Module Four: Connectivism

I actually learned about these tools from my professional development network using the tool Elluminate. During a PLS I had for Georgia Virtual School (GAVS) I learned about a variety of tools that I could use to enhance my students learning experience. But I benefited because these tools have helped me share and collaborate with my fellow colleagues about best practices. I can now share awesome ideas with my colleagues in a quick and easy way and one that allows us the consistently stay updated with new techniques and information. That is the beauty of many of these tools; the products are not set in stone and allow for growth and change, just like my learning experience. For example, I find Jing to be highly beneficial because it allows me to hear and see what my colleagues are doing (i.e. we have a HUGE push for improving literacy this year and have a "Literacy Bureau" to share best practices). Now instead of having to trek across campus (and mine is huge) to speak with a colleague, I can view a labeled screen shot or watch a quick video created of their desktop.

The digital tools that help me the most are the asynchronous ones (like all of the ones illustrated on my mindmap). I have such a busy and hectic schedule, that sitting down to collaborate with others via Skype or Elluminate can be very difficult. The tools that grant me 24-7 access are the best. But that is the beauty of technology, especially at 3 in the morning =)

I learn new knowledge when I have questions through investigation. This requires research of credible and reliable sources. That includes fellow educators. I am not above asking for help, guidance, or new ideas for a lesson. This may mean searching for lessons on collaborative educator sites, like TeacherTube, or asking a fellow colleague. Specifically, like for content I am learning in this course, organizational tools help, like bubbl.us that I used to create my mindmap.

Module Three: Collaborative Constructivism

Coming from a psychology teacher, I would say yes! If we examine the evolutionary perspective of psychology, humans are born with certain predispositions that are dependent on the environment...simple interaction of nature and nurture. For survival reasons, humans would benefit from a group mentality. Weird fact, but when researching whether or not humans can detect pheromones and what kinds, they have found that women secrete a fatty acid during their menstrual cycle that actually gets all women in one collectivity on the same cycle (from my students psych text--Myers). This behavior would not be possible if evolution supported independence from the group. Wouldn't it make sense to theorize that those who did obviously did not have their genes passed to further generations? This generation today, with the heavy infiltration of technology, is provided that environmental aspect to trigger our genetic dispositions. We enjoy connecting with others even if it is virtually. Doesn't that also explain the process of online dating? So yes, I think Rheingold was correct in his proposition but I believe it is dependent on environmental circumstances.

How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles? To me this is easy...each learner is unique and has developed his or her own schemata based on experience. Collaboration will either validate the process of assimilation or it will lead to accommodation through interaction with others. Resources such as Skype that allow social conferencing, blogs and even Wikis are examples of technology resources that allow for collaboration across states and even across the world. From my perspective as a psychology teacher and as I have mentioned, I do find validity in Piaget's stages of cognitive development. I attribute the varying abilities to simple brain maturation which leads to higher cognitive tasks. But I also believe and see validation in Vygotsky's idea of the zone of proximal development. At various ages of cognitive development interaction with one's environment is important (i.e. a rat study I teach my students about in psychology which supports the idea that enriched environments lead to more synaptic connections) so collaboration with other humans fits that mold. I thought that this publication was particularly interesting as I face this dilemma as an online educator. I have even had to defend to some of my colleagues the validity of my degree from on online university! Just to point out, my online students collaborate a ton through discussion forums, pages, emails, Elluminate sessions, blogs, and so forth...they score better than the national average on the AP exam; I am happy with that!