Network Connections

Networking through blogs, wikis and online collaboration chatrooms have changed my whole concept of learning. It has instilled in me that learning comes from everywhere and not just textbooks.  It allows me to open up my thoughts and not put limitations on my students when learning.  Everything they need to know does not exist in a textbook.  I have learned more and more that in my field of study (technology) the best lessons come from hands on work rather than paper and pencil assessments.

I have found that the best digital tools to use are those that are most comfortable to the user.  I am more comfortable using wikis as a learning instrument so it is what I use most.  The students are made comfortable because of its ease of use.  I believe that you cannot teach from something you do not know anything about.  Blogs are interesting in that they allow expression of thoughts as would an essay in the classroom. Digital tools are a mainstay in our learning community and should be used wisely and more often that it is in the classroom.
To learn new knowledge when I have a question I tend to first go to the internet.  I then use a variety of search engines to narrow down the information.  Then I have to decipher the good information from the bad information. Once this is done, I can ascertain which source to use as the information I need. I can also use email and chatrooms that cater to the subject. Since the information age has taken the educational realm by storm it provides the most useful information to educators.





Posted comments to minerclass.blogspot.com and  http://edtheory7105.blogspot.com/

Collaboration

Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group?

As humans I believe our basic instinct is to do for self.  Interacting as a group only works if their is some type of outcome that must come from working in a group.  Most of us do not realize that in our everyday life we are working together even if we are apart.  I am one of those people that believes that I can do what needs to be done and I would rather not have any help.  While group collaboration promotes social interaction it also brings out those who would rather sit back and do nothing while everyone else does the work. "
Students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats. Students who work in collaborative groups also appear more satisfied with their classes." (Davis, 1993)With that being said it is of great benefit for collaboration to occur.

How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?   

"Constructivism refers to the idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves---each learner individually (and socially) constructs meaning---as he or she learns."(Hein, 1991) With the influx of technology learning the constructivist way becomes more complex. If learners are to construct knowledge for themselves then the internet will be a great hindrance to that fact.  With so many ways to acquire information it is harder now to do so.  The way to overcome that is to create problem based projects and lessons that require the student to want to learn more and want to do the research. If that is the case then the internet becomes a learning tool, like a book, and students will construct the knowledge they need to acquire.

Research Study

To see more on this subject and develop a more educational opinion on it please view the link below which tells of a study on constructivism and how it affects student learning.

http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~jmromero/juans%20docs/eportfolio%20docs/constructiviststudy.pdf




References

Davis,B.(1993)Tools for Teaching ;Collaborative Learning: Group Work and Study Teams.Jossey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco

Hein, G(1991)Constructivist Learning Theory.Retrieved from http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/constructivistlearning.html.