Final Reflection: Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology

Throughout this course, I have deepened my knowledge and understanding of learning theory.  As I look back on my week 1 view of learning, I realize that not a lot has changed.  I still believe, as I did then, that implementing strategies derived from a variety of learning theories is the best approach to take in the classroom.  One way in which my view has changed, however, is with the addition of the social learning theory to my understanding.  While some of the concepts of social learning were evident in my classroom before this course, I had never studied the social learning theory.  Taking time to do in this course has helped give a backbone to some of the things that I do in the class and has helped me to evaluate their effectiveness. 

I have not identified any immediate adjustments that need to be made to my technology integration in the classroom.  I have always made it one of my goals to integrate as much technology as possible into my lessons.  I believe that I do a very good job at that with the resources available to me.  The fact that I do not see adjustments that need to be made does not mean that I have not learned this course, that I have not found any useful tools, or that I have integrated every possible piece of technology into my class already.  However, I am confident in the way I am approaching technology use in my class. 

There a few tools that I have discovered throughout this course that I would like to implement in the classroom.  One of these is Voice Thread and the other is Google Docs.

Voice thread will be very helpful in the foreign language classroom.  Not only will it allow students to collaborate with their peers and possibly others outside the classroom, but it will allow them to interact with the language in a whole new way. 

I can see that Google Docs will be very beneficial in the area of cooperative learning.  I really like the ideas of social learning theory and I believe that utilizing Google Docs will allow me to tap into those learning ideas.  Through collaboration and building group artifacts, students will work together to construct knowledge and enhance learning.  And the greatest thing about Google Docs is that all the students need is an internet connection.  There is no book to carry around or program software to load at home. 

A couple long term goals that I have for technology are to move my classroom to being a paperless environment and having students create digital portfolios.  The plan to make my room a paperless environment is something that is still unfolding.  Next year I will have the opportunity to teach in a brand new building.  I am also fortunate to be part of a district that puts an emphasis on technology in the classroom.  However, what exactly that technology will look like is still up in the air.  Due to budget reasons, we still do not know the number of computers that we will have in each room.  The ideal of one to one does not look promising.  Also, we still do not know what type of programs we are going to have.  It is my hope that we choose Google Docs for education.  This would help my goal of going paperless.  If we do not go with some kind of cloud computing as a district, then I will have the students use Google Docs in my classroom. 

My second goal, creating digital portfolios, will likely take place in the form of a blog.  I will have students use this blog consistently throughout the year for writing purposes.  However, they will also create podcasts, wikis, and other projects which will be posted to or linked to their blogs.  Because I believe in the social learning concept, it seems logical to pair social media with creating artifacts to help the students create a collection of learning at the end of the year. 

Social Learning

This week I investigated social learning theories.  According to Dr. Michael Orey, social constructivism is similar to constructivism in that it puts emphasis on a student creating an artifact.  It also focuses on the need for students to be engaged in conversation about the learning process (Laureate Education, 2010b).  One way to tap into this theory is to implement cooperative learning in the classroom.  Cooperative learning helps to prepare students to learn together in a way that they will be expected to do when they enter the work world (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).  Cooperative learning can take shape many different ways.  The teacher can choose to group students randomly, by ability levels, or by other criteria.  No matter the basis of the group, the importance lies within the fact that the students are working together to solve a problem and to create something.  Cooperative groups also work with the connectivist theory. This theory states that knowledge is based upon a series of networks and the result of learning is that knowledge must be shared (Laureate Education, 2010a).  Because connections must be made and knowledge must be shared in connectivism, cooperative groups make perfect sense. Students network their ideas and help one another to form their personal networks of knowledge, all while distributing the learning among one another.

This week I also took a look at some technology applications that would be great for a classroom where social constructivism or connectivism are being used as models of learning.  Voicethread is an online resource that allows a person to collaborate with anyone else on the web.  The creator can receive feedback and information from other users.  This is not collaborative group by definition because one user generates the initial content, but it becomes a group work once other users give feedback on the original artifact.  Another technology that I looked at this week is Facebook.  Obviously, Facebook is a tool that students are using every day to network their own social life.  So what role does it play in education?  I think that it has amazing potential to enhance the learning process.  Students are networking together and they are creating artifacts.  Both of these things are essential in the social constructivist theory.  One final tool that I considered, and one which is my personal favorite, is Google Docs.  Google Docs allow users to easily share information and collaborate in order to create new artifacts.  The idea of cloud computing and allowing users to interface with one another using on the web is one that has and is radically transforming education.  It gives teachers and students the ability to build collaborative groups within the classroom, within the school, or with students across the globe in ways that would not have been imagined even five years ago. 

With these emerging technologies and learning theories, teachers must keep pace with what is going on in the world in order to give our students the best possible education.  If social learning theories are a valid basis for learning, and I believe that they are, then technology is the perfect gateway to help students build networks of learning that will give them the skills needed for years to come.

In case you cannot view my voicethread to the right, the link to it is

http://voicethread.com/share/1702854/.

 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Program eight. Connectivism

as a Learning Theory. [Webcast]. Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and

Technology.  Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program seven. Social

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.