Thursday 23 July 2015

Reflection 1, Week 2

OK So here is my Week 2 Blogpost. I know everyone has been holding their breath waiting, but here is is, for better or worse!

WIKI...Firstly I will comment on the use of the Wiki for the Mobile Phones research activity. This was an interesting concept, one I have not had the pleasure of using before this week. I felt that the process of using the Wiki was fairly simple and commenting on a group was not too hard. This collaborative learning tool uses a social constructivist approach to learning as children learn to use their ideas and findings and present their thoughts to their peers (Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett, Biehler. 2009). The use of online or computer based tasks for collaborative learning activities engage students to have rich interactions and stay on task nearly three times as much as students who work together without the technology (Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett, Biehler. 2009).

de Bono...

The Six Thinking Hats approach is a fun and appealing way of inviting students to pay attention to their thinking. This framework can be used by children and adults alike and the colourful hats give a mental image of the thinking strategy required, so it is easier to avoid confusion by allowing groups of learners to focus on one track of thinking required at a time. Using the Hats show children that there is more than one way to think about a question and each way of thinking is important (de Bono for Schools, 2015). I felt this was an easy way of engaging people like myself because I am a creative person and having the use of different thinking strategies made it much easier for me to focus and I noticed that I was able to move from one Hat to another and my thinking became deeper as the questions were asked.

There are many websites which have free Thinking Hat activities Click here, to learn more about using the Hats or here to find out more from de Bono himself.( de Bono, 2008).

Reputation Management - With so much online learning taking place, it is necessary for educators to incorporate technology into their classrooms. As this becomes more and more prevalent in classrooms Reputation Manaement is esssential to be taught to children from an early age.

Source - Google Images

Children are exposed to many different computer websites and social media such as facebook and instagram where many things are shared with complete strangers. It is important to keep our young ones sheltered from unnecessary or unwanted contact whilst online.

Cyberbullying is the use of technology to bully an individual or a group with the intent to cause harm. The intended harm may be social, psychological and, in extreme cases, physical.

Cyberbullying can cause fear, withdrawal, shame, guilt, loneliness or depression.
Source: Australian Government

Children need to know that they can be safe online, the Australian Government have developed a Cybersafety Help Button which may be downloaded to your desktop. Anyone can click on the button to report inappropriate online behaviour or postings. This website contains information on how you may get help when needed and discusses physical and mental problems which may occur due to misconduct using online tools.

here

So How Am I feeling...Well, this week has been an adventure in making a video, for my blog, and getting it across from my ipad to my laptop, this was another learning curve, as the file was too big to simply email across, I tried several ways and finally came up with a solution. I then had to convert it from a .mov file to a .avi file and found that I could actually do that fairly easily. I am still experimenting with hyperlinks and getting the photo to carry the link hasn't worked for me yet, but I am determined to learn how to do this. My Voki didn't go as planned, I wanted the image to come up on the blog but I couldn't get it to work, I guess I missed a step along the way but hey! at least I got it on the page. There is always next week and more questions to be asked in class.

So until next week...happy blogging! and time to get some well earned zzzzzzzzs.

References

Australian Government. (2015). Enhancing Online Safety for Children. Retrieved from Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner: https://esafety.gov.au/

Bono, E. d. (2008). Edward de Bono - discusses the Six Thinking Hats. Retrieved from You Tube: You-Tubehttp://nortonsafe.search.ask.com/search?geo=&prt=cr&o=apn10506&chn=&ver=&q=de+Bono&tpr=10&ctype=videos

De Bono for Schools. (2015). Retrieved from Critical and Creative Thinking tools: www.debonoforschools.com/asp/six_hats.asp

Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett, & Biehler. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching. Milton: John Wiley and Sons, Australia Ltd.

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Week 1

Source: Google Images

This was me today!

Well, Hello...Today in Managing E-Learning the lecturer told us we needed to write a blog as part of our assessment! Yes, I felt like such a noob! Sometimes you just need to ask for help and let someone else get you started and then you can get on your way. Over the next few weeks I hope to improve my blogging skills; make my posts interesting and share any new skills I learn with others in order to help others learn too. (Hopefully the skills will be worth sharing)

In order to learn more I did what any self-respecting noob would do; I Googled how to write a blog and found some interesting tips. (Here) and (here) (Control + Click to follow link). Being a modern Mum, I asked my technology driven children for any tips they could give me, and of course they obliged by telling me to use Google! (HELLOOOOO...maybe I'm not such a noob after all!!)

So how am I feeling apart from being a noob! As a mature aged student who was not born in the technology era the learning curve for me has been extreme. However, using the tools I learn and practicing them in this format should give me confidence to embrace technology in the classroom and join the twenty-first century students I will soon be educating.

The second part of this blog is to discuss learning theories. Cognitive Constructivist; Behaviourist; and Social Constructivist theories of how learning takes place have been embedded in detail in the Learning Management degree. Names such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey, Skinner and Bronfenbrenner have become second nature in discussing these theories. Today I will give a short explanation of each theory and indicate my preferred learning theory.

Cognitive Constructivists: believe that knowledge is not passive, new knowledge is constructed from existing experiences, concepts, facts and procedures. Learning occurs when our existing understanding is challenged, we consider what we already know about a problem and using our current experiences we try to find a solution. The addition new information along with our current knowledge is utilised to solve a problem and changes our current schema, when this occurs a paradigm shift occurs constructing new knowledge (Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett, Biehler. 2009).

Behaviourists: believe that learners should receive consequences for their behaviours and those consequences will determine the learner's future behaviours. For example, if a pleasurable or desirable consequence occcurs following certain behaviour, the learner is more likely to display that behaviour again, whereas if a negative experience follows that behaviour is less likely to be displayed. B.F. Skinner, developed the theory of operant conditioning in order to promote self-paced learning with clear goals and a logical sequence of materials. When learners are presented with this type of learning environment along with positive reinforcement classroom learning and behaviour is noted to be improved (Snowman, et al., 2009).

Social Constructivists: approach learning with the view that learning is constructed and is influenced by knowledgeable others. Learners are influenced by group discussion or debate and shared learning occurs as new knowledge is constructed. Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is an example of Social Constructivist learning. He believed a child can learn independently to a degree, however when they are influenced or assisted by other learners more advanced than themselves, the child is challenged to learn beyond their current ZPD (Snowman, et al., 2009).

Click here to view a short video explaining the ZPD.

So...which learning theory do I prefer. I actually believe that as an educator I would use all three learning theories in my approach to pedagogy. Every classroom and child has a unique personality based on the the culture of the community, the school, the government along with my own personal beliefs and influences. I firmly believe in rewarding good behaviour and effort for learning. I believe that every student can learn and will learn at their own pace and if given the right amount of scaffolding whether through collaborative learning or individual effort.

I believe learning is about building relationships with your student, their family and the local community. It takes a village to raise a child (Lewis, n.d.)

References

HHuertrOTR. (2010). Zone of Proximal Development. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX8lRh1u5iE

Lewis, J. (n.d.). Wisdom Quotes. Retrieved from http://www.wisdomquotes.com/quote/african-proverb.html