Example 1

Constructivism

I have to say that I struggled reading the first article and placing any importance on the material. That was until I had read the two other related articles. I then read back through the chart and it all come together for me. The chart was then helpful for me to relate the theory constructivism and the use of technology in education.

After reading the articles on constructivism and technology I can easily buy into the idea of a student-center classroom, where the students, using technology, gauge and initiate their own learning. The evidence is very convincing that, with the use of technology, the student's intrinsic desire to learn will be ignited. Constructivism also makes a very powerful argument for student centered learning that is really focused on each individual student, allowing and encouraging them to learn/explore learning in their "own" world. Also, I like the practice of preparing the students for the "real world," while developing the problem solving/decision making skills they need.

I am struggling the most with the application of this theory as a teacher. I realize a lot of my personal fears were addressed in the second series of readings on case studies. Once I got into the reading case studies I started to feel better. I felt the articles on case studies were describing a form of applying constructivism in the classroom. The thorough break down of case studies, how they are used, how to create one, and how to evaluate a case study really helped me. I started to feel like I could use the case study approach in the classroom or in my case even the library.

I will now discuss some of my apprehensions about constructivism. Part of the reason I left the classroom was the immense amount of preparation and time required beyond the work day. Building a constructist environment would be a lot of work! Not only does the teacher have to be prepared on the content, but also have gone through the process of a "case study" in order to do all of the trouble shooting and prep work. My dominant concern is training the students to work in a "constructivist" environment. In addition, lack of technology is another major concern. Also, the argument remains of standardized testing and instruction.

Honestly, my apprehension is based partly on my own conservative personality. There are some aspects of conventional teaching I really enjoy. I am afraid that I will not be prepared or adequately skilled to apply a constructivist model in the classroom. I also struggle to picture covering all of the requirements/standards while incorporating constructivism, case studies, and so forth.

After reading and much thought I have concluded that the incorporation of technology will force us to alter our traditional forms of instruction. There will be no alternative to the students playing a more active role in the learning process. As students work more independently and collaboratively they will develop cognitive skills neglected by traditional teaching methods. All the evidence indicates a major shift in pedagogy, yet many questions remain. How do we establish standard evaluating criteria? How do students master content standards/information in a constructivisit classroom? Do we abandon lecture as a form of instruction? How do we establish and enforce minimum expectations for educational technology? If this shift in pedagoy occurs, will it extend to undergraduate/graduate level instruction?

Example 2

The article "New Learning Paradigms" basically reiterated different modes of learning. Some I am quite familiar with like Constructivism and Student Centered Learning. Others I had not heard of like Situated Congnition. This has no set curriculum which immediately impresses me as something I would not be comfortable doing. It doesn't seem to fit in with our standardized driven curriculum. I'm sure it wouldn't be acceptable as standard practice in any classroom. I like the two paradigms labled Communities of Practice and Distributed Cognition. Both sound like they encourage "community" and the emphasis is not on the teacher but on the learning. Also, these have real-world implications. Recalling Terri's struggles in the case study from last week, real-world applications for our students are of utmost importance to employers.

The article about the Technology-Rich Classroom was helpful in listing essential items. I hope to apply for a grant this coming year that will pay for some new technology for my classroom. I like the document camera idea and I'm sure I could use it for many things in my classroom. I wish I had 12 computers for my students, but we have to share the lab with the rest of the school. I would like to use the web for more assignments where students could use the computer lab on their own time and we wouldn't have to use classtime. The article on the Multimedia Odyssey had a few interesting points about how computers/technology can be a powerful learning tool though not the answer to education's ills. I agree that that technology can hurt student learning if not used correctly--it teaches them to take shortcuts that look like learning but are just copying and pasting, for example. I appreciated that the author acknowledged that planning for technology-rich teaching takes more time. I have thought that and have only limited technology entrenched in my lessons. Once it's done, though, it's something that doesn't need much revising over a couple of years.

Blogging Part I was a nice review of what we learned in class and by using this blog assignment. I haven't branched out to using links to other sites or by using any graphics, but I've been thinking of the possibilities for teaching--especially my AP students who would take advantage of online opportunities for discussion. I think using blogs for online journals or reading notes would be wonderful--then I could check them at any time and not have to use classtime to do it. Blogging Part II was minimally useful in that I learned about RSS. I'm not sure how to use it yet, but I did look at couple of articles on the subject. I want to know how I can use RSS in the classroom. I'm sure it could be used for research, but an example of a specific applicaiton might help get my creative juices flowing.

How Wikis Works was so intriguing. Now I see the benefit of such communities if they're used correctly--articles get better and better over time because thousands of brains can contribute knowledge instead of only one! I hesitate to encourage research for formal papers from wikis because it doesn't follow the guidelines I've instructed students to follow for judging the viability of websites. I need to think about this some more and play in the sandbox to feel more at ease. Overall I'm quite excited about using blogs and wikis in my classes--I see potential for me to converse more with students online--and I think quieter students could be given a voice when given the shelter of communication online.