2 New Key Understandings of Pedagogy

After reading the articles in this module, I feel a combination of a social constructivist approach to learning in conjunction with connectivism is how I view the educational pedagogies I find most beneficial in practice. There is a need for students to construct their learning for a sense of ownership and engagement. However, the idea of the social aspect and connections is key with the growing digital age. Siemens (2005) suggests connectivism is a way to learn from other network and their experiences including technology to gain actionable knowledge.

Some of the new learnings I have had are:

1. Participatory technologies impact information environment greatly (Farkas, 2012, p. 82). Looking at the benefits of participatory technologies, it is clear that these tools have substantial benefit in the classroom. From increasing engagement and ownership to increased reflection and engaging in dialogue with others, students are truly developing the ability to construct new knowledge together (Farkas, p. 85). I believe that when students feel they are a part of the active learning process and it is made available for others to see, they will increase their effort, which in turn improves achievement as suggested in Farkas (p.85). In order for this collaborative approach to reflection to be successful, a constructivist and connectivist pedagogical approach are needed. Teachers need to change their pedagogy and teaching to allow for new technologies to transform their classroom.

2. There needs to be a change in information literacy instruction (Farkas, 2012, p. 82). With the change in the digital world to provide an increased wealth of resources to our students, we need to be thinking more critically as teachers about how we explicitly teach information literacy to help students become information literate (Farkas, p. 89). While we are becoming more connected, we also have to be more critical in analysing and evaluating the resources and knowledge we find (Farkas, p. 88). As teachers, we need to be instilling in our students the idea of online rights and privacy and how to support them in being safe and secure online. While participatory technologies have many benefits, we need to be aware of who has access to them and how they may engage in them. Teaching students how to change their settings to ensure the class only has access to their blogs may be a way to overcome some of these challenges as well as teaching students how to provide constructive feedback online. Thus, teaching transferable skills is key as our world of digital resources continues to grow (Farkas, p. 89). These conversations shouldn’t be happening in one classroom or in the library; rather the dialogue about information literacy belongs in each and every classroom (Farkas, p. 90).

References

Farkas, M. (2012). Participatory technologies, pedagogy 2.0 and information literacy. Library Hi Tech, 30(1), 82-94.


Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1), 3-10.

Connectivism

Connectivism is defined by George Siemens as a way of gaining knowledge through your networks of others and their experiences (2005). He suggests learning is a continual process and that the focus should be more on how to learning than what you are learning yourself as part of his principles of connectivism(Bell, 2010). This learning theory was developed as previous learning theories (behaviourism, cognitivism, social constructivism)  did not take into account the implications of technology on pedagogy. Connectivism focuses on having social connections as a way to develop actionable knowledge (Siemens, 2015).

I believe that in the 21st century we need to be sure that we are taking into account technology and the affordances it allows us when we look at learning for our students. From a connectivist perspective, teachers should be focusing on developing skills for our students to develop learning. While content is important, students can easily access content online if they are aware how to. Students need to know where and how to access a variety of online resources to find out the ‘what’ when they need it.(Siemens, 2005). Thus, teachers need to educate themselves on how to teach students these new skills.

As an educator, I value the need to be connected to other educators as a way to develop personally and professionally. Engaging with  blogging and Twitter as a way of personal reflection has allowed me to connect with educators from around the globe. This has helped me continually improve my practice by gaining feedback and ideas from others. When I am faced with a problem, I often reach out on Twitter and instantly have a network of others who may have had similar experiences and different perspectives to shed light on what I am experiencing.

This idea of creating networks is also important for our students. Students networks may be significantly smaller due to age restrictions on many different online platforms. However, the idea of being connected and using your network in gaining access to various knowledge is important. I see this currently with our Year 6 students who are completing Exhibition as part of the Primary Year Primary (International Baccalaureate). Students are working with other group members who have varied experiences and knowledge. They are reaching out to different teachers at the school who have different skillsets depending on their research and action. They’ve emailed members of the community and different organisations as other sources of information and have gone to other schools even to gain ideas of what exhibition could be like. This provides students a better understanding of action and learning being continual, different people in your networks offer different perspectives and knowledge and that they don’t have to know everything to be successful, but how to gain the information they need. This social component of learning has allowed them to develop lifelong skills that are transferrable as they continue their education and build their network further.

References

Bell, F. (2010). Connectivism: Its place in theory-informed research and innovation in technology-enabled learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 12(3), 98-118.

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1), 3-10.

Connectivism

Connectivism is a relatively new learning theory that looks at how knowledge is constructed through technology, people and communities (Starkey, 2012,p.26). Knowledge is built through connections between information. This information requires people to make the connections and uses the technology to do this. With connectivism, knowledge is always growing as more connections are made. 

Image from: https://journeysintechnology.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/connectivism.png

References

Starkey, L., (2012). Teaching and learning in the digital age. Oxon: Routledge

Learning Theories & Technology Tools

Many of the resources I use fit with the approach to learning I strive for in the classroom: constructivist. This doesn't mean that other theories are not at play but I try to provide an educational environment where students are constructing their own learning.

Here are 3 examples of technology tools I am considering for my assignment: 

Laptop (Macbook Pro) 

In my class, students use MacBook Pro laptops throughout the course of the day as this gives them access to a productivity suite (Google Apps for Education) and creativity suite (Apple Creativity Suite). In the primary school, the school provides the laptops allowing for consistency. As an IB school, we do a lot of inquiry learning. Students inquire and share their learning through various digital platforms. Through these personal inquiries, the discovery learning theory is present as students will construct their own meaning and are ‘more likely to understand and remember’ through independent inquiry (Roblyer & Doering, p. 43). As they research, they are able to construct their understanding through a constructivist approach.

Image from: http://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/4948/as-images.apple.com/is/image/AppleInc/aos/published/images/M/AC/MACBOOKPRO/MACBOOKPRO?wid=1200&hei=630&fmt=jpeg&qlt=95&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=0.5,0.5,0,0&iccEmbed=0&layer=comp&.v=1425921682675

BrainPop

I use BrainPop as introduction videos, tutorials and provocations. After watching the video, students often generate questions to inquire further into or reflect on what they already know to make meaning. I use it as a constructivist approach to learning whereby students will use the video to provoke where they would like to guide their inquiries as they co-create the curriculum of learning. As students use this as a starting point and direct their own learning from here, the learning is student-centered (Bellflower, 2012, p.26).

Available at: https://www.brainpop.com/

Image from: http://globed.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/BrainPOP_timmoby.jpg

Google Slides

I really try to promote collaborate work and Google Slides is one of the tools that allow me to do this. Often my students choose a topic of interest, research and then share their learning through developing a presentation to share with the rest of the class ( a constructivist approach to learning)(Roblyer & Doering, p. 50). Within Google Slides, students can use a variety of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences to demonstrate their understanding through pictures, images, videos and text (Roblyer & Doering, p. 50).

Available online with Google account at https://www.google.ca/slides/about/

Image from: https://lh3.ggpht.com/9rwhkrvgiLhXVBeKtScn1jlenYk-4k3Wyqt1PsbUr9jhGew0Gt1w9xbwO4oePPd5yOM=w300

References

Bellflower, J. V. (2012, January 1). The effectiveness of traditional and 21st century teaching tools on students' science learning. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, PO Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Retrieved from http://gateway.proquest.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqm&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3490048

Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2014). Integrating educational technology into teaching [Sixth Edition].

Connectivism Creates Connections

Connectivism provides the connections and networks to broaden the type and amount of content available to us, thus also increasing the amount we can learn from this content. Learning is about making connections between our schema and new information to make sense of it. Our students are doing this constantly.

Connection is a key concept for everything that I do in my school. My role is to help teachers and students make meaningful connections between content and using technology. It is important to help students and teachers to understanding that learning and technology are not separate but rather one when done appropriately.

For me, connecting to social networks is the most rewarding way to grow as an educator. Through twitter and blogs, not only can I share content with my personal learning network but I can consume it as well. I have made connections to educators from all over the world that I never would have been able to meet in person. Thus, enriching my personal learning experience.

While it may be easier to make the connections as an adult, it is important that we help students make connections and create networks not just within our school but also globally. One way we did this last year was to use Mystery Skype to learn about other regions of the world and the children who lived there. From there, we were able to contact them should we need them as a resource for future projects. This helped our students become more globally aware and understand how using your connections can help you learn more about the world you live in.