Putting it all together

At the beginning of this course, I stated that my personal learning theory was that students will learn from experiencing various instructional strategies, calling upon prior knowledge, and being active in their own learning. This theory falls in line most specifically with the behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism theories. Thinking about everything that I have learned, I would only modify this by adding an element of technology. I think that I would be fooling myself if I thought that students today learned completely without technology. I believe it could still be done, but with so many forms of technology available and being used in society, learning without technology is not reality. Technology adds efficiency and expands on the capabilities of students tremendously. Therefore, my new personal learning theory is such that students will learn from experience various instructional strategies, calling upon prior knowledge, utilizing various technology tools, and being active in their own learning.

I have spent time each week of this course thinking about what I could change in my own classroom in regards to technology to make it better for my students. One thing that I have started and will be really emphasizing on after winter break is the use of blogs. I have started having my students respond to blog posts for exit slips, which has been a seamless process. I will continue to do this, but I will also have students begin their own blogs. This will be a great way for parents to become more informed about their students learning, and is a great way for students to communicate about the classroom topics. I am excited about this prospect and seeing where it takes my classroom.

Two new technology tools that I would like to infuse into my class are wikis and concept mapping tools. Wikis are similar to blogs, but instead of just one student writing their thoughts and other students commenting, students can better collaborate on the content. I have hesitated to use wikis because of my unfamiliarity with them, but after using one in my last class and reading more about them in this course, I’m encouraged to incorporate them into my classroom. With wikis, students can all contribute to the page, add links and references where necessary, and can even contribute to other groups’ wikis if they are set up right. The possibilities with wikis are extremely endless, as it is truly student-driven and project-based learning through and through. Concept maps are a very easy way to get students to take notes and begin to determine how things are or are not related. Programs such as Inspiration or websites like www.SpiderScribe.net are easy to use and help students stay very organized throughout their notes. I have found that oftentimes students just need some help organizing their thoughts or notes, and their notebook doesn’t have enough room to do this efficiently. This is one of the great advantages of a computer-based concept map. Instead of spending time trying to decipher their scribbles, students can focus on the topics and ideas themselves and can begin to apply them. (Pitler, Hubbell & Kuhn, 2012)

One change I would like to implement is the use of a screen capturing application. I would like to start by capturing my own lessons on the computer, along with my voice, to 1) provide students with reinforcement of the lesson at any time, and 2) ensure students who may have missed my class don’t miss any of the content. While there are several advantages to capturing your lessons, these are two that I would like to focus on. I’m sure that every teacher has had those students who constantly request for you to go over something again. This is not a problem until they are at home doing their homework and their teacher is not there with them.  Having access to the recorded lesson will help students to become more comfortable with the material should any questions or confusion arise. We also have all had students miss some of the most important lessons, even multiple lessons in a row. This puts them severely behind, sometimes putting them in a declining position within the class and their grades. Instead of having them trying to double up on their work to catch up, students could easily watch the lesson at home and not miss anything that went on for that class. The advantages are truly endless, in my opinion, and it is something that I would really like to start doing next semester. Eventually, I would like students to be able to capture their own screens for projects.

A second change for my classroom would be to increase the collaborative work that is done. I have had a hard time trying to find regular group activities within my computer classes since I want them all to be able to show me their understanding of the skills. I have started using Google Drive for this, as it is the perfect online collaboration tool. However, I would like to find new ways to implement this. I have had them creating group presentations and documents, but I want to challenge them in new ways. If I can find new activities to do, I feel I would be greatly benefiting my students and would better prepare them for their future.

I am really excited about the new resources and ideas I have obtained throughout this course. My students will benefit immensely, and I know I will become a better teacher, as well. I am even more excited to start sharing these tools and strategies with my colleagues and coming up with ways to improve our school overall.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Learning...socially

Collaboration in the classroom has been the primary focus of our professional development this year. Our school leaders have seen the importance of having the students work together for a common goal, and have encouraged us, as teachers, to try different strategies in our classrooms. This is what the social learning theory is all about. We want students to work together, whether they are using technology or not, in order to ultimately help each other learn. Dr. Orey mentioned Lev Vygotsky and his point about having a “more knowledgeable other” who will help the student along the way (Laureate Education, 2011). I have seen students trying to learn from various people, including parents, teachers, peers, and technology as Dr. Orey suggests (Laureate Education, 2011). From my experience, students learn best from each other. They speak each other’s language, share interests, and have the natural ability to bring the content to life as it applies to them. As teachers, we try to do this every day. But unless we are in the role of one of our students completely, we will never truly understand them as their peers can.

Technology can be a great instrument in the social learning theory. Google Drive is regularly used in my classroom. This is, in my opinion, one of the easiest ways to get students to work collaboratively. Pitler, Hubbell, and Kuhn (2012) mention Google Drive applications several times within their collaborative learning section. Students can be at their own homes and still work together on a project. Two features that I really like about Google Drive is the chat feature and the comments feature. Students today live in the world of texting. Chatting on Google Drive is like the computer version of texts. They can communicate instantly and give and get ideas or suggestions to help improve their overall project. The comments feature is perfect for providing feedback. This could come from either a peer or a teacher. The comment gets put into a bubble on the side of the document for easy viewing, all while leaving the original document in its proper form.

Another technology tool that I am interested in, but have not used, is The Sims (http://thesims.ea.com). We all played the various Sims growing up and know how much fun it is to build a community, a farm, or even an amusement park. The Sims today is more collaborative and focuses on daily life (Pitler, et al., 2012). This would be a great collaborative tool for a class that is focused on culture, or possibly even just for use as a discussion tool. Instead of actually doing the face-to-face interaction, students can be at their own computers working on a project, but using the simulation game as a place to ask questions or get ideas for their project.

The social learning theory is one that is extremely prevalent in student learning today. If we continue to encourage students to work together when appropriate, and show them the various tools available to help them along the way, we could see tremendous things happening in our classrooms.

A third example of a technology that can be used for collaborative work is a VoiceThread. As an example, I have created a VoiceThread that I can show my students as an introduction to a collaborative project. The wonderful thing about VoiceThread is the ability for other people to comment on the work. They can either type their comments or record them through audio. Check it out and see what you think: My VoiceThread.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E.R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA”ASCD.

Constructionism In All It's Glory

Constructionism is one of those theories that just makes sense to me. While all theories have a place in my class, this one is front and center every day. The idea behind the constructionism theory is that students create an artifact to share with others in order to learn (Laureate Education, 2011). One class that I teach is focused on using Adobe software applications to design and create various products. The class is set up so that students engage in a lot of self-discovery. In my experience with technology and students today, this is the best way for them to learn. They are constantly using their phones or ipods, helping them to establish a specific schema about how technologies work in their lives. In my class, I encourage students to call upon their prior understandings and see what connections they can make with the new applications. This is an accommodation mechanism, but also encourages assimilation in regards to the new software (Laureate Education, 2011).

Throughout the process of using the new software to create products such as logos, business cards, advertisements, and other items, students are forming hypotheses in their minds about how the tools of the software work and what the final product will look like (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012). In order to further encourage the development of these hypotheses, I may pair up the students so they can discuss their ideas with a partner. This has helped open up the lines of communication in my class to the point that I do not have to direct the students to partner up any more. They are constantly working together or discussing a tool or topic of the software, then taking what they discussed back to their products to test it out and see how it works. If it does not turn out to be what they are looking for, they automatically turn back to their partner, or maybe even a different one, to help generate new ideas and hypotheses (Pitler, et al, 2012). Finally, I have the students record their hypotheses and findings into a blog. We use a secure blog resource called Kidblog (www.kidblog.org). This is a way for them to communicate their thoughts and participate in a discussion regarding what tools and processes did and did not work throughout the project (Pitler, et al, 2012). The blog follows along with the constructionism theory in a simple and natural way, as students have to think through the process and call upon existing schema to help discover and communicate new ideas and understandings as they work to link the knowledge to their current situation (Laureate Education, 2011).

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program seven: Constructionist and constructivist 

learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learnCourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E.R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA”ASCD.

Cognitive Learning in the Classroom

The basic idea behind the cognitive learning theory is that learning is an inner mental activity (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). In other words, learners go through a process of hearing the information, translating it in their brains, storing what the brain feels is the important, getting rid of the "fluff", and finally, applying the information that was kept (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). That's great to know, but the real question is how do we use this in our classroom?

Two instructional strategies that correlate with the cognitive theory include:

• Cues, questions, and advanced organizers
• Summarizing and note taking

(Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012)

I like the idea of using advanced organizers in my class. I sometimes struggle with getting students to really understand and apply the basic software tools in computer classes. I have tried several strategies, including fill-in-the-blank and short answer note taking where I provide a question or cue and the students fill in the rest (Pitler, et al., 2012). Sometimes this is a simple word or phrase somewhere in the sentence, while other times I ask a question about, for instance, the next step of a process and the students explain that step in their notes. This strategy has actually proven successful for most students. When they are struggling to try to recall information in a later project, they can refer to those notes for help. The problem I have seen is with the lower level students and their ability to recall specific details from their notes. They might be able to perform a specific function right away, but when asked to do the same thing a week later they may be unable to do so.

I'd like to try using an advanced organizer to try to improve the proficiency in the application of the tools and functions. Students can still take the notes during the lesson, summarizing their learning in the short answer portions and identifying key words and phrases that will help them later on in the blanks provided (Pitler, et al., 2012). However, prior to the notes, students could complete a graphic organizer, such as a Venn diagram, that will help them identify the similarities and differences between software programs (Pitler, et al., 2012). We cover Microsoft Word right away in the course, which is a program that have learned and used during the three years prior to 9th grade. This makes it an easy unit for most students. It's when we move into PowerPoint that students really struggle. What they seem to not understand is that they have already done the same thing with some of the tools in Word, it's just a different program. Organizing this information into a Venn diagram will help them recall that prior knowledge of the tools and help them see where that knowledge can be transferred over to help complete their PowerPoint projects very easily (Pitler, et al., 2012). 

I'm interested in how other teachers have used advanced organizers in their classrooms. This is something I have not used very often, but am excited to try!

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program three: Instructional theory vs. learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.

            ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J.B. (2008). Theoretical foundations. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that
            works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Behaviorism in Practice

The use of technology in the classroom is a strategy that can easily fit into every one of the learning theories. However, I can especially see a correlation between the use of technology and the behaviorism theory. The idea behind the behaviorism theory is that learners respond to environmental stimuli, whether it is positive or negative (www.learning-theories.com). This can range from the physical setting of the classroom to how the teacher and other students interact. This can also include how and when a student is praised or recognized for their work.

In using technology to reinforce positive behavior, which again is the premise and goal of the behaviorism theory, we can more effectively and immediately provide feedback to students (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012). One example of this would be using a classroom response system like Socrative (www.socrative.com) to complete a short multiple choice quiz or questionnaire. The program will immediately and anonymously show the responses of students in a graph format. At the end of the quiz the results can be emailed to the teacher quickly and easily for reference. This would be great as an informal pretest and posttest for a topic or unit. Using a system like this for that purpose could easily show students how their increased efforts throughout their learning can lead to a higher or more positive outcome. This aligns perfectly with the idea of the behaviorism theory. If students receive a more positive outcome, they could see how their behavior or efforts pay off. However, if they see a more negative outcome, they would either determine that they did not put enough effort into it or that they are not capable of the performance level you are trying them to achieve. This is one reason why the behaviorism theory is criticized as it can have some very negative effects on students (www.learning-theories.com). This is also why it is important to determine the best use of praise and recognition.

Another idea is to use technology for providing opportunities to practice newly learned skills. “In general, students need to practice upwards of 24 times before they reach 80 percent competency (Anderson, 1995; Newell & Rosenbloom, 1981)” (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012). Again, in the behaviorism theory, if students start to see positive results, they will be more apt to continue practicing the skill. In my classroom, I use www.freetypinggame.net to assess my students’ typing skills. They start with a base score, which is the first test they complete, then throughout the course they will complete the practice tests on that and other typing websites and attempt the tests again. I provide goals for them to try to reach. My overall objective with this is to get them practicing their typing skills and hopefully show improvement in their time and efficiency. While this might not be a favorite activity of students, it has worked for them in my classroom. I give them the chance to play the practice games and work at their own pace. If a student is getting frustrated with not seeing positive results, I gear them towards the practice games again so they can take a break from that frustration. The behaviorism theory applies when the students both reach and do not reach their goal. Instead of letting them turn towards a negative attitude about typing, I will make sure they take a break from the tests and relax their minds. I also remind them constantly that this is a no-pressure assessment. It does not affect their grades. However, if they reach certain levels of typing, I will reward them in order to keep them motivated to try harder.

I think there is a line we have to be careful of when we are calling on the behaviorism theory. If we praise them for every action they do that is good instead of just the outstanding work or behavior, we could lose the effectiveness of that praise. However, if we don’t praise students enough or for the right things we could see a negative behavior start to form from those particular students. It comes down to knowing your students as individuals and doing what is best for them. We could use all the instructional strategies we want and call upon as many learning theories as we want, but if we are not paying attention to our students and doing what is right for them, we could lose our effectiveness in the classroom.

Resources

“Learning Theories.” 2003. 5 Nov. 2013 <http://www.learning-theories.com>

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD.

Professional Technological Educator

As I think back over the past 8 weeks of study, I am amazed at the number of new resources and ideas I have obtained! I would have never incorporated blogs into my classroom because I didn't really want to start one myself. I truly believe that if I am going to ask my students to do something I need to have done it first so I can help them through any challenges or issues, and most importantly, know exactly what they're doing throughout the process. I'm excited about using blogs in my computer classes, and have started reviewing my lessons that I will recycle and update to make sure to incorporate blogs into them fairly often. 

Going through this course has really helped me to go back to the role of the student. Sure I've been a student of my masters' program for some time now, but this felt different. I felt like I gained new skills instead of just new theories or understanding of why we do what we do. This course gave me a really good reminder of what students go through as they learn a new skill. They not only have to get over any nervousness or anxiety they experience with a brand new thing, but then they need to figure out the new program or application and try to master it so they can use it efficiently. This was my trouble with the wiki project. I didn't know what to expect, especially working with a group of people I didn't really know. I had to really explore the application to figure out how to make it work for me! 

My classes have generally always been learner-centered as it is very project-based, but now as I think about it, I can do even more to transform my perspective. Instead of teaching them the skills and then using the project as a type of practice, I will be using the project to teach new skills. I can give the students the opportunity to explore the skill on their own and then teach the proper use or application of that skill as it applies to our class. By giving the students even more of the responsibility for their learning, they will be more prepared as they leave my classroom at the end of the semester.

I have truly enjoyed learning new things during this class, and as I am devoted to being a life-long learner, I will be looking for every opportunity to continue to expand on my learning. I have recently attended a technology integration conference, and am looking for other professional development opportunities to pursue.

Within the next two years, I would like to have a regular student-led blog in each of my classes. I am going to start small with this spring semester, but I want to really use the blog as a teaching AND learning tool. I also would like to find new ways to use the same tools I have. For example, instead of using wordle.net for just a basic word cloud, it could be used to identify repetition in speeches. If you insert the words into wordle, you will see which words are used the most because they will be the largest in the word cloud. This could be used for analyzing famous speeches or even as a reviewing or editing tool for student speeches. How much better would student speeches be if we could reduce the repetition of some of the words they use?! 

Introduction to Podcasts

I have just successfully created my first podcast! I have honestly never done a podcast, and didn't think I ever would. Check it out if you're inclined: My Podcast

*Please note: I have lost my voice, therefore my husband was kind enough to record my podcast script! Enjoy!

21st Century Resources

This week I spent some time exploring the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. This is a great site for educators to learn about various ways they can infuse the 21st century skills into their classroom. I really enjoyed looking through the "tools and resources" page for educators. Not only did they give an overview and description of the skills, but they provide resources to help implement the skills into the classroom. The creators of this site took a lot of things into consideration, including statewide initiatives, assessment practices, and even the different types of classrooms in which we teach. I feel like this site is very easy to navigate through and the tools are extremely user-friendly, making this a site that I would recommend any teacher add to their bookmarks list.

One of the things that I appreciate the most about this site is the video spotlight that is on the homepage. This is a place where educators can submit their own videos of 21st century skills being implemented in their classroom. I am a visual learner, so videos are a great tool for me to refer to in order to better understand the concept and practices of infusing these skills into my own classroom.

It was really nice to see which states are working on initiatives for 21st century education, especially since Iowa is one of them! This tells me that these states have come to believe in the effectiveness and importance of these skills in education, and that I can most likely expect to see more professional development regarding this in the future.

What does all of this mean, and who does this really affect? That's easy! This is all for the students. These kids are our future leaders, and we need to make sure they are well equipped to handle the challenges they will face. They will all, at some point, be put into situations where they need to work creatively with others and will need to communicate effectively with the group members, among others. They will be asked to solve problems and make judgment calls based on the known and unknown factors. They will continue to be asked to utilize technology to improve the efficiency of a company. And even if they are not managers or supervisors, they will be looked to as a leader at some point and will need to guide others through a problem-solving process. We need to keep all of this in mind as we plan our lessons, and make sure to keep finding ways to infuse the 21st century skills into those lessons. The students don't need to know that it's happening, it should really just be a natural part of the process.

I encourage you to check out the website and see how the resources can help you in your teaching endeavors. I, personally, am looking forward to trying out some of the things they recommend and seeing how easy it truly can become!

Blogs in the classroom

When I think about how to use a blog in my classroom, I am overwhelmed by the amount of use it could really have! I teach 8th and 9th grade computer and business classes, so we are on the computers every single day. I also have a Moodle page for my classes. Within Moodle is an option to use a blog. I don't know why I haven't been using this before! A blog in my classroom could be a place for students to spend part of class discussing the projects they're working on or some of the new skills they are learning. They could use it to talk about some of their favorite web 2.0 tools. Or even put some of their graphic work up to show off to their classmates.

I think the most important function of blogs in my classroom, however, is to open up discussions. Since we are on the computers, it is often difficult for me to get my students to actually talk in class when I want them to. Sure, they talk about their personal lives all the time. But they close up when I ask them to discuss content or to share what they know. If I have them post into a blog one or two times per week, the discussion topics could be endless.

Even though I'm really excited about the idea of using blogs in my classroom, I don't want to intimidate the students with them. Therefore, to start off, this could be used as an exit slip or bell ringer. I could post a blog with a question of the day or discussion topic, and they could post a two to three sentence response. This is an easy way to help the students ease into the idea of blogs before I have them posting original blogs of their own. 

I think overall my students will really get a lot out of blogs. It is a simple form of collaboration that will not only help them to communicate better, but will also open the door to more lessons on etiquette and such. Instead of using texting language like they do on their phones, and often, unfortunately, in essays and papers, they will need to use proper language. This is a struggle for students from what I have seen, so I know they could use all the help they can get to determine what is and isn't proper language etiquette! 

Now that I have thought about this, I'm ready to set up my first blog for my class. I am going to start small by using the Moodle blog tool since this is something that is already available and accessed every day in my class. Eventually, I would like to use sites such as blogspot and wordpress. But again, I can't get too far ahead of myself!

New Adventures

Well, it has finally happened. I have started a blog! I have several friends who have had blogs for as long as they have been created, but I did not see a purpose for having one for myself. The funny thing is... I explore other people's blogs all the time! My weekly Pinterest time often leads me to someone's blog where I can find fun decoration or recipe ideas, and I use them all the time for finding new ideas of things to use in my classroom.

So why did I think blogs weren't my thing? To be honest, I don't see myself as a creative writer! Who wants to read a boring blog that isn't well written and doesn't have a specific purpose? I have had issues with creative writing since high school. I had one of those experiences with a course that I never expected, and my teacher ended up inadvertently squashing my creative writing juices. While I've tried to recover from my experience, I still don't have the passion to write anymore.

Why start a blog now? Good question! One of my mentors started one a few years ago and has recently seen tremendous results in her classroom because of that blog. After talking with her, I am ready to give it a shot! I want my students to see the fun and engaging purpose of a blog, whether it is for personal or professional use. I want to be able to share my ideas and inspirations with my followers. And what if I find the most amazing homemade frozen yogurt recipe that I've ever tasted... wouldn't it be nice of me to share?!

So now the adventure begins. While I can't promise to be a faithful blogger, I will promise to do my best to provide quality blogs that will either inform, educate, or entertain my readers. I hope you enjoy my blog and support my on my new adventure. If you have suggestions on topics you want me to discuss, leave a comment! I'm open to all ideas!!!