Concepts+of+Ed+Tech+Discussion

=Week One=

My main posting
==="Because the work of a webquest involves cooperative and collaborative learning, the negotiation of authentic resources, the active application of researched knowledge, and the construction of a solution to an open-ended problem, it is a constructivist effort."=== Kunda, R. & Bain, C. (2006). Webquests: Utilizing Technology in a Constructivist Manner to Facilitate Meaningful Preservice Learning. //Art Education//, 59(2), 6-11.

I had to look up the term constructivist, but I was pleased that the answer is something with which I am familiar. It is basically learning by doing, but seems to inolve more than that at the same time. I teach computer application classes in high school and the idea of a webquest fascinated me. I have wanted to incorporate more real-world scenarios for teaching my classes and webquests appear to be very promising.

Studies have shown over and over how much more we learn by doing. We visited China two summers ago and learned that they have junior high classes with 100 students in them (and one teacher), and the students are required to memorize and regurgitate facts about the subjects they study--even subjects like using a computer. Chinese students are highly motivated to learn (their futures depend upon their test scores) so there are no discipline problems. However, I wonder how effective the learning is when it is only head knowledge and no opportunity to actually do things.

Constructivist learning and webquests seem to be relevant and useful teaching methods.

Replies to other discussion threads
===Quote: "It is more effective to incrementally build teachers' skills through ongoing workshops and coaching to help them become comfortable with technology than to overwhelm them with everything at once."=== Jones, E. (2007). Strategies to put instruction ahead of technology. //Principal Leadership//, 7(6), 35-38.

It seems that we all agree on this quote, and I'll add my two-cents worth.

How many times have we begun to learn a new program but didn't have occasion to use it on a regular basis, then we lost what we learned? Workshops and inservice days are great jumping-off places to be introduced to new technology, but it is the weekly or daily use of it that creates mastery. Busy teachers really don't have time to master all the things that are thrown at us at the beginning of the year. We have lofty goals, but when we return to our classrooms and the technology isn't in place, or seventeen other things are required of us in the first week, or other things get in the way, we default to the way we've always done it.

Creative scheduling to allow teachers some training time each week would be one way to accomplish incrementally building teachers' skills. Our junior high has created a block of time by implementing a reward program in reading for students. I don't know the particulars, but all the students are rewarded on Fridays with something like a movie with popcorn in the gym or an outdoor playday, while students who haven't done the required reading go to a classroom and complete their reading assignments. Teacher aides corral the students so that teachers have a block of time for teacher training, meetings, or whatever the need is at the time. This would be an ideal time to continue training begun in other venues.

===Quote: “A fundamental question for everyone involved in education – administrators, teachers, parents, and students – in this time of rapid change is “What do students really need to be learning today in order to be ready for an unpredictable future?”=== Armstrong, S., & Warlick, D. (2004). The new literacy: The 3 Rs evolve into the 4 Es. Technology & Learning, 25(2), 20-28. On one hand I totally agree with this quote, but on the other I think we must be very careful. I teach in high school and we've all heard--or, in our younger days, said--"Why do I have to learn this? When am I going to need it?" The subject doesn't matter; it can be literature, math, science, ag, or PE. It's a standard teenager question.

If we leave students to teach themselves, letting them choose what they want to learn without any guidance, they will usually choose a very narrow range of subjects. It goes back to experience: we interpret our world on the basis of our past experiences and we are reluctant to step out of that realm. Because of their past experience with these, students are not interested in core subjects, and current events are boring; therefore, if they are choosing what they want to learn, it will be something else they are interested in such as sports or games.

With that said, when we give students some guidelines and framework for teaching themselves, and we stand by as their coaches or mentors, then we are giving them a priceless gift. To be able to discover information on your own makes it your own, and ownership creates interest. Students will discover that core subjects are core for a reason! They will discover that what is happening on the news IS going to impact them in one way or another. Teaching them to teach themselves is a way of allowing students to expand their experiences vicariously without the sometimes painful consequences of personally experiencing it.