Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology Course Reflection

During the first week of this course, we had to write about our personal theory of learning.  My learning theory, at that time, was based on the behaviorist’s theory.  Lever-Duffy and McDonald describe this learning theory as all behavior is a response to an external stimuli (2008, p. 15).  This is very true in my classroom.  Most students are typically motivated to do an assignment only if they know I am going to grade it.  They do not care that the practice is required to be successful for future assignments and understanding.  They are mostly working for short-term satisfaction.  I use rewards and punishments to motivate my students.  They get demerits or bad grades for not completing their assignments.  Rewards are also needed to motivate students.  If students are on task and behaving in class, I sometimes will reduce homework assignments or give extra points.  These seem to be the greatest motivators for my students.  

After reviewing the learning resources for this course, I have discovered social learning theories.  Social learning theories actively engage students in constructing artifacts and conversing with others (Laureate Education, 2010b).  Students are social and can learn while working with others.  Cooperative learning can be a great strategy to incorporate into the classroom.  Students are given the opportunity to work with others.  This will help to master communication skills needed in their futures.  Many technologies can be used to help expand on this learning theory.  Students can use blogs and wikis to communicate with each other.

As of now, there is little use of technology in my instructional practice.  I use the Smart Board daily and sometimes graphing calculators.  This course has made me aware of supplementary technology that could be a fantastic addition to my lessons.  I would like to begin next year with the use of a social networking site such as Facebook, schoology.com or edmodo.com.  These sites would be successful for posting assignments and communicating with parents and students.  Facebook could be beneficial by creating a group for my classes.  Many students and parents are on Facebook and have access to this on their mobile phones.  They would be able to view the page anywhere or anytime without having Internet access at home.  Any of these sites would be great for class discussions and questions.  Students could post questions regarding their homework and have immediate feedback.

Another instructional strategy I would like to add immediately to my instruction is “cues, questions and advance organizers.”  Advance organizers “enhance students’ ability to retrieve, use, and organize information about a topic” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 73).  This strategy can help students recognize the connection between topics in a unit.  Students can create concept maps using online resources and use these as study guides for assessments.  Advance organizers can also be designed to use during note-taking.  

           It has been difficult to decide on two long term goals that involve integrating technology in the classroom.  This brings me back to my dilemma of lack of computer and Internet access outside of the school for many students.  I will have to combine time in the computer lab with the limited time to cover as many state standards as possible for upcoming state testing.  Reinforcing effort can be used to “enhance students’ understanding of the relationship between effort and achievement by addressing their attitudes and beliefs about learning” (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 155).  The behaviorist learning theory mentions that reinforcement is more powerful than punishment (Laureate Education, 2010a).  Students will perform better in class when they are rewarded or understand their effort is increasing their grades.  One of my long term goals is to have my students begin to track their effort and compare this to their grades.  They can keep track in their folder by charting homework grades and time spent practicing and completing homework.  We can go the computer lab at the end of the unit to enter this information into a spreadsheet.  Students will then print a graph to compare how time spent studying affected their grade on tests.  
          I hope to begin to incorporate technology as much as possible over the next few years.  I want to use blogs or wikis for class and group communication.  Social networking sites will be useful to parents and students. My most important goal is to take my classes to the computer lab a few times each grading period.  They enjoy technology therefore it needs to be a staple of today’s classroom.  I hope to design at least one (but hopefully more) activity using cooperative learning and technology for every class every year.   I want these activities to use different technological tools and involve students in communicating through blogs and wikis.  These are important tools to prepare students for their future in the workplace.  



Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Program four. Behaviorist learning theory [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc.  (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program eight.  Social learning theories [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology.  Baltimore, MD: Author.

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008). Teaching and learning with technology (3rd ed. pp. 2-35). Boston: Pearson Education.

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

Social Learning Theories and Learning Strategies

Cooperative learning is a learning strategy that “focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 139).  This strategy supports the social learning theories.  Social learning theories involve “actively engaging students in constructing artifacts and conversing with others” (Laureate Education, 2010).  Social learning theories are a great idea for the classroom to motivate students.  Students are social.  They want to use technology and find out how the information they are learning can be used in real-world situations.  Students might now enjoy the tedious math work but they might actually enjoy how the math is used in real-world applications.  These theories incorporate methods to prepare students to “learn and produce cooperatively” as is needed in the workplace (Pitler et al., 2001, p. 139). 

There are many social networking tools that are used frequently by many people.  These tools keep people informed to the second.  Social networking tools can be a great addition to the classroom.  Parents want to be informed daily about what is going on in the classroom.  Students want immediate feedback on assignments and immediate help.  Facebook or Edomo are two social networking tools that can be used by teachers to help keep parents and students up to date on what is going on in the classroom.  Edomo is a social networking tool made especially for schools.  It can be accessed on school networks.  This is a great tool to use.  Students can post when they have questions about assignments and get immediate feedback from the teacher or another student.  Parents and the community can view what is going on in the classroom.  Facebook can be great for this purpose also.  Facebook has a few downfalls, though.  Most districts have blocked access to Facebook at school.  Most students and parents can view Facebook on their cell phones.  This enables them to be online even though they might not have Internet access at home.  Either method will enable students to communicate with each other and practice their online communication skills. Skype is another great tool to use in education.  This is another great tool that students can use to communicate with each other or to communicate with others from all over the world. 

Social learning theories and the instructional strategies learned this week need to be implemented in more classrooms.  Students love to communicate with others and especially with the use of technology.  Why not make class fun and more enjoyable by using the techniques students enjoy and teach them how to communicate and work together?  What a terrific way to prepare them for their futures. 

Resources                                                                                  

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program eight. Social learning theories [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

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

Voice Thread

http://voicethread.com/share/1891953/

Constructivist and Constructionist Learning Theories

Constructivism and constructionism both involve students being active learners.  In constructionism, students will complete an artifact to share with others (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  These artifacts are excellent examples to display a student’s understanding of a concept.  These theories involve the idea that “learners don’t get ideas; they create ideas” (Orey, 2001, p. 130).

Generating and testing hypotheses “engages students in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary, and enhancing their overall understanding of the content” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 202).  When generating and testing hypotheses students are active in their learning.  There are six tasks that teachers can use to help students use this strategy: systems analysis, problem solve, historical investigation, invention, experimental inquiry and decision making (Pitler et al., 2001, p. 203).  All tasks involve distinct steps; however, they all produce an artifact to be shared by others.  The two that would be the most successful in my secondary math classes would be problem solving and decision making.  This strategy allows students to develop a solution to a problem and complete an artifact for others to view.  This is a perfect approach to using constructivist/constructionist learning theories.

Constructionism can be implemented using project-based learning, which involves work that is long-term and not always for a selected audience (Orey, 2001, p. 131).  Some ways that constructionism is reflected using this strategy is the creation of a student-centered learning environment and the creation of an artifact based on authentic experiences (Orey, 2001, p. 135).  Some of the main components consist of students working together had using multiple presentation modes.  PBL are long-term assignments.  This will enable students to spend quality time understanding the concepts and organizing the material to make sense.  There are three phases to the completion of a PBL assignment: planning, creating, and processing (Orey, 2001, p. 138).  Students are working in a specific order with instructions given to them at the beginning.  Each phase has to be completed before moving on to the next phase.  The final phase is reflection and follow-up (Orey, 2001, p. 139).  This phase involves sharing the artifact with others as is suggested in constructionism. 

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program seven. Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

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

Cognitive Learning Theory and Instructional Strategies

Two instructional strategies explored this week were “cues, questions and advance organizers” and “note-taking.”  These strategies correlate with the principles of the cognitive learning theory.  Other teacher strategies that correlate with the cognitive learning theory are concept mapping virtual field trips.

Cues, questions, and advance organizers are a great way to focus and direct learning.  Cues are explicit reminders or hints and questions trigger memory or access prior knowledge (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 73).  Short-term memory can hold only 7 2 pieces of information at any time (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a).  Students need help trying to recall information when they are learning additional information.  They need hints to pull prior information from memory. 

Both concept mappings and virtual field trips are helpful for kids having to recall material later.  Concept mappings are a great idea to help students learn new material and integrate with their prior knowledge.  Virtual field trips are a great way to get the students out of the classroom without leaving the classroom. Virtual field trips create a rich experience which help with episodic memory and create a network of ideas (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010b).  Dual-coding hypothesis is the idea that information is stored differently based on the way it is received (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a).  Our brains store information in different ways.  These strategies help learners visualize and make connections between ideas (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a).  Our long term memory is a network where each idea is connected (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a).  Concept mappings provide a way to connect material together into a network for students to recall later.

In my classes, I hope to integrate more advance organizers and concept mappings.  They both can be beneficial to the learning process for my students.  Students will have a beginning point with notes and a way to organize their concepts together.  Concept mappings will be a great way to display how different math concepts are connected together to understand why they learn in the order it is presented to them.  Concept mappings can be a great asset for assessing students’ learning.  Virtual field trips are a wonderful way to bring the outside world into the classroom.  These will be used a few times during each school year, therefore students can understand how math is used in real life. 

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Program five. Cognitive learning theory [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program six. Spotlight on technology: Virtual field trips [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

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

The Behaviorist Learning Theory

The use of behaviorist learning theory in the classroom is debatable between educators, students and teachers.  Behaviorists “view all behavior as a response to external stimuli” (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008, p.15).  Orey states “behaviorist learning theory emphasize changes in behavior that result from stimuli-response associations made by the learner” (Orey, 2001).  Most humans are motivated by other stimulus.  We work for money and benefits. We do the things we enjoy for the satisfaction we get from them.  Why wouldn’t rewards and punishments work in the classroom?  It is what motivates everyone daily. 

The instructional strategies reviewed this week were “reinforcing effort” and “homework and practice.”  These are strategies are used daily in my secondary math classroom and are successful in the behaviorist learning theory.  The use of reinforcing effort is a great way for students to record and monitor how their effort affects their grades.  Many students do not view effort as a way to improve their grade. The use of tracking their effort is a wonderful tool for the behaviorists.  Teachers can then offer rewards or punishment by viewing their efforts.  Students can opt out of some assignments or testing if they are improving on their effort in the class.  This would be the use of negative reinforcement, the removal of something negative to increase desired behavior (Orey, 2001). 

Elementary school teachers use behavior charts regularly to track behavior and then offer rewards and punishments.  These charts are an example of reinforcing effort.  Students are able to view their behavior for the day and then see how it affects their performance in the classroom.  Dr. Orey discusses how the use of these charts is used for behavior management (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  The consequences are usually successful in eliminating the undesirable behavior.  This is a form of negative punishment, the removal of something wanted to decrease undesired behavior (Orey, 2001).  This is a great technique used for my own sons in their classes.  They enjoy their recess time to socialize with friends and try to make sure they do not lose this quality time.

Homework and practice is dreaded by most students and argued by many people.  In math classes, such as mine, I feel it is necessary and needed. Students can not memorize math they need to practice and become “fluent” in it.  A great way to restate homework and practice is “review and apply” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 187).  Homework is an extension of the classroom and allows students to “deepen their knowledge of the content” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 187).  Students need more than just class time to review their math concepts. Most of the limited amount of time in class is spent on presentation of material and a small amount on review.  Students need to practice a skill 24 times to achieve 80% competency ((Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 188). 

As a result of students not wanting to do homework and practice, the behaviorist theory will be helpful here.  Students need the rewards and punishments to be encouraged to get this needed practice done.  Teachers can encourage students to do this work by offering rewards or using negative reinforcement.  Negative reinforcement is the most successful incentive I have used.  Students like for me to take the things away the dislike, for example, more work or quizzes.  In my class, I have students start their homework before they leave. I then check that they have completed a given amount of problems for a participation grade.  This motivates many to start their work instead of talking.  They enjoy receiving easy points this way.  It is also a way for me to make sure they understand the work before they leave the classroom.  I think it might help to start tracking grades and homework and then taking away more work and quizzes to reward them for the hard work.  This could help them improve proficiency as a result of students getting more practice accomplished. 

            The behaviorist learning theory will always be a part of the educational process as it is part of everyone’s daily life. We need rewards and punishments to motivate us to do work and accomplish goals.  This is prevalent in the classroom.  The instructional strategies “reinforcing effort” and “homework and practice” can be beneficial to helping students succeed and help to promote the behaviorist learning theory.

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program four. Behaviorist learning theory [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008). Teaching and learning with technology (3rd ed. pp. 2–35). Boston: Pearson Education.

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved

from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

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

Course Reflection

Click on the link below to view my presentation of my course reflection.

https://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=dq9p3bq_1gfsvmwhj

Using Podcasts in the Classroom

This podcast was an interesting assignment and a great learning experience.  This is my first experience with using Podcasts.  Even though I feel like I am technologically savvy, there is still so much more to learn.  I do not own an IPod or mp3 player (I know I need to catch up with technology myself) and I use my computer for work and course work mostly.  Recording my voice was a challenge for me. I was worried about the way I sounded and any background noises.   I think podcasts could be interesting to use in the classrooms.  In my math class, I could record my voice as I am explaining a lesson for students to review when they leave school.  This could be beneficial for them as they are completing their homework or studying for a test.  For students who are auditory, this could be very beneficial to their understanding of the material.  I use the Smart Board daily in class. It has a feature to “record.” Using the record feature along with recording my voice would be helpful to many students especially for students who are absent or confused about a lesson.  This could be posted to a website daily.

                “Podcasting is the creation and distribution of amateur radio, plain and simple” (Richardson, 2010, p. 112).   This is a way for everyone to get their voice heard by groups of many.  Podcasts are being used by everyone “businesses, churches, governments, and even schools (Richardson, 2010, p. 113).  Students need to learn how to use and create this method of technology.  They also need to become familiar with RSS feeds, so they can stay current on blogs and podcasts.  This will be part of their lives beginning in the present.  Podcasting is another way for students to be creative and a way to archive their lives for future audiences (Richardson, 2010, p. 115).  This is a great way for students and teachers to show parents and the community what is going on in the classroom and it can be used for many years. 

                This assignment was time consuming and frustrating at times but when I “got the hang of it” it was an easy assignment.  Finding time to make my audio recordings was difficult.  As a busy mother and teacher, it was difficult to find a quiet time.  I did the best with what I had.  I did enjoy editing and piecing my audio together. 

                The survey my students answered was an eye-opener for me. It was interesting to read that even though technology is so prevalent in the present world, it is not prevalent in my students’ lives.  My students use the normal teenage technology: cell phones, Ipods, mp3 players and computers.  They are not using the technologies they need for their future: blogs, wikis, podcasts and many more.   Schools are not preparing them for life after school, college and the workforce.  One student really seemed concerned with the lack of preparation is education is giving him for his future.  Every day, I think about this as I seen him sitting in my classroom and I think “what can I do to help prepare him for his future.”   This is the reason I am completing my Master’s Degree in integrating technology in the classroom.   I hope to learn many ways to help my students but the school districts need to come up with plans to use across the board to help all our students. 

Resources

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Student Technology Survey

Partnership for 21st Century Skills Overview

This week I have navigated through the website The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.  This is a national organization that advocates 21^st century readiness for all students.  It is a very informative and resourceful site for educators.  There is a lot of information available on this site however it is a little overwhelming.  There are many links on this page to go through. 

The Framework for 21st Century Learning “presents a holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning that combines a discrete focus on 21st century student outcomes with innovative support systems to help students master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century.”  It describes the specific skill students need to master to prepare them for the 21^st century.  As viewed below, the colorful top arcs are the student outcomes and the bottom arcs are the support systems. The Framework for 21st Century Learning does discuss students need the mastery of core subjects.  For students to be better prepared for today’s global economy they need all of the support systems to achieve the student outcomes.  Professional Developments are one o f the most important support systems.  Teachers need all the help and support they can get to help their students succeed and sometimes this is the most difficult support system.  The P21 website does have a place, Professional Development Affiliate Program, to help give teachers support to help them succeed in the classroom. 

Students need to be better prepared for their future and technology is their future. On the other hand, they still need the basic skills we learn in school. The most important skill is critical thinking and that can still be achieved in the “ordinary” education they receive.  It is difficult to add to the curriculum we are already expected to cover in our classes.  There are some subjects that can more easily adapt and add technology into the instruction.  English and Social Studies can add more use of technology into the instruction.  For me in my math classes, it seems to be more difficult. There are so many basics that need to be covered so the students can understand other topics. 

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has a great link to Route 21. Route 21 breaks down many ways to learn about and to navigate around the website.  This website has many links to other teachers’ blogs and wikis.   These sites have wonderful ideas to use to help incorporate technology into the curriculum.  The support system is broken down into many categories to make looking for help and links easy to find.  Overall, there is a lot of information and it takes some time to navigate and become familiar with the website. 

I hope to learn a lot more information to make my classroom a more contemporary learning environment to help prepare my students for the future.  This website can help lead me in the right direction.  The implications that might arise are the lack of funding and internet access for many students.  Many students in my district lack at home internet access.  This will diminish the time they can spend on projects or anything else that needs internet access while not at school. 

References

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2011 from http://www.p21.org/

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Framework for 21^st Century Learning.  Retrieved

from January 27, 2011 http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=119

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Professional Development Affiliate Program.

Retrieved from January 27, 2011

http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=502&Itemid=187

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Route 21. Retrieved from January 27, 2011

http://www.p21.org/route21/index.php

Using Blogs in the Classroom

The use of blogs could be very beneficial to the communication between students and teachers in a classroom.  In my high school math classes (geometry, algebra 2 and algebra 3), blogs could be difficult to integrate into use.  One of the main purposes of the blog could be as a form of class communication. The blog is a way to “communicate information about the class and to archive course materials” (Richardson, 2010, p. 21).  Students will be able to view all assignments and also can add comments if they have questions about the assignment.  Students would also be able to post some assignments to the blog for other students to view (Richardson, 2010, p. 22).  Students will be responsible to view a number of other students’ assignments and check their work and suggest what needs to be corrected.   Correcting other students work is beneficial and helpful in understanding the material.  Parents would also be able to view their children’s work to see the effort they are putting into the assignments.  Another advantage of using blogs would be for class discussions. Students who are having difficulty with the material could post questions that other students could answer for them. 

The blog would be a great way for the community to get into the classroom.  Those in the community would be able to view the blog and also comment.  Students and others could benefit from the communication back and forth with each other.  Many people in the community argue that schools are not doing what they should to prepare the students for the future.  This would enable them to “see” what is going on in the classrooms.  Also, students would be more careful in their work when they know that others are viewing their work besides the teacher.

The use of blogs would greatly enhance the lessons.  Students would be given the chance to have class discussions that usually do not get enough time during class time.  This would also be an advantage for students who are too shy to participate in class. Also, students would be able to “bounce” ideas off of each other.  Many times, students can explain topics in a way that other students can understand them easier.

The more I write about using blogs in the classroom, the more motivated I am to start using them.  Many students do not put their best effort into their work. If they know that others, including parents and other adults, are viewing it, this might encourage them to work harder in class.

Resources

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3^rd ed.).

            Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Welcome to my Blog

Hello, everyone.  This is my first experience with blogging.  I am very excited to begin to use this (new to me yet old to others) technology. 
As a high school math teacher, I am always looking for more exciting and new ideas to use in my classroom.  These blog is for teachers to bounce ideas off of each other so we can all make improvements in our classrooms.  Technology has advanced so much over the past few years and we need to prepare our students for this new world.  I am excited to learn how other educators use technology in their classrooms.