Wow! What a week! The learning curve stepped it up a notch this week for sure. ICT was packed with drama. There were issues that were confronting, interactive, innovative and reflective. The interactive activity was one that made me take stock of my own feelings, thoughts and exposed my personal axiology on the subject matter. It was confrontational, personalised and potentially deeply argumentative.
Our task this week was to revise the learning theories and then participate in the use of a wiki to promote collaborative thinking on the controversial topic of mobile phones in school environments. My take on this issue was that we were using the ICT tool of a wiki to explore the appropriateness of another ICT tool in the form of a mobile phone. Pedagogy, technology, personal belief systems and critical thinking were all exposed throughout as the exercise unfolded.
The revision of learning theories was great. It helped me grasp the usage and application of these theories a little more. I also had the chance to recognise in myself a change that is already occurring in my personal learning. Greater exposure to these theories, along with an underlying understanding of their use, is opening my mind to the value of a more holistic approach to learning. I realise that a holistic approach to teaching is integral to cater for the diversity in any given group of students. A holistic approach to learning is bringing more creativity to my personal journey and exposing me to things I need to explore in learning more about myself. This point alone deems the journey successful.
The '6 Thinking Hats' theory developed from the works of Edward De Bono brought together all of these aspects for me (De Bono, 1985). This exercise challenged me a lot to be able to de-compartmentalise and categorise my thought processes on a single given topic, mobile phones in schools, into the specific segments of the 6 hat theory.
The overview of the design theory behind this exercise is explained well by Paul Foreman (n.d.) in his mind map critique of Edward De Bono's 6 hat theory. Paul explains in detail the purposes, thoughts and functionality of each hat's role within the overall framework of the De Bono concept. Writing within each of these 'thought compartments' challenged me and forced me to explore beyond my personal axiology and consider the specific roles without bias. To enable this outcome I was taken out of my comfort zone not just personally but also professionally. I was required to use many of the learning theories that my personal axiology and the pedagogy of my 'traditional' learning style do not often employ. I found this confronting, challenging and ultimately rewarding.
In this way, my learning process utilised several of the learning theories individually to complete the exercise. The overall exercise is a brilliant example of how to employ the social constructivism learning theory. Social Constructivism is essentially the use of society to construct and build a knowledge base (Wikipedia, 2014). In our specific setting, social constructivism was used to engage our specific community of pre-service teachers to draw on collective wisdom. The wiki medium of delivery was very effective in achieving this outcome.
The other important aspect of social constructivism as a learning tool is modelling and scaffolding. Gary gave a strong outline of how to use the wiki product, and also on the use of the 6 hat theory, for this specific task during the tute class session. Through his efforts he ensured that the modelling component of social constructivism was incorporated within this learning theory to accomplish the required task. For the record, I did not realise that until I reflected on my weekly learning journey. It was seamlessly incorporated and embedded in what I thought, at the time, was a behaviourism example. Well done Gary.
The 6 hat theory is an exceptional tool to engage students individually and then link that to the group structure. This is the best example I have been involved with so far on my learning journey to explore scaffolding and the value it brings to the learning process. As I mentioned earlier in this post, I used many of the other learning strategies to complete my role in the process at an individual level. Once all of the other entries began rolling in through the wiki it was great to read them. This collaborative environment highlighted the effectiveness of scaffolding to the learning process and to the building of a collective knowledge base.
Gary explained during the tute, and it was mentioned in the weekly readings also, that the next step in the process would be to collate the findings and mould them into a singular and powerful collection of knowledge. This would be achieved by using groupings of students to compile and synthesise the information from their respective 'hat if input' from all of the entries made on that particular coloured hat. This would be putting into practice the structural skills learned from the taxonomy examples in the weekly readings.
Although this is an exercise that can be presented in countless formats, the use of the wiki ICT tool was both enjoyable, interactive and educational. Wiki's certainly appear to be the ultimate example of social constructivism with the capability of a Wiki extending from an intimate group to the entire global community.
My personal experiences with social constructivism have been exercises I have viewed with the 'blinkers on' so to say. I have enjoyed them, I have learned from them but I have viewed them as a bit of a gimmick and some fun. This week I have changed my personal pedagogy and widened my view of effective learning practises thanks not just to being immersed in the social constructivism exercise, but through beginning to understand the rationale behind the concept as a learning tool. My tool box as an educator is enhanced and its effectiveness improved by the experiences that have impacted on my personal learning journey this week.
REFERENCE LIST
De Bono, E. (1985). Six Thinking Hats. London, Penguin Books.
Foreman, P. (n.d.). Six Thinking Hats Summary in PDF. Retrieved from http://www.inspiration.moonfruit.com/#/edward-de-bono/4519676395
Wikipedia (2014, January 29). Social Constructivism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructivism
Our task this week was to revise the learning theories and then participate in the use of a wiki to promote collaborative thinking on the controversial topic of mobile phones in school environments. My take on this issue was that we were using the ICT tool of a wiki to explore the appropriateness of another ICT tool in the form of a mobile phone. Pedagogy, technology, personal belief systems and critical thinking were all exposed throughout as the exercise unfolded.
The revision of learning theories was great. It helped me grasp the usage and application of these theories a little more. I also had the chance to recognise in myself a change that is already occurring in my personal learning. Greater exposure to these theories, along with an underlying understanding of their use, is opening my mind to the value of a more holistic approach to learning. I realise that a holistic approach to teaching is integral to cater for the diversity in any given group of students. A holistic approach to learning is bringing more creativity to my personal journey and exposing me to things I need to explore in learning more about myself. This point alone deems the journey successful.
The '6 Thinking Hats' theory developed from the works of Edward De Bono brought together all of these aspects for me (De Bono, 1985). This exercise challenged me a lot to be able to de-compartmentalise and categorise my thought processes on a single given topic, mobile phones in schools, into the specific segments of the 6 hat theory.
The overview of the design theory behind this exercise is explained well by Paul Foreman (n.d.) in his mind map critique of Edward De Bono's 6 hat theory. Paul explains in detail the purposes, thoughts and functionality of each hat's role within the overall framework of the De Bono concept. Writing within each of these 'thought compartments' challenged me and forced me to explore beyond my personal axiology and consider the specific roles without bias. To enable this outcome I was taken out of my comfort zone not just personally but also professionally. I was required to use many of the learning theories that my personal axiology and the pedagogy of my 'traditional' learning style do not often employ. I found this confronting, challenging and ultimately rewarding.
In this way, my learning process utilised several of the learning theories individually to complete the exercise. The overall exercise is a brilliant example of how to employ the social constructivism learning theory. Social Constructivism is essentially the use of society to construct and build a knowledge base (Wikipedia, 2014). In our specific setting, social constructivism was used to engage our specific community of pre-service teachers to draw on collective wisdom. The wiki medium of delivery was very effective in achieving this outcome.
The other important aspect of social constructivism as a learning tool is modelling and scaffolding. Gary gave a strong outline of how to use the wiki product, and also on the use of the 6 hat theory, for this specific task during the tute class session. Through his efforts he ensured that the modelling component of social constructivism was incorporated within this learning theory to accomplish the required task. For the record, I did not realise that until I reflected on my weekly learning journey. It was seamlessly incorporated and embedded in what I thought, at the time, was a behaviourism example. Well done Gary.
The 6 hat theory is an exceptional tool to engage students individually and then link that to the group structure. This is the best example I have been involved with so far on my learning journey to explore scaffolding and the value it brings to the learning process. As I mentioned earlier in this post, I used many of the other learning strategies to complete my role in the process at an individual level. Once all of the other entries began rolling in through the wiki it was great to read them. This collaborative environment highlighted the effectiveness of scaffolding to the learning process and to the building of a collective knowledge base.
Gary explained during the tute, and it was mentioned in the weekly readings also, that the next step in the process would be to collate the findings and mould them into a singular and powerful collection of knowledge. This would be achieved by using groupings of students to compile and synthesise the information from their respective 'hat if input' from all of the entries made on that particular coloured hat. This would be putting into practice the structural skills learned from the taxonomy examples in the weekly readings.
Although this is an exercise that can be presented in countless formats, the use of the wiki ICT tool was both enjoyable, interactive and educational. Wiki's certainly appear to be the ultimate example of social constructivism with the capability of a Wiki extending from an intimate group to the entire global community.
My personal experiences with social constructivism have been exercises I have viewed with the 'blinkers on' so to say. I have enjoyed them, I have learned from them but I have viewed them as a bit of a gimmick and some fun. This week I have changed my personal pedagogy and widened my view of effective learning practises thanks not just to being immersed in the social constructivism exercise, but through beginning to understand the rationale behind the concept as a learning tool. My tool box as an educator is enhanced and its effectiveness improved by the experiences that have impacted on my personal learning journey this week.
REFERENCE LIST
De Bono, E. (1985). Six Thinking Hats. London, Penguin Books.
Foreman, P. (n.d.). Six Thinking Hats Summary in PDF. Retrieved from http://www.inspiration.moonfruit.com/#/edward-de-bono/4519676395
Wikipedia (2014, January 29). Social Constructivism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructivism
Great first post Damien.
ReplyDeleteThe structure and feel of your blog site is welcoming. The voki was just right at this stage.
In future posts I suggest you add more visuals and ICT tools that communicate your thoughts.
The next addition to your blog's content should be more information about your vision for using the ICT tools and pedagogy in your future teaching.
At this stage of your course dreaming/ imagining and challenging E learning ideas and tools is essential.
Well done.