My Assignment No 1

During an extremely challenging first three weeks in the ICT course, I have diligently participated in all the activities in a timely fashion.   With the highly scaffolded learning experiences,  I have begun to develop a schema around learning theories as I have experienced them in action.  The activities set for us have been well scaffolded in most cases and the biggest challenge has been the amount of material we have had to cover in the timeframe in terms of reading and understanding the concepts  and then evaluating  and reflecting on them.  Interacting with unfamiliar technologies of blogs, Wikis and Moodle have just added an extra complication.  However, working with fellow students has accelerated learning with far more being achieved than in isolation.

"Engagement theory is based upon the idea of creating successful collaborative teams that work on ambitious projects that are meaningful to someone outside the classroom." (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999, para. 4)

By using Learning Engagement Theory, the ICT course has covered the basic theories of Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism and Multiple Intelligences through not only research/readings but through learning activities that have been scaffolded to achieve the desired learning outcomes. Of course, the basic theories of Behaviorism, Constructivism and Cognitivism are intertwined into Learning Engagement Theory to make it an effective learning style. Step by step, through these learning activities and scaffolding, new information/theories and techniques have been unveiled, slowly constructing a rich and complex understanding of learning theories and pedagogies whilst incorporating ICT seamlessly into this process. 

 
Using a blog to facilitate, we participated and reflected on a Profile Wiki (individual), the Learning Theories Wiki (partnering up with a colleague) and a Mobile Phone Wiki (group work). Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles were investigated as well as the beginnings of designing our own Learning Design Framework. Through use of scaffolding, we have been responding to the stimuli set for us and have reacted in the appropriate ways. We have experienced working as an individual, with a partner and as a group as well as through the full range of Bloom's Taxonomy (Bloom, 1956) from knowledge (readings/research) to the higher order thinking skills of creating and evaluating (designing our learning design framework).

The Profile Wiki was the first set task and was an effective introduction to Wikis and their possible uses. This activity was an easy ICT introduction and one that highlighted the dangers of technology. Technical issues seemed to be a regular occurrence and the system did not appear to be very robust. This was also an introduction to constructivism and to scaffolding. I had not encountered these concepts before and did not recognise them as such at the time. For me, this was the beginnings of a new schema built around learning and teaching and so the start of cognitivism. The meaningful task (apart from learning how to Wiki and blog) was to inform our colleagues about ourselves and thus authenticate the activity and prepare the students for further collaboration in the coming days. The blog and discussion forum also supported communication between students and proficiencies with new ICTs.

This starting activity was quickly followed by readings/testing activities and blogging on Multiple Intelligences (Gardner, 1985). This stimulated much thought, provoked discussion both internally and with other students and forced students to look at their individual tests and relate them to themselves in real life. Again, a strong element of constructivism is present with learning in an authentic setting where meaning is drawn from personal experience/perspective. This was our second blog, so an element of behavourism is being developed with on going blogging a desired result. This activity extended knowledge of producing a blog with embedded images and introduced students to the diverse range of Intelligences and learning styles. This stimulated interaction between students and facilitated collaboration as discussion was needed with some aspects of the task.

 
The Learning Theories Wiki involved collaborating with a partner. Being highly motivated, I found a partner in week 0 with whom I had common interests and proximity. Knowing that I work best by verbalising, this was ideal for me and proved to be an enriching experience. Simply by interacting with my partner, I experienced an exponential increase in understanding of complex ideas and tasks. This is consistent with the idea that in a group you can achieve much more than would be possible as an individual. At about this time, (for me) the penny dropped, we are learning by experiencing constructivism (as well as reading/researching about it). It was a pivotal moment, and from this point I started to really understand. Interestingly, I was certainly engaged but I was also feeling anxious and out of control. I didn't enjoy being blindly pushed in the desired direction. The Learning Theory Wiki was scaffolded such that we used a PMI to analyse our selected reading then uploaded our findings to a Wiki to share. Using the PMI to analyse the reading was a very effective method in clarifying thoughts and drawing out the positive, negative and interesting facts. Our learning in this task was facilitated by more than one learning theory. Behaviourism and cognitivism was found in creating the PMI analysis from the readings and then uploading them into the Wiki. Constructivism by collaborating and exchanging ideas with each other. Connectivism by understanding where we can get further information and readings if we want more in depth knowledge (Siemans, 2004). 

 
The Mobile Phone Wiki was the most enjoyable for me as I was finally developing a schema and was thinking about thinking, my rage/anxiety was replaced by understanding. De Bono's Hats (de Bono, 1985) was very effective way of drawing out different ways of looking at a topic, certainly an emotive one like mobile phones where opinion could be quite polarised. This was a full group activity and was perfectly matched with the scaffold of de Bono's Hats which is designed for a collaborative approach. It is also a meta-cognitive approach, using higher order thinking skills, as this strategy is encouraging thinking about thinking. A deep understanding of the issues was gained through a diverse range of people's perspectives. This is authentic work and uses the learning styles of contructivism, cognitivism, connectivism and also Learning Engagement theory. Cognitivism is strongly present as this activity has a strong emphasis on thinking about your thinking as you are exploring from different perspectives.

The ICT course has worked its way through a wide range of strategies to supports different learning preferences. It has been highly scaffolded and has closely followed the learning theories. However, it has seemed to confuse and infuriate many of its students. Where did it fall short and how can I modify these strategies for my own learning design? 

As in life, it is the small things that count. I believe the course got the big picture right but fell short because of some of the detail. The use of scaffolding to direct learning to desired outcomes was for the most part well designed but the execution had problems. The Wikis were unreliable and instead of making people feel connected, they made them feel isolated. Technical issues, perhaps, but ICT is not good for learning if you alienate your learners. The information and activities covered in the first two weeks was excellent but the amount was not appropriate and caused a sensory overload. We experienced working as an individual, in a partnership and as a group and the use of PMIs and de Bono's hats was excellent. The blogs were a great way of viewing others thoughts but more discussion and feedback was needed so that the writer felt validated and affirmed. An online course needs to be easily followed, however some information was not easily discovered which created anxiety amongst users. 

 
In conclusion, for my own learning design, I would hope to make the following adjustments

• make sure that the technology used was robust 
• provide timely feedback to individuals 
• ensure that your learners know where they are going (desired learning outcome)
• make sure the workload was appropriate 

and keep the following ideas which worked well

• use scaffolding to direct learning to planned outcomes including the use of tools such as PMIs and de Bono's hats 
• use varied styles of learning including individual, partnerships and group work 
• make sure to work through the full range of Bloom's Taxonomy including higher order thinking
• use authentic tasks to make meaning.

For further elaboration on pedagogy and TPCK by Mishra and Koehler (2006), please read my blog on Learning Design Framework.

References

Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives, handbook I: The cognitive domain. New York:    David McKay Co Inc.
De Bono, E. (1992). Six thinking hats for schools (Books 1-4) resource book. Cheltenham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow.
Gardner, H. (1985). The theory of multiple intelligences. London: Paladin.
Kearsley, G., and Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for technology based teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Mishra, P. & Koehler, M.J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record 108(6), 1017-1054.

Siemans, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. December 12, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Mobile Phone Wiki

I thought this was a great activity and well scaffolded using de Bono's Hats (1985).  What a marvelously freeing way of expressing all your thoughts on a subject along with your colleagues!  The large quantity and quality of comments in the wiki is testament to it's success as a scaffolding tool.

Negative  Process  Creative  Intuitive  Positive  Objective


The colour coded hats provide a means to look at a problem/idea from many different angles, promoting the idea of putting on another hat to think from another perspective.  This works best with a collaborative approach.  It is also a meta-cognitive approach using higher order thinking skills as you are encouraging thinking about thinking. The black hat symbolises judgment or negative reasons.  The blue hat symbolises the process - thinking about thinking.  The green hat sybolises creativity - what could be? The red hat signifies feelings.  The yellow hat symbolises brightness and positivity, good ideas and the white hat symbolises objectivity - the facts!

In this activity we needed to fill out a wiki table using de Bono's Hats (1985) on the subject of "Mobile Phones in the Classroom".  This elicited a wide ranging response under all the hats and gained a deep understanding of the issues from a diverse range of people's perspectives.  This is collaborative group work and uses the learning styles of contructivism  and also Learning Engagement theory.  Connectivism is also present as you must know where to source further information and research to support your ideas.  Cognitivism is strongly present also as this activity has a strong emphasis on thinking about your thinking.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed using de Bono's Hats and for the first time was really impressed with the use of a wiki as a learning tool in this setting.  Many learning theories were brought together to form a well rounded learning experience with individual and group work, collaboration,  higher order thinking skills, constructivism and connectivism.  A deeper understanding of the subject was gained and a deeper understanding of thinking proccesses was also achieved.  All in all, a worthwhile experience.  I can see many ways this could be incorporated into a classroom setting.

Learning Design Framework

TPack -  Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge framework.  
"Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) is an emergent form of knowledge that goes beyond all three components (content, pedagogy, and technology)." Mishra and Koehler (2006)
This framework describes the idea that you must be technically proficient using ICT, that you must have a thorough understanding of your content and that you must understand the best practice of teaching your content using ICT.


Learning Engagement Theory
"The fundamental idea underlying engagement theory is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks." Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999)


Engagement can be achieved through many strategies but in this case it is focusing on using technologies to stimulate engagement.  I am immediately drawn to the fact that this describes many of the tasks/learning activities that GDLT students have been set in the first two weeks of this course.  The emphasis is on performing meaningful tasks in a collaborative setting using higher order thinking processes.  Again, this is reflective of activities in which we have participated.  Evaluation of mobile phones using De Bono's hats (1992), creating our own learning framework, problem-solving in trying to figure out how to use technologies (blogs/wikis), reasoning in understanding what it all means and decision-making continually throughout the process.


"Engagement theory is based upon the idea of creating successful collaborative teams that work on ambitious projects that are meaningful to someone outside the classroom."  Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999)


There are three principle components and they are "Relate-Create-Donate" Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999). The Relate component is about collaboration which means working together in teams.  This uses the real life skills of planning, managing and communicating, perhaps with people of diverse backgrounds.  Bringing this back to our ICT course, this is a close description of our Learning theories wiki.
The Create component is about using your own perspective to create a solution to a project or activity.    Kearsley & Shneiderman suggest that learners "have a sense of control over their learning which is absent in traditional classroom instruction" as they define the nature of the project. In the ICT course, although we are furiously creating,  the "sense of control" has been sorely absent for me and I have not found it to be conducive/pleasant environment for learning.  Donate is the third component and is particularly relevant to education where contribution to society is highly valued.  Again this is applicable to our Learning Theories and mobile phone wikis and worked very well in these instances.


Bloom's Revised Taxonomy 
Bloom (1956) Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains describes three styles of learning  - Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor.  The cognitive style is about your knowledge, the affective style is about your attitude (emotions) and the psychomotor style is about your physical skills.  These are sometimes referred to as KSA (knowledge skills attitude).
In the cognitive domain of learning styles, there are six major categories starting with simpler thinking skills of remembering and working our way up to the more complex learning skills of creating.  You must master these skills from the bottom up i.e. first you must be able to remember stepping up through the levels to finally create.  These categories are further sub divided into lower and higher order thinking skills.   


Creating
Evaluating               Higher Order Thinking Skills
Analysing
Applying
Understanding       Lower Order Thinking Skills
Remembering


My Learning Design Framework 
Bringing all of these theories together has been very daunting for me and I have had quite a moments when I thought it might not be possible to get my head around all of the different ideas being presented over the last two weeks.  But slowly, slowly, ideas and concepts have been falling into place. 
I have very briefly overviewed TPack, Learning Engagement Theory and Blooms Taxonomy above.  They very obviously go hand and hand.  I especially like Learning Engagement Theory with the ideas of collaborative learning on meaningful projects that engage the learner using higher order thinking skills.  The concept of Create-Relate-Donate is ideal for use in an ICT enriched environment. This is where TPack becomes important.  You cannot engage the learner without good pedagogy.  TPack is about knowing your content, being proficient in ICT and knowing how to teach your content using ICT.  The principles, so far, are for problem-based learning using real world contexts to develop a deep and full understanding. Collaboration and teamwork is a fundamental part of this as well as using higher order thinking skills such as creating and evaluating.  Bloom's Taxonomy underpins these ideas as it has categorised different learning styles and delineated the six major categories of learning.  We must make sure we address all these categories of learning going from remembering through to creating, thus teaching at all levels from the lowest order thinking to the higher order thinking skills.  

Learning Theories Wiki

As previously blogged, I thoroughly enjoyed working with Vanessa on Digital Native/Immigrants as part of the learning theories wiki.  We used a PMI to analyse our selected reading and found that method of analysing the reading to be quite effective and easily achieved.  It is a very useful method of clarifying your thoughts on a subject.  We then uploaded out findings to the Learning Theories Wiki.
Other students from the GDLT analysed their own readings and also uploaded their analyses as well, with some of the reading being looked at by more than one partnership.  I believe this way of dividing up a subject, asking different students to look at different parts of the subject and then reporting back their findings is a variation of a jigsaw strategy.  This strategy was developed by Elliot Aronson in the 1970s.
I found this a great way to get an overall feel for the different learning theories and also to read others perpective on what they believed to be the positives, negatives and interesting facts.  For myself, I felt the most comfortable with the reading and analysis that I performed.  Actually constructing the PMI on Prenskys' work, certainly facilitated my learning.  By reading others' PMI, I don't believe I gained as much in depth knowledge but maybe that is ok since I know where to find the information if I need further clarification.

In this activity, we are using more than one type of learning theory to facilitate our learning.  We are using behaviourism in creating the PMI on our own readings and then uploading them into the wiki.  Constructivism by collaborating and exchanging ideas with each other.  Connectivism by understanding where we can get further information and readings if we want more in depth knowledge.  We could also argue Communities of Practice as we are a group of like minded people sharing ideas for the betterment of all.

My Profile Wiki

Not sure I have actually blogged on the Profile Wiki but just blogged about my profile, so here goes.....

I was one of the lucky ones and have encountered no problems uploading to any of the wikis so far.  I uploaded my profile very early on  in the course as I could see the workload was high and I wanted to keep on top of the ICT course.  I thought that it was an interesting way for everyone doing ICT to put up information about themselves.  However as I did my wiki very early, I soon moved on to the next learning activity as there were many more to complete in week 0 and 1.  Due to time pressure, I did not have the luxury to browse through profiles getting to know my fellow students and I have found I gravitated towards working with someone who lives close to me.  So great idea to profile wiki, but in reality, much nicer to say "hey,would you like to meet and work together?" in person.   My other thought about the wikis is that they are obviously not very robust!  So it does not seem to be a very reliable technology in this form and unless the instability issue has been resolved then I don't believe it is a viable tool for the classroom.

PMI

I enjoyed completing the learning wiki during the week on Digital Natives/Immigrants but mostly because I got to sit down and meet and more importantly discuss face to face with my GDLT colleague, Vanessa.  I really enjoy learning with group activities but the digital disconnect is really off putting for me.

The week 1 learning activities so far have been very stressful and mostly unfulfilling.  By this, I don't mean that I haven't learnt a lot (I think I have tried to absorb too much) but that I have felt like an anxious child not sure if I am doing the right thing, if my work is up to the teachers standard, if I am on the right track and where exactly is everything leading me.  I don't like being anxious or feeling like a child with little bits of information fed to me and hopefully I will say "Ahhhh Gravity" in the end.

I am also finding it difficult to read and absorb so much information and then to quickly turn around and produce a cohesive thought on same.  There is not enough time for true reflection in this manner and scaffolding does not help if you do not know what you are building in the end.

All in all, digital learning for me so far is not engaging but enraging!  I need to see a face and hear a voice and be heard.

Connectivism

Siemens (2005) states "Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organisation or a database), is focused on connecting specialised information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing."

Siemens certainly has a valid point as the acceleration in acquisition of knowledge occurs it will become more and more necessary to know how to find knowledge.

"The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital" Siemens (2005).
"Currency (accurate, up to date knowledge)"  Seimens (2005) is one of the key connectivist activities.

These are both important ideas and include the idea that decision making is also a learning process.  A correct decision today may not be a correct decision tomorrow with updated information.  As a weather forecaster, there is never a truer thought.  As new information (weather observations etc) is presented, every decision needs to be revisited and validated or updated to arrive at the current forecast.

So up to an extent I agree with Siemens but I think there needs to be allowance for the the other learning theories of behaviorism, cognitivism and contsructivism underpinning connectivism.

How can we use connectivism?  I am sure this is going on in every classroom most days by using the internet for research in a variety of contexts.  Another idea, expanding on the weather theme would be connecting to live databases for current and continually updating information.  For example, plotting the movement of a Tropical Cyclone or perhaps the current weather conditions around your region.