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,  

     Whisler J.S. (1997) Dimensions of Learning Teachers Manual (2^nd Edition) McREL (Mid-continent Regional 

     Educational Laboratory) USA

Teaching as Transparent Learning. (2009, 28 April).  [Web log comment].  Retrieved March 15, 2011 from
     http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122