Adventures in Online Pedagogy:
Lisa & Jim discussed instructivism, constructivism, and connectivism. They then asked us to classify ourselves into one category. IMPOSSIBLE! Depending on what I am doing, I am constantly incorporating all three into my classes all the time. When I lecture on certain grammar, vocabulary, culture, etc. points: I’m feeding my students knowledge and they are taking it in. (Hahha– who am I kidding?!) In theory, that is happening. Later, they take that knowledge and apply it to their writing, reading & speaking skills. Finally, they connect with each other and the world and put it into use/context. So there ya have it… All three are in work, all of the time. So I guess I’m going to need a lot of different online tools 🙂
Individual Knowledge in the Internet Age:
Just the other day in class, this conversation ocurred:
Student: “Profe, I really have problems with spelling in Spanish. What can I do to improve my spelling?”
Me: “Do you ever read in Spanish? Reading will really improve your spelling.”
Long pause…
Student: “Does reading Facebook posts count?”
Me: Long pause, stare hard into student’s eyes…
Student: “I don’t even read in English, forget Spanish!”
I am more and more inclined to believe that if it is not a Tweet, Fb Post or 2 minute (or shorter) YouTube video, students really can’t be bothered to read it… and it’s not just students, a lot of people (myself included sometimes!) Our worlds are moving at the speed of light and it is just too time consuming to actually read a textbook, novel or even a poem!
Memorization: really? Because you can memorize something and regurgitate it on to a test, this makes you knowledgable? Blaaaah! Pure garbage. I rarely remember anything I have “memorized.” I certainly don’t have a bunch of dates memorized, what for? I can look them up on google :). I know basic dates of major happenings in the world: WWI, WWII, Spanish Civil War, my birthdate, my kid’s birthdates, etc. What else do I need to know??!! Lisa, stop gasping!
I think we need to have a balance in education; use technology when we can, keep learning the basics. Who cares if students “read” their textbooks on an iPad? Colaborate through social media, wikis, etc? The idea is that we keep teaching and learning the traditional material in non-traditional ways.
Connectivism:
Hello class, think of me as your mother, sister, auntie, teacher, cheerleader, coach, dictionary, encyclopedia, network adminstrator, Blackboard administrator, and anything else under the sun…
This is what students think we are, these are the misconceptions we must clear up from the beginning of class to help students to be self sufficient and resourceful. Help them to become critical thinkers and solve problems on their own.
This concludes this week’s post. See you next week.
Absolutely LOVED reading your post. I am on the same page. There is such a balance. Technology is great but not when students’ concentration suffers from it or when their brains aren’t exercized to memorize information. I enjoyed your “conversation”–it sounds like something I would hear. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Donna – thanks for your post. I agree that when we are teaching we won’t be applying just one learning theory, but probably a mix of them – but looking back I can see how learning theories have influenced my teaching. I remember when I cam across the work of David Ausubel – later than some of the other theorists. His ideas about advance organizers really resonated with me and certainly influenced the way I taught (Wikipedia has a good explanation – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ausubel)
>I am more and more inclined to believe that if it is not a Tweet, Fb Post or 2 minute (or shorter) YouTube video, students really can’t be bothered to read it….
Is it more – don’t need to, rather than can’t be bothered to. I have two sons and a daughter (all grown up). My daughter has always been a good reader, but scarcely ever reads – she’s an outdoor girl. My middle son used to devour information books as a child – the Dorling Kindersley kind with lots of pictures – and would remember it all. He had and still has a brain which is an information sponge – but he never reads a novel. My eldest son was very very slow to read and was still learning to read at the age of 11. He is now at the age of 36 the most avid reader of the three, but he only rarely reads a novel and mostly reads management books – but he always has his head in a book. All three seem to read what they need to read.
I agree that we need to help students become critical thinkers. Do you have any particular strategies for doing this?
Jenny
No gasping needed – if you know the dates of those events, you’re better off than most! 🙂
Hi Donna
I just dropped by to make a comment about your observations on reading; it was going to go something like “we have funny ideas about reading and what counts as ‘real’ reading”, but then I noticed Jenny’s comment and observations. It kind of makes the point too.
Helen
Thanks for all of your comments! I’m sorry, I never saw them until now (when reviewing). I’m not sure how they got passed me… The “need to read” not “be bothered to read” Agree Jenny! Thanks for the anecdote, it helped to drive your point home and show me a different perspective!