While reading chapter five of the textbook, there were multiple concepts that stood out and warranted some discussion. These concepts could not only greatly impact teachers but also students. The three most interesting concepts that caught my attention were E-books and readers, electronic note taking, and cognitive load.
The first concept of E-books and E-readers is something that greatly intrigued me. We've all become greatly familiar with the great things these devices are able to accomplish. Depending on which reader is used, there are a variety of different capabilities. Inviting E-books and readers into the classroom is a marvelous idea not only for the students but also for the school. E-books are much less expensive that hard cover and paperback textbooks and would greatly help the schools budget. The initial expense may be hard to overlook, but the long term would be worth the initial investment. Not only that, but carrying an E-reader around is much less difficult than carrying around multiple heavyweight textbooks for seven classes. The portable and lightweight dimensions of the device would also be easily stored and the battery life is tremendous. Not only that, but on school grounds there are ways to restrict certain applications that could distract the students from the lesson so that no longer poses an issue.
Another very important concept is electronic note taking. Taking notes electronically is much more effective than taking notes on paper for a multitude of different reasons. It is much quicker to type than to write down on paper making the notes more detailed and coherent than those taken with pen and paper. The notes also tend to be more organized. For instance, one of the issues with taking notes is it is difficult to save space in certain areas in case of additional information learned later; however, with electronic note taking there is always a way to make additions to the notes. Because of the extra organization and fluidity, students are better able to focus more on the content and meaning of the lesson. There are also multiple applications that would allow students to access notes from multiple devices for both the students and teachers.
Furthermore, another concept a bit different from the first two is cognitive load. Cognitive load occurs when an information rich website distracts learners from the main ideas. This is especially prominent when researching. Students often find information rich websites that have so much information that it is difficult to find the points they actually want and can clutter their research with unnecessary facts. This has become considerably common in the internet age.
Overall, these concepts have the capability to greatly impact technology in the classroom and would really make a difference as far a note taking and research is done. As a future teacher, these are definitely items I would concern myself with.
Works Cited
Maloy W. Robert, Et. Al. (2007). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Pearson.
Animation done using Padlet
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Friday, February 12, 2016
Revision of Digital Blog Post B
Revision of Digital Blog Post B:
Addition of two concepts
Upon reviewing chapter three once more, I stumbled upon two additional concepts that also intrigued me. These concepts include active learning and learning groups. In my opinion both of these tie into my first post on cooperative learning.
To begin, one must first understand the concept of active learning as defined by the text. Active learning means that students are able to physically and mentally or cognitively get involved in the learning process. There are many ways in which a student could ensure that students are able to actively learn. For instance, getting students involved physically in an activity. For example, say that after reading a work of literature the teacher asks the students to compare and contrast the difference in characters from the current book and previously read work. Instead of just going over explanations of the similarities and differences the students would personally do something to compare and contrast ideas and information as opposed to listening about the subject by lecturing, watching videos or even reading about the topic. The class could make a large t-chart and each student could write on large pieces of paper, some differences, they could then go and hang those ideas on the giant t-chart. Getting students physically involved is a great way to keep them entertained with the class and subject while ensuring that they are learning what they need to out of the lesson.
Secondly, the use of learning groups can be extremely positive in the classroom environment for a multitude of different reasons. The term learning groups is in reference to students working out problems together amongst their peers in a specific way that helps elicit high quality explanations and performances. The number of people in a group can vary. By having students participate in learning groups they are able to gain analytical ability in numerous ways as opposed to those submitted to them in a teacher's lecture. Instead of having just themselves as an outlet to bounce ideas off of, they now have multiple other peers that will be able to modify and edit each others ideas to aid in the process of presenting these higher quality answers and concepts to turn in. There are so many ways that this could be used in a classroom but just to submit an example; a learning group could have to read and analyze an article which they would then have to share the concepts and ideas related to the article with the class in an oral presentation. By having the students work in learning groups as opposed to individually, many more concepts and ideas are going to be revealed because multiple minds are working towards a common goal instead of just one. This could also directly relate to cooperative learning if done correctly as well.
Overall, active learning, learning groups, and cooperative learning, are all strategies that would do wonderful things for student learning if formatted correctly in a classroom.
Works Cited:
Maloy W. Robert, Et. Al. (2007). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Pearson
Secondly, the use of learning groups can be extremely positive in the classroom environment for a multitude of different reasons. The term learning groups is in reference to students working out problems together amongst their peers in a specific way that helps elicit high quality explanations and performances. The number of people in a group can vary. By having students participate in learning groups they are able to gain analytical ability in numerous ways as opposed to those submitted to them in a teacher's lecture. Instead of having just themselves as an outlet to bounce ideas off of, they now have multiple other peers that will be able to modify and edit each others ideas to aid in the process of presenting these higher quality answers and concepts to turn in. There are so many ways that this could be used in a classroom but just to submit an example; a learning group could have to read and analyze an article which they would then have to share the concepts and ideas related to the article with the class in an oral presentation. By having the students work in learning groups as opposed to individually, many more concepts and ideas are going to be revealed because multiple minds are working towards a common goal instead of just one. This could also directly relate to cooperative learning if done correctly as well.
Overall, active learning, learning groups, and cooperative learning, are all strategies that would do wonderful things for student learning if formatted correctly in a classroom.
Works Cited:
Maloy W. Robert, Et. Al. (2007). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Pearson
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Cooperative Learning: Student Control and Responsiblity
After having read chapter three, Transforming Learning with Unique, Powerful Technology, a concept truly resonated with me. This concept is Cooperative learning. There are many different aspects of this that I really came to enjoy; however, there is one that truly stood out. Personally, I never did well in group activities and found that worked much more effectively when I worked individually. When using cooperative learning there are so many benefits, some of which I wish I had been able to use.
As mentioned above, I really struggled with group work when I was in school and much preferred working individually. It wasn't that I didn't get along with the people in my groups, but rather that I didn't trust them to hold up their end of the bargain when it came to doing their share of the work. For this reason I love the idea of cooperative learning. The book explains an example of this well in reference to group activity. The text explains it as the students playing different roles. One student would be note taker, writer, artist, researcher, and presenter. By doing this, you could incorporate part of each students grade as participation in the group while mostly judging their grade on the assignment by the quality of their individual work. It allows student who work better in groups to have access to multiple peer editors to bounce ideas off as well as allowing the student who works more effectively independently to do so while also still participating in the group. Collaboration in a classroom is definitely one of the main keys to success and without it the classrooms would not function near as well as they do.
As a future teacher, cooperative learning is definitely something that I would like to incorporate into my classroom. I feel it is the best of both worlds in regards to extroverted and introverted students. The students that prefer to work alone still get to do so, but also have a group of peers readily available to double check that work, ensuring the quality of said work. It also helps the students who work best when able to bounce their ideas off of fellow students. In addition, the technique allows students to exploit their strengths while working on their weaknesses. For instance, someone who is a fluent public speaker would most likely volunteer for the position of presenter. However, a teacher could also adjust the system so that the people in the group rotate in order for the students to work on every position available in the group from presenter to note taker.
Overall, I think that if cooperative learning was applied correctly in the classroom, it would reap incredibly beneficial for both the students and the teachers.
In the last discussion topic we had I mentioned using memes in presentations, so I decided to incorporate one in this piece of work. As cooperative learning increases student control and responsibility, I thought the following would be appropriate in relevance to the students feelings.
Maloy W. Robert, Et. Al. (2007). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Pearson.
As mentioned above, I really struggled with group work when I was in school and much preferred working individually. It wasn't that I didn't get along with the people in my groups, but rather that I didn't trust them to hold up their end of the bargain when it came to doing their share of the work. For this reason I love the idea of cooperative learning. The book explains an example of this well in reference to group activity. The text explains it as the students playing different roles. One student would be note taker, writer, artist, researcher, and presenter. By doing this, you could incorporate part of each students grade as participation in the group while mostly judging their grade on the assignment by the quality of their individual work. It allows student who work better in groups to have access to multiple peer editors to bounce ideas off as well as allowing the student who works more effectively independently to do so while also still participating in the group. Collaboration in a classroom is definitely one of the main keys to success and without it the classrooms would not function near as well as they do.
As a future teacher, cooperative learning is definitely something that I would like to incorporate into my classroom. I feel it is the best of both worlds in regards to extroverted and introverted students. The students that prefer to work alone still get to do so, but also have a group of peers readily available to double check that work, ensuring the quality of said work. It also helps the students who work best when able to bounce their ideas off of fellow students. In addition, the technique allows students to exploit their strengths while working on their weaknesses. For instance, someone who is a fluent public speaker would most likely volunteer for the position of presenter. However, a teacher could also adjust the system so that the people in the group rotate in order for the students to work on every position available in the group from presenter to note taker.
Overall, I think that if cooperative learning was applied correctly in the classroom, it would reap incredibly beneficial for both the students and the teachers.
In the last discussion topic we had I mentioned using memes in presentations, so I decided to incorporate one in this piece of work. As cooperative learning increases student control and responsibility, I thought the following would be appropriate in relevance to the students feelings.
Maloy W. Robert, Et. Al. (2007). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Pearson.
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