Module 4 Blog Assignment

The many networks that I am a member of have dramatically changed the way I learn. In my personal life, email and cell phones with texting have provided me with a quite way to communicate with friends and family. I have only recently began texting and using smart phone technology. Most recently the smart phone has allowed me the ability to check all of my personal/professional/educational communication tools. I can now stay in touch with all facets of my life. Educationally, the newly acquired knowledge of the use of wikis, blogs, GoogleDocs, and most recently Skype allow me to learn in many ways and from many different people. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning how to use these new and have gained knowledge that I would have never gained otherwise. Professionally, my colleagues and I make use of a Public Network Drive where we upload lesson plans, worksheets, activities, assessments, power points, ect… so that we can share our resources. Last year, the county began using Moodle so that educators from all the sites can submit resources to share with the entire county. Of course, email is the main source of communication between educators. Some teachers have blogs on their class website to communicate with parents and students.


My favorite tools that I use to facilitate learning are wikis and blogs. These two technologies allow for learners to collaborate on a given topic so to learn from one another. In the online environment, it is vital that learners have a place to “bounce” ideas off of one another. These are wonderful places to do just that. Blogs allow for students to post their thoughts and for others to comment to agree or to post their reason for disagreement. Both responses have value in learning.


When I need to learn new knowledge I go straight to the internet. As a matter of fact I did just that tonight. In class today we used pumpkins and their seeds to practice estimation, skip counting, and multiplication by 10. I wanted to roast the seeds to have as a snack tomorrow for the students. I have never eaten a roasted pumpkin seeds let alone roasted them. I immediately went to the Internet. Though this was not for traditional educational purposes, was for personal learning. I would do the same to learn about any new concept or content.

Howard Rheingold on collaboration | Video on TED.com

When thinking about if humans have an innate desire to "interact and work as a group" I have to say that I do agree with Rheingold with this statement. ( ) I have seen this in my children when playing with building toys or working with puzzles. They called on their siblings when working alone they could not figure out the correct configuration for what they are building or if the puzzle is giving them difficulty. I think that as adults we still work in this way. Individuals will likely work alone until they are unable to solve the problem on their own or if they feel that the task is too large for one to solve in the most effective way.

As a teacher, I tend to work alone on things that come easy to me, when my confidence is high. However when asked to complete a task that I have never completed I prefer to collaborate with others to complete the task or solve a problem. It is now socially acceptable for colleagues to work together, even encouraged. This is when the old saying is so true, "Two heads are better than one." this is evident in the case of Wikipedia where the collaborative knowledge is building the most up to date source of information. However, it is up to the user of Wikipedia to research further to make sure that the information being read on Wikipedia is not opinion but that it is fact.

Technology can facilitate collaboration using constructivist principles in many ways. Collaboration fits well with the idea that learning is gained through authentic experiences. Learners in different locations can be grouped (as we are Walden classes) through collaborative tools like Skpe and chat rooms to solve problems or to create projects taking advantage of all the members' knowledge.

I have found that the collaboration aspect of online learning also makes me more willing to interact with class discussions. In a traditional setting I was typically one of those students who only spoke when called on. I did not like to be put on the spot and everyone looking at me until I answered. However in the virtual learning world, I am able to think about my answers and am able to articulate my answers in a more accurate way. I believe that wait time for responses is an underlying principle of constructivism. Learning and understanding is not often quick and easy. It takes time and technology allows learner the time needed to process information and draw conclusions about what is being learned.


http://online.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/finalprojects/eitankaplan/pages/principles.htm


Howard Rheingold on collaboration | Video on TED.com