1.What are your beliefs about how people learn best? What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology?
I believe students learn best through best practices and hands on learning. If they can do it, they can learn it. Best practices is simply "what works". There are nine standards: A clear and common focus; high standards and expectations; strong leadership among teachers and administrators; supportive, personalized, and relevant learning; parent/community involvement; monitoring, accountability, and assessment; curriculum and instruction; professional development; and time and structure.
Driscoll (2005)states that theory about learning is a set of laws or principles about learning. They typically originate with a question. When I introduce a lesson, I start with an essential question. The object of my lessons are to answer the essential question. Technology is growing in education. With video games and social networking, students need to be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. An interactive application that my students love to engage in is Education City Live. Students work out math problems in a race against students in their class or other schools. I often "play" to challenge them to beat me and learn their math facts.
resource:
Driscoll, M. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction. (3rd edition). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Tracy,
ReplyDeleteAs a seventh grade Language Arts teacher, I use the Learning Focused Strategy* (LFS) to structure my lessons. Like you, my lessons are driven by essential questions that guide student learning. These essential questions are developed after determining specific units of study based on the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). I understand that my students are members of a society that thrives on the use of technology to quickly access information. In order to incorporate "best practices" as you've mentioned in your post, teachers must incorporate the resources our students are accustomed to using on a daily basis. Otherwise, it is my belief we are being a disservice to our students.
Reference:
*http://www.learningfocused.com/index.php/resources/understanding-the-learning-focused-strategies-model
Tracy,
ReplyDeleteI like that you describe best practices as "what works." This is my first time hearing about standards for best practices. I believe in order to make learning supportive, personalized, and relevant, we have to use the digital and technological tools that the students use on a regular basis. Those tools capture students' attention, increasing engagement and learning.