Reflection

As I look back on my personal theory of learning from week 1, I am pleased to see that I still feel the same way about how I want to approach learning in my classroom.  As a result of learning more about the different learning theories from this course, I am strong in my belief that in the technology classroom, social constructionist learning is best.  Dr. Michael Orey states that constructionism allows for students to engage deeply enough in creating a product that they are forced to use tools to solve problems.  (Laureate Education, Inc., 2012a).  I have become a little bit more open-minded to the behaviorist theory of learning; however, in my classroom I feel that the only place you would see anything behaviorist would be in behavior management.
 It is so important that I now understand the difference between technology as an instructional tool, versus technology as a learning tool. Technology must be put in the hands of the students in order to reach the full benefits of technology integration.  According to Dr. Orey, using technology simply in the form of a delivery method can make a bad thing worse (Laureate Education, Inc., 2012b). Technology in the hands of students is a true learning tool, and it is important to recognize the difference here.  Simply using technology to deliver instruction, while effective sometimes, is just not enough anymore.  Students must be allowed to have creative power, which also further exemplifies the constructionist theory that students learn best by creating artifacts.  From this new insight, I hope to be more purposeful in putting the technology in the hands of the students more often than not.  
I really like the ideas for student blogging and wikis in the classroom.  I would like to have students use a blog as a digital portfolio this year.  I think that it is important to find ways to allow students to show off what they do in the classroom.  The blog also turns it into a social thing.  By allowing students to share and discuss work, this should produce higher quality products.
In my classroom, I want to allow for more creation of products and exploration using technology.  In order to accomplish this, I will have to take on a facilitator role.  I will need to provide a lot of up front planning in order to ensure that students are successful, without having to lead them as much along the way as I would before.  Also, I have been toying with the idea of flipping the classroom, where tutorials and lessons are provided online, and class time is spent actually working instead of listening to a lecture.  This is going to be a learning process for both me and the students, but in the end I think it will be best to shift the classroom to a student-led environment.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Program seven: Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011b). Program thirteen: Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1