Bianca’s Blog

What is constructivism and learning about?

Within the constructivist paradigm, the accent is on the learner rather than the teacher. It is the learner who interacts with his or her environment and thus gains an understanding of its features and characteristics. The learner constructs his own conceptualisations and finds his own solutions to problems, mastering autonomy and independence. According to constructivism, learning is the result of individual mental construction, whereby the learner learns by dint of matching new against given information and establishing meaningful connections, rather than by internalising mere factoids to be regurgitated later on. In constructivist thinking, learning is inescapably affected by the context and the beliefs and attitudes of the learner. Here, learners are given more latitude in becoming effective problem solvers, identifying and evaluating problems, as well as deciphering ways in which to transfer their learning to these problems.  

Constructivism and technology

Making new friends and communicating with existing ones has always been a popular pastime for children. These days it is a scary thought that social networking web sites make it easy for children to do this from the comfort of their own computer.

The ability to create an online world which they have full control over is very attractive to children and teenagers.  Making their profiles appealing and creating large networks of friends with similar interests is very rewarding.

Children can express their creative thoughts without really caring what anybody thinks.  They enjoy making their “online diary” as individual and unique as possible.

For kids of this generation, who have used internet-based technologies for many social purposes, posting a profile of one’s self and sending messages and files to friends is a natural progression. Its undeniable the most kids these days are quite net savvy however this has bred almost complacency in what information they share about their lives whether it be personal details or even photos and videos of themselves and their friends.

Lamb & Johnson (2006) discussed that parents are concerned by social networking such as Facebook and Myspace as they feel these sites are filled with cyberbullies and sexual predators. However, like most tools, social technologies have positive and negative applications. Although the news media is filled with scary stories about the harmful consequences of social networking software, little attention is given to the opportunities that this technology provides for children and young adults to share. I personally believe there needs to be a greater education given to children of the consequences of their actions on themselves and others. It appears that many students are still unclear on what is wrong and what is right. However I do believe there is a positive place for social networking in our society. We are a digital generation in which our daily life revolves around technology, especially as a means to communicate.

I would like to repond to Julie Park’s view on ‘Using technology to enhance learning’ which is a reactive posting from my original Critical Issue: Using Technology to Enhance Engaged Learning for At-Risk Students.

Yes, i do agree with Julie that ICT doesnt not always engage students and improve at-risk students or behaviour problems but computers are only one source of technology. In our discipline area of PDHPE, there are various technologies specific to our subject area that can really support learning. These tecnologies include video analysis, integrated smart boards into lessons, using muscle flash software, wii fits, and many more. I think as a teacher its all about knowing your students and how your students learn as to what technology you incorporate into your lessons.

I have found a fantastic YouTube clip which highlights the way in which students view technology.

Click HERE to view

I seem to be all blogged out. I feel as if I am running out of thoughts and some days I just feel “all thought out” with no energy left to think about blogging. However, I feel with the expectations of this course that I need to keep going.

I am sure if I would definitely become a regular blogger if food was involved.

Using Technology to Enhance Engaged Learning for At-Risk Students

I have found an excellent article worth reading. It deals with the ISSUE: An increasing number of educators are calling for high standards and challenging learning activities for at risk students. Students are placed ‘at risk’ when they experience a significant mismatch between their circumstances and needs, and the capacity or willingness of the school to accept, accommodate, and respond to them in a manner that supports and enables their maximum social, emotional, and intellectual growth and development.

This article suggests new technologies can provide meaningful learning experiences for all children, especially those at risk of educational failure.

Its worth a read, especially for those who had similar issues on their pracs with ‘at risk’ students.

There are so many articles and reviews based on the points of views about whether technology has a positive or negative effect on the teenagers of today. Each article poses the same question based around whether the huge range of technology is a positive communication breakthrough or is it having an impact on the lack of face to face interaction between today’s youth.

I can see all of the great benefits technology has for teaching and learning purposes; however I believe it is having a huge negative impact on teenagers as they seem to have great communication skills with each other but only via these devices. The majority of communication between teens is texting, emailing, facebook, myspace, you tube and so on.

I think the real concern here as teachers is their literacy skills. The reason why I think this issue is such a concern is because when I have been doing my prac teaching I have noticed almost every student has possession of an ipod and mobile phone. In most of my classes ipods and mobile phones were the biggest distractions for students. Apart from them being a distraction, I found that because students are so used to texting and using slang in their messages to each other, their literacy skills were poor and most shameful. Students would use slang and shortened versions of spelling words just as they would in a message.

So is technology taking over and making our jobs as teachers twice as hard? Students should have learnt these basic literacy skills in primary school however it seems that they need to be relearned or refreshed.

I totally agree with Benjamin’s blog Laptops in the classroom being good in theory however there are many problems encountered. I too was in an exclusive private girls school for my first practicum and it was compulsory for all students to own a laptop from years 7-10. The classrooms were also fitted with the newest and up to date technology such as smart boards, projectors, teachers laptop. I found that in the classes I taught, the laptops were unneccessary and were only a distraction to the students. The classrooms were equiped with enough technology for the teacher to facilitate in the research and to provide information in various ways to engage students.

I found the problems Benjamin had with every student having a laptop in front of them very much the same problems i faced.

I dont believe students should have a laptop in the classroom, however I do recognise the importance of technology and the occassional use of laptops or PC’s in lessons to complete various tasks or activities can be extremely advantagous.

Karl Fisch wrote a post “Is It Okay to Be a Technologically Illiterate “

I am in absolute agreement with Karl and his thoughts on “Is It Okay to Be a Technologically Illiterate”. It’s time teachers stopped displaying a peculiar sense of pride in their technological illiteracy. Not knowing how to do simple things in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint is inexcusable. How often do we see our own University lecturers even here at UTS who struggle with operating and delivering their PowerPoint presentations? In our society, dependent as it now is on technology, teachers who are incompetent with technology are risking their own students’ success. I am not saying we all need to be at an ‘expert’ level, but teachers so need to improve their professional knowledge and practice as outlined in the Professional Teaching Standards (2008). What message are teachers who can’t even create and edit a simple PowerPoint document sending their students?

It is frustrating to me when teachers who are technologically illiterate dismiss technology all together. Teachers have to realise at some point that displaying ignorance with this sort of pride is not acceptable. It is acceptable not to know something and to try to fix that but improving their professional knowledge and practice, and I would hope that most teachers would do so.

• NSW Institute of Teachers. Professional Teaching Standards. Retrieved on August 18, 2008 from the website: http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards.html

• Karl Fisch. The Fish Bowl. Is It Okay to Be a Technologically Illiterate. Retrieved on October 22, 2008 from the Blog site: http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html

 

 

 

Video: Why Let Our Students Blog?

This is a 2 minute video presentation on the benefits and reasons why we should let our students blog.