A Reflection on My Personal Learning Theory

By James Matthews

It is interesting how much I have learned about my teaching self in the last few weeks. I originally believed that simply the cerebral approaches offered through cognitive learning theory encompassed my total thought of how I should approach education. I now believe more in constructivist learning theory than before. Students learn better when they have a hand in developing their understanding. Though cognitive learning remains important to me, I have experienced tools and resources that can help me to connect those cognitive aspects (memory, dual code hypothesis, etc.) to the new content. I believe that technology tools make it easier for students to be more interested in developing that understanding as they serve as a bridge between the abstractness of the content and the reality of their lives.

Two tools in particular will help me to transition a bit more into the constructivist teaching role. The student’s use of concept mapping tools will help me to lead them to the important lesson of organizing ideas and understanding the goals of learning. VoiceThreads will then combine that organization and direction with the lessons we learn in class and will give students an opportunity to express their understanding in a fun and creative way.

There are two long-term changes that I would love to make in my instructional practice: include more technological interaction in my teaching and include more technological interaction in my student’s learning. These goals can be accomplished by implementing better preparation (which probably involves me rewriting some of my current lecture notes), more collaborative learning assignments (both within the class period and without), and more interesting and diverse assessments. Working towards those goals will allow my students to be better prepared for future learning and will help me to strive to keep the content relevant to them.

My VoiceThread

Hey All,

I thought I did it correctly the first time...apparently not.

Here is my VoiceThread: http://voicethread.com/share/889347/

Enjoy and...

Take it easy,

James Matthews

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

By James Matthews

As a student, at first, these online courses presented an unusual challenge for me – since I am so used to the “normal” way of learning from lecturing. I must say that I am rather surprised at how much I learn from being forced to read what academia says about a topic, how my cohorts (with whom I can better identify) feel about that topic, and how all of those stimuli affect my perspective. Throw in the fact that all of this is done online via a multitude of technological tools and I would venture to say that this is a near perfect example of how connectivism and some of the social learning theories mesh very successfully.

I also agree whole-heartedly with the authors of our text in that “Student-created multimedia is a natural environment for cooperative learning” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 141). Having to plan, organize, research, discuss, implement, and review tools and processes using multimedia sources forces us to develop a much deeper understanding of a topic instead of relying on the “old stand-by” of strictly direct instruction. The subsequent usage of various social networking tools promotes the sharing of ideas and concerns, which in turn, promotes deeper introspection of our own thoughts and expectations. One can either view these circumstances as obstacles that need to be overcome or as resources that should be utilized. I prefer the latter…you?



References: Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.