Cognitivism as a Learning Theory

As I was reading Bill Kerr’s blog the first thing that popped into my mind was that he is confusing my by constantly using “isms”. Bill Kerr said, “Actions which are followed by rewards are often repeated.” I completely agree that this is a strategy that is still used in today’s classroom. The theory of behaviorism, to me, is one of the most used strategies inside of the classroom. All students receive a grade for their work. I consider grades to be an award. Some students might not agree with that but rewarding a student with an “A” is a reward in response to the correct work being submitted. There were many times in Kerr’s blog that confused me. At one point I was not sure what theory he supported. I am guessing that he believes that all of the learning theories are necessary because he started to lean that way by the end of his blog. I am wondering if anyone else had trouble understanding his points and if they can elaborate further on what he was trying to say.




Reference

Kerr, B. (2007, January 1). _isms as filter, not blinker [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html

Learning Theory and Educational Technology: Module One

For this week's blog I have decided to discuss option one which states, "What are your beliefs about how people learn best? What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology?"  The problem with answering this type of question is that I don't have one particular belief about how people learn.  Different people learn differently.  There is no one size fits all fix for education.  I believe that educational technology can help with this problem.  Technology can be used to help students get an individual learning experience.  I also believe that the best learning can only occur if the theories are combined.

Video Presentation

Cluster Map

Here is my graphic organizer.  If you would like to see the interactive graph working please visit the class cafe.

Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

Once again I am dealing with something I have no clue how to make work.  I have created this wonderful interactive graphic organizer but I can not post it on my blog.  Please go to the class cafe and check out my graphic organizer.  Please help me if you know how to attach pdf files to blogs.

Resource for graphic organizer

Prois, J. (2011, March 27). Social networking in schools: Educators debate the merits of technology in classrooms The Internet Newspaper, Retrieved from       http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/27/social-networking-schools_n_840911.html

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

Participation in a collaborative learning community should be assessed in different models.  According to Siemens students should assess their peers, self-assess, educators should assess student contributions and educators should assess based on metrics.   Assessment should be fair and understood.  Rubrics would be the best way for an educator to assess students in this learning environment.  I believe the fairest way to assess students is to create a rubric that is very specific. 
 
When it comes to students who do not want to participate in the learning community it effects everyone.  I have worked in groups where there are a few people that do not actively participate.  It is a major headache.  The best way to deal with this problem is to try and communicate with the group member.  If this does not work then the instructor needs to be informed.  The instructor is a facilitator and should be made aware of group members that do not participate. 
 
 
Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Learning Communities. Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Video Presentation: Post Storyboard on Blog

I have images that I have set up for this project and they will go in the power point presentation.  However, I am having trouble uploading the photos to my blog.  If anyone know how to do this please respond and let me know what I am doing wrong.


Title: What is Plagiarism and how to deal with it in distance education




By Sadie Rodgers









What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism- using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as your own,

 

Definition taken from dictionary.com

Slide Title: Examples of plagiarism

• Copying and pasting online sources, text, or any information that is not your original work

• Using your work previously submitted and not giving proper credit

• Using audio, video or photographs without citations (acknowledgement)

• Using a family/friends work and taking credit for it as if it were your own

• Quoting without using quotation marks

• Getting written work off the internet and trying to pass it off as your own

Slide Title: Preventing Plagiarism

• Do not copy and paste but use your own words for an assignment

• Always cite your sources and give credit where it is due

• use quotation marks and in-text citations

• When taking notes write down the citation information for you to use later

• Do not use anyone else’s work and claim it as your own



Detection and remediation





Resources

• https://www.google.com/search?q=Plagarism&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ADFA_enUS483&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=qEn6T9b6GIPc9ASy9IDuBg&biw=1280&bih=596&sei=XEr6T5-eKoW88ATtlvXmBg (Images were taken from this site.)

Title: What is Plagiarism and how to deal with it in distance education




By Sadie Rodgers









What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism- using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as your own,

 

Definition taken from dictionary.com

Slide Title: Examples of plagiarism

• Copying and pasting online sources, text, or any information that is not your original work

• Using your work previously submitted and not giving proper credit

• Using audio, video or photographs without citations (acknowledgement)

• Using a family/friends work and taking credit for it as if it were your own

• Quoting without using quotation marks

• Getting written work off the internet and trying to pass it off as your own

Slide Title: Preventing Plagiarism

• Do not copy and paste but use your own words for an assignment

• Always cite your sources and give credit where it is due

• use quotation marks and in-text citations

• When taking notes write down the citation information for you to use later

• Do not use anyone else’s work and claim it as your own



Detection and remediation





Resources

• https://www.google.com/search?q=Plagarism&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ADFA_enUS483&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=qEn6T9b6GIPc9ASy9IDuBg&biw=1280&bih=596&sei=XEr6T5-eKoW88ATtlvXmBg (Images were taken from this site.)

Citation list for this weeks blog:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). The future of distance education featuring George Siemens. United States: Walden University.

I agree with Siemens view on distance education. Distance education provides many possibilities that are different from face to face traditional classrooms. The elements of global diversity and collaboration have evolved dramatically. Students can collaborate with students across the globe and this also adds an element of diversity to the educational experience. Siemens said that students have to have a, “growing comfort with online discourse” for distance education to be successful.


There are many tools that have made it possible to collaborate and achieve global diversity. For example students can Skype with students around the world. English students that take Spanish can have face to face conversations with native English speakers and vice verses. Authors can talk to students from the comfort of their home or a location of their choosing. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the internet/world wide web.

The Next Generation of Distance Education

After reading the three articles by Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman, and listening to the Simonson video programs, compare and contrast the reasons these authors believe there is a need to evolve distance education to the next generation. Do you agree with their positions? Why or why not?

I agree with the positions of all five of these authors in one way or another. For example our education system needs to evolve. Our students are no longer traditional students and the traditional school does not work for everyone. With the inclusion of No Child Left Behind we need more options for our students. In the article titled The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web the following quote was available: Ideally, by offering online courses, a small school can provide rich and varied options normally available only at larger schools (Pape, 2005). Moller, Huett, Foshay, Coleman and Simonson all agreed that our learners are more advanced than they used to be in the past. They also believe that distance education has to evolve.

Simonson believes that distance education has been widely accepted by society and this is great because this is one of the major barriers that usually stand in the way of innovations. He also believes that there must be a blending of the traditional learning environment and distance learning for students to be successful. I agree more with this idea because there are lots of benefits to having both settings. In the traditional classroom there is more face to face interaction and when it comes to distance education there is convince and the aspect of lower cost that must come into the equation. Cost has become a major factor in lots of decisions in education in the recent years because of the recession. Distance learning can help fix overcrowded classrooms and provide twenty first century skills that all of our students will need.

Sadie Rodgers

Resources

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70-75. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 33281719.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66-70. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 33991516.

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5). 63-67.