Module 5 Responses

I responded to the following blogs during this module:

Charlotte's: http://charlottevaughn.blogspot.com/

Carol's: http://carollee387.blogspot.com/

Module 5 - Finley & New Technologies

My husband and I moved from Mississippi about three years ago leaving behind our parents and siblings. In this time it has been difficult to keep up with the many changes taking place in our family. For instance, my first niece was born a few weeks before we moved. Since this time, I have missed family events. In order to address this feeling of disconnectedness, I proposed the use of a blog to my parents. One of the major attitudes exhibited was feelings of distrust of the “new” technology. Additionally, they were uncomfortable with navigating the website effectively. Keep in mind, we have had the internet in our home since 1996; therefore, the computer and the world wide web is not something new to them. However, being participants in the creation of information that would be visible by others online is. There was a slight bit of victory when I persuaded my mother to post my niece’s Resurrection Sunday pictures. Unfortunately, there has not been anything posted since then. Using Keller’s ARCS model for motivation, I must address ways to:
Gain and keep their Attention
- Invite them to view our blog
- Phone contact to remind them of the blog
- Family trivia sessions (Remember when statements from our past.)
Share the Relevance now and later
- Show them how they will stay connected with future grandchildren/nieces/nephews
Promote Confidence by providing exemplars,
- Share images and short blurbs on my family’s activities in Georgia
- Invite family members to provide comments on the blog
- Pose questions they can respond to
- Give step-by-step instructions on how to blog
Convert my parents into Satisfied bloggers

For more information of the ARCS model, check out this video:

Module 4 Blog Posts

I posted comments on the following blogs:



Jane: http://janedewitt.blogspot.com/

Wandra: http://wpc-eductech.blogspot.com/

Module 4 - AFinley's Network Connections (Connectivism)

Prior to 2001, a cell phone was a foreign object to me. I saw it as an elitist device (funny, I know). Additionally, the quickest way for me to gather information on a topic was a quick trip to the campus library. If I wanted to purchase a book, I had to drive for thirty minutes to the nearest bookstore in hopes that they had a copy. Today, almost everything I need to know is at my fingertips. If I am interested in a certain book, I can read a great portion of it online using Google books (which happens to be my favorite feature of Google). Throughout my enrollment in this graduate program, I continue to search for scholarly articles using EBSCOhost. Communication among group members (professional and academic) occurs mainly through email with collaborative projects conducted via Google Docs or wikispaces.

When I consider which digital tools best facilitate learning for me, I lean more towards any tool that does not require interaction to be synchronous. I prefer asynchronous tools such as email, discussion boards, wikis, and blogs because of the freedom given to each member of the learning community. Additionally, it provides for more meaningful interactions because members have more time for reflection prior to providing responses.

Through my connections, I am often able to acquire the necessary knowledge when I seek answers to my questions.

More information about connectivism:

http://www.connectivism.ca/

http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm (article from class)

http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/connectivism/

Module 3 Blog Comments

I shared ideas on the following blogs for Module 3:


Jane's
http://janedewitt.blogspot.com/


Sharon's
http://sharon-mcdaniel.blogspot.com/

Module 3: Collaboration...Is there a need for it?

The belief that humans have a basic need for acceptance by themselves and others has been widely accepted since Maslow first presented it in 1943. Additional research has been added to his findings in recent years and continues to point towards the basic instinct of interaction. Look around and notice the number of people continuously connected to their smartphones checking emails, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc. There is a constant flow of information (good and bad) in our society.

Constructivists believe there is strength in collaboration. Driscoll notes, “Hearing a variety of other perspectives helps learners to judge the quality of their own solutions and to learn perhaps more effective strategies for problem solving” (2005, p. 397). Technology is an effective source for collaboration needs because it is “transparent and easy to use” and it provides “unrestricted communication” (Palloff & Pratt, 2005, p. 17). We are fortunate to live in an environment where there is a plethora of technological devices to assist with facilitating effective collaboration. These include wikis, blogs, discussion boards, document sharing sites, emails, video conferencing, chatting, etc. I’m sure you can think of several more modes of collaboration.

For more information Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, go to:
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/regsys/maslow.html

or watch this video with great visual representations of these needs:



Blogs of Interest
Bevarly, D. (2009). Maslow 2.0 – a new hierarchy of needs for collaboration. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.aheadofideas.com/?p=156
Deubel, D. (2010). A classroom’s hierarchy of needs. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blogs/a-classrooms-hierarchy-of


Additional References
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm
Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pennington, D. D. (2008). Cross-disciplinary collaboration and learning. Ecology and Society, 13(2): 8. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art8/
Rheingold, H. (2005). Howard Rheingold: Way-new collaboration. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

Module 2: Cognitivism (Finley's Response)

One thing that I find evident from each of the posts is that no one learning theory is the definitive acceptable way in which humans learn. In terms of Bloom’s taxonomy, behaviorism supports lower level thought processes including knowledge and comprehension (Kapp, 2007). Cognitivism is not seen truly as a supporter of higher thought processes; however, it is thought to support thinking skills such as application and analysis.

Despite the fact that learning is thought to be an internal process, it is the outward display of how the knowledge is transferred to situations that is seen as evidence of information learned. According to Saettler, the following factors contributed to the emergence of cognitive theory over behaviorist theory (2004, p. 321):
“First, the development of the information processing approach that grew out of information theory…second, the impact of the computer, which provided an effective way to simulate human behavior and gave rise to a new subfield called artificial intelligence; third, in the field of linguistics, there was a dramatic shift from behaviorists theories of language toward an analysis of the structures underlying comprehension and production of utterance; and fourth, the theory and research of Jean Piaget had a profound influence on cognitive developmental psychology…”

For more information on cognitivism, please visit the following websites:

http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitivism.html

http://personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxh139/cognitive_1.htm

http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm

Additionally, check out this video with both behaviorism and cognitivism summarized:


Taken from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq9XIrNGgoQ

References
Kerr, B. (2007). __isms as filter, not blinker. Retrieved March 31, 2010 from http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html

Kapp, K. (2007). Out and about: Discussion on educational schools of thought. Retrieved March 31, 2010 from http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational.html

Saettler, P. (2004) The evolution of American educational technology (2nd ed.). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Zalaquett, C. & Gomes, N. (2005). Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid. Retrieved March 31, 2010 from http://www.c21te.usf.edu/materials/institute/ct/index4.html