Well, we participated in our last presentation this week and adult learning turned out to be another interesting learning theory. I truly believe that these concepts may also be applied to younger students. Experience and responsibility have a huge impact on adults and I believe this creates many of the differences we may observe in learning styles between children and adults.

Our discussion about online portfolios and the information we post online was also very interesting. Any information we post on the internet is evidence that can sometimes be used to support us but may also be used against us. I always assume that anything I post on the web is public record. At times it stinks not to be able to participate in some of the discussions or activities that friends are involved in, but as teachers, we are held to a higher standard and we must act accordingly when in the public eye.

My paper is coming along. The biggest concern I have at this point is my work citing in APA format. I haven't written a referenced paper in 7 years and I believe last time is use MLA formatting. I have also spent some time building my portfolio page. Some of the characteristics of design and layout are also being discussed in my visual class, so I hope to put together something that is not only informative, but also easy to use and pleasant on the eyes.

I really enjoyed learning about cognitive load this week. I think the use of music really emphasizes how much we can store in our short turn memory and how to manipulate this process a bit. For years I have been talking to my students about studying skills and retaining information. One of my favorite little tasks is giving my students 5 seconds to memorize:

aeeeggiiiilnnnnsstt

Then I after assessing how well students performed, I repeat the process, but this time they try to memorize:

learning is interesting

As some of you may have noticed, these are the same set of numbers. However, because of our ability to chunk together letters in words, in the second round students only need to memorize 3 things, not 20.

I also hope everyone found our Connectivism presentation to be helpful. It was a bit difficult as a teacher to let everyone just go off in their own direction without much structure in our activity, but I think this was a more meaningful and personal process than most lessons. Sorry to those classmates who don't cook.

I have been asking my students to find and present math websites that may help us in algebra class. This process has been rewarding for them, not only because they have found something to help them learn, but they have also helped organize a set of resources for  all of my current and future algebra students. 

This week we discussed two new learning theories: Humanism and Constructivism. All of the information the groups provided and the lessons were very well organized and informative. I will never forget the bucket analogy! In math, we use constructivism constantly because of the logical connections from one topic to the next, so it was nice to also view this process through another content area.

Another great aspect of this class is being able to observe all of the creative ways groups use various web tools. Between Google, the various types of online survey, etc. I am putting together a lot of different tools I can utilize in my classroom!

Our group is presenting connectivism this week. I hope everyone finds our preview information helpful and enjoys our lesson.

Week 4: This week we we're able to efficiently and effectively move through 3 learning theory presentations. As was mentioned at the end of class, it is amazing to think that I have been utilizing many of these learning strategies in class for years, even without the appropriate name attached. Now that I understand these three topics formally (Behaviorism, Synectics, and Cognitive Theory) I can better address them in a classroom setting. All of the groups did a very nice job.

I am also proud to say that my group (Vicky, Julie, and I) have worked very hard to put together a nice presentation of our own and we hope everyone enjoys their experience with Connectivism when we present in a few weeks.

Week 3: Though this week did not go as planned, I feel like it was a very productive experience. I was able to communicate with my group members and watch several interviews on the leading developers of Connectivism. I am looking forward to presenting our lesson for this theory. I also liked Sue's use of Socrative at the beginning of class. I have used Poll Everywhere in my classroom and the kid's enjoy sending in their answers (they love any time I let them use their phones in class!), but I may try this new site because of the ability to link Socrative to Google Docs. This week I also began making the Xtranormal interview for my group projective on Connectivism. Though it took me some time to figure out a few of the features, it is a very creative way to present information. The following image is a funny summary of how we connect through social media:

Week two of learning theory presented some interesting information as well as some frustrations with technology! Sue's presentation for our Google portfolio gave me plenty of ideas for the design and layout of my final portfolio and I hope to add to this site a bit each week. The presentation on the Stockton Library resources was also very informative as well. I had used some of these same resources as an undergraduate at Rowan University, but I haven't had to write a formally documented paper in 7 years! Also, I am used to utilizing MLA formating. Again, I hope to learn more about these resources and writing techniques as our Personal Learning Theory nears.

I must be honest that Wimba is very frustrating for me! I have a headache when each class is over. I was hoping for more face to face interactions and communication with classmates. I enjoyed the interactions with classmates as an undergraduate and was looking forward to similar experiences in graduate school. It is very strange to me that I don't even know what half of the people in this course look like! Plus the feedback from the microphone and difficulty communicating between the two groups is very frustrating! I love the information that I am learning to use, but the use of Wimba has been very frustrating!

This is a test blog...I have signed up for Skype and Google Docs. I have played some with Xtranormal and watch some video on my theory for the project! Feels good to get things started