Module 6

I believe that technology plays a major role in the way in which I learn.  Being a classroom teacher, technology integration is constantly emphasized on a regular basis within the job setting.  It is continually stressed that educators create an engaging learning environment that involves the use of many different types of technology tools.  This course has helped me to discover various types of tools and understand the importance of technology and its effect on how students learn.    This is especially important for the connectivism learning theory, because this theory accentuates the integration of technology to promote learning in the classroom. 

I believe that the online environment involves lots of independent learning.  Students need to be aware of when assignments are due and when certain reading topics should be read and they conduct this through their own independence of researching and viewing important information in the online classroom.  Communication and collaboration is important as well in the online environment.  Students must be sure to communicate with classmates and instructors whenever they have questions, better understanding, and for participation purposes.  Collaboration is also important in the learning process in the online environment.  Students need to know how to use various technology tools to assist with collaboration such as wikis, discussion boards, use of screencasts/videos.   In the traditional classroom, students see each other on a daily basis and they are able to have in classroom discussions about topics which help in the collaboration process.  Both the online and traditional classrooms have the same characteristics, the online classroom just maybe a little more demanding because the instructor is not right in front of you each day. 

My philosophy of learning is that there should be good communication, good forms of collaboration, and the integration of tools to assist students with the real world.  Communication should take place between teacher, students, parents, administration.  Collaboration should take place with students, teachers, and parents.  Students should be able to understand different points of views besides their own (Driscoll, 2005).  This can be obtained through effective communication amongst all learners.  Integration of tools that relate to the real world should be applied in the classroom for the students.  It does not matter whether an individual is in the online classroom or in the traditional classroom; they need to be able to have communication, collaboration, and integration of effective tools for the real world experiences.  Learning is what the person makes it to be, but in the process certain strategies have to be implemented to ensure that effective learning has taken place and students are learning the objectives that have been set forth. 

I believe that teaching and learning go together hand in hand.  While teaching, learning is also taking place, and when learning, some form of information is being taught as well.  Being willing to learn from others, fairness, and effective teaching are considered as critical points in teaching and learning.

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of Learning for Instruction (3^rd Edition). Boston:  Pearson Education,     Inc.

I responded to the following blogs: 

http://lylesedtech.blogspot.com/2012/08/learning-in-online-environment.html?showComment=1345954422696#c1465508495740629750 (Lyle Gier)

http://corablades1.blogspot.com/2012/08/learning-in-digital-world.html?showComment=1345954969164#c8586025560190025687 (Cora Blades)