As instructional technology specialists, we not only need to
know how to teach, know our content area, and know what technologies are
available. We also need to understand how our students are learning. We can’t
just throw technology at them and expect them to learn. If we just feed them
information without taking their needs and learning styles into account, the
information will just go in one ear and out the other.
I think in the future I will use these theories in my classroom
to help me come up with new and exciting activities that I might often overlook
or forget about, like KWLs and inquiry based learning for instance.
On my school visit I witnessed evidence of the learning theories
in many activities. I saw active and collaborative learning, and students
setting their own goals. However, I feel as though many of these learning
activities are just things that good teachers do automatically, and they don’t
recognize that it is attached to a learning theory.
The technology instruction I saw did not include evidence of the
learning theories. It was not active, inquiry based, or collaborative. I think
it would take a different mindset to teach a traditional “computer/technology”
class actively and collaboratively. It is too easy to get stuck in the rut of “each
student sitting at their own computer working silently and independently on
their own assignment.”
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