Module 5 Responses

I responded to Ron Smalley's blog at http://ron-s.blogspot.com/ and Joy Winterhalder's at http://jwinty.edublogs.org/.

Module 5 Blog

When implementing new technology in a work setting one is often faced with many reluctant employees. People who have been doing the same thing year after year, are stuck in their ways of doing things and are not open for any type of change. I have seen this very situation occur this year at my school. We are in a very low socio- economic area with poverty ridden families so it is very rare that are school receives any extra funding for anything new. However we recently received a technology grant in which the board chose to purchase SMART tables for the Kindergarten classrooms. Keep in mind that these wonderful tools cost over seven thousand dollars a piece. The Kindergarten teacher I work with has yet to turn hers on for her children to use. This tool is one of the most innovative things I have seen in the education field. The teacher can load different games according to the subject being taught and the kids can interact with the content on this interactive touch screen table. However she refuses to use hers and will not let anyone help her learn how to use it. I just feel that this hurts the students because they are missing out on something that is very engaging and would help them learn in an interactive manner.

Module 4 Responses

I responded to Andres blog at http://learningtheoryaanzaldua.blogspot.com/2011/10/module-4_23.html?showComment=1319932118163#c368694312174232280. I also responded to Sarah's blog at http://sarahdwaldenu.blogspot.com/.

Module 4 Blog: Connectivism

How has your network changed the way you learned?

My learning has changed greatly in just the past couple of years. When I started my master's degree with Walden, my whole idea of learning was completely changed. To start with I never imagined I could go to graduate school entirely online and I was very unsure if I had the background knowledge in technology to succeed in this virtual environment. But I quickly adapted and began learning through collaboration using wikis, skype, blogs, and discussion boards. I have recently been able to communicate and learn through my social network, facebook,  with some of my colleagues. These colleagues and I discuss issues that we currently face as educators. 

Which digital tools best facilitate learning for you?

I believe pod casts, wikis, and blogs help facilitate learning for me the best. I am a visual learner and the pod casts help me gain a better understanding of the content than reading a book ever would. I also enjoy and benefit greatly from the collaboration portion of my distance learning courses. It is interesting to hear different viewpoints about topics and the way other states education systems differ from mine.

How do you learn new knowledge when you have questions?

I google everything!! Whenever I am unsure about anything I grab my phone and google it! 

Module 3 Responses

I responded to Amanda Darlington's blog at http://darlingtonsblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/module-3-collaboration.html?showComment=1318703246783#c64449365161517380.

I also responded to Ena's blog at http://ena-spoonfulofsugar.blogspot.com/

Module 3 Blog

Collaboration: Module 3 Blog Post

Howard Rheingold (2008), discusses that collaboration and communication is key to our world and to be successful. However, most cases people do not collaborate or communicate and the task at hand fails or is not as successful. Rheingold (2008) discusses the prisoners dilemma, the prisoners dilemma is that if two prisoners agree they would both get off without serving time but if they do not agree they both have to serve the time, and they never can agree! I could not agree with Rheingold more the human race has the hardest time collaborating and agreeing on things but when they do they get the best results. An example that he used is when the Egyptians built the pyramids, they had to have used collaboration and communication in order for them to be built successfully. Obviously, they were able to collaborate successfully because these amazing structures still stand today.

I believe that humans do not have a basic instinct to interact and work as a group. We were designed to fend for ourselves and our family and to compete until we have the best. However, we need to change this instinct and learn to adapt and be collaborative in everything that we do. With collaboration and communication we can succeed so much more in life!!

Technology can facilitate collaboration among learners more easily in my opinion than being face to face with each other. With the use of technology there is no longer the sense of competition and trying to be better than your peers. Blogs and discussion posts are the perfect example of this, we state our opinions and our peers elaborate on it or state why they feel differently and both classmates come to a common agreement most of the time. 

A study that I found that supported collaboration as an effective tool for learning is, "Collaborative versus individual use of regulative software scaffolds during scientific inquiry learning." This study compares individual and collaborative success during a scientific inquiry learning process. Forty two high school students either worked individually or in pairs, and the ones that worked in pairs showed significantly higher scores than the students that worked individually. This study can be found at http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2982653c-fb6c-46ff-9f68-cb28f8284471%40sessionmgr15&vid=5&hid=8

References

Manlove, S. and Lazonder A. (2009, June). Collaborative Versus Individual. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=8&sid=2982653c-fb6c-46ff-9f68-cb28f8284471%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=eric&AN=EJ855842

Rheingold, H. (2008, February). Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file].  Retrieved from  

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

Module 2 Responses

I responded to Jennifer Robinson's blog at http://jenniferbethrobinson.blogspot.com/2011/09/module-2-post.html?showComment=1317494555247#c7876667499962688625

I also responded to Andres Anzaldua's blog at http://learningtheoryaanzaldua.blogspot.com/2011/09/learning-theory-cognitivism.html?showComment=1317494895594#c7811842621769419273