A Journey into VoiceThread

I have attempted to introduce my friends to VoiceThreads, in hopes that they;

1. Help me out
2. Explore the application themselves.

http://voicethread.com/share/3819883/

Check it out.

Connectivism?

Blog Post for Connectivism

To sum it up, (according to me of course) Social Learning stipulates that students learn better whilst they interact with others. Dr. Orey believes that when students are creating artifacts with the help of others, they are engaging in a conversation that will help them understand more.  Those others could be teachers, computers, and their friends.  Teaching and helping their friends aids them in developing a deeper understanding of the content they are working with. 

     The Connectivism that George Siemens’ speaks of taps into this belief.  He said that learning is the act of forming networks and navigating these networks for knowledge.  

     It seems as though my previous post applauds the outcomes of a constructivist approach, whereas the Social Learning Theories I speak of today supports the processes and interactions that happen transpire during the construction of a groups end artifact.  From previous experiences, I think it’s entirely possible to have a large percentage of students work done socially in class, fine tune it collaboratively using social network sites like Facebook, Skype, or Tumblr and provide a tangible, Constructivist guided artifact that they can share with others, possibly on their Voicethreads account! 

Constructionism in Action!

“You mean we get to make something in class?”  Wow, I remember saying that when I was a student.  To be able to create something in class was such an event, that I can remember many of the large projects I did 20+ years ago.  Maps of the explorers that discovered Canada, Olympic Villages of my design, a diorama of the northern Tundra and an anatomically correct knee joint with a removable patella bone.  How is it I can remember making these projects from so long ago? Oh wait, I know…Constructionism!

Dr. Orey states that Constructionism is the theory of learning where people learn best when they get to create something that they can share (Laureate Education, 2010). Apparently the ability to share a creating engages students, and gives them a greater capacity to learn.

I was blown away by Voicethreads this week ) http://www.personal.psu.edu/jun3/blogs/webresume/VoiceThread-WP(2).pdf) .  How can you possibly share your work with the world in a better way?  People can give their opinions/thoughts/collaborative ideas on your creation through video, text or voice.

Even the use of data collection tools and spreadsheets (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007) give our students a chance to create something they can share and interpret with others.  It was said so well in our text, such tools illustrate how technological applications help teachers to combine the instructional strategies that affect student achievement (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007).  If I am still able to remember my projects, which were made of clay, paper browned with tea bags, markers and glue sticks, will all of this technology that’s everyday available allow students to remember more of their work down the line?

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). Behaviorist learning theory. Baltimore, MD: Dr. Michael Orey.

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

Cognitivism in Practice

Dr. Orey explains that it is important to make connections between the old and new information we have stored in our brains (Laureate Education, 2007). Retrieving and activating this background knowledge will give our students an appropriate platform to link, and in turn recall, new information that they will be given. 

The Concept Mapping Tool’s explained by Novak (2006) visually depicts the relationships between concepts, by indicating a connecting line that links the new concepts.  You can take original background knowledge, and physically draw in the links that connect your old knowledge, to new concepts.  This form of Elaboration is an integral part of retaining long-term memory (Laureate Education, 2007).

Paivio’s (Laureate Education, 2007) dual coding hypothesis predicts that students will retain information better if it is stored as an image and text.  By using appropriate organizers provided in our book; Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007) we can help our students create an associative connection using informational images and rich vocabulary.

Behaviorism in Practice  

Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski (2007) state that people attribute success to a variety of sources.  They believe that effort has the greatest impact on success, because it is the only one that can be controlled by the individual.  I think that behaviorism influences effort.  Michael Orey (2010) said that behaviorism is the idea that a student learns a task by repeated exposure to the task and receiving feedback on that task via positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or punishment.  If a student is giving a lot of effort, and is positively praised, they will continue to give that type of effort; especially if that effort reaps rewards.  Pitler et. al (2007) clarified that students may not see the correlation between how well they understand something, and how much time was put into learning it. 

The author of the book ‘Outliers’, Malcolm Gladwell, stated that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.  Pitler et. al (2007) say students need about 24 practice sessions with a skill in order to achieve 80-percent competency.  I know homework may provide the operant conditioning needed to become competent to learn a skill, but in the case of a competitive school, like mine, as teachers we are sometimes unsure if the students even do their own homework.  If they are going home, and getting a lot of help with their work, does that count towards the 10,000 hours Gladwell, or 24 practice sessions Pitler et. al (2007) believe?

As I stated in this weeks discussion, I do believe in Behaviorism activities like stimulus-response tutorial programs for students.  I have found these to be extremely powerful tools for the comprehension, decoding, critical thinking and inferring skills needed to become a good reader.

I believe that Behaviorism has, and will continue to have, a deep hold on educational practices in education throughout the world.  It will provide the reinforcement and repetitive work needed to promote success, correct behavior and solidify concepts in the minds and actions of students across the globe.

Resources

Gladwell, Malcolm. (2008). Outliers. New York : Little, Brown and Co.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). Behaviorist learning theory. Baltimore, MD: Dr. Michael Orey. 

  

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

Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society – A Reflection

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. ~Confucius 
 

In what ways has this course helped you to develop your own technology skills as a professional teacher?

 

  This course has allowed me to change from a user of podcasts, wikis and blogs, to a creator!  It’s been a wonderful journey, learning how to start and upkeep a blog, collaborate on a wiki, and tweak a podcast.

  I use Google Reader constantly now, and have RSS subscriptions to all of my favorite websites and blogs.  Looking back to 8 weeks ago, I can’t believe how much time I now save when looking for something to read. 

  I have been trying to share this knowledge with as many of my teacher friends as possible.  It has also made me realize how few teachers are using these types of technology in their classrooms.   I have started getting them onto Google Reader, as a first step, in hopes that they will become more comfortable with technology.  I have plans on running a PD at my school for this too.  I believe that subscribing to educational sites is such an easy and effective way to retrieve new information about teaching, and better yourself as an educator.

In what ways have you deepened your knowledge of the teaching and learning process?

 

  I am not sure just how I have deepened my knowledge of the teaching and learning process.  I know that I have definitely realized that it’s important for me as an educator to explore new ideas to bring to the classroom.  This course has cemented that rational.  As interested as I am in operating this technology for personal use, I always thought that it might be difficult to bring into the classroom.  How much time would it take to teach how to use? Will I have the resources? Will I have the support? Would there be enough interest?

  After completing my podcast, I realized the answers to most of the above questions.  The students I interviewed all spent between 1-4 hours a night on the Internet.  They will be able to use all 3 tech 2.0 applications from the comfort of their homes, all the while using Skype as the collaborative medium tool to help each other (Laureate, 2010).

In what ways have you changed your perspective from being teacher-centered to learner-centered?

  The definition of teacher is shifting. We are no the sole providers of information.  We are the explainers, the context providers, the meaning makers and the evaluators of information that kids find on their own (Prensky, 2008) I think this shift is an exciting one.  As we know, students are already bombarded with information that needs to be critically examined.  It excites me that as a teacher I will get to help them sort out the good from the bad, and learn how to critically think about the information and its sources.  Developing students Informational Literacy (Laureate, 2010) and the 21^st Century Skills that come with it should now be a teacher’s main priority.  Helping them to develop their problem solving skills, work and collaborate with a team and foster their creative and innovative thinking.  In fact, Thornburg (2010) stated that students would benefit form the power of personal learning when they take ownership of their own learning, and can create artifacts with these 2.0 tools.

  I consistently come back to Dede’s (Laureate, 2010) interfaces.  After I read these, I realized my interface was that of an Augmented Reality.  I use my smartphone everyday to answer questions that arise.  For example, on my way to work, I can be Google searching (why do Chinese people walk and jog backwards, what is the air quality today or why are my taxi drivers fingernails always so long?), can be ‘whatsapp’ ing (http://www.whatsapp.com/) my friends and family from home, and following directions from Google Maps.  It’s funny, as I am on the cusp of being a digital native (Laureate, 2010) that I too can multitask on a similar level to that of my students.

In what ways can you continue to expand your knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement?

 

  I intend to use my Google Reader feed as a catalyst to finding out new information and applications that I can use in my class.  As stated above, I am already receiving a wealth of information that I can personally use, or I send along to my friends if it relates to their subject.  This course has made me realize that even though I am on the internet extensively, I had not been nearly as efficient as I could be.  There is still so much out there that I can learn to make my life easier, and my teaching more engaging.  I have learned that many others have the same frustrations, questions and solutions, and that there are ways to link us all, so we as teachers can collaboratively solve the problems that plague us. This is turn teaches us the importance of working with others, so we can best instruct our students to do so.

A Couple of Long Term Goals

  In the next 2 years, I would like to have these goals completed:

1.   Have students be responsible in the collaborative planning and construction of a wiki page dedicated to personal fitness.  I want them to be able to compile activities and exercise that will be needed to help them maintain a high level of fitness.  There will be a couple of institutional and systemic obstacles to this.  Firstly, I will have to instruct the students on the basics of personal fitness.  Second, I will need to show them how I to utilize a wiki page.  This could prove to be difficult, because I do not want to use a PE period for technology instruction.  I will more then likely have to do this, because time is a very valuable commodity here.  Lastly, I want the students to be able to share their work, so I will have to show them how they can post their work on the Schools Sports Website (See number 2). 

2.   I want to be using an interactive blog and website to share information to parents and students.  Our school currently doesn’t have one.  My goal is to create one where I can post match reports and pictures as well as game and practice times.  In order to do this, I will need to overcome a very large systemic obstacle.  Because my school is a federation of schools, if one school adds something, they all must.  I have met with my coordinators, ICT teacher and Principal in order to get this going.  My coordinator has just told me that there will be a pilot team assembled in order to start to implement this new website, in which I will get to be involved. Very exciting news, but it’s still early, and nothing has really be completely cemented, and I imagine it may take a while to get this off the ground.

       After reviewing the checklist I completed during the first week of class, I noticed a couple of differences.  I had done collaborative work before in my classes, but I am now taking steps to digitize this work, and utilize new technology.  Second, I am now actively involved in developing a vision for technological integration across scholastic areas.  I also have sought of professionals in my school and online who can better assist me to obtain the knowledge I want.

The impact of technology on education, work and society has been wonderful to examine.  I find myself wondering though, what is the next step?  What will happen when these so called Digital Natives become the ones who generate and implement new policies?

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). Understanding the impact of technology on education, work,

and society. Baltimore, MD: Dede.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). Understanding the impact of technology on education, work,

and society. Baltimore, MD: Thornburg.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). Skills for the 21^st Century. Baltimore, MD: Thornburg.

Prensky, M. (2008, March). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.