanding  copyright is the obligation of everyone. If teachers are to use this information rich resource we need to be across the legal, ethical, and safety obligations first.

The web is a free resource, however, it is illegal to plagiarise or reproduce content (audio, pictures, designs, movies) all have copyright.

When using information gathered on the web, credit should be given to the owner ie (Toni L. Stumer, 2011) and include the site information and the copyright symbol. 

It is a teachers responsibility to ensure that the students participate in on-line activities safely.  In order to achieve this no surnames, addresses/phone numbers or any other personal information should be used.  Rather than use a students photograph for a blog, use an avatar.

Continual teacher/parent interaction is paramount so that parents are fully informed of what on-line activities their child is involved in. Creating links to blogs so parents can see their childs progress is recommended.

http://murcha.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/keeping-students-cybersafe/

This site has some really useful ideas for legal and safe use of on-line teaching.

'Dipity' Do da!

Well, I had a weee tinker with 'Dipity' which enables the user to create a timeline of events ie. a murder, a moment in history etc.  Once again I tried to use my Dinosaur theme to create a timeline of their history:


Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous


http://www.dipity.com/Stumey/Diggin-the-Dinosaurs/


Why Dipity?

When I did history at school it was all about reading textbooks, creating presentations using pictures glued to cardboard and slowly putting the rest of the class to sleep.

Dipity transforms the mundane history lesson into something that students can connect with., which I think would be invaluable in the classroom. This brings me to the interesting article from earlier in this course, Prensky's 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants'.  If we want to 'engage' students and not 'enrage' them, we need to rethink our pedagogy, and Dipity provides a platform to present a history in todays 'native' language.

The Word is 'Wordle'

I have been doing some volunteer work at a Primary school and the teacher has been doing some interactive whiteboard activities with an on-line program called 'Wordle'.  It is referred to as a 'word cloud'.  The fonts, colours and layout of the words can be changed offering students a variety of designs.


Ideas for the classroom:

• Creating wordles that describe a person, place or thing and students guess what it is.  An activity like this would enhance learning by creating a 'hook' to engage students. 
• Student create individual wordles to describe themselves ie. Interest Inventory
• Dissecting a piece of text into its various characters/chapters/events ie Shakespeare
• Creating spelling lists, students could create lists of weekly spelling words, or even word groups (example: listing proper nouns etc)

It is a great tool for literacy, I've used  the group technologies we've covered to create an ICTs wordle, and a Snow White wordle. 

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3440515/ICTs

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3440551/Snowwhite

SWOT Analysis

Strengths - Interactive, fun and easy to use; enhanced learning by stimulating students creativity; great brainstorming tool, idea generation, higher order thinking to 'pull out' hidden meanings

Weaknesses - May seem to have limited use as it is only words

Opportunities - Through the constructivist and connectivist nature of this application, students make a more meaningful connection with their subject matter resulting in deeper understanding.

Threats - Can get carried away with the design elements.

Glogster

Ahhhhh the 80s what fantastic music!(sorry not the original, copyright)

I luvvved Glogster!  What a fantastic tool of self-expression, whether your into music (like me) or science, maths etc this on-line resource offers heaps!

Why Glogster?

I love Glogster because of its contemporary design features and the fact that it offers creators the opportunity to really express themselves.  It appeals to a range of learning styles, using animation, music, text, video and pictures that can be used to present a range of topics.  I chose to expand upon this technology because if I am engaged and enthusiastic this will have a flow-on effect to my students.  A reading from PCK  topic 2 states “ A passion for learning is central to [teachers] work; teachers and learners have a shared and agreed understanding of what effective learning is.”  As teachers of ICTs in the classroom we are, to a degree learning ourselves and the way we impart this information will be paramount to its success.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths - Complete expression, free reign to design and create a poster which is representative of YOU!; Can be used for a multi-tude of applications in the classroom from core subjects to student portfolios; can be used in collaboration or individually; enhanced and engaged learning


Weaknesses -  Glogster has soooo many fantastic animated icons to incorporate that you can run the risk of going overboard, less is more!  The teacher needs to ensure that students while self motivated through this process are being guided to achieve an authentic learning outcome.

 Opportunities - ENGAGED DEEP LEARNING!!!!  Students can immerse themselves in innovative, fun, thought-provoking, challenging learning; 

Threats - As with all technology the sudden 'crash' of a program can cause delays and dissruptions; not always dependable

Prezi Mania!

When I first saw a Prezi presentation I didn't like it at all!  All the zooming and rotating made me feel ill!  However, I am now a convert!  I used my power point presentation which made it alot easier to create.

http://prezi.com/9yyaxp1hsppd/diggin-the-dinosaurs/

Using prezi enhanced my original presentation by the addition of simple text ie Why? Long ago... added something different a different perspective (along with the rotational effects!)  I think prezi would only work on a small presentation, there is a risk of going overboard and losing the whole point of the project.

Diggin’ the dinosaurs!

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Diggin’ the dinosaurs!

View more presentations from stumer.

This is my powerpoint presentation that I developed as a bit of a test run for a unit of work studying 'Dinosaurs'.  I would use this presentation at the commencement of the unit to give background.  Other smaller presentations could be done to discuss the different species, how fossils tell us about the past, what scientists discover about the history of the world through the study of fossils etc

SWOT Analysis

Strengths - slides can be used over again, altered and manipulated easily; teachers notes can be viewed while the students only see the presentation, no need to memorise; can be printed out for students as a study tool along with the presentation outline; can use sound, animation or link to other websites for additional reference; teacher can manually click through slides at their own pace or present points one at a time

Weaknesses - Technical problems; risk of becoming too bogged down in the 'wizardry' of the presentation instead of using it to enhance learning.

Opportunities - Enhancing learning by incorporating the different learning styles ie. written points, visual (video clips), colour, graphics, sound.

"Story Time with Mrs Stumer" Podcast

I know, you've all been waiting to hear my vocal stylings, well wait no more! Check out my podcast ( follow the link in the side bar) and hear 'Ellies Star'.  

This is a great way to connect outside of the 'visual' norms of wikis, websites and blogs.  I could see a podcast being very useful in terms of students with sight impairments or students learning a foreign language.

You can choose the podcast you're interested in whether it be sport, music, etc.  Podcasts can also be played on an ipod or mp3 player which enables easy access anywhere, anytime.

Going on a Picnik!

Just finished tinkering with Picnik an on-line program that allows you to do some reallllly cool stuff to your everyday photos, take a look! (There is plenty more you can do!)

Original Photo

 This programs basic features are free to users and offer some great ideas to enhance or give your pics an edge!

I think this could be useful in the classroom for designing themed projects ie. A class yearbook making the everyday look quirky and unique.  This could be a class activity involving taking digital images of class mates, class acitivities etc and collating these into a portfolio as a keep-sake for students.  Every student could be involved from the planning and design to taking photos, editing them using a tool like Picnik adding personal touches and written info.

When I was at school we produced a yearly magazine which contained class photos of 10,11,12 as well as info on school wide activities ie. school musical, socials, excursions etc.  A committee was formed to take submissions, pics, info etc.  At the end of the year students could purchase the magazine for a small fee that went back to the social committee, AWESOME!  What a fantastic way to engage students and use everyday skills at a high level.

The next James Cameron?....Making Movies

 Music supplied by royaltyfreemusic.com

I really enjoyed this and what a fantastic tool for a classroom!

Students could use 'Movie Maker' for a number of single or collaborative projects. 

Why Moviemaker?

I come from a television background and as a visual learner myself I can certainly see the benefits of this technology in a classroom.  A class can be involved in a collaborative task from selecting a topic, writing a script, preparing a storyboard, filming, editing, etc.

Using my learning design framework, I would use this tool to deepen and engage my students.  Moving them from merely 'knowing' the information to a deeper understanding. Students would be involved in complex 'higher order thinking' which would cover the spectrum of subject areas ie. oral, written, reading, listening and maths.

The class could work in groups to follow the steps from pre to post production.

Activities that could be adapted to video are:

Music lessons - developing a music clip to correspond with a assessable piece of music

Science/Maths - A 'How to' on a experiment and the outcomes

English - Recital of poetry, acting out a literary text

SWOT Analysis

Strengths - Easy to use; no experience in film editing required; free application through windows; great effects and inbuilt tools to add creativity; can add music and simple text; appealling to a range of learning styles

Weaknesses -

Opportunities - To engage students in meaningful learning that is engaging and stimulating will create more chance of authentic learning; empowers students giving them ownership of task

Threats - Technology can sometimes be unreliable and 'crash'; teacher needs to ensure that students stay on task



Wikis and Websites......the dot.com revolution

I've just created my Wiki and Website (soooooo much fun!) and will shortly add my SWOT analysis to both.  Check them out at the following links:


http://www.learnindesignintheclassroom.weebly.com/

http://toni72.wikispaces.com/

I hope I don't get repetitive, however, just so I've got my bases covered I'm going to do my SWOT analysis here and also put in onto my Wiki and Website.

As I am a visual learner, I've added this diagram of a SWOT analysis just keep me on track.

Wiki SWOT Analysis

Strengths - Collaborative, easy to edit, people anywhere can add to it, can communicate over long distance, develop a 'community of practice' by sharing ideas with like minded people

Weaknesses - Anyone can edit so information may become corrupted, needs constant organising as multiple contributions can cause it to become messy, some may be more adept with computers than others therefore they contribute more, conversely, people can also be lazy and let others do the work.

Opportunites - Students can create a wiki as an in-class project ie, school newspaper, can be used in class environment to encourage the sharing of ideas on various topics, contect with students from other parts of world to discuss ideas/issues ie. learn different cultures, home schooling keeping in touch with other parents to create an on-line network.

Threats - Not a secure site, can be password protected but can still be hacked into, if information becomes too corrupt  runs risk of becoming unuseable.

Website - PMI Analysis (Thought I'd use a different evaluating strategy)

Plus - Reach a mass audience; accessible anytime, anywhere; website creation tools like 'Weebly' make the design of a website simple for those who are not 'tech' savvy; can use animation, video, music etc to enhance the users 'experience'

Minus - Cost to maintain and create websites, with the exception of most educational websites, there is normally a cost involved dependant upon how complex the site; some information presented may not be reliable; the technology users have (iphone, PC etc) may crash

Interesting

• I think you would have to have some idea of the audience your website is reaching, some community members may be hesitant or totally unfamiliar with this kind of information sharing.  Therefore you've lost your intended audience before you've started.

I think wikis and websites are innovative ways to present ideas and share them with friends, family and the wider community.  Wikis as a research tool enable participants to learn and grow as part of a community of like-minded people and add their own insight thus extending the knowledge data base; websites offer on-line information on a particular topic as a 'get-what-you're-given' concept, in its simpliest form websites offer consistent information which may link to other sites or stand alone ie. like a brochure.  A website, unlike a wiki, does offer exciting ways to deliver the information eg. videos, music, flash players etc.

Da dada Da! Assessment 1

What is good teaching practice?  How do we as teachers, get our learners to learn effectively with understanding?  In the past 3 weeks of this course I have begun to develop a broad concept of what is required in today’s classroom.  21st century teachers need to be facilitators and instigators of learning, extending students’ knowledge and enhancing it through the use of ICTs.

I consider the nature of this course and its components to be predominantly constructivist and connectivist.  Constructivist principle states that "Constructivist teaching practices are designed to help students internalize new information in order to create new understandings...challenging students is more than memorizing material to pass a standardized test" (Jenkins, n.d.).

 Connectivism is seen as the theory for the technological age, described as "Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing." (Siemens, 2004).

These theories are evident in the tasks assigned to us in the first two weeks of this course:

• Profile Wiki – Creating a database of information about ourselves that other students can access
• Learning Theories Wiki – Using this database of information to select a partner to collaborate with on a selected reading 
• Mobile Phone Wiki – Using a scaffolded approach (constructivist) to collaborate with other     learners on the topic

These tasks allowed for collaboration through varied digital means i.e.

 I spoke with my partner over the phone to discuss the ‘Learning Theories Wiki’, in this task we established a connection through the courses forum and from there, discussed our individual thoughts on the learning theory via mobile phone.  

 As discussed in week one, everyone learns differently, Gardner states "Students learn in ways that are identifiably distinctive. The broad spectrum of students - and perhaps the society as a whole - would be better served if disciplines could be presented in a numbers of ways and learning could be assessed through a variety of means"(Lane, n.d.).  The online tasks allow learning to be individual (reflection) but also include collaboration as a means of generating new and critical thought processes.

The online collaborative format of learning provided by ‘Moodle’ suits my learning style as I am an active and visual learner.  Reading the postings to the forums and the partnered task has given me the opportunity to enhance my learning by contributing ideas and developing my knowledge base.  The design aspect of creating a blog has further enhanced my learning and knowledge in the benefits of this resource.

 The processes that have been underpinning my learning have been:

·        Blooms Taxonomy

·        Engagement Theory

·        TPACK

  Bloom tells us that there are 6 areas or "goals of the learning process...acquiring new skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes" (Clark, 1999, p. 1). This framework dictates that Remembering, Understanding, Applying are low-order thinking where Analysing, Evaluating, Creating are high-order thinking.  The two areas of thought are indicative of the development of critical thinking, starting with memory (recall) and progressing through to complex thinking.   In this course the design framework has thrown us all in the deep end of high-order thinking! This goes with Dimensions Of Learnings' 5^th dimension, ‘Habits of Mind’.  That pushing our limits "especially if those benefits include excitement, expanded knowledge and abilities, increased confidence, and a willingness to accept and learn from setbacks and failures," (Marzano, Pickering, Arredondo, Blackburn, Brandt, Moffett, Paynter, Pollock, Whisler, 1997, p.285) will enable us to achieve our individual goals.  I think each of us has had to persevere in the creation phase of wikis and blogs, I certainly have!

Engagement Theory is one for the technological age, "a conceptual framework for technology-based learning and teaching" (Kearsley & Schneiderman 1999, p. 1), and encompasses ICTs as an essential element for enhanced learning.  This is certainly the case for this course with the introduction to blog design/creation, use/creation wikis.  They provide:

·        Flexible learning for students located in different areas

·        Instantaneous information exchange

      Example: On the partnered task I was able to type our ideas directly onto the wiki and post it,    

      instantly my partner could read the text and review it!

The scaffolded approaches to the wiki tasks were essential.  I hadn’t explored the concepts and ideas presented and the scaffolding gave me a starting point on which to build my own viewpoints and deepen my learning.  The collaboration of others to the wikis also gave additional insight and food for thought on the task.  The scaffolded activities forced me to use my cognitive skills to think things through.  While learning information is an individual process, using PMI and de Bonos Thinking Hats, further enabled students to ‘open their minds’ (Marzano & Pickering et al, 1997) and look at the tasks from all sides. 

Each student brings different life and ICT experiences, and therefore, the ideas generated through each task have been mixed, further enhancing individual learning.  "When someone decides to share their thoughts and ideas in a transparent manner, they become a teacher to those who are observing" (Teaching as Transparent Learning, 2009, p. 122).  This has been essential to the success of ICTs so far, the participation of fellow students in forums and assigned tasks has produced new insights and transformed ideas. 

‘Relate-Create-Donate’ (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1999), emphasise that learning is group based, authentic and worthwhile.  This can be said of this course.  As participants, all contribute (blogs, wikis) to create a purposeful, effective and meaningful learning experience.

My learning framework moving forward will incorporate and foster the differences in learning styles through:

·        Blooms Taxonomy (as revised by Lorin Anderson)

·        Engagement Theory’s principle of ‘relate-create-donate’ (collaboration)

·        Support ICTs as an essential part of the 21^st century classroom

·        Scaffold to deepen learning and encourage critical thought processes

 Referencing

     

Jenkins, J. M .(n.d.).Constructivism. Retrieved March 15, 2011 from  

      http://www.lecforum.org/publications/constructivism.htm  

                           

 

Siemens, G. (2004). Elearnspace: everything elearning. Retrieved March 8, 2011 from  

      http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm  

  

Lane, C. (n.d.) The Distance Learning Technology Resource Guide: Multiple Intelligences. 
      Retrieved March 14, 2011 from http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html

Clark, D. R. (2010) The Human Performance Juxtaposition. Affective Domain; Psychomotor  Domain; Bloom's  
     Revised Taxonomy; Retrieved March 11, 2011 from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

Kearsley, G. & Schneiderman, B. (1999, 2010). Engagement Theory: A Framework for Technology- 

     based  Teaching and Learning. Retrieved March 9, 2011 from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

  

Marzano R. J, Pickering J. P, Arredondo D. E, Blackburn G. J, Brandt R.S, Moffet C. A, Paynter D. E, Pollock J. E,  

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