Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Connectivism
This week we are to post a mind map of our personal networks that we construct to obtain knowledge. This is my mind map.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Evaluating Brain and Information Processing Resources
This week's assignment is to evaluate web sites and/or online journals that present information on the brain and learning, information processing theory, and problem-solving methods during the learning process.
The first online journal that I reviewed is the Phi Delta Kapplan. I found a very interesting article in this online journal when searching on the brain and learning, "A Fresh Look at Brain-Based Education" (Jenson, 2008). According to Jensen, educators need to start using research on the brain in educational design. "I will show how the synergy of [neuro]biology, cognitive science, and education can support better education with direct application to schools." I think that this article is very relevant to instructional design. Jensen argues that pedagogy must take into consideration understanding how the brain works so teachers know why each teaching strategy works and be able to employ the best strategies for learning in different situations and for different learners. Jensen states that, "Schools present countless opportunities to affect students' brains. Such issues as stress, exercise, nutrition, and social conditions are all relevant, brain-based issues that affect cognition, attention, classroom discipline, attendance, and memory. Our new understanding is that every school day changes the student's brain in some way. Once we make those connections, we can make choices in how we prioritize policies and strategies." Besides this very informative article on the brain and learning, Phi Delta Kappan offers access to many back issues that address all kinds of different issues facing educators. I found this online journal to be a very beneficial resource to all educators.
My next search was on information processing theory. The specific article I was directed to was: "Information Processing Theory" (Schraw & McCrudden, date unknown). I found this article to be very informative. In addition to reinforcing the readings we had this week, the last topic of the article dealt with implications for instruction. This section gave very explicit ideas on the implications of information processing for instructional designers. From this article, there are multiple links to other relevant theories in educational design and other current articles on educational topics. The home web site is Education.com. This home page is very logically organized, so you can easily navigate to areas of interest. You can browse articles by topic, grade, or age. There is a magazine archive link that includes an easy-to-use search engine. The home page also includes a link to a blog site where you can post or make comments. Frankly, I did not think much of the blog page. The topics were not relevant to an educator and seemed to be random postings about anything. However, there was another page, Education A-Z, that included an organized page for links to topics. I find this site to be a good source for information, but not a good source for communication.
Our final topic for this assignment is problem-solving methods during the learning process. The article that I found was: "Young Children's Awareness of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) (Hwang & Gorrell, 2001). The article described how young children were or were not aware of the SRL of effective and ineffective model problem solvers. Most of the children that were aware of the models' SRL were the children that were able to complete the project correctly before seeing the demonstrations. On the other hand, the children that were unsuccessful in completing the project were more likely not to understand the SRL of the models. The web site from which I found this topic (and many, many, more) is Ed Psyc Central. I highly recommend this web site for educators. There are links to topics in education, psychology, research, teacher education, professional development, theory-research-practice, and many more. In addition there are search engines and journals. From this one web site, educators can find a link to almost any topic they want to explore. The only drawback is that some of the web sites are defunct.
Jenson, E. P. (2008). A Fresh Look at Brain-Based Education. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(6), 408-417. Retrieved from http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v89/k0802jen.htm on July 8, 2010.
Schraw, G. & McCrudden, M. (Date unknown). Information Processing Theory. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/information-processing-theory/ on July 8, 2010.
The first online journal that I reviewed is the Phi Delta Kapplan. I found a very interesting article in this online journal when searching on the brain and learning, "A Fresh Look at Brain-Based Education" (Jenson, 2008). According to Jensen, educators need to start using research on the brain in educational design. "I will show how the synergy of [neuro]biology, cognitive science, and education can support better education with direct application to schools." I think that this article is very relevant to instructional design. Jensen argues that pedagogy must take into consideration understanding how the brain works so teachers know why each teaching strategy works and be able to employ the best strategies for learning in different situations and for different learners. Jensen states that, "Schools present countless opportunities to affect students' brains. Such issues as stress, exercise, nutrition, and social conditions are all relevant, brain-based issues that affect cognition, attention, classroom discipline, attendance, and memory. Our new understanding is that every school day changes the student's brain in some way. Once we make those connections, we can make choices in how we prioritize policies and strategies." Besides this very informative article on the brain and learning, Phi Delta Kappan offers access to many back issues that address all kinds of different issues facing educators. I found this online journal to be a very beneficial resource to all educators.
My next search was on information processing theory. The specific article I was directed to was: "Information Processing Theory" (Schraw & McCrudden, date unknown). I found this article to be very informative. In addition to reinforcing the readings we had this week, the last topic of the article dealt with implications for instruction. This section gave very explicit ideas on the implications of information processing for instructional designers. From this article, there are multiple links to other relevant theories in educational design and other current articles on educational topics. The home web site is Education.com. This home page is very logically organized, so you can easily navigate to areas of interest. You can browse articles by topic, grade, or age. There is a magazine archive link that includes an easy-to-use search engine. The home page also includes a link to a blog site where you can post or make comments. Frankly, I did not think much of the blog page. The topics were not relevant to an educator and seemed to be random postings about anything. However, there was another page, Education A-Z, that included an organized page for links to topics. I find this site to be a good source for information, but not a good source for communication.
Our final topic for this assignment is problem-solving methods during the learning process. The article that I found was: "Young Children's Awareness of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) (Hwang & Gorrell, 2001). The article described how young children were or were not aware of the SRL of effective and ineffective model problem solvers. Most of the children that were aware of the models' SRL were the children that were able to complete the project correctly before seeing the demonstrations. On the other hand, the children that were unsuccessful in completing the project were more likely not to understand the SRL of the models. The web site from which I found this topic (and many, many, more) is Ed Psyc Central. I highly recommend this web site for educators. There are links to topics in education, psychology, research, teacher education, professional development, theory-research-practice, and many more. In addition there are search engines and journals. From this one web site, educators can find a link to almost any topic they want to explore. The only drawback is that some of the web sites are defunct.
Hwang, Y. S. & Gorrell, J. (2001). Young Children's Awareness of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association (Seattle, WA, April 10-14, 2001).
Jenson, E. P. (2008). A Fresh Look at Brain-Based Education. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(6), 408-417. Retrieved from http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v89/k0802jen.htm on July 8, 2010.
Schraw, G. & McCrudden, M. (Date unknown). Information Processing Theory. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/information-processing-theory/ on July 8, 2010.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Quality Educational Blogs
One educational blog that I like is The Innovative Educator. I believe that students today are technologically savvy and we need to incorporate technology into our classrooms. This blog is dedicated to discussions about how to use technology in the classroom. The ideas range from how students can use technology in the classroom, to how teachers can use technology to more easily prepare for class and save time doing all the small tasks that we devote considerable time and effort to each day, to how you can get your principal to use technology to promote your school - a definite need when you teach at a parochial school as I do. Additionally, the blog has a very logical format where it is easy to post comments and many links to additional blogs and web sites.
Another educational blog that I found is Free Tech 4 Teachers. This blog includes articles about free resources for teachers, articles about ideas for teaching with technology, and lesson plans for incorporating technology into all the different disciplines. A recent posting lists a search engine that has been developed by librarians, teachers, and research experts called Sweet Search. This is a great site that sorts searches into sites for teachers, librarians, or students; by discipline; and it also has links to biographies of over a 1,000 important people. These sites are filtered to be appropriate for students. This could be a great resource for teachers. The Free Tech 4 Teachers blog includes pages for free resources, a job board, Google tutorials, video creation resources, and a tutorial to create a personal professional network online.
A third educational blog that is helpful for educators is Education Next. This is a web site for the journal "Education Next." One page posts current topics of interest to educators. On another page, there is an archive of all the past journals. There is a topics page with separate pages for government and politics, inside schools, and school policy that have many links to current issues in schools. There is a blog page with relevant and interesting posts to which it is easy to comment or tweet. There is a multimedia page with videos, podcasts, and photos. All the pages have many links to other resources and articles. This is a very good site to find information about current topics in education and communicate with others.
Another educational blog that I found is Free Tech 4 Teachers. This blog includes articles about free resources for teachers, articles about ideas for teaching with technology, and lesson plans for incorporating technology into all the different disciplines. A recent posting lists a search engine that has been developed by librarians, teachers, and research experts called Sweet Search. This is a great site that sorts searches into sites for teachers, librarians, or students; by discipline; and it also has links to biographies of over a 1,000 important people. These sites are filtered to be appropriate for students. This could be a great resource for teachers. The Free Tech 4 Teachers blog includes pages for free resources, a job board, Google tutorials, video creation resources, and a tutorial to create a personal professional network online.
A third educational blog that is helpful for educators is Education Next. This is a web site for the journal "Education Next." One page posts current topics of interest to educators. On another page, there is an archive of all the past journals. There is a topics page with separate pages for government and politics, inside schools, and school policy that have many links to current issues in schools. There is a blog page with relevant and interesting posts to which it is easy to comment or tweet. There is a multimedia page with videos, podcasts, and photos. All the pages have many links to other resources and articles. This is a very good site to find information about current topics in education and communicate with others.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
New Blogger
Hi everyone! I am completely new to blogging. I am developing this blog for my online class: EDUC-6115 Learning Theories and Instruction. I hope you will find this blog to be informative.
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