New Technologies

With all the technology changes, this is easy. The problem is not describe a situation but which situation is worthy of discussion. For this discussion I will use the case of flip chart vs. smartboard.

When I was relocated to Washington as a military instructor. The instructor that I was sent to assist was using flip charts. This was ten years ago, and I wasn’t about to use paper flip charts. So I spoke with my supervisor, the training director and express my issues. One of my arguments was that this was out dated, unprofessional, and limiting ones teaching skills. The problem with flip charts are that they don’t allow for flexibility. The general construction of a flipchart resembles a big isosceles triangle box that usually sits on a table of the floor. The paper is flipped from one side of the top of the triangle box to the other. During his early training sessions, in the ’80s, flip charts and marking pens were ubiquitous teaching aids. A great advantage of these tools, of course, is that they require no electricity. This was a powerful advantage since there often was no electricity when he taught in the field and the. But for live training and presentations in modern offices and schools of today the flip chart was being replaced by smartboards, projectors, and computers

I performed some research and for our application we started using smartboards. SMART education solutions had a profound effects on students and instructors thru out our building. This new technology allow the to present a more visual stimulation, student interacting equipment. The instructors were allowed to adapt their lesson plan to equate the smartboard. The students found it more interesting. It allowed the student to inter act and for the section that wasn’t clear back tracking was easy. Then the instructor could continue the lesson plan without loosing the rest of the class. The smartboard training and professional development programs help ensure the technology products are used often and used effectively. By the end of my five year period, we went from flip charts to Smartboard and finishing up with Microsoft net meeting.

The director realized that for us to be effective at our job training these young troops, we would have to become current and stay abreast of the changes. Changes that will effect training became his major concern. Technology can be a excellent tool to enhanced learning. We realized it and capitalize on the risk.

Reference

Smart Technology retrieved August 2, 2010 from http://smarttech.com/us

Collabrolltion blog

I commented on several blogs.
Debra's blog http://debrasedtech.blogspot.com/2010/07indeals-thoughts-and-theories.html
Deidre http://deidrebeductech.blogspot.com/2010/07/educ=-7102-module-3.html
Rhonda http://rgibsonlearningtheory.blogspot.com/2010/07/module-3-collaboration.html

Collaboration

Collaboration: after viewing Howard Rheingold video, I came to the conclusion that collaboration is and have become part of our society. As educators, workers, and business individuals that want to progress their further. Collaboration is done on many different levels. In the work place we collaborate with co-workers to accomplish task, complete individual projects and advance the company profit margin.

For the students, collaboration among fellow students is established by the instructor. As the instructor, it is their job to have the students work together in an intersection of common goals. Most collaboration requires someone in the role of leadership, although the form of leadership can be social within a decentralized and egalitarian group. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources. Learners need to do something, because learning involves the learners engaging with the world. Collaboration is also present in opposing goals exhibiting the notion of adversarial collaboration, though this is not a common case for using the word.

In the business world, collaboration has become vital to a company’s survival. Working together with people in different location due to the use of technology. The use of the internet allows people to work together on projects that is based at a far off location. Meeting are held to discuss plans, progress, and outcomes. Companies keep in touch with their employees through mobile communication. As the employees travels, they can still be in touch and conduct business.
Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer) (2008). " Way-New Collaboration." featuring Dr. Howard Rheingold [http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

Way-New Collaboration

For this week’s blog, we were presented with two questions. 1. Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group,” as Rheingold proposed in his discussion of the evolution of Wikipedia as a collectively developed encyclopedia? 2. How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?

To answer the question, yes I believe that humans have the desire to work in groups. As little children we are taught to play together and share the toys. Then we group up and join teams. Sports team teach us to work together, practice together and in some situation they live in a common living area. There are many other team that thrive on working together teams like from chess to football. We as a society are base around working together. In the work place, you are an individual, about is assigned to a group to accomplish tasks. Society is established around groups, for example law enforcement, fire fighters and many more. If you decide to rebel against society rules, you might find yourself in prisons. Not to escape from the group. Prisoners tend to stick to their own and work together. If you get married, you and your spouse work together to accomplish goals that will better the life for the family. So yes we are raised, taught, and live in the group.

Technology, that has become the universal language. Technology bring different people from anywhere in the world to work together for the common good. This union can take place in the workplace, schools and colleges and social networks. Learning can be enhanced with the aid of technology because it allows for people from different backgrounds to come together and express their ideals. Technology also crosses the different language barriers and the social status in our society. In this program, we are an excellent example of Rheingold discussion about peer to peer production. Because of the technology advancements, students are becoming more computer literate because it is becoming necessary to communicate with other people.

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer) (2008). " Way-New Collaboration." featuring Dr. Howard Rheingold [http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html]

Cognitivism

I read the posting by Bill Kerr, it was interesting an yet a lot of truth was presented. Every time a theorist conduct some research into the _isms, it always lead by to the begging work done by Skinner. There will always be arguments for both behaviorism and cognitivism. Depending on they way you were introduced, will lean you to that particular theory. As you know, behaviorism was developed on the principle of a stimulus response. The student or individual begins with a clean slate and their behavior is molded through the use of positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement. Both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement increase the probability that the antecedent behavior will happen again. This response is learned and becomes a condition that is predicable. The individual don’t know why he/she is doing it, they just know that it has to be done this way. The cogitivism is viewed differently. This Cognitivism theory focuses to explain human behavior by understanding the thought processes on the inner mental activities and believes that it is the individual’s decision base on past experiences, information provided and expected results.


I think that each of these theories have valid point based on there style. A as student, parent, co-worker we all switch between the two theories depending on the situation presented. It is difficult to say which is better or which happens first. The situation dictates the principle and as humans we adapt.

http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html

This was a difficult blog to follow, I’m not sure exactly what the point he was trying to make. From what I gather, it is a group of posting from different people about cognitivism and behaviorism From what I understand, behavior can be shaped by reinforcement through drill

and practice and clear objectives that help students and teachers. Behavior has specific skills needed to be learned in a fixed order. Constructivism is largely by the Student creating knowledge by reflecting on their physical and mental actions. Based on this reasoning, the schools systems will base majority of their program on one of these if not utilize both.

http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational.html

Learning Theory and Educational Technology

I believe that people learn at their own rate. With this time difference, there is also the way that people learn has to be considered. Bridging the gap between in-class lectures and real-world experience can be a challenge. Multimedia (sound, images, animation) and computer-based simulations can be valuable tools to elucidate abstract concepts and help students participate actively in their learning. Other tools can be used to connect your students with professional and research communities in your field. Adults learners tend to prefer self-direction. The role of the instructor is to engage in a process of inquiry, analysis, and decision-making with adult learners, rather than to transmit knowledge.

What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology? This theory has been defined as the basics of adult learning. Learners today differ from the past. Engaged, motivated, self-directed, and diverse learning styles characterize contemporary learners. Today’s learners are wealthy in terms of access to media and communication, and they demand engagement in everything they do (Prensky, 2005).

What are the critical elements of a learning theory? This knowledge base features learning theories that address how people learn. A resource useful for scholars of various fields such as educational psychology, instructional design, and human-computer interaction. Below is the index of learning theories, grouped in somewhat arbitrary categories. Note that this website is an iterative project and these entries are a work in progress; please leave comments with suggestions, corrections, and additional references. Often, peoples' expectations about the role of an instructor and beliefs about how adults learn are derived from personal experience in a college lecture hall or a job training program or from studying classical learning theories. However, learning in adult human beings seems to be a more complex phenomenon than some of the classical theories suggest. These principles that provide the foundation for adult learning today can be summarized as follows: Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, Design-Based, Humanism

Did Driscoll and Siemens miss any key questions or criteria? Provide a thoughtful critique of their discussion of learning theory. No I don’t think they missed any of the critical areas. Students entering higher education today, researchers note, possess a different view of technology due to lifelong immersion in a digital, media‐rich, and networked world. These learners are often described as millennials (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2004). The ongoing growth of the Internet for teaching and learning will likely continue to raise networks as a prominent means of representing knowledge and the learning process. The growth of networks is beginning to, and will continue to, force a reconsideration of pedagogy4 (Siemens 2008).

Critique Siemens’s “metaphors of educators.” Which of these metaphors best describes the role you believe an instructor should take in a digital classroom or workplace? I think that Educator as Network Administrator will work best in the technology classroom. Because thing are based around networking with individuals in social and workplace environment.

Is there a better metaphor to reflect your view of the role of instructors? Yes, To have a true assessment of learning, it comes down a evaluation of the individual and tailoring the assignment to enhance their learning ability. The learning models mentioned are very general and will work on everyone. A true assessment is done on a individual case by case situation. This is very time consuming, so everyone is generalized and place into of the categories.

Reference

Oblinger, D., & Oblinger, J. (Eds.). (2004). Educating the net generation [e‐Book]. Retrieved June 13, 2010, from http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen

Prensky, M. (2005, September). Engage me or engage me. Educause Review, 40(5), 60-65.

Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved June 13, 2010 from http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Paper105/Siemens.pdf

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