My group didn't really say much about mobile phones in schools. Some said there were health concerns, whilst others agreed that it can cause further social issues for children who cannot access a mobile phone. One student had positive things to say about mobiles being used in schoold. This student stated that mobile phones can help students to be more engaged.
Overall the groupp wiki did not present many positives, but raised concerns over ethics, regulations, policies/privacy, socioeconomic and health issues.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Reflection on Learning Theories
With many different theories surrounding learning, it is very hard to distinguish which will best suit the learner and the learning environment. I have read through the theories and will now reflect on some of the theories using my personal opinions, experiences and knowledge.
The first is quite simple, I agreed with all of the Cognitive Theory except for it's statement that knowledge has a limited capacity. Everybody, has a different capacity to what skills they learn and how far they take that skill, however, a humans capacity to continue to learn different skills, whether they master them or not, is limitless (my opinion).
The Social Learning Theory basically can be summarised that we are a product of our environment. Recently it has also been noted that behaviour itself also causes the environement. In my experience both are as true as each other. For example, the environment that we develope and grow in influences our ethics, religous statis, lifestyle habits and stability, just to mention a few. However, our behaviour can also influence the environment that we live in, for example, have you ever noticed that the children play up more when you are stressed or in a hurry, I know mine do. My behaviour, when stressed, creates tension and impatience which the children are highly sensitive to: because they can sense the difference in my overall behaviour. Thus, the environment changes because of my behaviour (or you could call them mood swings, my husband does lol).
I am partial to the Humanistic Theory, which is probably assocciated to my interests in life sciences including psychology.The humanistic theory is based on Maslow's Hierarchy Pyramid which represents the order of needs a human must obtain to reach individual potential. Click on this link to view the pyramid http://www.learnmanagement2.com/maslow.htm which depicts that each level must be reached before moving onto the next level.
The Behaviourist Theory presents some issues for me, in that it does not concern itself with the internal responses to external stimuli and is a reward based theory. I will transfer knowledge of previous studies to explain my position.
Our body is made up of millions of sensory nerves that respond to internal and external environmental stimuli. For example, as homeotherms we must maintain an internal body temperature within a very narrow range, outside of this range (36.5-37.5 degree celcius) cells begin to die and homeastasis can no longer be achieved. The way in which our bodies maintains homeostasis is to constantly monitor the external temperature and make the adjustments needed to stay within the mentioned limits (fever is an exception to this rule). Sensory nerves detect the external temperatre which causes the internal body to respond in whichever way is nessessary, however, the behaviouralist theory suggests that internal factors are of no influence to the stimuli being presented externally.
Additionally, the behaviourist theory is also based on a reward system as a means of motivation. There are two main types of motivation, extrinsic (external, rewards, prizes ect) and intrinsic (internal, own satisfaction). This theory has only mentioned extrinsic motivation as a means for motivating and promoting a healthy learning environment. I propose that extrinsic motivation can negatively impact intrinsic motivation. I will demostrate this by using my sons classroom and students as an example.
Four young students are sitting quietly on the floor doing the right thing (intrinsic motivation) and the teacher singles out one student to praise (extrinsic motivation). The three other students become disheartened by the teacher not noticing their efforts, inturn their whole body language (slump)and demenour (happy to disappointed)changes. If a child is constantly unrewarded the child may become more reluctant to motivate themselves to do the right thing next time. This is a very basic example and I probably have not explained it very well but I am sure you will get the drift of what I am saying.
Furthermore, the behaviourist theory uses feedback to maintain motivation. Feedback is a very effective means of letting the learner know how well they are learning new skills. However, there are many types of feedback which this theory does not emphasise. The type, time and frequency of feedback is most important to students learning. Feedback types include knowledge of results and/or performance, qualitative or quantitative, visual, verbal and demonstration. As university students we recieve knowledge of results once an assignment or exam have been marked. For a young learner, results which reflect poor or slow learning would negatively impact their education, however, knowledge of performance, you tried your best, would be the preferred type of feedback. Additionally, qualitative feedback aslo indicates the quality of the performance whilst quantitative feedback focuses on the numerical value of performance (how many right and wrong). If the wrong feedback is given to individuals, it could significantly impact their learning in a negative way. Visual, verbal and demonstrational feedback are most commonly used to educate young learners.
Other features that are important to consider when giving feedback, is the time and frequency in which it is delivered. Giving feedback whislt a skill is being performed can interupt a childs learning and the information to correct the error is less likely to be retained. On the other hand, providing feedback once a task is finished is likely to result in better retention of the methods to correct the error. Frequency is also important, as too much feedback could result in a student becoming dependent on feedback, whilst too little feedback could result in the same error being made repeatedly. However, it is agreed by all, including the behaviourist theory, that feedback must be discriptive and positive to increase performance outcomes.
Well that is all from me, please remember that this post is a reflection of my own opinions, experience and knowledge and I do not expect everbody to agree. However, please feel free to comment as it is always good to hear other peoples perspectives: it is what broadens our minds and challenges our own ideas.
Cheers Sarah
The first is quite simple, I agreed with all of the Cognitive Theory except for it's statement that knowledge has a limited capacity. Everybody, has a different capacity to what skills they learn and how far they take that skill, however, a humans capacity to continue to learn different skills, whether they master them or not, is limitless (my opinion).
The Social Learning Theory basically can be summarised that we are a product of our environment. Recently it has also been noted that behaviour itself also causes the environement. In my experience both are as true as each other. For example, the environment that we develope and grow in influences our ethics, religous statis, lifestyle habits and stability, just to mention a few. However, our behaviour can also influence the environment that we live in, for example, have you ever noticed that the children play up more when you are stressed or in a hurry, I know mine do. My behaviour, when stressed, creates tension and impatience which the children are highly sensitive to: because they can sense the difference in my overall behaviour. Thus, the environment changes because of my behaviour (or you could call them mood swings, my husband does lol).
I am partial to the Humanistic Theory, which is probably assocciated to my interests in life sciences including psychology.The humanistic theory is based on Maslow's Hierarchy Pyramid which represents the order of needs a human must obtain to reach individual potential. Click on this link to view the pyramid http://www.learnmanagement2.com/maslow.htm which depicts that each level must be reached before moving onto the next level.
The Behaviourist Theory presents some issues for me, in that it does not concern itself with the internal responses to external stimuli and is a reward based theory. I will transfer knowledge of previous studies to explain my position.
Our body is made up of millions of sensory nerves that respond to internal and external environmental stimuli. For example, as homeotherms we must maintain an internal body temperature within a very narrow range, outside of this range (36.5-37.5 degree celcius) cells begin to die and homeastasis can no longer be achieved. The way in which our bodies maintains homeostasis is to constantly monitor the external temperature and make the adjustments needed to stay within the mentioned limits (fever is an exception to this rule). Sensory nerves detect the external temperatre which causes the internal body to respond in whichever way is nessessary, however, the behaviouralist theory suggests that internal factors are of no influence to the stimuli being presented externally.
Additionally, the behaviourist theory is also based on a reward system as a means of motivation. There are two main types of motivation, extrinsic (external, rewards, prizes ect) and intrinsic (internal, own satisfaction). This theory has only mentioned extrinsic motivation as a means for motivating and promoting a healthy learning environment. I propose that extrinsic motivation can negatively impact intrinsic motivation. I will demostrate this by using my sons classroom and students as an example.
Four young students are sitting quietly on the floor doing the right thing (intrinsic motivation) and the teacher singles out one student to praise (extrinsic motivation). The three other students become disheartened by the teacher not noticing their efforts, inturn their whole body language (slump)and demenour (happy to disappointed)changes. If a child is constantly unrewarded the child may become more reluctant to motivate themselves to do the right thing next time. This is a very basic example and I probably have not explained it very well but I am sure you will get the drift of what I am saying.
Furthermore, the behaviourist theory uses feedback to maintain motivation. Feedback is a very effective means of letting the learner know how well they are learning new skills. However, there are many types of feedback which this theory does not emphasise. The type, time and frequency of feedback is most important to students learning. Feedback types include knowledge of results and/or performance, qualitative or quantitative, visual, verbal and demonstration. As university students we recieve knowledge of results once an assignment or exam have been marked. For a young learner, results which reflect poor or slow learning would negatively impact their education, however, knowledge of performance, you tried your best, would be the preferred type of feedback. Additionally, qualitative feedback aslo indicates the quality of the performance whilst quantitative feedback focuses on the numerical value of performance (how many right and wrong). If the wrong feedback is given to individuals, it could significantly impact their learning in a negative way. Visual, verbal and demonstrational feedback are most commonly used to educate young learners.
Other features that are important to consider when giving feedback, is the time and frequency in which it is delivered. Giving feedback whislt a skill is being performed can interupt a childs learning and the information to correct the error is less likely to be retained. On the other hand, providing feedback once a task is finished is likely to result in better retention of the methods to correct the error. Frequency is also important, as too much feedback could result in a student becoming dependent on feedback, whilst too little feedback could result in the same error being made repeatedly. However, it is agreed by all, including the behaviourist theory, that feedback must be discriptive and positive to increase performance outcomes.
Well that is all from me, please remember that this post is a reflection of my own opinions, experience and knowledge and I do not expect everbody to agree. However, please feel free to comment as it is always good to hear other peoples perspectives: it is what broadens our minds and challenges our own ideas.
Cheers Sarah
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
OMG
Wow, this blogging is hard to navigate, I am really working through all of my technological demons.
Introduction
I have had to re-do my blog as it was not working correctly, I hope I have got it right this time.
I look forward to interacting with you all in regards to e-learning. I am both excited and nervous about e-learning.
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