Connectivism

Here is the mindmap that I created in Webspiration of many of my networking sites.

MindMap Reflection:

In the past, I took several tote bags full of teacher textbooks and other resources home to get ideas and to create lessons. Now, I take my school laptop home every day to search the internet. I prefer to bookmark those sites that are the most helpful instead of always conducting searches for information and ideas. I usually visit those “tried and true” sites first then I’ll go to bing.com, dogpile.com, or mamma.com. Also, instead of having lots of physical folders with everything that I need I have created folders within folders of resources (documents, pdfs, scavenger hunts, and so forth) on my laptop. Generally, I use two computers at the same time, my school Dell laptop and my handy dandy iMac. It’s much easier also to do my college homework with these two computers since I can watch a YouTube video on my Mac on how to do something and then complete the task on the laptop.

YouTube is one of the best sites to learn how to do something. When I first learned about YouTube, I thought that it only contained social videos for entertainment. Now, I have found that there is a great wealth of tutorials that help me with college, school, and home. The academic supersites are also helpful. These sites usually contain learning games, worksheets, and other cool links to teach my students. Finally, I find that the Web 2.0 tools on the internet are fun to use and fun in creating a learning product.

When I have questions, I usually conduct a search on bing.com or go to YouTube.

Module 3

Howard Rheingold: Way-New Collaboration (video)

In the video, Rheingold presents a timeline of how people evolved in becoming social, collaborative beings. One of the timeline milestones is marked by agriculture which gave people a way to grow socially, intellectually, and technologically. Since energy wasn’t being used to escape predators or to follow herds of animals, people could then become engaged in sharing work. sharing ideas, and creating a structure of leaders, followers, and workers. These social groups led to some type of government where someone or a few people made/led decisions in which the group would follow. Survival often depended on the ability of a person to live and interact within a group. Intellectual curiosity was nurtured by the ability to stay in one area and having one’s basic needs met. With the exchanging of ideas, tools were developed to help the members of a group to be more productive and to have a more comfortable life.

The cognitivist supports the idea that learning is social and the learner uses the world around him. The world around him could include life experiences, books read, movies watched, and trips taken. Learning takes place through sensory input. Technology does play a role in the constructivist framework of learning and collaboration. YouTube, School Tube, Kids Know It Network, My Learning Tube, Neo K12, Encyclo Media, Educational MiniMovies, Watch Know, Zui Tube, United Streaming are just some of the video sites in which to learn or to submit a learning video. When wading through the good and unproductive comments on some of the video sites, the video’s creator has the opportunity to refine his/her end product and to respond the critic. How can these videos support collaboration? Well, when viewing videos, it’s easy to find an idea that you can use in your classroom. When watching YouTube tutorials, I found the elements that I liked and those I preferred to avoid. Now, when creating a video or conducting a video search, I try to use/find the tutorial videos that are most beneficial to me. I find that tutorial videos with no one speaking don’t support my learning. I have to see and hear the instruction taking place.

The cognitivists would probably agree that digital books also use what we know and then share that with others, who then refine their products and share those with others, so that a cycle of learning and sharing prevails. Calameo has lots of examples of books that could be useful in the classroom. Some of the features of the different books can be used in a new way and then refined even further. I made a geometry book that explains and illustrates a right angle, obtuse angle, acute angle, and a straight angle. I had refined what I wanted to do by viewing samples of books online. UDL Bookbuilder also provides great examples of teacher-created and student-created books that can be viewed and then refined.

Although the online video hosting sites and the digital book making sites are incidental in their collaboration, these tools do provide a starting point for many. A more direct means of communication and collaboration is the wiki and the blog. One can gain many ideas, post those ideas, and participate in a give and take relationship with one or more people. I’ve bookmarked several that I try to revisit from time to time. I just discovered a blog when looking for online art sites where students could create and then print. (I needed an entry in computer art for the North Georgia Fair and starting my search a few days ago.) Mrs. Smoke, an educator, has a blog called Making Teachers Nerdy and the post was titled “45 Websites to Create Art Online”. Mrs. Smoke’s list contains a brief explanation and the grade levels in which the site is most appropriate. I intend to use a few to get student art and then to later use some of the sites for future projects. Many people have posted comments stating that they have or will use these links in the classroom. From personal experience, I know that even positive statements about my accomplishments creates a desire for me to go to a higher level of performance.

Have I answered how technology can be used to facilitate collaboration? Well, I think I have. Collaboration is exchanging ideas so that a product reflects the efforts of the people involved or the suggestions and criticisms relayed to the creator. Collaboration can even reflect the ideas gained from collaborative projects.

Rheingold, H. (2005). Way-new collaboration. Retrieved on October 14, 2010 from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

Module 2

Cognitivism as a Learning Theory

In Kerr's blog (2007), the author explains, views by Downes and Kapp, that Kapp supports that learning can be described through the construct of behaviorism. Kapp maintains that stimulus and response are strong components in reinforcing and maintaining behavior. Downes argues that behaviorism has been abandoned and that learning can only be described through the construct of cognitivsm.

In Kapp’s blog (2007), the author states that no theory is complete. Cognitivism and behaviorism only give part of the explanation of learning. One has to sift through and choose the best elements of any learning theory.

In response to the two blogs, I have to agree with Karl Kapp’s moderate and inclusive view of choosing the best elements of any learning theory to describe how one learns. I don’t think that you can take a “black and white” or “cut and dry approach” to most topics of discussion, especially learning theory. There are “layers of gray” to one’s point of view.

Heredity does play a big role in how students learn. My older son is an analytical thinker like his father. I, on the other hand, don’t have an analytical bone in my body. However, I am the one who has spent the most time with my son who is now sixteen (as a parent) than his father. My younger son has ADDHD and Asperger’s. His learning is also hereditary.

The biology of his brain has kept him from having difficulty with social cues, figurative language, empathy, and so forth. With medication and “the blood, sweat, and tears” of his mother (me), the biology of his brain has been altered so that he can focus in class and maintain more appropriate classroom behavior. Plus, I have worked hard over the years to "train" my son in thinking figuratively, have empathy, and to attend to many social cues. Have I been successful? In many ways, yes. Frustration assaults me when I feel that he should be further in his development socially.

Both of my sons have benefitted from the environment in their learning (behaviorism). My older son entered gifted classes in kindergarten and I also made sure that he was enrolled in summer enrichment programs through the college and the school system. I read lots of books to my older son (and younger son) starting when he was a baby.

My younger son had lots of behavior modification with the help of a psychologist. One summer, he had to take one small bite of the same food everyday for a week. (This child has a very limited diet of foods that he will eat.) He was rewarded for taking that one small bite (after lots of encouragement and some frustration). One summer, after failing the 3^rd grade CRCT, I tutored him at home instead of sending him to summer school in preparing for the retest. My principal and I both agreed that summer school would not be effective. We worked an hour a day in reading and math. The psychologist recommended that breaks should be taken throughout the test, such as after a story was read and answered. The IEP had been changed earlier that year to reflect testing changes. The retest score went from a failing grade to the excellent range. The quite difficult child that I love didn’t get smarter. His environment was changed so that he could take more breaks and experience less frustration. Today, he is in the 10^th grade and attends a high school with an excellent autism program. Just this past summer, I was able to use a small amount of money to modify his behavior. The rewarded behavior was to walk a mile or more everyday, brush his teeth—am and pm, and shower daily. Since money is now a tangible reward (wouldn’t respond to money as a significant reward in the past), my child is healthier and cleaner now.

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

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