Responses to Module 6

I responded to Heather Rogers and Vida Martin blog posts.

Module 6 Blog

Learning in a Digital World

               Learning is something that is based on rituals and routines.  I recognize this because as I learn, I go back over previous lessons, materials, textbooks, web sites and other information in order to complete my lessons.  When something new is put into the mix, it makes learning difficult because my natural order is put into disarray.  This could be because I am a very kinetics and visual learner.

Technology helps me with my learning because I also have dyslexia.  I learn better when I can write out what I am learning and keep everything in one place.  The material does not move or fall out of my hands; it is right there for me to look at. Technology also provides a certain ritual to my learning.

As an online learner, I do not feel as self conscious, although I do imagine personalities as I read answers. I can immediately read answers and provide an answer; it provides a constancy that cannot be broken. Online learning also makes me more responsible for my learning because I am the one who has to turn on the computer and do more than if I am actually going to the school itself.  I compare what my daughter does on a daily basis.  I think that she spends as much time traveling as I do reading each day.  In addition, she is less likely to email her instructor than she is to go and speak to her instructor.

Responses

I responsed to Heather Snow's and Tracy Odom's Blog.

Module 5: Affective Learning Theory Blog

This year our district provided the classroom teachers with an iPad to use to assess students by administrating the Developmental Reading Assessment 2.  The district paid for the iPad app for each iPad and we were encouraged to search out and include apps that would help the students improve their academic skills, specifically their reading skills.  I followed their instructions as well as I could in the circumstances.  I shared these apps with my co workers who viewed them as time consuming (instruction and use), difficult to use in the classroom and inappropriate for the reading skills that the felt that the students needed to improved their skills. In short, they liked the iPad for their own use but were reluctant to let the students use them in any shape.

As I view the situation through the following lens; John Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivational Design, there are four steps for promoting and sustaining motivation in the learning process: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction (ARCS). (Driscoll, 2005). I think that I should have presented the apps by showing them how well the students were progressing and using the apps in the classroom.  Once I started to experiment with this philosophy more service providers were willing to use the apps in the classroom.  Later, when I introduced them to the administration and the teachers saw how excited the administration was with the apps, they started to include them on their iPad and were more willing to let the students use the iPad in the classroom.

Reference

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.