Module 6: Learning in a Digital World (Toni Duke)

Technology has made a huge impact on the way that I learn. Being a 'virtual learning doctoral student' has broadened my horizons to all future learning possibilities: for both me and my children (and all students). Technology integration and the World Wide Web make learning endless that supports all theories of learning: the constructivist/connectivism approach, behaviorist, and cognitive learning ideas – all which are vitally important to review for any curricular program consideration. My growth as a professional through the courses I have taken on-line have stretched my thinking to its utmost! The communication (discussion board conversations) and collaborative activities have been much more demanding than any I recall in a regular lecture-based classroom. In a lecture atmosphere, students are often afraid to speak up and engage in meaningful conversations. In an on-line environment, we can't see or hear the immediate reactions, so we feel much freer to openly express our thoughts and feelings in writing. I can research a project and complete an assignment after I put my kids to bed in the comfort of my pajamas…I cannot imagine ever returning to the brick and mortar "lecture" learning environment. Anytime I am interested in a subject, I see if there is an on-line learning component available!

On a personal level, my children are so exposed to technology and love learning through technological gadgets (e.g. smartphones, iPad, iPod Touch, Nintendo DS, etc.) that I'm not sure how my 3-year old will handle learning in a traditional environment. I have the privilege of knowing (and hand-selecting) his pre-k teacher (for next year). Even though she is young and energetic, I'm not sure how technologically savvy she is. Being a K-12 certified teacher, Teacher coach in our district for the past 7 years, and most recently, a Technology Coach, I am planning to help her in any way that I can with her instructional strategies, student engagement, and technology - which are critical "non-negotiables" of 21st learning classrooms. I really wish all new teacher preparation programs had the same foci.

Module 5 Blog: New Technologies

As a Teacher Coach, I have received much resistance to the simple (for most!) process of checking e-mail on a regular basis. In an elementary school with teachers involved in instruction throughout the day, e-mail is the main and most expedient source of communication.

When I first arrived at my most recent school (about 6 weeks ago), I immediately asked all staff to check their e-mail at least 3 times each week. I could not believe how many “external, unstable, uncontrollable” excuses I received (Driscoll, 2005, p. 326)! Everyone had internet or laptop issues all of a sudden, and some just silently ignored my request. When I received the support of the principal who asked that e-mail be checked daily instead of only 3 times each week, we were still met with silence, and believe it or not, those same teachers are (very immaturely, I might add) ignoring the mandate!

Driscoll (2005, p. 307, 332-338) describes Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivational Design as:  

A = gain and sustain attention

R = enhance relevance

C = build confidence

S = generate satisfaction

Implementing Keller’s ARCS Model, my plan for motivating and encouraging success of these teachers has been:

A = To gain their attention by publicly acknowledging and providing extrinsic rewards at each faculty meeting for those teachers who comply. “Curiosity, in children and adults alike, is a strong motivator of learning…[however] it must be sustained for it to be a continuing course of motivation” (Driscoll, 2005, p. 313). Miniature chocolates and small gifts go a long way and are not expensive to maintain!

R = when I announce that e-mail is still not being checked, I provide a relevant example, such as my need to re-schedule a team meeting when I had to be out of the building, or the challenge for all teachers to help build missing background in students by accessing United Streaming educational site, etc.

C = I’ve offered to assist anyone who needs it with e-mail operations, one-on-one; my office is an open door

S = I believe public recognition and praise are excellent intrinsic rewards and make teachers feel good amongst their colleagues. I maintain a checklist for every important e-mail I send that either requires a response, or that I received a “read receipt” for, indicating they had at least opened it!

For student engagement, Driscoll (2005) suggest varying instructional approaches and tone of voice as ways to maintain curiosity and keep students motivated. If educators use the same mundane approach to teach every lesson (e.g. lecture followed by a worksheet), they are going to lose many students as they become disengaged quickly and unmotivated to learn in such a dry, unchallenging manner. Also adding humor to instruction, providing collaboration time for students to work in groups, completion of “inquiry arousal” type lessons, and allowing demonstrations or student-led lessons will help to alter routine classrooms and increase student engagement (Driscoll, 2005, p. 314).

In a lot of ways, adult learners are similar to children learners. They, too, enjoy rewards and recognition, and like to know the objective or reason for learning what they are being required to learn.

Reference:

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA:  Pearson Education.

Module 4: Connectivism MindMap

Module 4: Connectivism MindMap

REFLECTION

My network has drastically broadened, changing the way I learn and am exposed to the world. The people who are reachable via technology and the various levels of knowledge that I have access to allow for a much richer learning experience of many subjects. Learning is a shared experience now, not a unilateral one.

The digital tools that I find facilitate learning best for me consist of my iPad, which provides a plethora of learning options from tech sites, daily local/national news, iTunesU, educational podcasts and videos, foreign language podcasts; also RSS feeds and text messages on my smartphone and iPad containing CNN news and headlines. This makes news and information and learning on-the-go most convenient and avoids the need to locate a laptop or desktop to be “connected”.

To learn new knowledge when I have questions I “Google” it! This is the first place I go. If it is the meaning of a word, I access my smartphone or iPad dictionary app, or access dictionary.com on my laptop or PC. If it is an instructional practice or if I want to “see” how something is done I access youtube.com. I utilize the Walden Library quite often, too, to peruse research topics. The world is definitely available at our fingertips.

Module 3: Collaboration to Improve Learning

Whether individuals are instructed to form groups and work collaboratively, or whether they chose to, the natural ‘survival of the fittest’ instinct involves either a fierce or a friendly competition between individuals. We escape the concept of ‘prison’ when we make the right connections and work collaboratively toward a common cause (Rheingold, H., 2005). I understood Mr. Rheingold to suggest that we benefit from collaborating, and when “common [successful] design principles” are imitated, success breeds success.

With that being said, I do believe that children have a basic instinct to interact and work in groups; however, we remove that natural inclination after children attend school because teachers expect ‘quiet’ and orderly classrooms. Our students often miss out on constructivist learning because a large number of teachers are comfortable teaching in quiet rows. After a while, collaborative learning has to be “demonstrated” for students to work together successfully.

On another end, I do not believe that adults have that same basic instinct to collaborate. When we have to work with other professionals on committees at school, or in a brick and mortar classroom setting, we often cringe! By the time we’re adults, we usually do not want help completing a project whose final outcome we are responsible for – with someone else’s assistance. But once we’ve formed these ‘forced’ relationships, and we learn the skills and capabilities of others, we are more comfortable collaborating. One main reason is the busy-life aspect of most adult learners. Time restrictions limit us to completing tasks when we are not busy with family obligations; thus the reason many enroll in on-line coursework. The other reason adults do not have a natural instinct to collaborate is because we believe we can complete assignments more effectively in solo, when – in actuality – when we join more than one creative mind, we are more apt to come up with many variations of a successful outcome.

Rheingold discusses the idea that we have to prove to one another our trustworthiness by way of feedback provision (he gave Ebay as an example) so that others trust you enough based on past experiences to do business with you. This is a necessary assurance for business to continue to be successful. “New forms of cooperation create new forms of wealth” refers to recent technological innovations. I’m sure innovators like Steve Jobs have numerous team members to aid their creativity – even if the ingenious ideas innovated singularly. Based on constructivist principles, technology can facilitate collaboration among learners by helping them build upon existing knowledge and experiences from home, school, and the world, and providing new challenges and information to build their schema. Technology continues to provide tools for collaboration across time and space, as exemplified in the creation of  Wikipedia, a site consisting of “…a million and a half articles…[created] by thousands of volunteers…in 200 languages in just a couple of years” (Rheingold, H., 2005).

In seeking a current research study supporting collaboration as an effective tool for learning, I located a great research study (Wang, 2009) and 2 other great, informative articles justifying the benefits of collaboration and student learning (Harrison-Berg, Miller, & Souvanna, 2011; and Beaty-O’Ferrall & Johnson, n.d). Before you locate and peruse these studies, check out the awesome demonstration of "team work" and collaborative effort. It is not of the educational type, but OMG...! Precision to a tee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMh2dSiCugQ&feature=colike

References:

Beaty-O’Ferrall, M. E. and Johnson, F.W. (n.d).  Using supportive team building to promote improved instruction, student achievement, and collaboration in an rrban professional development school.  School–University Partnerships (4) 4, pp. 56-64.

Harrison-Berg, J., Miller, L.R., and Souvanna, P. (2011). Boston shifts learning into high gear. Retrieved from www.learningforward.org.

Rheingold, H. (2005). TED: Howard Rheingold on collaboration [video].  Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

Wang, Q. (2009). Design and evaluation of a collaborative learning environment. Computers & Education, Volume 53,(4), pp. 1138-1146. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.05.023

Module 2: Cognitivism as a Learning Theory

“_isms”, as Bill Kerr (2007) refers to them, are researched, well-constructed, tried and proven ways of having succeeded at something. I do believe we need them to pave the way for guiding ideas, theories, and reform efforts to follow.  They cause us to think more deeply before sporadically implementing change haphazardly that we are not familiar with.  For example, I might adopt a curriculum because it created great learning success for another school in my district with the same population of students, or because it fit easily into our school budget. But if I apply theoretical implications to the application of the new curriculum, that would be a better reason for adopting said program.

Sometimes a useful combination of all of the most popular isms: “constructivism, behaviourism, cognitivism and now a new one, connectivism” (Kerr, 2007) is the best solution. Constructivism is a project-based learning approached that brings real life and meaning to students' work.  The accessibility of technology has enhanced the ability to immediately access and interact information with speed. (See below video as kindergarden children embrace a project-based learning atmosphere!)

Kindergarten project-based learning video

Critical thinking skills are the biggest advantage of free, outside-the-box learning found in cognitive and constructivist learning. See this video explaining cognitive thinking.

 

References:

Kapp, K. (2007). Out and about: Discussion on educational schools of thought [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/index.php/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational/

Kerr, B. (2007). _isms as filter, not blinker [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html

Module 1: What is the Real Role of Teachers in a Digital World?

In critiquing George Siemens’s “metaphors of educators” in “Learning and Knowing in Networks: Changing roles for Educators and Designers” (2008), the metaphor that best describes the role I believe an instructor should take in a digital classroom workplace is that of a Master Artist. In these technological times, our students’ expertise is usually more advanced than that of most instructors. If we continue to expect for students to await the direction of a knowledgeable leader, they may never learn a skill, program, or course objective! We should teach students to be resourceful and teach them how to learn what they need or want to know. To expect for them to await instruction before learning takes place is a hindrance to the education process and a working example of educators having low learning expectations.

Although students should be allowed to take the leadership role in learning and use their resources to learn, I believe the role of teachers is to direct, correct misconceptions, and offer “’soft’ guidance” (as is detailed in Siemens’ description of the Educator as Concierge, p. 16).

Siemens’ question regarding “who is an expert” in his discussion of the changing roles of educators really made me think. We surf the web daily in search of helpful, insightful information and often do not know from whence the information originated, nor its worthiness of belief. I suppose this is why - as doctoral students - we are required to cite only peer reviewed scholarly sources. Resources such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and YouTube are extremely helpful and accessible for providing quick information; however, no one is held accountable when the information is erroneous or harmful.