Reflection on Bridging
Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology
In week one of this
course, I was asked which theories mostly reflected my thoughts on teaching and
learning. At the time, I stated William
Glasser's "Choice" theory along with Harry Wong's Classroom Management approach. I chose these who theories mainly because they
mirrored my beliefs that students' learning is affected by their behaviors; good
and bad.
Ultimately, after weeks of introduction into
other theories, I think "Social Constructionism" works best for me and
my students. Truthfully, I feel that all theories can add to students' growth
and development if properly implemented.
This course has deepen
my knowledge of learning theories and have linked specific technology tools to
enforce higher forms of development and understanding. Also, the use of
instructional strategies and design makes it critical to students'
learning. Therefore, teachers should
keep a few things in mind: they should build content instruction around big
ideas and essential questions, learning should involve authentic assessments
activities that transfers to application, and students need to know where are
they going, why is the content worth learning, and what is expected (Marzano,
2010)?
The immediate change I
would make to my instructions and lesson plans is to always include some form
of technology within the activities. In
the past, I would incorporate technology maybe once a week but with the wide
variety of tools now accessible it would not make sense to let these
opportunities slip away.
Since forms of social
learning theory are now at the forefront of my teaching and instructions, I definitely
would like to incorporate more social technology tools. Voice threads, blogs, and wikis will give
students the means of relating to one another and the opportunity to bounce
questions, thoughts, and ideas off each other.
These type of tools promote social and cooperative learning. Dr. Orey states that social constructionism
helps create some of the best forms of learning such as; highly engaged
students, students actively involved in conversation, and students creating
authentic artifacts (Laureate
Education, Inc., 2011a). Technology used
as a learning tool can create all these components of learning if used properly
by the teacher and student (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011b).
I truly feel my advancement of instructional strategies and
skills from this course will benefit more in my lesson planning and instruction. The nine research-based instructional
strategies introduced by Dr. Debra Pickering, from our course resources, will
give me the foundation to become a better teacher.
The two long-term goals I would like to implement in my
instructional practice, regarding technology integration, would be to teach my
students numerous technology tools. This
would enable them to pick and choose what tool they would like to use during
activities and projects. Also, I would
like to implement afterschool technology training to parents so they can be
fully involved in their child's learning.
These instructional practices will not only benefit my students and
parents but also help strengthen my teaching.
My time table for this implementation would probably take half of the
year but it would be well worth it.
References
Laureate
Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video
webcast]. Bridging learning theory,
instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
Laureate
Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011b). Program thirteen: Technology:
Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved
from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
Marzano, R., (2010). On excellence in teaching.,
Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press
