Week 2...

A REFLECTION FROM WEEK 2

 

Doesn't this just make you feel all warm and fuzzy? 
 

Image courtesy: www.ucview.com

 

Orange stick people unite to put the pieces of the puzzle together...it's not as stupid as you may think.

 

Put in the context of a classroom, that's Social Constructivism.  Social Constructivism is based on the premise that "learning is founded upon social interactions within a learning community or expert community" (Fasso, 2013). 

 

Medina (2008) suggests that "if you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom". 

 

Connectivism and TPACK

As humans (as opposed to orange stick people), we are intrinsically curious. 

 

• Do marshmallows have different flavours or do pink and white ones taste the same?
• How were marshmallows invented?         * written whilst sipping a cup of Hot Chocolate
 

If this curiosity is not embraced by teachers in the classroom (and in some cases re-directed), the result could be disengaged learners. 

Siemens (2004) suggests that "learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing". 

I will be the first to admit that I don't know everything. I don't even know what "everything" is.  It is the same for students. 

Introducing Connectivism, a learning theory for the digital age.

 

TPACK is a framework which supports this learning theory. 

Image courtesy: missspinkontech.global2.vic.edu.au 

Put simply, it is the incorporation of ICT's into the teaching science.  Media Smarts (n.d.) suggest that "technology has shifted the traditional classroom paradigm that positions the teacher as the expert". 

Learning Engagement - Working in a wiki

This week we were charged with the task of working within a wiki, positioned around the controversial issue of whether mobile phones have a place in the classroom. 

 

The features of the wiki that appealed to me were:

• the organic nature of the site - I was surprised by the ease at which I could edit both the structure and text of the site,
• the ways in which it can foster collaboration - although I came to realise that this is highly reliant on the pedagogical design of the teacher and the ways in which the activity is scaffolded (through both peer and teacher input, bridging knowledge gaps or re-focusing attention), and
• it allows for creative expression, not only as a text repository for perspectives, but allows for the upload of multi media - which supports each students individual learning preferences

I found the exercise to be unstructured and messy (surprisingly, both terms used to describe Constructivism), however the benefits were clear.  This medium allowed for expression of a wider range of perspectives that I had ever considered.  This was great because it gave me a much "fuller" understanding of the issue at hand and my resulting opinion was significantly different from the narrow minded view I had to start with. 

 
The below diagram shows how wiki's can facilitate higher order thinking when it comes to analysing the information presented (in order to formulate an opinion or develop understanding of an issue).   

 

 

 "Productive Pedagogies", source: Slideshare; accessed on 9 March 2013

Depending on the extent to which you chose to engage, wiki's can support all learning theories. 

Take me for example...

 

....blah....blah....blah....*collaborative research projects idea*....blah....blah.... (written by other students)

 

I couldn't help myself but add the image (visual learner!)
Continuing on from the idea of using mobile devices to facilitate collaborative research projects, I have discovered a website (www.polleverywhere.com) which gathers instant responses to a posited question via text messaging. This is a fantastically engaging introduction to dry topics such as statistics, graphing and data analysis...and a quick way of knowing whether there are others out there who ate chocolate for breakfast this morning!! (written by me)

 

BEHAVIOURISM

 

COGNITIVISM

 

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

CONNECTIVISM

 

As a side note, I discovered an additional feature which monitors usage statistics. 

 

 

 

What a way to check and see whether students are reviewing/editing original thoughts to scaffold their learning and develop understanding! 

 

Food for thought...

 

Isn't it funny that the top 2 search results to my marshmallow question were Wiki's?  Must be something in it hey. 

 

 

References

 

Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules: 12 principals for surviving and thriving at work, home and school. Seattle, U.S.A: Pear Press. 

 

Media Smarts. (n.d.). Digital literacy fundamentals: Fostering digital literacy in the classroom. Retrieved from: http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/digital-literacy-fundamentals

 

Fasso, W. (2013a). A brief overview of learning theory. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491 ICT’s for Learning Design, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=115326

 

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm