Exam Stuff « Soymocha’s World

Exam Stuff November 10, 2007

soymocha @ 2:26 pm

NETWORKED LEARNING EXAM

1. 5 issues that cause difficulties about getting this project together.

2. Motivation evaluation – for students, what is going to motivate them to complete this project? Difficulties completing this project at home?

3. Social constructivist approach to learning, web 2.0 and how to teach in its context, and how to convey new information about this.

4. How were we taught by Alan? How do you encourage collaboration amongst students?

5. What classroom management techniques can you use to encourage people to learn?

6. How do you ensure that learning occurs at Blooms higher levels?

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.

- http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-it/social.htm

- 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.

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;