Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Learning Theory Reflection

The main changes that I would make to my learning theory would be adding the importance of using technology in the classroom. I mention how it can be useful but not to the point of its true potential in the classroom. I feel that the rest of my learning aligns greatly with the topics covered throughout the course. Not only does it align but can be reinforced with the information gathered and data that correlates with it.

Some immediate changes that I would make to my teaching style it to try and phase out as much lecture with technology as possible and try to find more learning with technology to replace it. I know with the more learning will benefit over the lecture for obvious reasons. This involve me collaborating with colleagues so that I can adapt lessons to meet this desired outcome.

The first tool that I would like to start using more in my class would be the voice thread. I think this would be great for having error analysis of problems and the sharing for information on the subject matter being taught by myself and students. This supports the ideas of collaborating with peers as well as learning through experience. It may be a little more difficult in the math content area but I think the benefits of this critical thinking would out way the effort placed forth. The second tool would be mind maps with web links built into them. This would be a great resource for the students to discover information on their own while meeting the requirements of the course. This is another tool where the students are learning through experience while keeping them focused on the main topics. If the students were to do it without these maps they could easily get lost in the sea of information.
Two long-term goals is more frequent use of online resources and more learning technology instead of lecturing technology. I use many technologies in my classroom already but very few are online based that I would consider learning technology. I feel that there are so many opportunities for my students to learn from the web that they are missing and that I should be able to find many resources that they can use with very little guidance from me. To help meet these goals my strategy would be to make at least two days a week have lessons that are based off of the used of learning technology. By doing so on such a frequent bases it would make it more of a norm for me to plan lessons that have technology involved. To also assist in this I would create my own personal database of activities that includes links and a brief description on how to construct the activity. Something that I already do is save digital copies of all lessons and materials used in the lessons. This will reduce workload and make it easier for developing future lessons. Another resource I would utilize is online blogging communities that focus on technology in the educational field. This would help me with staying up to date on new items and provide additional support if needed.