1. ‘A social constructivist learning approach’ has been proposed as a way to think about using social networking technologies. Connectivism and Constructivist learning have also been proposed as a way to provide a theoretical basis for online learning.
Learning Driscoll (2000) defines learning as “a persisting change in human performance or performance potential…[which] must come about as a result of the learner’s experience and interaction with the world” (p.11). This definition encompasses many of the attributes commonly associated with behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism – namely, learning as a lasting changed state (emotional, mental, physiological (i.e. skills)) brought about as a result of experiences and interactions with content or other people.
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Lev Vygotsky
Social constructivism Definition – a theory of human learners in light of learners’ social situation/community. -
Within constructionist thought, a social construction is a concept or practice which may appear to be natural or obvious to those who accept it, but in reality is an intervention of a particular culture or society.
- Social constructivism argues that the optimal learning environment is one where a dynamic interaction between instructors, learners, and tasks provides an opportunity for learners to create their own truth due to the interaction with others.
- It therefore emphasizes the importance of culture and context in understanding what is happening in society and constructing knowledge based on this understanding.
- Knowledge is not passively received, but actively built up by cognizing the subject.
- Zone of proximal development 
– argues that students can, with help from adults and peers who are more advanced, can master concepts and ideas that they cannot understand on their own. Again the emphasis falls on the learners actively constructing knowledge and meaning through participating in activities and challenges, with the added emphasis on the interaction between the learners and the facilitators in order to arrive at a higher level of truth.
- A constructivist teacher creates a context for learning in which students can become engaged in interesting activities and that encourages and facilitates learning.- The teacher does not stand by and watch students explore and discover instead they may often guide students as they approach problems, encourage them to work in groups to think about issues and questions, and support them with encouragement as they tackle problems, adventures, and challenges that are rooted in real life situations that are both interesting to the students and satisfying in terms of the result of their work. Teachers thus facilitate cognitive growth and learning as do peers and members of the community.
- There are 4 principles that can be applied;
- Learning and development is a social and collaborative activity.
- The zone of proximal development can serve as a guide for curricular and lesson planning.
- School learning should be developed in a meaningful context and not be separated from learning and knowledge children develop in the real world.
- Out-of-school experiences should be related to the child’s school experience. Technology provides essential tools with which to accomplish the goals of a social constructivist classroom.
- Programs on the internet can provide a means for dialogue, discussion, and debate – interactivity that leads to the social construction of meaning. Students can also talk with other students, teachers, and professionals in the community far from the classroom. The internet can also provide them with access to many different types of information resources that can help them understand a variety of concepts, and may be able to convey them in a way they understand, better than the teacher could. It enables sharing of information, facts, and ideas. This can allow greater understanding of a topic and is very useful for students as well.
http://soymocha.wordpress.com/exam-stuff/
ConnectivismBehaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three broad learning theories most often utilized in the creation of instructional environments. These theories, however, were developed in a time when learning was not impacted through technology. Over the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. Learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and processes should be reflective of underlying social environments. Vaill emphasizes that “learning must be a way of being – an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast o the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring events…” (1996, p.42). Learners as little as forty years ago would complete the required schooling and enter a career that would often last a lifetime. Information development was slow. The life of knowledge was measured in decades. Today, these foundational principles have been altered. Knowledge is growing exponentially. In many fields the life of knowledge is now measured in months and years. Gonzalez (2004) describes the challenges of rapidly diminishing knowledge life:“One of the most persuasive factors is the shrinking half-life of knowledge. The “half-life of knowledge” is the time span from when knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete. Half of what is known today was not known 10 years ago. The amount of knowledge in the world has doubled in the past 10 years and is doubling every 18 months according to the American Society of Training and Documentation (ASTD). To combat the shrinking half-life of knowledge, organizations have been forced to develop new methods of deploying instruction.”Some significant trends in learning:
- Many learners will move into a variety of different, possibly unrelated fields over the course of their lifetime.
- Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks.
- Learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime. Learning and work related activities are no longer separate. In many situations, they are the same.
- Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains. The tools we use define and shape our thinking.
- The organization and the individual are both learning organisms. Increased attention to knowledge management highlights the need for a theory that attempts to explain the link between individual and organizational learning.
- Many of the processes previously handled by learning theories (especially in cognitive information processing) can now be off-loaded to, or supported by, technology.
- Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where (the understanding of where to find knowledge needed).
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
2. The way in which a teacher conveys new information.
The way a teacher conveys information is very different in a web 2.0 learning environment as opposed to a ‘normal’ classroom environment. The teacher must first do the action. Then get the students to watch, whilst they explain the steps involved in the action, then the students try to do the action themselves. If other students are having trouble completing the actions, then the more advanced students (those that have mastered the action) are encouraged to help those that cannot. This reinforced what the students have learnt, as you learn 90% of what you teach someone else. Some students may also be embarrassed to ask a teacher for help and if their friend has mastered the task then they are able to ask them to help. This way of learning also gives the students a sense of accomplishment, they can see their work, and how they have improved, and with other students asking for help, this makes them feel like a valuable part of the classroom.
3. The encouragement of collaboration amongst students
Collaboration amongst students is a very hard thing to control, as some students do a lot of work and others so very little. I believe with Web 2.0, wiki’s and blog’s the collaboration amongst students will be improved and so will the quality of work produced by the groups. Blog’s are much like wiki pages; they can be for individuals or groups. They can make the page their own through various applications, layouts, backgrounds, colours, music etc. Encouraging students to create a group blog, where each member of the group has responsibility to contribute to regular postings, is a valuable means to engage quieter students and a fair equalizer in the quest to engage all students in active learning. Writing learning diaries, such as blogs can foster deeper cognitive engagement with course content and encourages critical reflection. Furthermore if the learning dialogue is between bloggers of the same class, it can generate rich and meaningful engagement with course materials, experiences, and new ideas. Now with incredible amounts of information available through the Web, we find a ‘new’ kind of learning assuming, that is discovery based. The tendency toward ‘action’ brings us into a loop in which navigation, discovery, and judgement and exploration. (Brown, 2000). The learning then becomes situated within the action; it becomes as much social as cognitive, it is concrete rather than abstract, and it becomes intertwined with judgement and exploration (Brown, 2000). As such the web becomes not only information and social resource, but a learning medium where understandings are socially constructed and shared. In that medium, learning becomes a part of action and knowledge creation, this is known as ‘learning to learn’, and because learning to learn happens most naturally when you and a participant are stimulated in a community of practice. You learn 90% of what you teach someone else. When you teach someone else how to use a program or the software, you are reinforcing what you have already learnt and you are teaching someone else a valuable skill. Encouraging students to immerse themselves in a richly collaborative learning environment in which they are able to create, mix, modify, and extend their own knowledge using social software as personal cognitive tools. The networks that constitute social capital also serve as medium for the flow of helpful information that facilitates achieving our goals. If social software is used correctly it provides a networked environment providing students with communication tools and virtual contact that emulates co-presence. Achieving the effect of co-presence is therefore important in education, for without it, students can feel isolated. The social web has the potential to make students feel they are part of a group, something bigger than themselves. (Boulos, Wheeler, 2006). There are also many other sites that can allow students to actively collaborate online and they are del.icio.us, igoogle, and many others if you have a look on my blog to the left you can navigate around my del.cioi.is account and my igoogle account.
4. Classroom management methods
Classroom management methods are very different from your ‘typical’ classroom; it requires an easy laid back approach. Students are quite good at multi tasking and can quiet often be doing more that 1 thing at a time, this doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t doing the work though. You just walk around the classroom making sure that they stay on track, and have the work completed by the set date. Students are able to learn new technologies a bit quicker than some of the older generation because they social networking through sites like MySpace and Facebook, which allows them the interaction with the web and Web 2.0. For more information on Web 2.0 and how it affects students lives refer to the Danah Boyd posting on my blog, listen to the podcast and refer to all of her related research (it is linked in the blog).
5. Ensuring that learning occurs at Bloom’s higher levels
Blooms Taxonomy
There are 6 levels to Bloom’s taxonomy
- Knowledge – a recall of data, expresses the natural urge to recall previously learned material. So knowledge or being told can be foundation for a lot of learning. It provides a basis for higher level thinking, but it is rote in nature. Insight rides on top of it.
- Comprehension – the ability to grasp meaning, explain, restate ideas, means understanding the basic information and translating, interpreting and extrapolating it.
- Application – using learned material in new situations, involves using ideas, information, and skills to solve problems, then selecting and applying them appropriately.
- Analysis – suggests separating items, or separate material into component parts and show relationships.
- Synthesis – suggests the ability to put together separate ideas to form new relationships. Synthesis involves putting together ideas and knowledge in a new and unique form. This is where innovation truly takes place.
- Evaluation – the ability to judge the worth of the material against the stated criteria will show itself. Evaluation involves renewing and asserting evidence, facts, and ideas, then making appropriate statements and judgments.
Bloom and his colleagues sorted out that there were 3 domains in which we learn. They are;
- Affective – feelings, preferences, and values
- Cognitive – thinking, getting, evaluating, and synthesizing information
- Psychomotor – physical and perceptual activities and skills.
When looking at Bloom’s taxonomy in conjunction with Web 2.0 we are focusing on the higher order thinking such as evaluate, analyze, and create. This fosters more retention within the students and they are able to operate at higher levels in the cognitive domain. Rather than treating pedagogy as the transfer of knowledge, there should be more hands on and informal types of learning, like that of an apprenticeship. This is what Web 2.0 is; hands on approach to learning for students, this incorporate can incorporate all learning styles within one program, such as a wiki. A wiki can evolve into shared knowledge resource as their contributions over time and the wisdom of the masses can be applied to the creation of knowledge stores. On programs such as pbwiki you can add videos, pictures, you can talk over the internet, and you can add text. Wiki pages can be edited to change the information displayed on the page, or update the information, when you are a contributor. Some students have expressed unease about the ease at which their previous ‘hard work’ is deleted or modified beyond recognition. Most people believe that the idea is theirs that is until they hit the ‘send’ button. Overall wiki users must realise that this editing space is open and free for all to use and contribute toward and that the creative/destructive process is ongoing. This is all part of effective communication within the group; if they set boundaries and rules they shouldn’t disagree and have their work changed beyond recognition without consent. Then the creative process can continue and the groups work can improve with the collaboration of all group members. (Brown, 2000)
