Critical Reflection on the success of the wiki

Creating and using the wiki as a class was a new experience for me. In the beginning I had a very basic and vague idea of what a wiki was, but now I have an increased knowledge about it and will continue to work towards a developed understanding.

Collaborating users for the wiki was fairly easy - I became the administrator user who created the wiki through Google, and all we had to do was add every student's email. All students were then able to access the Wiki through their Google account which they created for their blog.
Problems started to occur once we all started to access the wiki at once and make additions.The site from which we were creating a wiki, only allowed a certain number of collaborators to make additions at the one time, and we had more students in the class than this maximum number, so when we were trying to work on the wiki as a class, not all students were able to get on. This sometime caused students to be left with nothing to do.
Another problem we faced was sometimes we found difficulties in publishing. When another collaborator made changes while you were editing of trying to publish your additions, sometimes the wiki wouldn't register it and the editing you had made may have been deleted. This caused a somewhat delay in getting information published as part of the lesson task.
With that said, it was quite fun to be working on an online project as a class, with all of us having the ability to make contributions. We were laughing, joking, and it was a generally fun experience trying to figure out how to operate the wiki.

Multiple Intelligences Online Games

http://www.surfaquarium.com/mi/intelligences.htm

This site links to a wide range of online games and activities to suit all the different learning styles. A perfect way to integrate ICT and multiple intelligences in teaching!

An online game

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/flash/wordmaster/

This is a fun spelling game...perfect for English!

mp3 music file - Snow Patrol 'Hands Open'

mp3 music codes | Snow Patrol MP3s

Evolution of Dance - video clip

How to podcast

Here is a link to awebsite with steps on how to make a free podcast.

http://www.castwiki.com/index.php/Podcast_for_free

What is a podcast?

It's an easy way to receive the media you want to your personal computer or portable device, automatically.

A podcast is a media file which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers. Like 'radio', it can mean both the content and the method of syndication. The latter may also be termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. The term "podcast" is a portmanteau of the name of Apple's portable music player, the iPod, and boradcast; a pod refers to a container of some sort and the idea of broadcasting to a container or pod correctly describes the process of podcasting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting

Education and Podcasting
Podcasts enable students and teachers to share information with anyone anytime. If a student is absent, she can download the podcast of the recorded lesson. It can be a tool for teachers or administrators to communicate curriculum, assignments and other information with parents and the community. Teachers can record book talks, vocabulary or foreign language lessons, international pen pal letters (podcast pals!), music performance, interviews, debates. Podcasting can be a publishing tool for student oral presentations. Video podcasts can be used in all these ways as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_of_podcasting#Education_.26_Academia

Comment: Podcasting is again another advancement in the technology for teaching phenomena! Lessons can be recorded and be made available for download online. This is really interesting, and an unknown domain for me, so as a teacher I feel it necessary to do more research in this area.

More on the WIKI - a world of universal collaboration!

A wiki is a useful tool in the promotion of online collaborative learning.

A wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, edit and change content, typically without the need for registration. It also allows for linking among any number of pages. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring.

A wiki enables documents to be written very collaboratively, in a simple markup language using a web browser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

The simplest online database that could possibly work.
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.
Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.
Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.

http://www.wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki

Comment: I believe a Wiki is an interesting way to collectively create an online resource of information, that can be changed, edited and added to at any time. This could become a very useful tool in education, as all students will be able to access information from home from the one place, while also having the opportunity to make additions to help others. Collaborative learning is a signficant element that is having continuing focus in education, along with constant influences of technology, hence a Wiki is a useful and exciting way to combine these two elements.

Class Wiki address

http://docs.google.com/Edit?tab=edit&docid=ddjz64dp_0gwkpss

This is the address of the wiki we created as a class. Together we have stepped up in the world of ICT, creating a world of education the rest of the world is able to view while keeping our anonymity as individuals when we make a posting - unlike our blogs.

Please visit our class wiki! We hope you like what you see!

Moving on with ICT....the use of a Wiki as a collaborative tool

http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Dreikurs,_Rudolf

This site is an example of a wiki. A wiki is a a document on the internet that can be publicly accessed by everyone, with anyone able to contribute. There are usually different postings mades by different people. Questions of reliability of information arise when everyone is able to contribute. Also when postings are made anonymous, it becomes unclear whether the information given is from a valuable and reliable source. It is a document stored on a server which is formed by a group of people, which can be changed, edited and added to at anytime.
It is a development from basic ICT processes such as email for the transferring of information. Wiki's are a from of E-learning at level 2.0, which has increased from the 1.0 level. This could be a fairly valuable tool for students, as it is online communication of information and lesson content, it is easily accessed from home and all students can have a say.

What is my dominant multiple intelligences domain?

I completed a multiple intelligence test to see which was my dominant domain of learning.
My results were...
Linguistic - 20
Intrapersonal - 20
Interpersonal - 18
Naturalistic - 18
Visual/Spatial - 18
Kinaesthetic - 16
Logical - 14
Musical - 11

Based on these results, I concluded that my learning styles are mainly prevalent in the INTERACTIVE domain, as indicated by Gardner.

http://www2.bgfl.org/bgfl2/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/what.cfm
From the link above you can access the multiple intelligence test.

Second Life

http://www.secondlife.com

What is Second Life and how does it impact on education?
According to the website...

Second Life provides a unique and flexible environment for educators interested in distance learning, computer supported cooperative work, simulation, new media studies, and corporate training.
Second Life provides an opportunity to use simulation in a safe environment to enhance experiential learning, allowing individuals to practice skills, try new ideas, and learn from their mistakes. The ability to prepare for similar real-world experiences by using Second Life as a simulation has unlimited potential!
Students and Educators can work together in Second Life from anywhere in the world as part of a globally networked virtual classroom environment. Using Second Life as a supplement to traditional classroom environments also provides new opportunities for enriching an existing curriculum. Many universities and educational institutions are already using Second Life, and you can find an updated list of them here.
There are many options for Educators looking to explore and create learning spaces in Second Life. Here is a comprehensive list of resources to help you get started.

Bradfield Schools

http://www.bradfordschools.net/content/view/226/182/

This website gives details on each of the multiple intelligences, and how ICT can support this learning. There are lists of different programs that can be used for each of the learning styles.
Very good website.

learning styles and ICT - my view

I believe multiple intelligences is one of the most influential theories impacting on teaching and learning today. It has become increasingly important to teacher to satisfy all the student's individual ways of learning.
In the era we are currently in known as 'Generation Y', technology is having more and more of an impact on how lessons are taught. Because the young generation are growing up surrounded by teachnology, it is a must for teachers to embrace this technology and find ways to implement such technologies into teaching. Furthermore, using ICT and technology in combination with multiple intelligences will produce a successful lesson, and encourage students to reach their learning potential, by not only relating lessons to the way they learn but using material that surround their lives.

More on Constructivist Learning...

http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/constructivistlearning.html

This website gives a good definition of Constructivist Learning Theory. Ultimately, a constructivist learning environment is something I want to achieve everyday in the classroom, so more information to develop my understanding the better!

ICT and multiple intelligences

http://surfaquarium.com/mi/intelligences.htm


Multiple Intelligences

VISUAL/SPATIAL - learning visually and organizing ideas spatially. Seeing concepts in action in order to understand them. The ability to "see" things in one's mind in planning to create a product or solve a problem.
VERBAL/LINGUISTIC - learning through the spoken and written word. This intelligence was always valued in the traditional classroom and in traditional assessments of intelligence and achievement.
MATHEMATICAL/LOGICAL - learning through reasoning and problem solving. Also highly valued in the traditional classroom, where students were asked to adapt to logically sequenced delivery of instruction.
BODILY/KINESTHETIC - learning through interaction with one's environment. This intelligence is not the domain of "overly active" learners. It promotes understanding through concrete experience.
MUSICAL/RHYTHMIC - learning through patterns, rhythms and music. This includes not only auditory learning, but the identification of patterns through all the senses.
INTRAPERSONAL - learning through feelings, values and attitudes. This is a decidedly affective component of learning through which students place value on what they learn and take ownership for their learning.
INTERPERSONAL - learning through interaction with others. Not the domain of children who are simply "talkative" or "overly social." This intelligence promotes collaboration and working cooperatively with others.
NATURALIST - learning through classification, categories and hierarchies. The naturalist intelligence picks up on subtle differences in meaning. It is not simply the study of nature; it can be used in all areas of study..
EXISTENTIAL - learning by seeing the "big picture": "Why are we here?" "What is my role in the world?" "What is my place in my family, school and community?" This intelligence seeks connections to real world understandings and applications of new learning.
Teachers are now working on assimilating this knowledge.

Comment: This website outlines in detail about Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. Identification of these multiple intelligences has significant implications fo learning in the classroom because if, as the teacher, I can identify the individual strengths of each of our students, I will be able to accomodate all my students successfully according to their orientation of learning. I feel that the multiple intelligence theory is truly valuable, because it indicates that there isn't just one specific way to learn. This website gives some insightful activities that as a teacher I can look into, so as to promote and encourage learning from all my students, in the ways they feel it easiest to learn.


"Once teachers get past the traditional definition of intelligence, there are powerful new possibilities for learning in the classroom"
http://surfaquarium.com/MI/mi_domain_intro.htm

It's not how smart you are,
It's how you are smart!

Reflection from work on Board of studies website

Stage 5 School Certificate English Syllabus

5 Objectives

Skills, knowledge and understanding
Through responding to and composing a wide range of texts in context and through close
study of texts, students will develop skills, knowledge and understanding in order to:
• speak, listen, read, write, view and represent *
• use language and communicate appropriately and effectively
• think in ways that are imaginative, interpretive and critical
• express themselves and their relationships with others and the world
• learn and reflect on their learning through their study of English.

Values and attitudes
Students will value and appreciate:
• the importance of the English language as a key to learning
• the power of language to explore and express views of themselves, others and the world
• the power of effective communication using the language modes of speaking, listening,
reading, writing, viewing and representing
• the role of language in developing positive interaction and cooperation with others
• the diversity and aesthetics of language through literary and other texts
• the independence gained from thinking imaginatively, interpretively and critically
• the power of language to express the personal, social, cultural, ethical, moral, spiritual
and aesthetic dimensions of human experiences.

6 Outcomes

(in relation to objectives)

Through responding to and composing a wide range of texts in context and through close study of texts, students will develop skills, knowledge and understanding in order to:

• speak, listen, read, write, view and represent

1 responds to and composes increasingly sophisticated and sustained texts for understanding, interpretation, critical analysis and pleasure

2 uses and critically assesses a range of processes for responding and composing

3 selects, uses, describes and explains how different technologies affect and shape meaning

• use language and communicate appropriately and effectively

4 selects and uses language forms and features, and structures of texts according to different purposes, audiences and contexts, and describes and explains their effects on meaning

5 transfers understanding of language concepts into new and different contexts

• think in ways that are imaginative, interpretive and critical

6 experiments with different ways of imaginatively and interpretively transforming experience, information and ideas into texts

7 thinks critically and interpretively using information, ideas and increasingly complex arguments to respond to and compose texts in a range of contexts

8 investigates the relationships between and among texts

• express themselves and their relationships with others and the world

9 demonstrates understanding of the ways texts reflect personal and public worlds

10 questions, challenges and evaluates cultural assumptions in texts and their effects on meaning

• learn and reflect on their learning through their study of English.

11 uses, reflects on, assesses and adapts their individual and collaborative skills for learning with increasing independence and effectiveness.

Briefing Presentation on the School Certificate - ENGLISH

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/english_710_syl_slides.pdf

Outcomes are central to teaching and learning.

Good assessment practice focuses on gathering evidence of student learning, in relation to the outcomes, in a manageable way.

Assessment - A Standards Referenced Approach

What is a standards referenced approach?

In a standards referenced approach, student achievement is assessed against specific standards of perfromance that are established for each course.

Assessment in a standards-referenced model has these characteristics:
o A syllabus that provides a clear sense of the syllabus standards through its aims, objectives,
outcomes and content;
o Tasks designed to produce an image of what students have achieved at that point in the
teaching and learning process relative to the outcomes;
o A report that gives marks referenced to predetermined standards.

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/using_standards.pdf

A good blog...

This is a website for a really good blog that Sarah found, it is quite interactive with interesting links, pictures, podcasts and more.

http://onlinesapiens.com/blog/category/communities

Characteristics of a good blog

One of the blogs we looked at as an example was Stephen Downes. He is apparently an innovator in online education on blogs. His blog wasn't a great example, as it lacked comments and some of the links are now dead. However he did identify some characteristics of a good blog.

• integration of learning, practice and research
• integration of content and community
• content syndication (sharing what you find)
• Dynamic organisation
• embodies a new direction of online learning

Furthermore, other characteristics that we discussed that make a good blog are:

• it is interesting ie. photos, podcasts, quotes etc.
• there are hyperlinks to other sites of interest
• link to a website
• photo of the blog's owner
• current links
• constantly updated
• a chat service
• ability to make comments on posts
• personal information and contact details
  

It is important that your blog is active and dynamic, and is in a constant state of development.

thank u 4 my top notch present xx

tried to keep it nice and computer-y 4 u

ICT and different learning styles - multiple inteligences

Just a fun cartoon about learning styles :-)

http://www.eep-edu.org/InnService/Innovation_Profile/InnProf089.htm

This is an article about how ICT can enable and encourage different learning styles.

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/learning/personalised/multiple.mspx

I found this website, and it details the different multiple intelligences, what is involved and different computer programs which encourages the development of each of these learning styles. While it is quite specfic, with the programs being microsoft only, it gives a fair idea of how different ICT programs can help encourage learning styles.

ICT can be used to integrate speaking, listening, reading and writing. It enhances interactive teaching and learning styles. It also extends pupils' ability to exercise choice, work independently and make connections between their work in English and in other subjects.

For example, ICT can help pupils:
- use a wide range of strategies to explore contrasts, comparisons and connections dynamically
annotate text in innovative ways
- enrich or broaden the context of literary study
- see texts in alternative versions
- use a wide range of analytical and critical techniques
- sort and process text and data quickly and efficiently
- order and arrange text and data experimentally, using combinations of word, image, sound and hypertext
- save, record, edit and adapt their work quickly and efficiently
- retain evidence of the editing process so that it can be examined
- change the organisational structure and qualities of texts to suit different audiences and purposes - compose multi-authored texts
- select from a wider range of audiences, throughout the world
- exercise choice of medium and design while composing

http://www.ncaction.org.uk/subjects/english/ict-lrn.htm
The information from this website outlines how ICT can help with English, which I find useful has this is my major teaching area.

DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES - MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Gardner's (1993) theory of multiple intelligences challenges the traditional concept that intelligence is a single, general capacity. He proposes that every person has a number of different intelligences, and that there are eight discrete, different types (see above).

ICT can help address the different learning styles identified in Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences.

GOOD MEMORIES

And just letting you know, i learnt a lot form your blog

love eliza xxx

Jane's Buddy Adding Experience!

Adding Buddies to My Blog
If adding friends to my blog had of taken place at8:00pm last night i don't think it would have happened as smoothly as it did this morning. Even though the people in the learning space were a small distraction. Social constructivism took place right in front of our eyes, we were asking one another for help with adding our friends, not only that but we also discussed how to do this correctly. Without even realizing we were all enjoying taking part in a socially constructivist learning space.If this had of taken place many people would have given up because there wasn't the peer support that was offered within the learning space. At 8 o'clock at night there are to many other distractions such as msn which obviously does not offer any educational insight. The learning space created an environment where the students were enjoying the struggle and therefore the opportunity to create an online group who could add to one another blog and offer different perspectives on the issues raised.

If i added you at 8pm

If i had added my contributors at 8pm yesterday instead of 9:20 this morning it would have caused great distress. at this point we are able to sit together talk freely and work out who is on who's blog and if the system is working correctly. if i had been sitting at home on my own, trying to work out who i added successfully and who i didn't and which persons blog i am able to contribute to and to which persons site i can't i would have been a mess. being in a social surrounding and working together enabled us to work it out together and turn to help if need be. not only are we able to talk about it but we are also able to turn around look at another persons screen and show them exactly where to go. if sitting at home on my own and chatting through MSN without being able to see the screen the person through the chat room was discussing it would have been enormously confusing. ending up in phone calls occurring to try and realise what we are doing, where we need to 'click' and who's on who's blog. By eventually attaining the other blogs and authors onto each others site we are know able to access more information on the same topic, we are able to network with so much more ease and easily show work we have produced instead of needing to send files back and forth through MSN or email accounts now we can simply log on and view the files, information and sources we need for the work we are searching.

friendships

Thanks heaps for accepting to be my one and only friend on google blogs lol have good times networking learning with me ... xxx

social constructivism in action...adding friends to contribute to my blog...

In today's workshop we were able to connect with our friends and contribute to each other's blogs. If we were to have done this last night at an organised time, I don't think it would have worked as successfully. In class today we were able to talk to each other to see what was working and what wasn't, and this discussion would have been more difficult as such correspondence would be less accessible.
Working together as a group today helped such connection become possible. What happened in class today was a clear example of social constructivism, as individually we were were able to construct our own meanings and knowledge through the process of discussion in a social group. As indicated in the definition of social constructivism, 'language in a social gathering facilitates the articulation of thought', and thus helps develop further understanding. Establishing the connections we did today, and ultimately the understanding of how to contribute to each others blog, was helped by the group of us helping and influencing each other.
If we had completed this task last night, the knowledge we gained today wouldn't have been achieved through this lack of social networking and constructivist environment.

HEY KRISTY!
YOUR SITE IS AWESOME!!!! Great information, have you found anything good for boss vs. lead management?
LOVE SARAH
XXX

Social Constructivism

Social Constructivism:

- Knowledge is negotiated and re-negotiated socially
- Through the process of discussion, individuals come to a consensus about the meaning of a concept
- Language in a social gathering facilitates the articulation of thought (which results in the construction of ideas and understandings)

Principles of Social Constructivism:
- Prior knowledge is crucial to any learning experience
- People perceive things differently
- Collaboration with others facilitates understandings
- Knowledge is more meaningful when it is linked to existing understandings
-Knowledge is richer when it has multiple links

What should be included in a taxonomy...

Description

Analyse (summarise)

Synthesise (joining ideas together)

Evaluation
Application (applying knowledge to complex situations)Create

Examples of Cognitive Tools

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

I found this website to be very useful in examples of cognitive tools for me as an aspiring English teacher. There are online crosswords, quizzes and more, so I think this will be a good starting point for me in terms of English aids.

http://www.schoolzone.co.uk/resources/learninggame/englishlearninggames.asp
This website is more focused towards a younger age group, but it consists of some fun interactive games to help develop basic spelling and grammar.

Critical Reflection

Critical Reflection on Higher Order Thinking

It becomes extremely important for students to engage in a level of higher order thinking. This type of thinking moves beyond simply describing material that is being presented. It stimulates students to move beyond the obvious, be creative and analyse information. It also involves a student’s ability to interpret information in a way to make them understand, and it also encourages individual learning. This higher order thinking is characterised in Blooms Taxonomy, where students are at the prime of learning when they are given to chance to be creative, and interpret information for themselves. This level of learning must be encouraged by the teacher in order to achieve the best results.
Higher order thinking is compared to lower order thinking, where lower order thinking is simply the recollection of facts and figures. Alternatively, higher order thinking is the process by which students combine these facts and ideas and synthesise, generalise, explain, hypothesise or arrive at some conclusion or interpretation. Through this somewhat manipulation students are able to solve problems, gain understanding and discover new meanings. Higher order thinking promotes this construction of knowledge, where the outcomes are not always predictable, meaning that each student will present a different result. Despite this, engagement in this type of thinking is important in developing student understanding.
As a teacher, it is important for me to encourage students to achieve this higher order thinking. Simply describing information is not the way to implant this information into their minds. Students need to be encouraged to interpret and understand material in their own way, as this should guarantee information retention.

Cognitive Tools

What is a cognitive tool?

• Cognitive tools refer to learning with technology (as opposed to learning through technology). Jonassen (1994) argues that “ technologies, from the ecological perspective of Gibson (1979), afford the most meaningful thinking when used as tools”.
• Cognitive tools are generalizable computer tools that are intended to engage and facilitate cognitive processing.
• Cognitive tools help learners with complex cognitive learning activities and critical thinking. These tools are learner controlled in the sense that they construct their knowledge themselves using the tools rather than memorizing knowledge. In this perspective, computer systems are "partners" that stimulate learners or groups of learners to make maximum use of their cognitive potential.

http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Cognitive_tool

Cognitive Tools are...

Devices that support the thinking process

Caters for different intelligences

Tools that connect existing knowledge with new knowledge

Fostering metacognition - thinking and learning strategies

" The foundation for the use of interactive learning systems as "cognitive tools" (the "with" approach) is "cognitive psychology." Computer-based cognitive tools have been intentionally adapted or developed to function as intellectual partners to enable and facilitate critical thinking and higher order learning. Examples of cognitive tools include: databases, spreadsheets, semantic networks, expert systems, communications software such as teleconferencing programs, on-line collaborative knowledge construction environments, multimedia/ hypermedia construction software, and computer programming languages. In the cognitive tools approach, interactive tools are given directly to learners to use for representing and expressing what they know (Jonassen & Reeves, 1996). Learners themselves function as designers, using software programs as tools for analyzing the world, accessing and interpreting information, organizing their personal knowledge, and representing what they know to others. "

- Reeves (1999) as cited at http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Cognitive_tool

So why use them?

- Cognitive tools will have their greatest effectiveness when they are applied within constructivist learning environments.
- Cognitive tools empower learners to design their own representations of knowledge rather than absorbing representations preconceived by others.
- Cognitive tools can be used to support the deep reflective thinking that is necessary for meaningful learning.
- Cognitive tools have two kinds of important cognitive effects, those which are with the technology in terms of intellectual partnerships and those that are of the technology in terms of the cognitive residue that remains after the tools are used.
- Cognitive tools enable mindful, challenging learning rather than the effortless learning promised but rarely realized by other instructional innovations.
- The source of the tasks or problems to which cognitive tools are applied should be learners, guided by teachers and other resources in the learning environment.
- Ideally, tasks or problems for the application of cognitive tools will be situated in realistic contexts with results that are personally meaningful for learners.
- Using multimedia construction programs as cognitive tools engages many skills in learners such as: project management skills, research skills, organization and representation skills, presentation skills, and reflection skills.
- Research concerning the effectiveness of constructivist learning environments such as microworlds, classroom-based learning environments, and virtual, collaborative environments show positive results across a wide range of indicators.

SoundHouse Vector Lab - Powerhouse Museum

The SoundHouse Vector Lab is a branch of the Powerhouse Museum.

The focus of SoundHouse and its programs is the creation of music and editing of sound using computer systems.The focus of VectorLab and its programs is the use of computer systems for image production and manipulation. 2D, 3D, video and motion graphics.

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/soundhousevectorlab/

The Soundhouse Vector Lab thus creates a world where technology continues to grow and develop, and becomes easily accessible. Technology continues to advance and it becomes important as teachers to grasp these new technologies and adapt them to our teaching. The website is a useful way to view the new types of technology that is reaching the modern world.

"Get Creative

Get Productive

Get Connected"

Constructivist Learning Theories

The constructivistic approach to teaching and learning is based on a combination of a subset of research within cognitive psychology and a subset of research within social psychology, just as behavior modification techniques are based on operant conditioning theory within behavioral psychology. The basic premise is that an individual learner must actively "build" knowledge and skills (e.g., Bruner, 1990) and that information exists within these built constructs rather than in the external environment.

However, all advocates of constructivism agree that it is the individual's processing of stimuli from the environment and the resulting cognitive structures, that produce adaptive behavior, rather than the stimuli themselves (Harnard, 1982).

http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/construct.html

http://www.personal.psu.edu/sjm256/portfolio/kbase/Theories&Models/Constructivism/constructivism-notes.html

Constructivism identifies specific points regarding learning intervention:

The Nature of the Learner-

• The learner as a unique individual
• The importance of the background and culture of the learner
• The responsibility for Learning
• The motivation for learning

The role of the instructor-

• Instructors as facilitators

The nature of the learning process

• Learning is an active social process
• The dynamic interaction between task, instructor and learner

Expanded information for this points can be accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory)

Constructivist learning is based on students' active participation in problem-solving and critical thinking regarding a learning activity which they find relevant and engaging. They are "constructing" their own knowledge by testing ideas and approaches based on their prior knowledge and experience, applying these to a new situation, and integrating the new knowledge gained with pre-existing intellectual constructs.

http://otec.uoregon.edu/learning_theory.htm#Constructivism

Digital Immigrants vs. Digital Natives