Learning in a Digital World

Learning in a Digital World

I have found it very difficult in this transition to digital learning for my students. They are very familiar with digital learning but do not grasp the concept of knowledge building through networks.  They still need so much direction and are not self motivated. They still expect the teacher to spoon feed them. We are on the threshold of educational change and must realize we as educators and students are blazing the trail.  Technology will be the glue that sustains the learning environment in the digital world.

According to Siemens, the acceptance of online learning has grown due to the way in witch people communication everyday using digital technology (Siemens 2012). Today's learner must be able to manage high volumes of information and make it useful for knowledge construction. Students prepared for the 21st century must be self motivated and able to work in a collaborative networked digital environment.  However, learners need "soft" guidance towards desired learning outcomes.   (Siemens 2008).  Students need someone to guide them towards what needs to be learned and accomplished to meet the expectations of educational standards. The way in which we learn and communicate has changed overnight but education has not kept pace with those changes. According to Christensen (2008), the traditional model of education will be disrupted when the value chain is broken by networks of instructional designers and users who share technology. The commercialization of instructional design (the value chain) will be replaced by networks of open source contributors.

One of the major issued with designing construction for digital learning has been the lack of available software at no cost that can provide time effective individualized instruction.  I believe students in the k-12 education will need both face-to-face and online learning.  We must prepare this generation for the 21st skills that include cooperative learning, creativity, problems solving, and communication (Partnership for 21st century skills). One of the ways to accomplish 21st century instructions is to collaborate and share knowledge freely.  According to the Horizon Report(2013). Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) will provide tools to create online learning.  For now the course components available for use to create courses are relatively similar to the traditional format of lectures, quizzes, and homework assignments.  The beauty of the MOOCs is that the course components are meant to be used and re-purposed.  The MOOC components will grow and evolve as learners and teachers share and build towards digital learning components.  

References

Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., & Johnson, C. W. (2008). Disrupting Class: How disruptive innovation will change the way the world learns. New York. McGraw-Hill.The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). http://www.21stcenturyskills.org.

New Media Consoursium. (2013). The Horizon Report. Austin, TX. NMC. Retrieved from:  http://www.nmc.org/publications/2013-horizon-report-higher-ed

 Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from http://itforum.coe.uga.edu/Paper105/Siemens.pdf

Siemens, G., (2012). Networked Learning. International Review Of Research In Open & Distance Learning, 12(3), 1.

Motivation of resistant employees

Many times people are resistant to change using new technology.  The resistance is not do to the change but rather the fear of failure of using the technology.  If people are encouraged through their failures as well as their successes then they will have the confidence to forge forward through the change.  According to Januszewski, 85% of employee failure is due to work environment rather than with the employee’s ability or desire to succeed (Januszewski, 2008). People are less likely to be successful when they doubt there skills to perform a new task or learn a new skill. Bandura proposed the idea of self efficacy, which states that if people are in doubt of their skills and they make judgments about their ability to succeed based upon their lack prior knowledge towards the new technology.  Employees lack motivation when they believe the task is too difficult (Driscoll, 2005 p. 316).

John Keller developed a model for motivating learners to apply effort and attention towards learning task (Driscoll, 2005).  The model acronym is ARCS and the description and example below has been incorporated in my school to motivate teachers to use the SmartRecorder to record lesson instructions.

Attention:  Must get teachers using the technology

Relevance: Teachers must see the benefit of using the technology

Confidence:The teachers must feel they are able to succeed at using the technology.

Satisfaction: Teachers will be amazed and encouraged when the technology is successfully implemented.

Many of the teachers at my school have been very frustrated when students come to class late or miss a day entirely.  When students miss valuable instruction the teacher cannot always take time away from the rest of the class to tutor the absent or tardy student..  I have suggested that teachers record instructions using SmartRecorder, which records voice and screen actions. The recording can be replayed as needed to students. Many of the teachers were reluctant to use the technology because they did not feel comfortable with technology, and they had never done anything like that before.

Getting their attention and getting them engaged involved setting them up with a microphone and walking them through the recording process.  They were instructed to record their introduction to a class-just a couple of minutes of instruction.  When the late-comers arrived the instructor was able to direct them to a computer to watch the instructional video, leaving the teacher free to continue the class. The teachers understood the relevance of using the technology, as they said, they wished they had used the technology a long time ago.  They also stated they were going to use it to record the mini lectures so students could view them at home or anytime they needed to go over the material again.   Teachers were amazed at the ease of recording and impressed with the usefulness of the recording.  They had developed a new skill by taking small steps towards success.  They know they can use the technology and that they have the skill to do so.  According to Keller, learners are motivated when they are guided through a task given just enough of a new task to succeed.   They become confident in their skills and are motivated by their success. And eventually they do not need guidance to succeed at learning the new skill because they have become confident in their abilities and can move forward on their own (Driscoll, 2005).

References:

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

Januszewski, A. & Molenda, M., (2008). Educational Technology:  A definition with commentary. New York, Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.



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Connectivism

The above mind-map depicts my  networks for learning.  I connect with are the people who have similar hobbies, similar jobs, or similar interest.  The social media available to connect has changed the way in which we look for and find information.  I can remember when the internet was first available for civilian use it was very difficult to find the information that you were looking for.  I can also remember searching many search engines because they all had a different database of information and the returns or hits on the search would all be different.  Google has cornered the market on search engines.  For instance, when someone asked you a question you may tell them to “Google it”.  I have never heard anyone say, “bing it,” yahoo it”, or “Wikipedia it”.

 I do not use Wikipedia for my research; I use online libraries such as the Walden Library, The Library of Congress, or my local library.  I also use books from my own collection.  Some are digital and some are hard copies in my personal library. I do use Interest for both DIY and educational learning.  I can connect and follow many different people and compare and test the answers to my questions. 

The best digital tools for my learning really depend on the area of desired knowledge.  If I am working on best practices for blended learning I would connect with my network of colleagues and students.  I use Google docs for sharing documents, Blogger for dialog with other learners, and YouTube for visual demonstration.  I would rather listen to a lecture via YouTube then to read the content out of a book. 

The Internet and access to information over the internet has totally changed how I search for answers and information.    I look for connections to people who are in the know of the information I seek.  I don't  look to share what I know with the network, but it happens spontaneously.   According to Siemens Connectivism is the process of building networks (Siemens, 2006).  The networks do overlap and intermingle, but they are based on contributions for learning.

Reference

Siemens, G., (2006). Knowing Knowledge. George Siemens.

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Constructionism and Collaboration Module 3 EDUC 8845

Humans are social beings and need social interaction with other humans.  The evidence is all around us in the world we live in, especially evidenced in the expansion of social media. It is the expansion of social media that is precipitating the buzz of collaborative learning.  Technology has the ability to connect learners around the world and makes meeting convenient without barriers due to distance.  According to Rheingold  humans are distinctly social, but the "prisoners dilemma" which he states has made them unable to collaborate due to mistrust.   He referees to the prisoner dilemma as one having the goods and one having the money, but neither will let go due to mistrust and both end up losing out (Reingold, 2008). Continued collaboration builds trust and if carried out long enough a collaborative trustful environment evolves.  Technology has been used to build such environments and ebay and wikipedia are examples of collaborative environments that will not work without trust relationships.



Rheingold

Collaborative learning has shown to increase the willingness of teachers to share in discourse with students, higher expectations for students, and greater respect for student ideas, (Bruce, 2013). One of the ways in which technology can foster collaborative learning is by the use of massively open online courses(MOOC), which learners can take courses online and share learning with other learners.  The technology is readily available and easy to use and use such tools as, YouTube, Googe Hanouts, Wikispace and Skipe to mention a few (Horizon 2013)

Reference:

Bruce, C. D., & Flynn, T. (2013). Assessing the Effects of Collaborative Professional Learning: Efficacy Shifts in a Three-Year Mathematics Study. Alberta Journal Of Educational Research, 58(4), 691-790. http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6bb6fa59-3008-4f0f-a9b1-5ba8c14a6253%40sessionmgr111&vid=8&hid=112

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Estrada, V., Freeman, A., and Ludgate, H. (2013). NMC Horizon Report: 2013 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.  Retrieved from: 

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/hr2013.pdf

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


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