Reflection on my experience with Blogs

Over the past 3 weeks (this may sound melodramatic!!) a whole new world has opened to me on my computer all thanks to Blogs. My husband and kids have been neglected as scroll, read and comment on a vast array of others Blogs. The use of Blogs as a teaching aid has so many potential benefits for our learners if we use the correct pedagogy with this tool. From my readings and research into Blog use, I have found that one of the main benefits of using blogs for learning is its ability to encourage students to write for a broad audience and that it has a positive impact on the learners' writing fluency. Another great benefit of the blog is that it offer students an opportunity to interact with peers and to learn from each other. Because they enable readers to post comments to blog postings, they offer a forum for discussion, a great example of constructivist learning.


By listing some of the great benefits and also some of the limitations of blogs I can now use this to scaffold how I could use blogs in my teaching context. A great scaffolding tool that can be used in your pedagogy with ICT is the PMI Chart. Below is an example of a PMI chart I have completed to demonstrate how an analyse can be conducted to show the dangers and benefits of using blogs in schools.

PLUS	MINUS	INTERESTING FACTS
Students can comment on each others’ blog posts outside the classroom. This contributes to creating a sense of community, and takes learning and peer interaction outside the confines of the classroom.	Many blogs are very much opinion based and not factual	The majority of minuses are purely based on the pedagogy and scaffolding tools used by the teacher.
Blogs are often used as a tool for reflection	without effective scaffolding proper reflection will most likely not occur
Used as a way to get students to produce a multimedia portfolio	with the adequate level of ICT knowledge students will be left behind in terms of multimedia
Blogs are an excellent source of up to date reading material: encourage your students to find a blog they really enjoy and subscribe to it.	Blogs can be time consuming and eat into other important learning areas
encourage students to write for a broad audience and that it has a positive impact on the learners' writing fluency	If not assessed can lead to bad habits forming in punctuation and grammar

 

Blogs and their potential for education fit within a social constructivist approach to learning where blogs play a role in both internal processing of the material by the student (reflection) and the external communication (comments, peer review) about it.

Bruns and Humphreys (2005) suggest that the pedagogical models need to change from the traditional linear learning paradigms to a social constructivist pedagogical model which includes problem solving in a collaborative environment that requires students to enact knowledge through a process of shared understanding. (Minocha & Thomas, 2007: 190)

When I enter the field as a primary school teacher I feel that to not give my learners access to Blogs and the potional they offer would seriously hinder their learning progress.  As part of my literacy teaching I feel it would be a wonderful tool to allow free thinking/writing. As we are very time limited in what we teach our learners the use of ICT and blogs in particular, cover so many learning areas at the one time. For example I could give my students the task of learning about rainforest's. For me to use a blog in the teaching of rainforest's I would have to carefully scaffold with analytical tools what the students where required to post on their blogs about rainforest's. I have selected the KWL strategy.  Now my learners know what basic information I require initially on their blog I would then require them to research using the Internet the information gaps they were wanting to know about rainforest's. My scaffolding questions would form the first part of the assessment as I would ask them (in comments on the blog) to show on their blog, maps of where rainforest's are located around the world. Furthermore I would then move them onto to create outcomes with the knowledge they have formed on rainforest's.

From this one assignment on rainforest's, by using a blog we have covered learning area of writing, reading (literacy), geography, problem solving, multimedia to name a few. By commenting on the blogs I as the teacher are continually assessing the students works and allowing the student to redraft and add to what they know. Allowing the students to to determine what they want to learn about rainforest's through the scaffolding tool KWL allowed the learning to be student-centred. Also by letting them find the research via the Internet is another example of student centred learning.

Refernces

A. Bruns, and S. Humphreys, "Wikis in teaching and assesment: the M/Cyslopedia project" 2005

S. Minocha, and P.G.Thomas, "Collaborative Learning in a Wiki Environement: Experiences from a software engineering course" 2007 p190

 

 

 

Reflection on my first Wiki experince

Lets just say confusing is an understatement!! This Wiki spaces thing really needs some time put into it to grasp the concepts and to get the full benefits from it (Which may I say are really great benefits!!)

This blog posting is going to hopefully enlighten you (and hopefully me by rehashing what I have learnt!!) on the pros and cons of using wiki spaces for learning and how this applies to the theories of learning.

My experience form this week’s wiki forum demonstrates to me that this method of learning is grounded in both the constructivist and connectivism theories. It was a great example of networked nature of learning with computers and the internet. In relation to our Wiki topic which was ‘should mobile phone be used in schools’ the wiki space demonstrated how with a topic that has so many avenues to explore it would be impossible for a single individual to fully explore every aspect in this topic. By using the wiki we could get a broader understanding of others concepts and opinions on this topic. This is the very nature of the theory of connectivism as it proposes that learning can reside outside one selves (within an organisation or database) is focused on connecting specialized information set, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than are current state of knowing. (Siemens 2005).

I also feel that that the forum demonstrates the theory of social constructivism. Social Constructivist Vygotsky (1962) explains that social interaction has a large influence on learning, and that individuals learn within a zone of close proximal development. He suggests that learner move beyond what is already known through the support of others. By using the wiki we GLTD students as a group were able to learn as a social network using each other’s past experiences and feeling to the topic of mobile phone use in schools.

By using De Bono’s six hats, our teacher had guided and scaffolded out learning and thinking on the topic at hand. It also allowed us to think about this topic using higher order thinking as we went straight into analysing and applying our knowledge into the wiki. This higher order thinking technique demonstrates Blooms cognitive taxonomy in that it is not intended as a linear process rather it is a process of introducing student held knowledge, analysing this knowledge, deriving and strengthening knowledge and theory from this analysis, and then moving towards evaluation of the knowledge which was cleverly done in the scaffold of de bono thinking hats technique.

I have a limited knowledge of how much mobile phones are used in schools at present. I am also very time restricted in my study with a busy family life, but by using the wiki and group work I was able to use other learner’s knowledge and research on this topic to help with my learning and understanding of the topic. By using the wiki space were we as students able to analyse one others idea on this topic and identify the strengths and weaknesses of our fellow students responses to the questions presented.  This show that we are using our analysis and evaluation which form the most important part of Blooms taxonomy and which in turns shows this learning pedagogy was requiring us to learn using higher order thinking.

In Regards to the TPACK framework I feel that the wiki activity failed to deliver all three of the concepts of this framework. The Three concepts in summary are you must have the technical skills, you must know your content and you must know how to deliver your content so your students learn effectively.  The content knowledge was evident as we had our fellow learners knowledge available on the wiki, therefore this section of the framework was established. The content was delivered in an effective method by the use of De Bono thinking hats and the use of higher order thinking in the task. The area that failed to deliver for me in this framework was the technical skills of myself and some other members using the wiki. The task was too time consuming for me as I am unfamiliar with writing in wiki spaces and just trying to get my content knowledge on the page was very frustrating for me!! Also other students had edited the wiki and made it unreadable for me. This in turn hindered my ability to read all the content on this subject.

The Wiki activity demonstrated to me how important it is to deliver successfully all three aspects of the TPACK frame work. If one section of the framework is lacking it can significantly hinder the learning of our students. I also found how great technology can be (once we fully understand it) with higher order thinking and more specifically Blooms taxonomy. The use of the wiki clearly demonstrated how learning as a social constructivist enhances our learning and forces us to analysis and evaluate others opinions. By scaffolding our work in the wiki through the questions raised using De Bono’s thinking hat we were able to go through the process of Blooms taxonomy by first stating our knowledge on the topic and then progressing through the stages of the taxonomy to getting to the more important stages of learning in analysing and evaluation. The only limitation I feel in this activity was we were unable to create any changes with our knowledge and analysis on the topic. But I’m sure our amazing teacher would have a follow on activity to allow us to demonstrate the creative stage of Blooms taxonomy!!

 

Reference

 

G. Siemens, "Connectivism A Learning Theory for the Digital Age" 2005 retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

 

L. Vygotsky, "Social Development Theory" 1962 retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development.html

What is TPACK?

TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge, in order to understand this framework it is best broken down into meaning of each word in the acronym.

1. Technological refers to the Technology (ICT) that are available for classroom use. The technology is designed and used for specific use.

2. Pedagogical refers to art of being a teacher, so it is how we deliver our knowledge to our learners.

3. Content Knowledge refers to what we know about the particular topic.

In order to have a successful TPACK we must use all three of the above to successfully deliver a meaningful lesson to our learners. If one of the above elements is left out learners will suffer and possibly not grasp the content of the topic.

TPACK is framework for successful e-learning. Firstly the content needs to be chosen, and then decisions about appropriate technologies that can transform learning are selected. Finally pedagogies that support the best possible learning are established.

The video below is a great example of using all 3 elements to teach a topic and shows a great visual diagram of the concept.

 

 

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0wGpSaTzW58

Week 1 All about the Learner....

Wow! What an eye opening experience this week has been for me in the world of ICT's and learning theories. I have really enjoyed learning about, how we learn, the type of learner we are and also theories of learning. I will attached some of the interesting learning design quizzes that I have taken, have a go at them yourself it has really helped me to understand how I learn best. Try this one learning styles. These are my results. The results indicate that I will learn more easily in a teaching environment which favours verbal and sequential teaching methods. Perhaps the strongest finding was that I have a very strong preference for sensory learning, this indicated that I  may have real difficulty learning in an environment which does not support this preference.

Sensors remember and understand information best if they can see how it connects to the real world. If you are in a class where most of the material is abstract and theoretical, you may have difficulty. As a teacher I should supply specific examples of concepts and procedures, and find out how the concepts apply in practise. If the teacher does not provide enough specifics, try to find some in your course text or other references or by brainstorming with friends or classmates. (Felder & Soloman)
source: (http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm)

After reading the results from Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model and about the different learning styles I gauge that it is best to use all the learning styles to engage the majority of student the majority of time. If students only learn from one or two methods they are limiting themselves to learning and understanding concepts in different and more in depth ways. So if for example I was teaching a classroom of 25 students to support the range of learning styles I would need to strive for a balance of instructional methods (as opposed to trying to teach each student exclusively according to his or her preferences.) If the balance is achieved, all students will be taught partly in a manner they prefer, which leads to an increased comfort level and willingness to learn, and partly in a less preferred manner, which provides practise and feedback in ways of thinking and solving problems which they may not initially be comfortable with but which they will have to use to be fully effective professionals. (Felder & Silverman 1988)
(http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Learning_Styles.html)

Multiple intelligences is another interesting concept I have learnt this week. Here are my results from Birmingam Grid for Learning test. I am rated higher on myself smart, people smart, word smart and number smart. This show that your learners are likely to learn using a number of different methods, and the more methods used the more likely they will comprehend the topic in more depth.

It has been claimed by some researchers that our intelligence or ability to understand the world around us is complex. Some people are better at understanding some things than others. Instead of having one intelligence it is claimed that we have several different intelligences. These are listed below:

Kinaesthetic - Body Smart Linguistic - Word Smart Logical - Number Smart Interpersonal - People Smart Intrapersonal - Myself Smart Musical - Music Smart Visual/Spatial - Picture Smart Naturalistic - Nature Smart

(http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/ict/multiple_int/what.cfm)

Considering the evidence found on the nature of today’s learners and in particular the very important aspect of learning theory in that the student learns better when they can link new information to already existing ideas and knowledge and also to relevance. These facts indicate that the learners of today really are demanding the use of technology to assist with their learning, as technology is what the learners of today are familiar with!!

 

Generally held beliefs match my opinion that if we do not engage our learner’s with content and stimulation that is relevant to their worlds then they will become enraged as it becomes un-important and as it doesn’t seem relevant to them they will not learn the material to their long term memory.

The statement below came from our engagement activity for this week:
 

  A number of authors contest Siemens' ideas. It is unsettling to be challenged about existing perceptions of "knowing", in particular, the lack of purpose in asking our students to KNOW and be able to RECALL what they know in assessment. Many academics contest these ideas because they are not yet supported by research, rather, they are a position about the nature of learning. They also contend that learning is a state within the individual, and therefore connectivism cannot be regarded as a theory of learning, rather a theory about how learning is best supported.

Do you agree with them?Can you see Siemen's point of view? What is your position?
 

In discussing whether or not connectivism can or cannot be regarded as a theory of learning or rather a theory about how learning is best supported I feel that as with the other learning theories that demonstrate a process for learning so too does connectivism, in that it has a process or methodology. Connectivism encourages and teaches independent critical thinking. I feel it is a way of learning because you are engaging a wider range of resources and it uses a combination of visual, auditory methods of learning. Isn't this great learning for a multitude of learning styles ??

Another great concept from my readings this week was the term raised by Prensky (2001) "Digital immigrant" and "Digital natives". This is a concept I can refer to at both ends. Myself being the digital immigrant and then my children 5 and 2 years old being the digital natives. It amazes me that they can use a computer, ipad, iphone, dvd player and often this is all at once!! What I also found interesting is the discussion on how digital natives are used to parallel processing, multi-tasking and receiving information really fast (Prenksy, 2001 p2). This could not be more evident that with my multi tasking children and their use of the ipad, dvd and computer all at the one time!!

I feel I have a limited knowledge of ICT which I cant wait to expand on!! Just this week I have learnt about mind mapping on the computer and so many other engaging and interesting ways to learn using technology.... Stay posted for more on my e-learning journey!!

 

 

References

Prenksy. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/

 

R.M. Felder and L.K. Silverman, "Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education," Engr. Education, 78(7), 674-681 (1988).

 

R.M. Felder and B.A Soloman, "Learning Styles and Strategies" retrieved from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm