Implementing
The practice of implementing tools for specific learners
Reflecting on Constructivism, Epistemology, and Authenticity in Learning
I completed this project in the course Constructivist Strategies for E-Learning (ETEC 530). By far this course was the most challenging of my MET journey, however, without a doubt, the concepts I learned in this course impacted the rest of my MET journey greatly. Through studying epistemology, knowledge building, and constructivism I have become a more mindful educator, as I now recognize that knowledge is difficult to define and too often we have a difficult time defining what "true belief" versus what "knowledge" is. I am more mindful now, as I consider my own bias before designing and implementing learning solutions, and I also take the time to consider the individuality of each learner I may encounter. Through circumstances "true beliefs" can be justified to be perceived as knowledge, even though this experience can differ for each person. This leads to a seemingly impossible task in determining what an ultimate perception or truth may be, because "the problem is that the ways things look isn't always the way things are; appearances can be deceptive" (Pritchard, 2014, p. 69).
1 Comment
Reflecting on Research Methods and Strategies
This project was a group project completed in the course ETEC 500, Research Methodology in Education. This course focuses on applied research, research ethics, and how to apply the process of research to education. Overall I found this course challenging, as, in a way, it challenged me to connect something I generally consider very rigid (scientific research process) to something I do not consider rigid (education). This project was a three part project completed over the term of a semester, and the purpose of it was to apply theories and methods of research to a specific study, on a specific group of people. My group chose to focus on the effectiveness of blended learning in corporate technology training. This was the only project I completed in MET that had a focus on Blended Learning. As we summarized in our research proposal, "The most wisely held understanding and simplified explanation of blended learning is that it is a combination of 'face-to-face instruction and computer mediated instruction' (Graham, 2006, p. 5 as cited in Wang Han, and Yang, 2015)" (Cox, Franklin, Hagen, Handford, & Mauro, 2017). Throughout this project I learned more about the potentials of blended learning in corporate settings, including the ability to target varying learning styles (Kraemer et al., 2007, p. 341). For this project, we essentially proposed a potential research study that could be conducted to measure the effectiveness of blended learning for tech training. |
ImplementingThe practice of implementing tools and strategies for specific users is an important skill of educational technologists. And being mindful of users is an important part of the PCK of TPCK as "PCK is concerned with the representation and formulation of concepts, pedagogical techniques, knowledge of what makes concepts difficult or easy to learn, knowledge of students' prior knowledge, and theories of epistemology" (Mishra & Koehler, 2006, p. 1027). Click here for Page References
Brown, J. S., Collins, A. & Duguid, S. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18, 32-42. Cox, K., Franklin, M., Hagen, S., Handford, A., & Mauro, S. (2017). ETEC 500: Research Methodology in Education, research proposal assignment submission [Written PDF document]. Glasersfeld, E. Von. (2005). Introduction: Aspects of constructivism. Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice. (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers’ College Press, 21-25. Glasersfeld, E. Von. (2008). Learning as a Constructive Activity. AntiMatters, 2(3), 33-49. Handford, A. (2017). ETEC 530: Constructivist Strategies for E-Learning, assignment 1 submission [Written PDF document]. John-Steiner, V. & Mahn, H. (1996). Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework, Educational Psychologist, 31, 191-206. Kraemer, E. W., Lombardo, S. V., & Lepkowski, F. J. (2007). The librarian, the machine, or a little of both: A comparative study of three information literacy pedagogies at Oakland University. College & Research Libraries, 68(4), 330-342. Orey, M. (2002). Information Processing. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Pritchard, D. (2014). What is this thing called knowledge?. Routledge. Wang, Y., Han, X., & Yang, J. (2015). Revisiting the blended learning literature: Using a complex adaptive systems framework. Journal of Educational Technology & Society,18(2), 380-393. Categories
All
Archives |