Final Reflection

Through my Master’s class, Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology, I feel as if I am even closer to becoming the effective educator I am constantly striving to be. Through this course, I have reviewed the research regarding various learning theories as well as broaden my knowledge of technology that is available to support each one. I have also experienced a variety of technology tools that support various instructional strategies for the classroom. This knowledge has already, and will continue to influence my classroom environment and will help to provide my students with the knowledge and skills they will need for the future.

During Week 1 of this course, I reflected on various learning theories in order to create my own learning theory. My original personal learning theory was influenced by Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Cognitivism. While Cognitivism still plays a very influential role in my personal learning theory, Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is not as influential as it once was. While it will always play an important role in my classroom environment, my personal learning theory is now very influenced by Social and Constructionist Learning Theories. Through research, reflection, and participation with technology tools that support Social and Constructionist Learning Theories, I now feel that these play more influential role in my classroom environment and the way I teach. Glazer (2001) states: “Constructionism suggests that new ideas are most likely to be created when learners are actively engaged in building some type of external artifact that they can reflect upon and share with others.” This theory has changed how I think about many assignments and projects in my classroom. Allowing students to take responsibility for their own learning by creating a product or sharing it with others, encourages them to actively construct their own knowledge within the activity. This makes learning more meaningful and relevant to students, in turn affecting the way their brain stores this information into their long term memory. Some technology tools that I will use in my classroom that support this theory are Webquests and VoiceThreads. Social Learning Theories are also a huge component of my classroom environment. While I have always implemented cooperative learning strategies into my classroom as much as possible, I now have a greater understanding of the effects these strategies have for student learning and engagement. I also have a greater understanding of a variety of technological tools that can be used to support Social Learning Theories in my classroom. For example, Wikis can be used to promote collaboration between students for a variety of projects. Keypals allow students to interact with others all over the world and even collaborate with others through the internet in order to complete a project. My personal learning theory has changed greatly from the start of this course. The influence of Constructionism, Cognitivism, and Social Learning Theories will greatly influence my classroom environment in a positive way in the future.

My knowledge of technology tools that can be used with students have greatly expanded because of this course. I have a greater knowledge of technology tools that support specific learning theories and instructional strategies; many that have already been incorporated into my classroom environment. As this year progresses, I would like to continue to expand my knowledge of the technology tools from this course by using them with my students in new ways. Two technology tools that I would like to use this year are VoiceThreads and Concept Maps. While my students have used these tools briefly because of my own assignments through this course, I will continue to use them with my students throughout the year and also expand my understanding of how to use them effectively throughout a variety of subject areas. Currently, my students have used VoiceThreads in Social Studies, but I would like to expand the use of them through Language Arts and even Math. I have used Concept Maps in Social Studies and Language Arts, but would like to expand their use in writing. Both of these tools support Constructionist and Social Learning Theories because they can be used by students for creating a product to display and share their learning with others, but can also be used as a cooperative learning tool. My knowledge of technological tools has expanded dramatically and the use of them will be evident in my classroom environment throughout this year. This course has influenced a desire to expand my knowledge of technology tools that can be used with students effectively to support their learning of grade level content standards.  

In order to become an effective educator and increase my knowledge of technology that can be integrated into the classroom environment, it is important for me to set personal goals that are achievable. One goal I would like to achieve is allowing students to become independent thinkers and learners by creating more project-based activities throughout a variety of subject areas. In order to do this, I will need to first research project-based activities that are available through the internet that support grade level standards. Creating an ongoing list of project-based activities will allow me to keep record and notes of the ones I have used in order to use them in the future. It also allows me to share project-based activities with others. After implementing these activities with students, I will need to reflect on their effectiveness and record my ideas for better implementation of them in the future. It will also be important for me to collaborate with my grade level team so that we can share resources and observations of project-based activities used with our students. Another goal that I would like to achieve this year is reinforcing effort in my students through the use of a spreadsheet. This is one technology tool I have not used with my students or for this purpose. Because this year I am teaching sixth grade and helping students understand how effort influences grades is so important this year, this is one tool I would like to implement with my students. In order to do this, I will first create a spreadsheet for myself that shows students my own effort in my Masters program and how this influences my own grades. Creating my own spreadsheet first will also help me understand problems students may have when creating their own. I will then have students create a spreadsheet using Excel for a specific subject area in the computer lab. We will include their results every day for two weeks and then graph their results. Graphs and data will be sent home so that students and parents can discuss their effort. I will also collaborate with parents in order to see if they have noticed a change in their child’s effort due to the data observed. My goal is to constantly use this tool throughout the year in a variety of subject areas in order to help students understand how their effort both in school and at home influences their success in school.

The knowledge of instructional strategies, learning theories, and technology tools has helped to make me a more effective educator. This class has given me a variety of technology tools that I can use with my students in order to support effective learning theories and instructional strategies. I also have a strong desire to continue to incorporate the technology tools from this course with my students as well as research many more than can be successfully implemented in order to engage and make learning relevant for my students.

References:

Glazer, E. (2001). Problem Based Instruction. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved on July 20, 2011 from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/