Reflection - EIPT Week of February 20-27

Blog Week of February 20 – 26.

This week has been an exceptionally busy one.  I learned a lot, I just hope the information made it to my long term memory storage.  I enjoyed the chapter by M. Ally (2004).  His information on memory was especially appreciated.  I never really thought about the three types of memory; sensory store, short term memory and long term memory (Ally, M. 2004).  Ally’s (2004) statement that “information should be chunked to prevent overload during processing in working memory” hit home for me.  I think the information we are getting is “chunked”, but I do feel I am on information overload and I have no idea how much of it made it past the working memory stage. 

I also watched the recording of the John Seely Brown webinar on “The New Culture of Learning”.   They stated in the webinar the basic theme of his book is institutions need to be transformed.  I liked his term “the edge”.  The edge being the after school programs, etc that can help change the core (Caise, K. 2010).  He also stated, ”the best way to learn something is to teach it”.   One of the most interesting things discussed was the tools used to modify text.  The story he told was about having students change the music on a movie.  The music can actually change what you see, with music being the context and what you see being the content (Caise, K. 2010).   I do know that when I watch a scary move that the music can have me on the edge of my seat before the actual scary part hits the screen.  The music makes the anticipation just as nerve racking as the actual scary scene.

I have discovered that I am a Constructivist learner.  I am an active learner not passive.  But it is interesting that Behaviorist, Cognitivist and Constructionist all overlap (Ally, M. 2010).

Ally, M. (2004). Theory and practice of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Foundations of educational theory for online learning. Athabasca,          AB,T953A3, Canada. Athabasca University.

Caise, K. (Event Creator). (2010, February 23). John seely brown on the new culture         of learning {Webinar}. Retrieved from    https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-02-          22.1654.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350

REFLECTION - EIPT Week of February 7-13.

This weeks readings from Chapter 9 - 12 were very interesting.  I feel I am learning a lot even though at times it seems a little overwhelming.  I appologize for not getting this posted earlier.

1)     How do virtual communities impact individuals in information seeking and knowledge construction? What are the possibilities for learning and change in this case study?  (for Ch. 9)

Virtual communities have a big impact on everyone that gets on the internet looking for answers to their question.  The most interesting part for me was the self help communities.  I never really stopped and thought about the fact that instead of calling a trusted friend for advise or answers to your question, we just get on the internet and look for it.  We blog it, put it on facebook, go to ask.com or anyother variety of web pages.  The most concerning is the fact that some people use the internet as their doctor and may not be on a reliable site.  On top of that they might be "lurkers" and not asking questions but just looking and picking out the answers to their questions that might be the most appropriate.    I like the term reflexive modernization.  We do a lot of reflecting and re-evaluating information that is already known. 

2)  How does technology support a knowledge-building community? (Ch. 12)

There are several ways technology can support a knowledge-building community.  Software can be designed to find out and support the needs of the community.  Technology can be designed and then must be facilitated. In this chapter it was called "cultivating a community of use". (p 349).  I feel without the technology advancements there have been we would still be back trying to obtain knowledge via chat rooms or just e-mails.  

3)  What are the specific implications that you can draw and apply to your specific context  (e.g., your own online course in which you are an instructor) of building a virtual learning community? (Ch. 10)

The implications I found were that every project based virtual learning community has a life cycle. Starting with the proposal and ending with the publication.  As a participant it is good to know about these phases as the role changes through out.  But just because it gets to the publication phase doesn't mean it stops.  It can be used to expand to another community and it's successes (or failures I presume) can be used to educate others. 

Renninger, K. A., & Shumar, W. (Eds.) (2010). Building virtual communities.
     Cambridge N.Y.: Cambridge University Press

Reflection - Week 3 EIPT

Hi everyone!  I have learned a lot this week.  I felt so out of touch with technology but now I feel I am starting to get a grasp and am very excited about it.  I loved learning about the virtual learning communities and enjoyed browsing through MathForum.org.  The discussion forums are good and everyone had good questions.

My goal is to teach web-based classes so this class is helping me feel more comfortable with the computer and teaching me how to make it successful.  I look forward to learning more throughout the semester.

I have also come to the conclusion that learning never stops.  I will have to constantly be learning to keep up with the ever changing technology.  Looking back it amazes me how much the web has changed in just a few short years.  I can't imagine where we will be in another few years.  I hope I can keep up!!!