EDLD+5364+Week+One+Assignment

In Week One of EDLD 5364, Teaching with Technology, I learned about three different types of learning theories. The three learning theories are Constructivism, Connectivism, and the Cyborg Learning Theory. I have heard of Constructivism theory quite a bit in the public education system but Connectivism theory and Cyborg Learning Thoery are new to me. I do believe that each of these theories can play important roles in how students learn and how teachers teach. I also believe that all three theories can be greatly enhanced with the use of technology. Next I will give my ideas as to how these theories define student learning and how technology can enhance these theories based on what I learned in my first week of the course. Constructivism theory is the theory with which I am most familiar. I have heard of it and the ideas behind how students learn through this theory. Constructivism says that people learn new information by relating it to prior knowledge and experiences. We learn based on what we already know. We take new ideas and intertwine them with ideas that already exist for us. What this means for a student is that our learning is based on the experiences we have. I see this alot in the middle school where I teach. Students relate math facts and procedures with things that they know. I have many students who struggle with math, especially word problems, because they do not have the experiences to help them with relate ratios and proportions to their knowledge base that already exists. We are often told to make the information meaningful, which means to relate it to their prior knowledge. I think technology can enhance the constructivism theory because students are getting more experiences from technology. While some of my students may never go to another country or experience certain situations, they can use technology to help them experience it. I think that creating a larger knowledge base on experiences will help students become more successful. Technology is a good way to do this. The next theory I learned about what Connectivism. I can see how this theory relates to the education system as well. I do think that we learn based on our experiences as in the Constructivism theory but I also think we learn from what Siemens calls the "network model". Connectivism thoery states that learners create a network that becomes learning. We have an internal means of learning and external means of learning. The internal is how our brain biologically functions to make connections from the knowledge we have encountered. The external is our network. It is the other people, technology, and experiences we take in that we learn from. We have more control over the external than the internal learning processes. I think that technology can enhance the connectivist learning because it increases the network that we have to work with. We now can find more information from a variety of sources to create new knowledge. The final theory we learned about was the Cybor Learning Theory. This was completely new to me although it maybe shouldn't be. I don't really like the Cyborg theory though, as it would apply to education. The Cyborg theory says that we can create chips that can be implanted into the human nervous system to create and enhance knowledge. Instead of traveling to a destination, we can have it downloaded to our chips. Instead of having to learn skills and problem solving, we can have those things downloaded to your microchips as well. I think it defeats the actual purpose of learning. Through learning, we do more than just gain new knowledge. We gain skills that help us to solve problems, be confident in decisions, and help us to develop problem solving capabilities. If it were not necessary to know these things, we could just implant a chip to do it for us. That doesn't create people who are specialists in a craft or field though. It would take the uniqueness and individuality out of the human being. Technology defintely plays a big role in the Cyborg Learning Theory because it would essentially be the machine doing the work for us. While I like the use of technology, I think it is important not to lose sight of the individual. These three theories were very interesting to learn about this week. I definitely see how Connectivism and Constructivism theories enhance student learning and how we can better use technology within these theories. I didn't like the Cyborg learning theory because it creates machines that know things, rather than people who experience things.