Constructivism, Connectivism, and the Cyborg theory

This week was the first week of EDLD 5364 and I read lots of passages and some in the textbooks and watched a few videos, it was mainly about three main points, Constructivism, Connectivism, and the Cyborg theory.

We watched a video and read a passage on the constructivism theory. The Constuctivism theory was developed by a Russian psychologist named Vygotski.  “Never sees something objectively, everything is subjective”. I liked this because the way the man described it in the video, he said everyone will hear something differently all said by the same person, because they all pick different parts and run with it in their mind. So a good teacher is trying to do that with kids, they are trying to  learn the same thing but in different ways but by hearing the same thing. I had never really thought of it that way but he is so right.This is a learner centered theory and what is so funny is you don’t have to be a kid to learn this way.

Next was Connectivism theory, this was about how a person connects with the network that a learner creates, with technology with other people. They learn from a network. He said that, “knowledge is about the distribution that occurs across the entire network.”  which to me is how I learn, either thru a network by my connections with other people, and that knowledge of learning is the way I exist with other people, and how we continue to learn throughout time and in the future.

The last one was the Cyborg theory, to be honest this was a weird video. It was about a guy that had implants of chips placed in his body which sent information to his brain and that way he was able to control things from these chips placed in his mind, I am sorry but this one was a little strange for my case, I felt like we were talking about Star Trek or aliens coming and taking over the world, butt some of you may like this so please if you enjoy learning about that click on his video lik below.

References:

·       Citation: Abbott, J. (nd). Building Knowledge: Constructivism in Learning. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F00R3pOXzuk

·       Citation: Siemens, G. (nd). The Changing Nature of Knowledge  [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMcTHndpzYg

·       Citation: Warwirk, K. (nd). Cyborg Life [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB_l7SY_ngI

Teaching with technology Edld 5364 first weeks web conference

This weeks web conference was scheduled for Thursday night at 8:00, in which I rushed home from my first week at a new school to get home in time for the conference. My group members did the same, they all had first week of school activities that they had to work around for this web conference. I logged in at 7:55 p.m. CT with lots of questions for this new class, the screen came up and said that the host was not on yet and would need to wait, the conference was to start at 8:00 CT, I waited for 54 minutes, I emailed my IA and finally at 8:55 CT got a response from him saying that it had been cancelled and I needed to catch the Saturday web conference, well, I was not going to be able to make the Saturday web conference due to other activities so that is why I had chosen the Thursday night conference. I looked on facebook too at the Lamar Ed tech page and over 77 comments were about the same thing, where everyone else had waited and waited only to find out at 9:00 CT by an announcement across black board that they conference had been postponed until Saturday morning at 10:00 CT, really postponed, that was a cop out, it was already scheduled for that Saturday conference, I think it was very unprofessional of the professor and the IA to do this to the students, especially in such a big class and being the first week of the class when you need all your questions answered. I hope this is not a sign of how this class is going to be because that will be unfortunate that a class this important will be over shadowed by a screwed up first week. So basically other than griping about the web conference that didn't happen, I don't have much to say.

EDLD 5366 reflection

I have thoroughly enjoyed this class and the new skills that I have learned while taking it. Creating new logos, branding yourself, making flyers, learning animation and working collaboratively on a website are just a few of the things I learned and did this class. I never before used some of the technology and thus my knowledge of technology has been expanded because of the fun I have had.

I have created flyers before but never kept in mind, C.R.A.P. (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity) of the flyer. It was an eye opener, never thought that flyers or websites for that matter should be atheistically pleasing to the eye.  But I look back and when I see a website or a flyer that doesn’t get my attention I usually throw it away or find another website.  A flyer is trying to get you to do something or buy something and a website is advertising something. This is now something I am going to keep in mind when making newsletters for my class and working on my classroom website, or even my personal blog or website. Putting my flyer on the discussion board, helped me see what other people think of what I had designed and created and I welcomed their input and knowledge of ideas I hadn’t thought of when creating the flyer.

The self- branding idea was a concept that never crossed my mind, but when I was learning about it we brand ourselves at an early age, thru social media, nicknames certain poses we do in pictures, how people think of us when they see something or someone (reputation). Our schools are branded, stores are branded, clothes are branded why not brand ourselves. I loved playing with and making a logo that described me and my classroom. Using different programs I never used broadened my knowledge of software. 

Collaborating on a website made me see how people all think different and how we all see things differently. I welcomed the knowledge of my team members that had used Weebly before, it was new to me, I had only used Google to make a website. It was exciting to watch a website come from the group up with all the pages and information.

I can’t wait to use the technology and software and knowledge I learned in this class and share it with my teammates and students.

Refrences:

Non Designers Designers Handbook by Robin Williams: https://luonline.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-921384-dt-content-rid-6183491_1/courses/EDLD_5366_ENA_2013_60_AP2/Assets/The%20Non-Designer%20Design%20Book.pdf

The Art of Self-Branding, Part 1 – by L. Alcantra   Citation: Alcantara, L. (2009). The art of self-branding. Retrieved from

http://www.lealea.net/blog/comments/the-art-of-self-branding-part-one/

 Creating Your Personal Brand: By J. Utecht  Citation: Utecht, J. (2010). Creating your personal brand. Retrieved from  http://www.thethinkingstick.com/creating-your-personal-brand

Understanding Multimedia Learning: Integrating Multimedia in the K-12 Classroom

Citation: Understanding Multimedia Learning: Integrating Multimedia in the K-12 Classroom. (2008, September). Retrieved from http://www.brainpop.com/new_common_images/files/76/76426_BrainPOP_White_Paper-20090426.pdf

Treehouse blogsite by Mike Rundle  (2006)  http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/how-crap-is-your-site-design

Weebly Group Website

Had a fun time creating a website with Jon and Carla, we each took two pages, I did Home page and Parents Page, Carla did Teachers and Special Populations and Jon did How To.... and Digital Citizenship
We shared all our information with each other via a google doc on google drive, Click here to check out our website.   http://csjvideoproductions.weebly.com
http://csjvideoproductions.weebly.com

Principles of Design when looking at a Ethopian Bible

This week I looked through the British Library website's "Online Gallery". Using the  "Turn the Page", I was able to look through the pages of a Bible from Ethiopia. This book is hundreds of years old and of course I could not read the language, but was able to know exactly what they were talking about by looking at the beautiful pictures. The design elements that were used kept me interested in what I was looking at, even my son, was amazed and could tell what we were looking at and reading.

The first design element, contrast, is noted on almost every page with the use of different colored words to distinguish the importance of different lines of text and the colors of the borders and pictures. The second design element was that of repetition which was noticed in the layout of typically having a picture on the left page and the text on the right, except in a few cases, but the repetition was definitely noticed. The third element was the alignment, it was seen in the pictures and the text boxes, where everything was centered, even with the pictures the biblical character was larger than other objects in the picture. The fourth and final element was proximity, is seen in the way the pages portraying the life of Jesus are presented together, before going into the gospels of each disciple.

It is very interesting to me to see how we are still use some of the old ways of communication.  By using the same design elements that they used back then we are now incorporating them into todays ways of communication. Funny to realize that they were actually used hundreds of years ago to make the message or story understandable and meaningful to all who saw it back then.

Reflections on my Web Coferences with Ms. Abernathy for EDLD 5363

REFLECTIONS ON THREE OF THE WEB CONFERENCES

I ATTENDED FOR EDLD 5363

Web conference 6-4-13

This web conference started late, she had her times off but once we did get started then we made our groups for our final project, she also gave us some sites to use on our final project. we discussed what we need to write about in our first assignment. We didn't need to turn in our pre-evaluation online but we can email it to our IA and Ms. Abernathy if we wanted. but no need to post on our blog or google site. It was a very informational web conference about what we need to use and where to go to find what we needed. The best and easiest part was getting to go ahead and form a group for the project, my group ended up to big and we had to split, because she said if you get to six you must split, but in the end I think it was for the best, it was so easy to work with my group, like they say too many cooks..... in this case it was hard with so many people to get people together, but easier once we had split.


Web conference 6-10-13

I felt this conference was rushed, she had another web conference to go to in the 30 minutes, I felt like we were being rushed and at times felt stupid to even ask a question.  We did hear more about Creative Commons and Screencast.  we were told to use YouTube, and she told us to be resourceful, ask Google if we don't know something, look on YouTube for tutorials, look in your search engines to find your answers. we were to figure everything out by looking at tutorials, so then I was like ok do I ask a question or keep my mouth shut for fear of looking stupid for not knowing something. I was so discouraged at this point, was not a good web conference for me.

Web conference 6-16-13

In this web conference we learned about Google hangout and Google docs. we were told to find an assignment for a core subject, and that someone in our groups needs to know the core standards of the project. we needed to share our Google doc and make sure to share with her and our IA. All 5 assignments were due this week. Nothing due for week 4 and then in week 5 don't forget to turn in our link to our Google site on TK20 at the end and we must use a video tool, for example YouTube capture or screencast. We need to make sure all the names of our group are included in everything we do.

EDLD 5363 Final Project - To Regroup or Not to Regroup

To Regroup or Not to Regroup

http://www.screencast.com/users/StaceyGove/folders/Default/media/33069657-7de9-4979-8168-5767d636c0d2/embed

Multimedia Technology Class - My Life Storyboard Assignment

 

Week 5 Thoughts and Reflections on What I Learned in this Class.

When I first started this course I was not sure what to expect, I have been exposed to a new way of learning that has challenged me and made me aware of all the needs of others and how I might be able to impact education with all that I will be learning this next year with my internship and my action plan. Some things I heard from the lectures or read in the reading were new to me and then just participating in the blogs was a new way to look into other ideas and concepts that might in the end help me in my education endeavors.

The lectures from the professors gave me a good insight into what I was going to be learning each week and sometimes help clarify what I was questioning. I have to remember that I am going to make mistakes but right now is the best time to make these mistakes and learn from them. I liked when in the lectures they told me of some of the challenges I was going to meet while working on my internship and action plan and that I was not going to be alone that everyone will meet different obstacles.

The readings were from two books, Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as the Action Researcher by Nancy Fichtman Dana and Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools by Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson and Julie Combs. I am learning many new things from both books, I enjoy learning about the nine passions of an action research plan the most, as I read about each passion I was able to several of the scenarios and then question my studies in technology. I also loved the eight steps involved in research; I really need this in helping me figure out what and how I was going to approach my action plan. Even when you have to go back and forth between each of the steps. I always thought that it was a series of steps and am glad that I will discover ideas and research and then go back and make changes. I always thought you had to do exactly in a set order nice to know you can deviate from the normal.

The discussion boards have made me think, and then to figure out how to get my point across to everyone. Sometimes it took me more than once to figure out what I was going to say and then to reply to someone without just a one word or sentence answer and to help and encourage them while discussing the weekly topic.

My site mentor has been supportive, although this is a stressful time in schools with STAAR testing they have listened when I emailed or texted or talked to them during school. I have enjoyed the challenges this class has given me but in the end made me a better questioner and to look more in depth at my research and where to look and what questions to ask while working on this action plan.

Action Plan

Technology has come so far in the past few years especially involving our students and their smart phones, and iPads, etc. but my question is: Has it developed as quickly into the classroom for these students? Some of this I think is the lack of technology being taught in the classroom to the kids is the time they have to teach it,  because they have so much to do in the classroom with teaching to the test, that new technology is pushed by the wayside or that veteran teachers aren’t using the technology to teach with because it is foreign to them and they don’t have time or want to learn the technology. Some teachers just don’t want to give up on their old school style of teaching: chalk and blackboard. Districts have developed technology TEKS for the teachers to implement into the classroom, but some teachers don’t apply them or accomplish them. Classrooms that are using technology in the right way are making dynamic learning environments for the kids, when used improperly the kids are just bored with the technology. I want to focus on the kids learning what they need to learn in order to be successful in the future grades with technology.

Some of the problems are that once these elementary students head off to middle school that they are not ready for all the technology thrown their way in regards to reports or presentations, thus their self-esteem may go down due to failure in their technology skills.  My question is what can we do to help these students be more prepared for middle school in the way of technology and make sure they are on the path to success.

So my research is going to center on:

1.     What motivates the teachers to use the technology to teach these students how to be successful in the future with their education and their future?

2.  What motivates the students to want to use the technology that is offered and what more do they need to learn in order to be successful in education and be prepared for their future education?

Action Planning Template

                                                                                                           

Action Step (s)	Person Responsibility	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1.Discuss Action Research topic with site supervisor	Myself and Kay Ford	4/20/13 to 4/24/13	Intern Plan	Formulate a topic and figure out question
2.Survey Students and teachers to see what they are using in regards to technology and what they want to learn in technology	Myself and teachers involved in helping me do surveys (Mr. Lanier and Ms. Moss)	4/25/13 to 5/1/13	Surveys created on survey monkey	Evaluate data received in surveys
3.Develop ways to help students achieve what they want to learn and be successful.	Myself, technology leader, and teachers	September 2013 to April 2014	Software programs	Match the needs by looking at the surveys and seeing what the kids want the most
4.Implement ways to help these students learn what they have specifically requested to learn.	Myself and technology leaders	September 2013 to April 2014	Software and training	Evaluate the skills they are learning by getting feedback from the students and teachers
5.Have the students complete a survey to see if they learned what they wanted and are satisfied with the technology that they can take with them in their future education.	Myself	May 2014	Online Survey with survey monkey	Compare the survey with the survey given to outgoing grade students last year and those that have taken the survey this year and gone thru the new technology.