Saturday, April 30, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Connectivism
My network has changed the way I learn in so many ways, especially since becoming a Walden Educational Technology student. Walden has forced me to go outside my "comfort zone" and Skype for the first time in my life. It's a fun adventure learning differently by collaborating virtually vs. face-to-face which is what I was accustomed to before Walden. While I used to learn by reading and highlighting textbooks, and using Google to find all my reference materials, now I learn by watching podcasts and reading scholarly articles. Before Walden, I had never learned by reading blogs or wikis, which now I do regularly. My ways of learning have really changed immensely since becoming a Walden University student.
The digital tools that best facilitate learning for me are videos. I am a visual learner and need to "see" what is going on. I learned how to use my classroom Mimio tool through watching an instructional video. As a Walden student I also learn a lot from the resource videos that include real-life teacher experiences in them. In addition, this year I have begun using http://nsdl.org/resources_for/k12_teachers/ as a great digital tool for Science. Lastly, I have learned quite a bit from researching websites, like http://www.learningcommons.org/educators/tools/, that help guide educational technology teachers/students in their learning.
Learners learn new knowledge best when they ask critical thinking questions. When I have questions, the best way I learn new knowledge is by completing a web search for my answer. I am careful to read only trusted resources. In addition to completing web searches, I learn new knowledge by communicating with my instructors and Walden professionals. I frequent Walden's Live Chat frequently, inquiring on new information. This helps me get my answers quick and retain the learning for the next time the situation arises.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Mod 3 Responses (Repost-Try #3)
I posted on Christine Moore's blog: http://learningtechtalk.blogspot.com/2011/04/collaboration.html?showComment=1303159520137#c1104459454187917436 and on Wanda Ardoin-Bailey's blog at http://educ-7105.blogspot.com/2011/04/collaboration.html#comments.
Mod 3 (Repost-Try #3)
Collaboration
As we heard in Rheingold’s discussion, I do believe humans have the basic instinct to “interact and work as a group.” As he pointed out humans have lived for much, much longer than the approximately 10,000 years of settled agricultural civilization. They had to interact and work as group in order to survive. He gave an example stating, “In small family groups, nomadic hunters bring down rabbits, gathering food.” Working in a preschool, I saw children as young as 1 year old, interacting and working with each other to build towers, and play house. These children were to young to understand the meaning behind their actions, so it shows how humans do have the basic instinct to interact and work as a group. I also definitely agree when Dr. Rheingold stated the mentality in collaborating with technology is now, instead of, "neither of us can trust each other so we have to make suboptimal moves," it's, "you prove to me that you are trustworthy, and I will cooperate” (Rheingold, 2008). People have realized that our day to day problems and extremely complex problems can now be easily and more quickly solved with using the internet. Humans can now collaborate with people across the country, and world with the blink of an eye.
Technology can facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles in many ways. First, technology can help in seeking and valuing students' points of view. There are many virtual classrooms around the world teachers can connect their students with to get other students points of views. In my classroom, my students are using technology as a research tool to help support their point of view on their topic. Some of my students have even been able to reach out to our penpals in Michigan via Skype and ask them their point of view on their persuasive topic. As Rheingold stated, “I think we need to begin developing maps of this territory so that we can talk about it across disciplines.” I agree with this statement, and think why not start with this generation of students.
Another way technology can facilitate collaboration among learners is through engaging, collaborative learning programs. These programs can easily adapt curriculum to address students' supposition, while making learning fun. Students can collaborate with each other to solve problem-based learning topics, and with the right technology problem facilitating this, suppositions can easily be addressed.
Current Research Study Link:
http://elg.massey.ac.nz/index.php?title=A_Case_Study_in_Collaboration
References:
A Case Study in Collaboration. (2008). NZTC & University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. As retrieved from http://elg.massey.ac.nz/index.php?title=A_Case_Study_in_Collaboration.
Rheingold, H. (2008, February). Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
As we heard in Rheingold’s discussion, I do believe humans have the basic instinct to “interact and work as a group.” As he pointed out humans have lived for much, much longer than the approximately 10,000 years of settled agricultural civilization. They had to interact and work as group in order to survive. He gave an example stating, “In small family groups, nomadic hunters bring down rabbits, gathering food.” Working in a preschool, I saw children as young as 1 year old, interacting and working with each other to build towers, and play house. These children were to young to understand the meaning behind their actions, so it shows how humans do have the basic instinct to interact and work as a group. I also definitely agree when Dr. Rheingold stated the mentality in collaborating with technology is now, instead of, "neither of us can trust each other so we have to make suboptimal moves," it's, "you prove to me that you are trustworthy, and I will cooperate” (Rheingold, 2008). People have realized that our day to day problems and extremely complex problems can now be easily and more quickly solved with using the internet. Humans can now collaborate with people across the country, and world with the blink of an eye.
Technology can facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles in many ways. First, technology can help in seeking and valuing students' points of view. There are many virtual classrooms around the world teachers can connect their students with to get other students points of views. In my classroom, my students are using technology as a research tool to help support their point of view on their topic. Some of my students have even been able to reach out to our penpals in Michigan via Skype and ask them their point of view on their persuasive topic. As Rheingold stated, “I think we need to begin developing maps of this territory so that we can talk about it across disciplines.” I agree with this statement, and think why not start with this generation of students.
Another way technology can facilitate collaboration among learners is through engaging, collaborative learning programs. These programs can easily adapt curriculum to address students' supposition, while making learning fun. Students can collaborate with each other to solve problem-based learning topics, and with the right technology problem facilitating this, suppositions can easily be addressed.
Current Research Study Link:
http://elg.massey.ac.nz/index.php?title=A_Case_Study_in_Collaboration
References:
A Case Study in Collaboration. (2008). NZTC & University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. As retrieved from http://elg.massey.ac.nz/index.php?title=A_Case_Study_in_Collaboration.
Rheingold, H. (2008, February). Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)