When I looked back on my personal theory of learning written during the first week of this class, I saw that my personal learning theory really has not changed over the course of this class. I still tend to take a constructivist's perspective when it comes to student learning of content and a behaviorist's perspective when it comes to student learning of correct behavior and manners. These I have incorporated into my classroom, however, I see evidence of perhaps incorporating more constructivist activities when it comes to certain areas of my teaching. I have also started to lean toward the social learning theories and have tried to modify my cooperative learning activities in such a way to promote effective social learning and communication.
There are some immediate adjustments that I have started to make in my instruction in regards to technology. In particular, I have added activities to my PowerPoint's in which I present Cloze notes to the students. These activities are hands-on and allow students to either work together to complete a task or complete one and share it with another student. They take the content we are learning in the notes and allow the students to apply that content to a physical activity. I hope to see results of these activities in the understanding of my students on quizzes and also in informal assessment. These activities are new to my students but the first reactions have been positive. I also plan on incorporating more cooperative learning activities with programs such as VoiceThread and even some of the concept mapping tools we have learned about. I have a project planned with my students using VoiceThread and I am working with our technology coordinator to add on some programs such as Inspiration to the computers on our mobile lab. These I hope to utilize in my classroom and also encourage my colleagues to try them out as well.
Two long-term goals I have for changing my instructional practice regarding technology would be to have at least one project a nine-weeks period assigned that utilizes technology, whether it be an out of class project or in class assignment and to take at least one day a week or every two weeks to teach my students how to use a new type of technology and complete a small assignment with that piece of technology. I want my students to feel comfortable using some of these tools so that down the road when they are able to choose their own way of doing a project they have a variety of things they could utilize on their own. I want my students to start thinking outside the box of posters and papers and start thinking of creative ways of doing the same thing. I have given an opportunity with my students this nine weeks to choose a PowerPoint presentation for their book report. Some of my students have chosen this route but most of them have chosen to do a poster. This is the attitude I want to start changing.
I will come up against some issues as a lot of my students have not used technology even in their homes. I do have a few students without computers and a few that do not have the Internet. This may pose a problem only because I do not currently have classroom computers to make up for those who do not have them at home. We are getting a mobile lab put together but it is not together yet and may not be for a few more weeks. As soon as this becomes available I am going to start utilizing it in my classroom. I will get some out of class assignments such as blog postings that the students will also be able to do in their computer class, which they have once a week. With all these ideas in place I hope to integrate technology in my classroom on a regular basis.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Social Learning Theory in Practice
When thinking about social learning theory, cooperative learning comes to the forefront of my mind. Cooperative learning allows students to work together in a group to accomplish a common task. Through this group work they usually have to use the skills that they already have to "learn" a new skill or present how they "learned" this new skill. These groups "focus[es] on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning" (Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, & Pitler, 2007, p. 139).
The cooperative learning strategies that were a part of this week's resources correlate well with the principles of social learning theories. Multimedia presentations such as video, podcasting, and use of this week's resource VoiceThread can allow for students to collaborate together on an online project or something that can be presented to the class in video format. The students must plan together first what they are going to do. They then must experiment with the different programs allowed to them to figure out how they are going to put it all together. Finally, they must pay close attention to detail in their projects and complete the project together. The teacher can tell when a group of students hasn't worked well together as their project fails. Up-front preparation and communication skills play key roles in this type of cooperative learning strategy.
Something else that caught my attention in this week's resources was the web-enabled multiplayer simulation games. These games are becoming ever popular outside of the classroom with games such as Call of Duty (my husband and brothers play that together over an Internet connection) and even Mario Kart. It is amazing how in some of these games you can be on the same team and work on solving a problem together even though you are not in the same room. The same can be done with educational programs. The one that particularly caught my eye was Revolution in which students work together online to solve problems, debate, and communicate during the events that led up to the American Revolution. While I am not a social studies teacher I can see how this type of cooperative learning exercise would both enhance students' social and communication skills but also their content knowledge about a particular time period in American History. This was a pivotal moment in our nation's history and to be able to simulate what it might have been like for the students gives them a better understanding of what exactly was going on.
There are many other strategies in our resources that correlate with the principles of social learning theories. I do like what the author said, however, that cooperative learning should be used "consistently and systematically" yet should not be "overused" (Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, & Pitler, 2007, 139). Overuse of anything can create bad situations and bad student-teacher experiences. However, cooperative learning is a great tool to use in the classroom and it benefits not just the students involved but the teacher as well.
The cooperative learning strategies that were a part of this week's resources correlate well with the principles of social learning theories. Multimedia presentations such as video, podcasting, and use of this week's resource VoiceThread can allow for students to collaborate together on an online project or something that can be presented to the class in video format. The students must plan together first what they are going to do. They then must experiment with the different programs allowed to them to figure out how they are going to put it all together. Finally, they must pay close attention to detail in their projects and complete the project together. The teacher can tell when a group of students hasn't worked well together as their project fails. Up-front preparation and communication skills play key roles in this type of cooperative learning strategy.
Something else that caught my attention in this week's resources was the web-enabled multiplayer simulation games. These games are becoming ever popular outside of the classroom with games such as Call of Duty (my husband and brothers play that together over an Internet connection) and even Mario Kart. It is amazing how in some of these games you can be on the same team and work on solving a problem together even though you are not in the same room. The same can be done with educational programs. The one that particularly caught my eye was Revolution in which students work together online to solve problems, debate, and communicate during the events that led up to the American Revolution. While I am not a social studies teacher I can see how this type of cooperative learning exercise would both enhance students' social and communication skills but also their content knowledge about a particular time period in American History. This was a pivotal moment in our nation's history and to be able to simulate what it might have been like for the students gives them a better understanding of what exactly was going on.
There are many other strategies in our resources that correlate with the principles of social learning theories. I do like what the author said, however, that cooperative learning should be used "consistently and systematically" yet should not be "overused" (Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, & Pitler, 2007, 139). Overuse of anything can create bad situations and bad student-teacher experiences. However, cooperative learning is a great tool to use in the classroom and it benefits not just the students involved but the teacher as well.
Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., Malenoski, K., & Pitler, H. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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