Conclusion... (Assessment Item 1) Part 4 of 4

The feeling of realisation comes to mind at the completion of weeks one to three in ICT’s for learning design.  Although I have successfully participated and completed all of the required activities, I feel as though I could have done much better and thus I am on my learning journey.  I have learnt that there is a mandatory need for scaffolding in everything we do as students, from profile wiki’s to learning theories and even mobile phones as a learning tool in the classroom.  These experiences have enabled me to realise how I can put them into practice in my classroom in future years.

The disruptions and delays from technical faults, massive amounts of readings and my work commitments most certainly made me work harder to firstly read then comprehend and then reflect on each activity.  As you would know if you have read my blog that even though I grew up in a computer literate generation, most of these tools such as wiki’s and blog’s are a first time thing for me to experience and I’m glad that I had a bunch of awesome students to share this with.  Group work and collaboration such as what we participated in provides opportunities for co-operative learning, group discussions and deliberations which are highly beneficial in enhancing learning outcomes for students according to Lowe, Murray, Li and Lindsay (2008).

The ICT’s course has covered student profiling, the creation and usage of wiki’s, the creation and usage of a blog, learning theories such as behaviourism, connectivism, constructivism and multiple intelligence, De Bono’s 6 thinking hats, eLearning and mobile phones in classrooms by means of reading, extensive research, videos, scaffolding and learning activities that are all a part of the learning engagement theory (Kearsley and Shneiderman,1999).

In the first week, the activity was to be completed as an individual.  By the second week it was as pairs and in the third as a whole group.  I believe that this step by step, building block process incorporated bloom’s taxonomy to its full extent including knowledge, higher order thinking, creating, and evaluating (Bloom, 1956).

The profile wiki was a simple introduction to the world of ICT’s, scaffolding and learning theories, especially constructivism.  For someone like me who has not been exposed to learning or teaching experiences in quite some time, my brain overloaded fast.  To start with, a simple questionnaire about yourself was completed and uploaded onto the wiki for all students to view, which allowed us to connect with each other.  According to Siemens (2005) the connectivism approach explores networking and the ways in which learning and knowledge come from a diversity of opinions and that maintaining connections allows for continuous learning to occur.

     

The learning theories wiki which I participated in with my partner, Catherine, allowed us to share the workload, however I think the excessive amounts of readings and activities that had to be completed in this week was to the extreme and overwhelming for all students.  As discussed through the course content in this week’s activities, the variety of learning styles, multiple intelligences, 21^st century learners and learners from previous generations, every student has a different way in which they successfully engage in learning and it’s up to us as teachers to produce quality pedagogy to support them. 

The theory of behaviourism discussed by Mergel (1998), refers to learning as it is characterised by an observable change in behaviour.  I think a prime example of this, is in fact this course where as students realise this is a marked assessment item and there doesn’t seem to be enough clear instructions and scaffolding provided for us to do so and in return, we start behaving badly and this may reflect in our poor assignment submission.  (Let’s hope it does not reflect too much on mine though).

The mobile phones wiki was scaffolded using De Bono’s 6 thinking hats (De Bono, 1992) which guided the students thinking processes and allowed them to analyse their opinions and evaluate the overall topic.  I found this week to be understandable considerably compared to the previous wiki’s.  It worked well in the way of thinking from all sides of the box and by collaborating and exchanging ideas with other students, allowing us to learn in a constructivist’s way (Vygotsky, 1962).  In addition the way we were thinking gave an in-depth understanding of the issues surrounding mobile phones in the classroom.  

From this I now have the knowledge of the strong importance to provide simple instructions and quality scaffolding to my students in order to maximise their learning outcomes and success.  In ways of supporting diverse abilities, the tools provided in eLearning do this.  Therefore, hopefully I would see an increased number of my students actively participating in class.  As for the learning theories, I strongly believe that a combination of all the previously mentioned learning styles would create the most effective learning base for students and the resources available from ICT’s are never ending for any age student and any subject area.  The consistent reflection of our learning allows the knowledge to effectively sink in and become part of our long term memory (Sweller, 1988).  I will always have a backup plan for when technology fails me and I believe that as teachers, we must learn from our mistakes and our student’s reflections and make changes to accommodate these in the best way possible.

References

Bloom, B. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Handbook 1: The cognitive domain.

De Bono, E. (1992). Six thinking hats for schools (Books 1-4) resource book. Cheltenham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow.

Kearsley, G., and Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for technology based teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Lowe, D., Murray, S., Li, D., & Lindsay, E. (2008). Project Report: Remotely Accessible Laboratories – Enhancing Learning Outcomes. Australian Learning & Teaching Council, 13.

Mergel, B. (1998). Instructional Design & Learning Theory. May 2008.

Retrieved from http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm#The%20 Basics%20of%20Behaviorism

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. December 12, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm.

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive Load Theory. Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning, Cognitive Science, 12, 257-285.

Retrieved from http://tip.psychology.org/sweller.html

Vygotsky, L. (1962). Social Development Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Retrieved from http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html