Teaching+With+Technology

Week 1

The two theories presented this week are the basis of two different teaching strategies that I have experienced in my years as a teacher. The first theory, constructivism, embraces the concept of how students construct knowledge by taking new information gained through various sources and, after adding it to his/her baseline knowledge, create new knowledge. The second theory, connectivism, implies that students connect what they already know to new knowledge in a continuing process of connection-making. Most teachers who are aware of good practice will use the second method as they begin a lesson by stimulating background knowledge of the students, so the students have connections made even before the learning of the new knowledge begins. I believe that using technology will enhance students' learning whether they are constructivists or connectivists. Using technology can enhance both what students already know and what they may not know yet. It can help them as they make connections to new learning and it can provide them with a basic understanding from which they may build new knowledge.

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﻿Th﻿is week's readings centered around the idea that the diverse needs of today's students can be met more perfectly through the use technology in the classroom using the UDL model. This model allows for students to discover their own learning, to make their learning more personal and to tie their learning to what they already know and to their world. The UDL model also helps with those who have disabilities, with various learning styles or varying interests - areas a teacher must consider while planning lessons to assure adequate learning for all students. ======

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Using technology for instruction and discovery can meet a variety of needs in the classroom. Students are motivated by activities that use technology because it is where they live. Computers are part of their lives and to teach without reaching that part is to ignore a basic need and interest in students. Technology can help students see the value of collaboration in a broader sense that could ever happen in a tradtional classroom. Students, with the help of technology (particularly of the Internet), become responsible learners and actively participate in their own educations. They are no longer bystanders waiting for the next bit of information. Their learning becomes truly their own. ======