Assessment 1 Summary

How does connected constructivism assist in developing eLearning experiences that promote higher order thinking?

The term eLearning can be used to describe the use of newer electronic technologies to assist in the process of teaching and learning. ‘Power Users’, ‘Net Generation’, ‘New Millennium Learners’ and ‘Digital Natives’ are just some of the terms used to describe today’s younger learners who have grown-up in an environment rich in information and communication technologies (ICT’s) according to Ryberg and Dirckinck-Holmfeld (2008).  These younger learners are usually more comfortable interacting with digital technologies like computers, mobile phones, PDA’s, iPads, and other devices that have the capabilities of creating new learning opportunities. It is often through such devices that they connect with others. Connectivism theory stipulates that the amount of data easily available means knowing where to find information is as valuable as knowing the information itself (Kop and Hill 2008). Harnessing the opportunities these new technologies present will be one of the challenges for new teachers such as myself.

One of the most exciting dimensions of eLearning is its capability to support higher order thinking through constructivist learning theory. Constructivist learning theory is based on the writings of Piaget and Vygotsky and concerns the way we learn. According to constructivist learning theory, learning is a product of an individuals’ personal construction of meaning, which can be linked to Piaget’s individual stages or Vygotsky’s social interaction (Powell and Kalina, 2009). One of the ways constructivist learning theory works to create individual meaning is through scaffolding. Scaffolding is a way of guiding students through an activity by providing a structure for the way individuals precede through the completion of the task. A highly scaffolded activity will contain a large amount of structure to assist the student and help reinforce the learning outcomes sought by the instructor. In this way constructivism can help support a scaffolded activity that is designed to promote the higher order thinking skills outlined in Bloom’s Taxonomy (Clark 2010). An example of this was De Bono’s hats, the graphic organizer used in the mobile phones Wiki. I was guided in my thinking about the use of mobile phones in the classroom to analyze and evaluate the appropriateness of mobile phones as a tool for learning.

The effectiveness of Wiki’s as an eLearning tool through connected constructivism was clearly demonstrated in the various online exercises in which we were asked to participate. It was possible to have a greater range of participation than would have been possible in a classroom setting due to time constraints. Additionally the Wiki still left open the option of a collaborative environment by allowing participants to be influenced and influence the postings of others. Comments posted both before and after my initial posts had an impact on further postings. This collaborative environment also enhanced my higher order thinking by allowing me to compare and contrast the work and opinions of the other participants. Indeed, the learning outcomes I experienced were the product of connectivism and constructivist learning theories, or connective constructivism. My collaboration with the other students influenced my constructed knowledge.

There were other lessons I took from my participation relating to the importance of scaffolding in an eLearning environment. Having clear guidance enabled me to complete the technical details that in turn increased my self-efficacy about online tasks. I should not assume that all of my students will be comfortable with the technical side of eLearning and designing tasks that are well scaffolded is one way of increasing their self-efficacy. According to a recent study (Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark, 2006) the use of a well-scaffolded lesson is a more effective means of learning than minimally guided instruction. I should strive to provide my students with activities that provide clear guidance to maximize the learning outcomes. I can envision planning an online task where students are scaffolded to work in teams to create a marketing plan. The use of a Wiki with an embedded flow chart that details the steps involved in creating a marketing plan could be used to solicit higher order thinking about the relative merits of each step and/or idea. Such an activity could help reach a diverse group of students including those who would not normally participate in class and those who are more visual learners. The students could learn collaborative networking skills, with students having different strengths such as graphic artistry that could be a resource to be used in other subjects.

The possibilities that eLearning creates to plan lessons ‘outside the box’ are limitless. Using different learning theories as a framework for the desired knowledge outcomes will help dictate the structure of the lesson designed for an eLearning platform. In particular eLearning can use ‘thinking routines’ (Richhart & Perkins, 2008) to help students visualize thinking and develop habits of thinking. This has been demonstrated in the reflections that we are asked to do. Our task is to continuously reflect on our learning in hopes that this continuous reflection will become a habit that will occur even after we are no longer required to do so as part of an activity. These thinking skills, which are visual in nature, are well suited to online learning spaces. The use of thinking routines and scaffolding can help promote higher-order thinking skills by challenging students to apply the facts and declarative knowledge they ‘know’ to a framework that ‘does’ something with that knowledge.

It seems that not all of the lessons we participated in went according to plan, and this in itself was a valuable lesson; plan for the unexpected. The following is a list of some of things I learned and things I would do in my own teaching:

• ·      Success is contagious. Provide clear structure to help insure students have the greatest opportunity to succeed. It does wonders for self-efficacy.
• ·      Things will go wrong, but technology affords opportunities that can’t be achieved any other way.
• ·       Don’t always leave things like partners up to the students, as they will continue to work with the same people. Sometimes it is beneficial to choose partners for them.
• ·       Technology problems can leave students frustrated, I know I did. Try to eliminate problems quickly and don’t repeat the same mistakes.
• ·      Although I had problems with Wikis I can see their potential and would like to try on as a learning tool for my students.
• ·      The use of eLearning is a great way to cater to a variety of student learning styles.
• ·      All of the learning theories we have studied have both benefits and detractions. An examination of the desired learning outcomes will help to decide which learning theory is appropriate to use as the dominant platform.
• ·      There can be multiple learning theories in a single task and combining them can make a lesson more interesting.

One final lesson I have taken from these exercises: after completion of this summary, I need to develop more detailed reflexive thinking skills. While my posts contained some good information, taking the time to do a more detailed analysis of the learning theories that form the framework of the tasks will help my teaching pedagogies to be more effective at supporting the learning outcomes I am striving for in my lessons.

Clark, D. R., (2010). Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains, Retrieved March 8, 2011 from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html#cognitive

Kop, R., & Hill, A. (2008). Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(3), 1-13.

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86.

Powell, K. C., & Kalina, C. J. (2009). Cognitive and social constructivism: developing tools for an effective classroom. Education, 130(2), 241-250.

Ritchhart, R., & Perkins, D. (2008). Making Thinking Visible. Educational Leadership, 65(5), 57-61.

Ryberg, T., & Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L. (2008) Power Users and patchworking – An analytical approach to critical studies of young people’s learning with digital media. Educational Media International, 45(3), 143–156.

Assessment item 3 Mobile Phones Wiki

Mobile phones Wiki

The task for the mobile phones wiki was to read an article and watch a video on the use of mobile phones as a learning tool in the classroom. We were then asked to contribute to the mobile phones wiki that was designed as a graphic organizer using De Bono’s six thinking hats. The exercise was scaffolded very clearly with only a couple of steps. I had not used De Bono’s Hats before and found this a very interesting exercise. I was and still am a little unsure as to how each ‘hat’ is unique. To me there is some grey area between what content is applicable under each hat. I wanted some additional information than what was provided in the reading and choose to do some additional research. I posted several comments to the wiki, often sourcing the articles I had researched. However, when I checked back later I see that all my comments have been deleted from the wiki with no trace of my ever having participated! I understand that wiki’s are meant to be a flexible document, but I can see no reason other than another technical malfunction for why my comments have disappeared. I did not think to back-up my posting anywhere and I am resentful that the Wiki show no trace of my participation. I have since found that I blogged about some of my reflections on the mobile phones Wiki. Rather than repost I will let my blob stand as my comments.

Once again this activity has reinforced in me the need to have as few problems as possible to prevent learners from becoming frustrated and disengaged. The use of De Bono’s Hats for business or drama subjects could be useful. A group design project could be incorporated into this graphic organizer with students commenting on its viability and aesthetic merits. The ability to provide an alternate forum for students who many not feel as comfortable speaking in class would be a nice addition to engage more students.

The structure of De Bono’s Hats encourages a constructivist approach to learning. Students are scaffolded to elaborate and justify the qualities of an idea and break it down to the parts that fit under a particular hat. Students will construct meaning that is relevant to them based in part on their prior knowledge. In the example of the mobile phones wiki I did not agree with everything that others had listed as positives or negatives about the use of mobile phones in the classroom because my experiences with phones and school are different from others. There were elements of cognitivism associated with the reading itself, which was a more direct form of instruction. For me, I think there are usually elements of multiple learning theories in most activities.

I thought the use of the reading and the video was a good way of catering to visual and auditory learners. Alas, the video link was inoperable the first few times I accessed Moodle but eventually an alternative link was provided. With eLearning it will be important for me to remember that it is very easy to provide multiple sources of content and using different forms is an excellent way of accommodating different learning styles.

I also appreciated how the use of a graphic organizer like De Bono’s Hats was employed to elicit higher-order thinking skills. To put comments under each hat I needed to analyse how the use of mobile phones could be beneficial or detrimental to a classroom. The various hats gave scaffolded instruction that required the use of more advanced thinking as detailed by Bloom’s Taxonomy. This is not unique to eLearning but the space provided by the wiki would allow for more independent thought time than might be available during class-time. 

Learning theories Assessment 1 post 2

The activity for the learning theories wiki was to work with your partner(s) and choose one of the learning theories from the wiki list and do a Plus, Minus, and Interesting, (PMI) on the related article describing the theory. This was a very straightforward task that needed little in the way of scaffolding. My partner (Rohan) and I discussed the theories at the tutorial and choose cognitive constructivism. Working within the framework I undertook some additional research to obtain a better understanding of our chosen topic of cognitive constructivism. During this time our other partner emailed me to say she was dropping from the GDLT due to childcare issues.

I created an initial PMI and emailed it to Rohan.  We were unable to post this to the learning theories wiki because the content part of the wiki had disappeared from Moodle. It came back up the next day but before Rohan could make changes to my original and post it, it was gone again. My next log-on had the wiki back and I posted my original PMI to the wiki. Rohan added some additional content before the wiki went down again. I add this detail as a learning experience for myself to apply to my teaching. Just as success can lead to increased self-efficacy so to can failure, regardless of fault, lead to reduced self-efficacy. The more things have gone wrong, even though they were not my fault, the more I became uncomfortable with the technology and my own ability. The activity was scaffolded well but problems arose in the technical execution, specifically continuing wiki failure. Going into the classroom I will need to be aware of the technical capabilities of the school network. It will become frustrating to my students if I have designed a task that is not compatible with my schools technical infrastructure or is beyond my own capabilities to administrate the activity on the network.

I could envision the use of a wiki in manual arts as an interactive discussion board where students could go to present design ideas or even share tips about how they were able to achieve certain effects. Often in a workshop environment the time for dialogue is limited as each student is busy on their projects and a wiki could become a digital ‘water cooler’ or ‘coffee shop’ where students go to chat and share ideas. The same concept could also be used in business on marketing plans or a host of other topics. This could be a different structure to allow for unique learning styles to be heard. The use of wiki’s as an eLearning strategy would assist student learning by creating an additional path that students could take to participate in discussions that aid in the constructivist approach to learning.  

The constructivist approach to learning played an important part of this exercise. Working with our partner we needed to define the specific learning approach through a PMI. The interactive nature of the wiki facilitated the creation of a unique but somewhat shared meaning of what cognitive constructivism meant to Rohan and myself. For me, the interaction shaped the discussion in my own mind about what cognitive constructivism looks like, with Rohan adding some points that I had neglected to take into account. Had I not been partnered with Rohan my definition of this concept would be slightly different than the one I eventually arrived at. As with the prior activity there are elements of behaviorism related to the construction of thinking routines that are meant to become automatic. Cognitivism was similarly present in the transfer of information into long-term memory. The elements of connectivism were present in that the wiki could be used as a resource to connect with other classmates who had studied the different topics. This was not part of the scaffolding but if I am having difficulties understanding a specific learning theory, I can use the wiki as a source to connect with someone who covered the topic and may have a better understanding of it. 

Assignment 1 Profile Wiki Blog Post

The profile wiki asked that students create their own profile and post it to the wiki and then view the profiles to choose a partner to work with on further postings. The activity was clearly scaffolded on Moodle to walk students through the process of creating a profile. Included in the structure was a video tutorial that demonstrated the technical aspects of how to go about posting a profile. The profile itself was scaffolded by way of a template that listed the questions to be answered along with the nature of the desired responses.  

I found this to be a straightforward experience despite what I consider to be a certain amount of trepidation encountered when trying new things dealing with computers. I was particularly worried when I read of other having difficulty with their post disappearing. This reinforced in me the reminder to not be afraid to try new things and embrace technology. I felt rather empowered when I was finished. Part of me was encouraged that I had no problems, which in turn raised my self-efficacy. This experience could be very helpful if applied to my students. When dealing with a potentially intimidating task (technology or regular) if it is scaffolded correctly it can have a positive affect on self-efficacy. For some students this will not be an issue as they are likely to be more tech savvy then I am, however, others may struggle. I should not assume that just because someone was born into the computer generation they are tech savvy.

This activity could also serve students as an introduction to wiki’s if they are not yet familiar with them. Most students are familiar with Wikipedia, but I am not sure they grasp the concept of an open community that works collaboratively. For my teaching of business this could be a very useful type of activity. It combines partnership with technology, which are both important areas of study. It could also show some of the steps and value of networking.

For me the downside of the activity was the early structure made the connectedness portion almost useless. When I first signed on and posted my profile I was assigned to a group of five people. Two of the people had already partnered and a third was posting solo. I read their profiles but my choice was limited to one other individual. About a week later the groups were dissolved and you could choose anyone but I had already chosen. Someone who I had met in residential school contacted me a week later and we added her to our group.

The learning theories present in this activity included connectivism, behaviourism, and cognitivism. The connectivism was considerably less than what it could have been but there was still an element of connecting with others. It would have been stronger if the groups were not so small at the beginning. The behavior elements are inherent in the idea of assessed assignments. In order to receive a passing mark there is an expectation that work will be undertaken and a failure to do so will result in an unsatisfactory grade. Additionally, I am assuming one of the aims of the program is to have the students undertake continuous automatic reflection. Having to do continuous reflection on our teaching areas, learning theories, and personal growth to receive satisfactory marks may translate into a habit of reflection on teaching indeterminately. Finally the process of blogging should help the ideas about teaching move from our working memory into our long-term memory.

Blog Failure

I had almost finished a very long post summarising my positive experience with my wiki profile and blog posting in general when it vanished. I was sent back to my blog heading with no trace of the last hour and a half of work! I need to get up early for work and it is now too late to attempt to re-write this post tonight, despite the fact it is nice and fresh in my memory. The draft saved was clicking but I am unsure where I can find my draft. I will look, but from now on I will type in Word and just paste into the blog.

Success! The post was saved as a draft. However I think I will still use Word as I do not trust it.

Mobile Phones for mLearning

My initial reaction to mobile phones (or cell phones as we Yanks like to say) was: "Are you nuts???" I mean, a classroom can be chaotic enough without those things. However, after a few articles I am no longer quite so against it. To do a quick PMI

Pluses:

• Given the advances in smart-phones the capabilities are endless. I particularly like the use of them as instant feedback devices (ARS). Currently UC-Berkley in California uses a clicker device in lectures to get instant feedback as to how well a students' are understanding the material. A lecturer can ask a multiple choice question and students use their clicker to answer anonomously, thus giving immediate feedback as to how well a concept is being understood. The use of the camera (still and digital) could be quite helpful. The timing and reminder functions could be useful as well as many of the applications. Internet searches and file transfer would come in handy as well. In my teaching areas I could see them used in Drama and Manual Arts easily but see a bit less application in Business
• We should embrace the technology that is not just being used by our children but is found in the job market as well. 
• Studies (Engel & Green 2011, Kemp 2011, and  Docksai 2009) have indicated that cell phones can have positive effects on classroom learning. This is contrary to the 'common knowledge' that cell phones are disruptive that is reported in mainstream papers (Kemp 2011). 

Minuses:

• Potential for unintended uses like texting, facebook and surfing instead of working. 
• Potential increase in 'cyber-bulling' and 'sexting'
• Inappropriate use of the video function to record students (or teacher) and share the file.
• Legal issues concerning the schools liability with regard inappropriate use.
• Not every student owns a smart-phone. Which in addition to access raises some socio-economic issues.
• Resources diverted from other technologies like laptops and tablet computers.
• Who is responsible for training and upkeep of the devices or network.

Interesting/Implications

• Use school owned smart-phones or ipods to control access.
• Smart-phones are not a unique instrument but are a combination of existing devices.

I am still, on balance, not yet ready to say that smart-phones should be used in the classroom. I think the minuses still outweigh the plusses. This exercise has made me think about how technology could be used  and to see the potential. I suspect more schools will experiment with the use of phones in the classroom. The data generated from such 'experiments' should shed more light on the benefits and pitfalls of using phones as a mLearning device.

It's not what you know, but who you know

George Siemens idea of connectivism is concerned with the ability to find knowledge. In my MBA studies there is a lot of validity to this type of thinking. An employees value can be in the specific knowledge about a topic that they posses or it may be their ability to connect different nodes of information contacts. In particular unique sets of contacts that are of value to their employer. These employees can act as gatekeepers of information. Similar to this is the idea of connectivism, where knowing how to access information is what is of value. While I agree this is an important ability, I fail to appreciate how this can apply to everyone. Someone must have the knowledge we are seeking to connect to. Yet, if we only teach the importance of the connections how will new knowledge be created? Yes, people will need to fill the role as gatekeepers in the same way we need supervisors to organise the workforce, but if we only train people how to be supervisors who will end up doing the work? I believe connectivism has an important role to play but it cannot be the only role. As a new teacher I view my job to be helping students do a task and find connections as well. For instance, as a Manual Arts teacher I cannot just teach someone how to find the information about how to weld but need to teach them how to actually weld. Imagine going into a job interview and saying 'I don't know how to join those two pieces of metal but I do know where I can find out how to do it'.  I must say I am really at a loss to see how it could have a major impact on a performance based skill such as drama or music. I realise that this is taking connectivism towards an extreme but for me, it is only a tool and not the entire tool box.

Profile Wiki or 'It's reflection time'

I have successfully set up my wiki profile and managed to answer every question. Thus, it is now time to reflect.... Ah, that hits the spot. You may be asking, 'Del, how was this activity of value to you?' I suppose it gave me the chance to succinctly describe myself and anytime we are asked to reflect on ourselves there is the possibility for learning. Asking my students to reflect on their ICT abilities and experiences would be a good lesson for them to think about how they see technology and see how others use technology as well. This could begin a discussion of interactions with technology which could show elements of connectivism as individuals share their expertise with various applications and could become a resource for others. In discussing ICT the group could be engaging in connstructivism as we come to a shared definition of what will constitute ICT and how it can impact us as learners. On a basic level there is an element of behaviourism, because if I fail to do the profile I will fail the first assessment. Indeed this whole blog is an attempt to reinforce the desired behaviour of reflection and make it automatic. I am not sure this first task demonstrates an accommodation of diverse learning, but it is only one activity and not every activity can simultaneously cater to every learning style. As for how this activity supports eLearning the fact that it must be undertaken online forces it into the realm of eLearning. In a classroom setting it would be easy to have everyone go around the room and introduce themselves, or to do a think, pair, share that would accomplish the same thing. What the task delivers for me as a teacher is an opportunity to gain some personal insight into my students and develop an understanding of how they see themselves as learners.