So the idea is that each week (fingers crossed) I will be posting a few thoughts, ideas, links, web 2.0 tools and the like, as we meander through our Teaching and Learning with New Technologies course at UWA.
Now for the weekly focus questions:
Social constructivist pedagogical approaches...there is a lot to be said about social constructivist teaching methods ranging from the ability to scaffold students learning so they can construct their own knowledge from their own experiences to creating a learner centered (rather than teacher centered) learning experience. After all, who wants to be listening and looking at their teacher all day, every day? However, a drawback of social constructivism is that the teacher needs to be highly skilled and experienced to facilitate effective social constructivist learning experiences. I think that as Graduate Teachers, we give social constructivism a good go, but the closest resemblance to mastery of this teaching and learning perspective comes with experience.
As Web 2.0 is all about collaboration, interaction and sharing it interlocks nicely with the social constructivist pedagogical approach which is hinged on the notion of collaborative, authentic experiences to drive knowledge construction. Vygotsky would be tinkled pink to see developments in technology such as Web 2.0 meshing so perfectly with his theory of T&L!
Some of the advantages of Web 2.0 in education range from the ability for students to collaborate online for homework and assignment tasks, interact with the teacher and other students and 'experts' in certain fields. Web 2.0 also enables a public audience i.e. the world with facilitates an authentic purpose for student's work. The vast array of web 2.0 tools provides a seemingly never ending source of tools to engage and streamline the learning process in new and innovative ways.
Seeing as this is my first blog, from a personal perspective I can really only peruse what the benefits of blogging are in education. I would imagine that blogs would be beneficial in providing a forum for recount writing/diary style writing, for providing a different forum for writing reflections and summarising school work on a periodical basis and so the list goes on. As I gain more experience with blogs I'm sure I will be able to add more to this list, but for now I will have to trust my research on what they deem are the benefits of blogging in education. Watch the youtube video to see a short clip of the benefits of blogging in education.
Oh and also check out this link for a little discussion on ICT in the classroom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Fb84VD5Gs
Even though the direction of my work is all around new technology, I have not got a clue about it....
ReplyDeleteGood one Shelly! You are what we call a digital immigrant rather than a digital native....I think I am somewhere in the never-never between a native and an immigrant....BUT we both prefer pen and paper anyday!!!
ReplyDeleteI think that the word "native or digital immigrant" has been over used and misrepresented. I presented in front of over 5000 first year students three weeks ago and only a handful of students were interested our ebook option or had an e-reader.....
ReplyDeleteI agree about the social constructivist teacher needing to be highly skilled and experienced - grouping students appropriately and formulating/planning lessons is one thing, assessing students comments and questions in the middle of a lesson (especially when they throw you a curve ball or there are 5 useful questions/comments at once) and using those questions/comments to build knowledge and thinking is quite another....
ReplyDeleteSome really good points here, both in the blog post and in the comments.
ReplyDeleteI'd agree with Michelle that terms like 'digital natives' have been overused; as we said in our very first session this semester, the empirical evidence very clearly shows that not all young people have high levels of technological skills. Factors like education, socioeconomic status, geographic location, etc, make a very big difference as well - as do gender, race, ethnicity, first language, and so on. The reality is much more complex than terms like 'digital natives' suggest.
From my limited experience in the classroom, ie last years prac, I think the social constructivist approach was used to determine desk arrangements and that's about all - group work is a skill. How do we expect students to collaborate when they are not given the skills in the first place. Our current science prac, however,is showing a lot more promise.
ReplyDeleteI agree Jess, I think following a purely social constructivist approach to teaching would require an experienced and dedicated teacher, plus it would be incredibly time consuming. I think the best teachers incorporate elements from all the main perspectives when appropriate.
ReplyDelete