This is the final week of my graduate class called Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction,
and Technology I am taking at Walden University.
During the first week of this course I was asked what my personal theory
of learning is and this is what I said; I
believe that students learn best when they are taught through which ever intelligence
they learn best from and then use that information to work collaboratively on
an inquiry-based, hands-on activity or project that they choose to do. From what I have learned in this course my
personal learning theory resembles the constructionist/constructivist and
social learning theories. Now that I
know more about learning theories I would like to add components to my personal
theory of learning that include behaviorist and cognitive learning
theories. I would include some sort of
reinforcement of desirable behaviors for the behavioral component and I would
include more images and less text and more opportunities for concept maps for
the cognitive component. This course has
made me realize that there are many different theories of learning that need to
me incorporated into all lessons to reach all of the diverse learners that
there are in every class.
An immediate
adjustment that I will make to my instructional practice regarding technology
is I will incorporate technology into every lesson. Right now I do have some lessons I teach that
do not require any technology. Two
technology tools that I will use with my students are concept mapping websites
and voicethreads. Both are very easy to
use and they will enhance my students learning because they will have to think
critically to make connections with the information they receive and they will
have to work cooperatively with each other which are both skills they will need
to be successful in the future. I now
have many technological “tools” in my “toolbox” that I can pull from to
incorporate into all of my lessons. I
have come to realize that I need to let the students be more in control of
their learning which will make them more accountable and I need to just be
their to coach and guide their learning.
One of the long-term
goals I would like to make to my instructional practice is that I would like to
be as possible to paperless in the classroom as I possibly can within the next
few years. This will be hard and it will
depend on the availability of technology that my students have outside of
school. Another goal I have is to create
an on-line course for students to take.
This would be a course such as honors environmental science that I could
incorporate all of the technologies I have learned thus far in my graduate
program of integrating technology into the classroom. I will achieve these two goals by slowly
replacing all parts of my lessons into technological activities.
