New Technologies

            It is not uncommon for people in the workplace to have low self-efficacy in experimenting with new technologies. According to the research by Little and Housand (2011), teachers' self-efficacy is determined by how comfortable they are with technology and their ability to give instruction (p. 30). If teachers have not had a great deal of professional development in this area, it is likely they will be uncomfortable. There are plenty of times that I have been in situations with people who resisted using technology. One time, I was placed in a group with two other teachers to give a presentation to the school on a familiar academic lesson. We were required to incorporate technology. We decided we would do this through the use of a Microsoft Power Point presentation. Even after explaining the use of the program to one of my partners, he still refused to use it, and asked me to complete his portion of the power point. I did it, while trying to explain what I was doing, but he just kept repeating he would never be able to learn it. I then had to go over it with him, explaining how we would present it while he was speaking, and I had to agree to be the one to click the button to go to the next slide.

            This teacher was willing to help with the project, did plenty of research for it, and wrote up a long lesson plan and speech. However, the prospect of using technology was not met with excitement. This person has no interest in using new technology because he does not use it in any other aspect of life. He has a work email, which he has one of his teacher assistants check for him. He does not have a computer at home and does not use a cell phone. He was able to graduate from college and have a number of different jobs that never needed a computer. As a result, he does not find importance for learning it. Using a computer and interacting with the different programs can be overwhelming, especially if a person attempts to do it and finds it difficult.

John Keller’s ARCS model stands for attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (Driscoll, 2005, p. 333). To gain the attention of this individual, "called an attitude of inquiry," I could have searched online for a computer program or website that would help during one of his class lessons (p. 334). It would need to be something that would enhance his lesson while requiring very little work for him related to the computer. This would capture his attention in terms of the benefits of using a computer. Additionally, seeing that the students can learn more if technology is integrated, would help him to achieve personal goals of helping the students get to a higher level (p. 335). If that situation is a positive experience, he will gain more confidence using technology (p. 336). From that, he may choose to see what else he can do with technology. Generating satisfaction is not something I believe will happen immediately with this individual. Overtime, if he continues to have success with using technology in his lessons, knowledge will be “accumulated” and "become useful" (p. 337).

Here is an interesting interviewwith John Keller

Here is a simple guide and practicefor using the ARCS to assist with learning

Here is a video comparing the ARCSand KEMP

Resources

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

Education.

Little, C.A. & Housand, B.C. (2011, October). Avenues to professional learning online:

Technology tips and tools for professional development in gifted education. Gifted Child

Today. 34(4), 18-27. Retrieved from EBSCOhost

Mindmap

There are many times throughout my life that I "interact and work as a group," with other people through technology (Rheingold, 2008). Networking has changed the way I learn because at the click of a button I can instantly find information I need to increase my knowledge. Additionally, if I do not understand the information, I can find more information quickly that can support the new information I just gathered. I can also find information that contradicts and doubts the information I found.

As a basketball coach and director, in a sport that is constantly changing, it is beneficial that “everyone can have a voice and we can digitize” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2012). In the past, only few people were fortunate to learn from the greatest coaches in the world. Now, the greatest coaches in the world can be accessed quickly through instructional videos provided on YouTube.com. Additionally, people who discover new moves can record them and instantly share them with everyone in the world. This has changed the way I create my own techniques with the information I learn from everyone else. I can also send my players the links so they can see drills from home and practice them. If I have questions I can also type key words from the question into YouTube and videos that relate appear.

Because YouTube.com was the best tool to facilitate learning about basketball, I decided to use it as a network to increase my knowledge as it pertains to education.   Although education does not have as many resources through YouTube as basketball does, I have been able to learn several methods of behavior management for the classroom through videos of Richard Lavoie. I can also see how other educators incorporate technology into their classroom lessons. There are also students who use YouTube for class projects and it is interesting to see their results.

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (2012). Connectivism learning theory. Baltimore, MD, Author: George

Siemens

Rheingold, H. (2008, February). Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved

from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

Collaboration

After giving this considerable thought, I do believe humans have a basic instinct to "interact and work as a group," but humans are sometimes persuaded to act differently due to environmental factors (Rheingold, 2008).

For example, two adults may seek each other to spend a lifetime together, working as a team, and collaborating on all decisions. However, cultural values from the environment they grew up in may influence these individual into fulfilling roles that take them away from collaboration. For example, a woman being set in the role of a housewife and making all of the decisions that relate to cooking and cleaning.

Technology can facilitate collaboration among learners based on the constructivist principles through the use of the Internet. Chat rooms can be used to exchange ideas quickly with people who are separated through time and space (California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project, n.d., p. 43). Concept maps provide a visual representation of what someone is trying to explain. They allow people to add their opinions and validate or invalidate what someone else shared (California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project, n.d., p. 44). Technology can also facilitate collaboration by using social media sites, such as Facebook or Twitter. Both would allow for ideas to be collected and commented on. Because of features like “undo,” people can work on the computer on a project together and easily make changes.

Rozenszayn and Ben-Zvi (2009) conducted a study to determine if collaborative learning was a meaningful learning tool in a science classroom. Their research found that students were able to learn from one another and teach each other, which proved to be beneficial for learning (p. 124). However, all partners were paired up by their teacher in developmentally appropriate groups. It is hypothesized that if the students were paired with other students who were not around the same intellectual level, not as much progress would be made. Additionally, the students identified five criteria that needed to be present in order for collaborative learning to be successful. The criteria were "interdependence between group members for reaching a mutual goal," "collective responsibility of group members concerning difficulties," "reciprocity between group members in the form of oral explanations... geared to solve problems," "social cooperation skills," and "social processes need to be defined in advance" (p. 125). If these factors could be fulfilled, learning with other students is possible and productive.

This YouTube video, created by the Science Education Initiative at the University of Colorado at Boulder, shows how group work can enhance a lesson. One student explained, "when I am not learning something or I am not getting something, by working in the groups I am able to experience it through a different way. [I do this] by seeing how other people are thinking about it so that I can better understand the concept rather than the single way [the professor] explained it."

Resources

California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project. (n.d.). How does technology facilitate constructivist learing? Retrieved from: http://www.calpro-online.org/eric/docs/brown/brown01_05.pdf

Rheingold, H. (2008, February). Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

Rozenszayn, R. & Ben-Zvi, O. (2009, December). When collaborative learning meets nature: Collaborative learning as a meaningful learning tool in the ecology inquiry based project. Res Sci Edu, 41, 123-146. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.