Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

I think a majority of students construct meaning through social learning but a smaller number of students prefer different methods. A vast number of students learn more effectively when they are allowed to use collaborative practices because they are able to interact with other students and share ideas (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, 2007, p. 139). I implement this practice about once a week in my classroom and have seen students succeed in collaborative activities where they may have failed in other activities. I have also seen some students who prefer to work by themselves and do quite well. Social learning is of the utmost importance but I believe that everyone is different so not everyone constructs the same meaning through social learning.

Implications of adopting social learning instructional practices and integrating technology tools that support and facilitate social learning are very great. By implementing these practices, educators are allowed to reach more students and allow all of them to learn interactively. Most of our students are very familiar and comfortable with technology so using it in various ways should also help students retain information better and make the learning process more relevant. Some technologies that has helped me facilitate social learning in my classroom are wikispaces, blogs, and podcasts. The students seem to enjoy these activities more and therefore retain more of the content.

Jonathan Garrett

Resources:

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

Constructionism Strategies

Dr. Michael Orey did an excellent job in illustrating effective constructional learning strategies inside the classroom. The construction of a picture or idea in our minds is the basic notion behind constructionist beliefs. Students working with materials and an idea in order to achieve an end goal constitutes basic constructionism practices (Laureate, 2009). Dr. Orey also discussed that the work of Piaget was a predecessor to modern constructivist ideas and that students must be involved in building ideas in order to learn and build from knowledge. Technology plays an important role in this approach because so many programs, such as PowerPoint, require students to work with a topic and slowly build and create a final product. With the physical construction students are mentally constructing ideas and notions about the topic. Seymour Papert purported the more involvement with an idea, the more building of knowledge (Laureate, 2009). Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski added to this point with the description of a high school history teacher’s classroom which used two methods to teach WWII. The first was a straightforward method, recognizable to almost anyone. The latter method was an interactive web approach utilizing a game. The teacher found that the students who had more interests in the game and performed as certain leaders did in history retained more information and performed much better on the assessment (2007). This example greatly supports the theory of constructionism because the students who had a more hands-on lesson and interacted with the game performed better than students who were just lectured to. I had a similar experience when teaching the executive branch of government. Two classes were allowed to create their own ideal presidential candidate. The students picked what race, party, religion, and stance on important issues their candidate would take. These students were more successful with the executive branch because they were allowed to construct their knowledge of the office of the president.

Jonathan Garrett

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program 7. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author

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

Cognative Learning Theory in the Classroom

After completing this week’s learning resources a few thoughts come to mind that connect some instructional strategies I use in the classroom to principles of cognitive learning theory. One method I implement and supports cognitive learning theory is the use of multimedia mapping. I recently assigned a project where the students had to find advertisements from special interest groups and annotate it using a myriad of programs. Their annotations had to highlight some of the key aspects of special interest group advertisements and their images had to contain at least 4 examples of these aspects. The students highly enjoyed this assignment and are extremely sharp when it comes to special interest groups. I attribute this to the fact that multimedia learning allows students to “both activate prior knowledge and develop a mental model to help them understand new information.” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007) This vivid connection supports the beliefs of Dr. Michael Orey, an expert in cognitive theory, as well. Orey stresses that for learning to be significant multiple senses must be integrated in the activity or presentation and ideas must be connected to other ideas. (Laureate, 2009) This learning activity exemplifies my best efforts to keep content relevant and fresh as long as educators’ best practices. Hopefully the integration of picture and words and the manipulation of both will aid my students now and in the future connect cognitively to the topic.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program 5. Cognitive Learning Theories. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

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

Behaviorists Learning Through Educational Technology

Behaviorist learning has a place in today's classroom. Behaviorism concentrates on actions that are measurable and can help keep track of a student's progress (Laureate Education, 2009). This allows students to set goals and actually see that they are making progress in a particular area. This is very relevant today because technology can be used to integrate behaviorist learning in the classroom. Students can complete online tutorials in areas where they need help and they can receive feedback on their answers. Also creating an effort and achievement spreadsheet to help students see areas they need to improve and help them associate their effort to their achievement. Behaviorist learning can be very useful in today's classroom if it is used for just more than just drill and practice and used to help students improve. Behaviorist learning in todays classroom takes advantage of the technology available and keeps students interested because they can physically see where they have made improvement.


References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2009. Behaviorist Learning Theory [Motion picture]. Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology. Baltimore: Author