There are many problems in education today, some being more ‘wicked’ than others. My partners, Alexis Miller, Mary Tovey, LaShawn Hanes, and I have gathered and looked into various resources in order to try and tackle the wicked problem of Rethinking Teaching. This problem came from reading the The 2013 NMC Horizon Project Summit Communiqu’. In this post I will give a draft of our research and findings on various periodicals, papers, etc. Along with this research we have also created slides to help represent the topics we will be discussing. Our goal is to unite all these findings in order to help shed light on why some of these problems arise, and with help, we can all start making progress towards solving them and intern, the wicked problem of rethinking teaching.
I researched best teaching practices
As teachers we are always looking for the best teaching practices for in our classroom, and while doing some research I discovered a major issue, there were lots of innovative teaching practices but few were being recognized, and the ones getting recognition are not new, at least anymore. We are currently stuck in a endless cycle, recycling old ideas before repurposing or implementing new strategies, why is that? Could it be that teachers are burnt out and don’t have enough time in the day to do research, could the opposite be true too? In Jabari Mahiri’s article titled “talking the talk” versus “walking the walk” meaningful connections are revealed between researchers teaching in order to validate their findings and vice versa for teachers and research. This article, which was published in 2004, raises some valid facts and suggestions… so why are we not looking further into these facts and suggestions? Another article, C.R. .Munro’s “Best practices” in teaching and learning: Challenging current paradigms and redefining their role in education, shows that making connections to relevant topics that interest the students today will make them more willing to engage, therefore making retention of learned skill or topic higher. Various methods are outlined in this article, but once again, the article was published in 2005. New ideas are important in order to implement a more fluid classroom learning and teaching experience, but we are so far behind on time that we are just starting to implement these ideas from years ago into our current classrooms. Time is a constant factor in this problem, and unfortunately it is not on our side.
This is a huge portion of the problem, we need to turn time into our ally instead of our enemy. But how can this be done, especially with what is happening now in education. As teachers we are expected to be able to do a days work in just a couple of hours. We push ourselves to the brink of exhaustion in order to meet these overzealous goal just to have others look at what we accomplished and then say “OK, now do it again, but with less time and resources…” This is happening right now here in Lansing, Michigan. Teachers next year will have to give up their planning hour just so that they can be considered full time, how is this helpful to us? C. Lee & K.E. Picanco’s article Accommodating diversity by analyzing practices of teaching (ADAPT) discusses the necessity of the teacher needing to be flexible in their every teaching and gauging approaches, but it seems that we are all expected to be Olympic level gymnast. Teachers lead by example, in saying this we need to take this flexibility we embody and start to imprint it onto our students. teaching students flexibility leads to more creativity problem solving, and in turn makes the students more prepared for dealing with unexpected issues in the future.
Standards and rules are understandable, there are needed in order to keep everyone performing to a certain level, but like stated by the writers of these previously mentioned articles, the key is not these alone, but interesting students with engaging topics and practices. Just keeping up with the current generation’s thoughts and interests will not suffice. We need to assimilate these into current teaching models in order to start making up some of that lost ground. We must repurpose old tools and new tools alike, we must take off our blinders to the current generations popular culture and find some common connections, We need to lets students learn from both their successes and their failures, and most of all we must continue to rise above and persevere. When thinking about these changes applications of pedagogical content knowledge starts to surface. Teaching students content that a person is passionate and knowledgeable about can and will make the difference in student understanding and retention. Combined this with taking an approach to teaching to the students with in the margins in order to make the content understandable then a winning combination is created. But we are still missing one point, the inclusion of technology. With this a new world of possibilities and resources open up, for both the students and the teacher. The combination of all three are a step towards making up some of that lost time, and with these new levels of achievement can be attained.
Research:
Munro, C. R. (2005). “Best practices” in teaching and learning: Challenging current paradigms and redefining their role in education. College Quarterly, 8(3), 8. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/61861733?accountid=12598
Summary:
This article raises the question does the current practices of teaching connect learners with their learning outcomes in this always changing landscape, how do we address the vast amount of diverse learners when the standard curriculum practices might not be meeting the of the learners, and how do we deal with these different circumstances, constraints, and limitations? With a shift in learning contexts it is believed that answers will start to emerge. It is suggested that new paradigms that prioritize strategies that help educators identify, respond, and reflect on student learning and engagement would help teachers make more well informed decisions. Seeing and responding to the needs is deeply connected to analysis, and with that the distance of gaps and the interventions needed to bridge become clearer. Assessing these help create a learner profile where performance standards can be started, with these the teacher can start to deliver higher caliber classes with content that connects to various learners. This will excite and engage the learner. Feedback is another important component; here students can voice their understanding or lack thereof. With this teachers can adapt and change lessons, but this feedback should not be something that happens at the end of a project or lesson, it needs to be done throughout so that the changes being made affect the learner then, not later. This opens up in-class dialog where students start to engage in reflective process, helping them grow as learners. Teachers must also go through reflective process in order to critically assess their effectiveness. This should not be a solitary reflection, but one that is shared with colleagues so that an educational community is created and nurtured. Doing these will result in improved best practices and help develop and sustain teaching excellence.
Lee, C., & Picanco, K. E. (2013). Accommodating diversity by analyzing practices of teaching (ADAPT). Teacher Education and Special Education, 36(2), 132-144. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1361829158?accountid=1259
Summary:
This article’s goal is to recognize, research, and reflect on various successful teaching methods that improve student achievement and performance. Movements like No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) press teachers to look into research based teaching methods, but there is little support and assistance implemented between practices to help get others started. After researching 4 levels of learning were established, acquisition, proficiency, maintenance, and generalization. When a student works through these they start at having the new topic introduced to them, after mastery of the basics students enter a discovery and repeat phase, after that student starts to retain knowledge, then finishes with being able to apply knowledge to other various situations. These phases help teachers gauge where students are at in their learning, and by analyzing these practices it helps modify and find better suited practices and teaching methods. These methods are strategically used as ‘tools’ to improve the fundamental focus of student learning. With these practices teachers can design lessons that cater and guide different learning types and levels, peer to peer assistance, give students multiple avenues to express what they have learned, and provide students with both visual and verbal examples and explanations. With this students are less likely to fall behind. With all this teachers can start to be provided with useful frameworks to guide their instructional practices, which is the current method ADAPT supports.
Mahiri, J. (2004). At last: Researching teaching practices: “talking the talk” versus “walking the walk”. Research in the Teaching of English, 38(4), 467-471. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/62071833?accountid=12598
Summary:
In this article Jabari Mahiri informs and reflects on a curricular implementation created by her and some other colleagues, this lead to Mahiri discovering that connections between understanding and implementing educational ideas can be better acted upon through research meshing with actions. Mahiri’s research work, which is based on Gee’s ideas, focused on increases in student achievement through reflections, multi-modal approaches, student accountability, and goal setting. Improvements and interventions were successful, but challenges were face daily. Mahiri connected the new curriculum’s success to the teacher also being the designer and researcher. This experience granted a better understanding that both teachers and researchers had to “walk the walk” and “talk the talk” in order to successfully implement dramatic positive change to student learning. Along with successes, both Mahiri and students did frequent reflections in order to keep constant and make the changes happen when they were needed. Because of this relationships were made with students which gave insight to combining research and teaching in order to become a more successful in changing education.
Mary researched Classroom climate and connections Collaborative strategies.
As we take a look back in history, it is no wonder we are having difficulty with a paradigm shift of teacher/student relationships. During the 19th century, teacher’s were to be of “high moral character” and in fact, married women were no longer allowed to teach in the classroom. The “Us” vs. “Them” mentality was quite pervasive. Classrooms were modeled after factories, manufacturing goods and shipping them off. Public education mimicked this idea of “filling kids heads up” and then shipping them off to the next grade. Prior to this, children were “seen and not heard” not to mention that many were put to work in factories for very little pay and deplorable working conditions. During this era, children were thought to be like “Tabula Rasa” or a blank slates that needed to be written upon or “molded” in the ways of education. The flavor of this history is embroiled in “right” vs. “wrong”. It did not take into account what a child might bring to the classroom in terms of his own background knowledge or how a student and teacher’s relationship may impact his/her academic achievement. The teacher was the authority, the child the subordinate.
We all have stories about the teacher who left us feeling sad, mad, inferior, embarrassed or wronged in some way. In fact, if you were asked this minute about an experience you had with a teacher that left “a bad taste in your mouth”, I am sure that you would be able to come up with a story in a split second. There have been many cases in the news in the last 10 years of alienated classmates taking out their aggressions on school communities. It makes one stop and wonder, if those students had felt a connection to their community could some of these tragedies have been avoided? Recently, researchers have taken a closer look at teacher effectiveness and the role of the teacher/student relationship as it coincides with academic achievement. Breakthroughs in brain research have also enlightened us as to how the brain learns best.
In an article entitled, “You’re Trying to Know Me”: Students from Nondominant Groups Respond to Teacher Personalism by Phillipio, “Relationships among teachers and their students are the most important ingredient in successful schools.” “There is a growing body of scientifically-based research supporting the strong impact that enhanced social and emotional behaviors can have on success in school. This research is so strong that a 17-state partnership created a document entitled “Findings from the National School Readiness Indicators Initiative.”Basically this study shows that teaching teachers about emotional intelligence directly impacts their students and the need to eliminate rewards/punishments and move to a classroom where mistakes are viewed as opportunities to learn.
Getting back to the idea of everyone has a “horror story” to tell of a teacher,
Let’s flip that idea for a moment, and ask you to remember the teachers whom you could not wait to get back to. Let’s examine for a moment the role that relationships play on student’s academic achievement and the role of collaboration vs. competition.
According to the Charlotte Danielson’s MET (Measures of Effective Teaching) report, more effective teachers have better results with their students. One component of a highly effective teacher lies in her ability to create a culture of learning in her classroom and to establish a rapport of respect. Danielson defines this as:
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Classroom interactions among the teacher and individual students are highly respectful, reflecting genuine warmth and caring and sensitivity to students as individuals.
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Students exhibit respect for the teacher and contribute to high levels of civil interaction between all members of the class. The net result of interactions is that of connections with students as individuals.
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The classroom culture is a cognitively vibrant place, characterized by a shared belief in the importance of learning. The teacher conveys high expectations for learning by all students and insists on hard work.
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Students assume responsibility for high quality by initiating improvements, making revisions, adding detail, and/or helping peers.
(Danielson,https://framework.wikispaces.hcpss.org)
To sum things up, it takes a very skilled teacher to establish rapport and create a culture of learning in his/her classroom. It is a special brand of “magic” that the teacher creates to engage the learner, motivate and make learning soar!
Research:
Klem, A. M., and J. P. Connell. “Relationships Matter: Linking Teacher Support To Student Engagement and Achievement.” Journal of School Health 74.7 (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
Summary:
This article breaks down some key components that contribute to students’ academic success. They include:
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high standards for academic learning and conduct
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meaningful and engaging pedagogy and curriculum
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personalized learning environments
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clear sense of structure, behavioral engagement
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student engagement is a “robust indicator” in school with improved performance (regardless of socioeconomic status).
In this study, elementary students reporting high levels of engagement were 44% more likely to do well and 23% less likely to do poorly on performance and attendance index. Middle schoolers were 75% more likely to do well on achievement and attendance index.
Conclusion: Either teacher support or a focus on learning and high expectations leads to improved levels of engagement or achievement; however the combination of the two far exceeds the outcomes associated with either one individually.
Phillipio, K. (2012, November 01). “You’re Trying to Know Me”: Students from Nondominant Groups Respond to Teacher Personalism – Springer.”You’re Trying to Know Me”: Students from Nondominant Groups Respond to Teacher Personalism – Springer. doi: DOI 10.1007/s11256-011-0195-9
Summary:
This study was conducted in an urban area and showed that teacher personalism has the potential to deliver support but also to bring about tension. Bill Gates (2005) asserted that “Student-teacher relationships support academic support.”
Scholars have found that teacher support boosted academic performance and that students who received teacher support and had a good relationship with their teachers outperformed their peers in GPA, attendance and persistence to graduation. Those that encountered teacher support with poor achievement before improved their achievement levels as a result of their relationship with a teacher. Teacher support also found to moderate negative effect of neighborhood violence on academic achievement. Nieto p. 32 goes on to say “Relationships among teachers and their students are the most important ingredient in successful schools.” Students indicated specific teacher practices that helped them to engage in relationships with teachers. They were:
*Culturally responsive pedagogy
*Teacher caring
*Relational trust in schools
There were some students who did not respond well to teacher support but it was found that they had major distrust in school as an institution, etc.
Hoffman, L.L., Hutchinson, C.J., Reiss, E. (2009). On improving school climate: Reducing reliance on rewards and punishment. International Journal of Whole Schooling, 5(1).
Summary:
Haynes, Emmons & Ben-Avie (1997) suggested 15 key components of a healthy, supportive school climate: achievement motivation, collaborative decision making, equity and fairness, general school climate, order and discipline, parent involvement, school-community relations, staff dedication to student learning, staff expectations, leadership, school building, sharing of resources, caring and sensitivity, student interpersonal relations, student-teacher relations. For these 15 supportive components to exist all members (administrators, teachers, parents, staff and students) of the school must greatpossess a set of cooperative values that calls for shared power, a set of social and emotional skills that facilitate healthy interpersonal interactions, and self-regulation and conflict resolution skills to handle disagreements. These social competence skills are rarely taught in teacher preparation programs. Whether a teacher possesses these skills or not would be determined by how they were parented, past relationships, and media diet.” This study is one that determines the efficacy of teaching teachers emotional intelligence and thereby teaching their students emotional intelligence through the Conscious Discipline model.
to learn. The rewards/punishment extrinsic motivation can cause other problems and should be reduced. “There is a growing body of scientifically-based research supporting the strong impact that enhanced social and emotional behaviors can have on success in school. This research is so strong that a 17-state partnership created a document entitled “Findings from the National School Readiness Indicators Initiative.”Basically this study shows that teaching teachers about emotional intelligence directly impacts their students and the need to eliminate rewards/punishments and move to a classroom where mistakes are viewed as opportunities parents, staff and students) of the school must possess a set of cooperative values that calls for shared power, a set of social and emotional skills that facilitate healthy interpersonal interactions,
Sanchez Fowler, Laura T., et al. “The Association between Externalizing Behavior Problems, Teacher-Student Relationship Quality, and Academic Performance in Young Urban Learners.” Behavioral Disorders 33.3 (2008): 167-83. ProQuest. Web. 6 July 2013.
Summary:
This study showed school bonding as attachment, commitment, involvement and belief. Within attachment two subcategories emerged: positive school experiences and student/teacher relationships. More authoritative and controlling teachers had lower quality relationships with aggressive students. Positive teacher/student relationships affected minority youth more significantly than Caucasian students.
And Alexis researched intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation. These two words seem to be one of those things we are constantly striving for as educators. There are many methods we can use to encourage intrinsic motivation, but there are also many obstacles preventing us from getting all of our students to be intrinsically motivated in the classroom. In the article Why We Can’t Always Get What We Want Barbara Bartholomeow states “motivation may be more important for student success than even the teacher’s knowledge of the content being taught.” Some students will walk into the classroom already intrinsically motivated – maybe they have a passion for the content, maybe they love getting good grades, maybe they have rewards at home for grades. Others will walk into the classroom with cement walls built around them trying as hard as they can to not allow any adult or classmate to get close to them. These kids, the hurt kids – our most challenging students, are the hardest to intrinsically motivate. These are the kids that desperately need to feel that their input matters and need the intrinsic motivation to be encouraged.
“After all, intrinsic motivation has been long recognised by educational psychologists as being associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students.” (Barlow, Web 2.0) How do we encourage intrinsic motivation in the classroom? Choices. People love choices. Barlow states that “by giving students a choice about what they wanted to research they held ownership of their learning and this motivated them to achieve.” Mr. Barlow created website using wordpress and podcasts to engage his students in the subject of science. Upon reflecting on his experience he said, “students are engaged in the content because it is relevant, current, and real world. By embracing technological tools, such as weblogs and podcasts, that are used routinely by my digital native students I have been able to reach them beyond the usual confines of a classroom.” Ways to create choices within the classroom are giving the students a topic and letting them choose their mode to present their mastery of the topic.
During High Trust, a professional development workshop focused on building positive relationships, an analogy is used comparing people to trees. This analogy says that people need a strong root system thus, giving them strong support to handle the negative things in life. It is our job as teachers to help build the roots for some students and for others to work on building branches, leaves, etc. This strong root system is created through positive relationships and in turn drives intrinsic motivation. If a student feels that a teacher sincerely cares about them and values their work, input, and products they are more likely to be motivated in that class.
Research:
Barlow, T. (2008). Web 2.0: Creating a classroom without walls. Teaching Science, 54(1), 46-48. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/207242059?accountid=12598
Summary:
Tim Barlow, a science teacher, reflects on his journey of using technology to increase the intrinsic motivation of his students. He discusses why his first blog failed and how he changed his next blog to be successful. After realizing the success of his blog and the interest level in science of his students Tim Barlow then began creating podcasts for his students. This article is a great ready for any teachers interested in incorporating technology in their classrooms. It is written from the perspective of somebody in the classroom – and it shows his failures along with his successes.
Key points about the article:
– needs to be relevant to students
– engaging
– give students choices
– “students are engaged in the content because it is relevant, current, and real world”
– “…by embracing technological tools, such as weblogs and podcasts, that are used routinely by your digital native students I have been able to reach them beyond the usual confines of a classroom.”
– “by giving students a choice about what they wanted to research they held ownership of their learning and this motivated them to achieve”
– “Students made their own learning decisions and extended themselves as a result”
– “After all, intrinsic motivation has been long recognised by educational psychologists as being associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students”
Ediger, M. (2001). Reading: Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/62283770?accountid=12598
Summary:
This article compares what extrinsic and intrinsic motivation look like in a reading classroom. It does not state that one form is better than another. It provides ten examples of intrinsic motivation strategies and ten examples of extrinsic motivation strategies. It states that most teachers will use a combination of both. One thing to recognize that embedded within all of the intrinsic strategies was the power of choice for the students. There was choice not only in the learning but also in the assessment.
Bartholomew, B. (2007). Why we can’t always get what we want. Phi Delta Kappan, 88(8), 593-598. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/218520642?accountid=12598
Summary:
This article by Barbara Bartholomew explains what intrinsic motivation is, how intrinsic motivation can be achieved, and why it is lacking in many classrooms. Barbara Bartholomew recognizes the lack of training and education on motivation for both pre-service teachers and current teachers. All teachers in the classroom recognize the importance of motivation but often do not know to properly and effectively motivate their students – they are never taught to do so. She also shows the impact of standardized tests on motivation, specifically the motivation on the teachers to be risk takers in their classrooms. She provides eight rules to creating a classroom where intrinsic motivation rules. This article is insightful, eye opening, and empowering. It uses real world examples to supplement the content.
LaShawn researched How students are learning, their role
Summary:
The means in which students perceive learning and their role in their learning has seemed to take a shift in more recent years. Traditionally students roles in their education consisted of them sitting quietly in a classroom, while someone (the teacher) stood before them possessing all of the knowledge necessary to provide them with advancement academically. Neo described this phenomenon as follows, “[…] students are passive rote-learners,” (Neo, 2005). Students essentially were expected to obtain a concept with the intent to retell the information verbatim to represent a keen understanding and grasp of the said concept; however, the means in which students are learning has shifted. Neo describes the shift as a, “modern constructivist-based paradigm”, in which the “focus has enabled educators to widen their scope and flexibility in delivering educational content to learners, who will experience innovative ways to learn,” (Neo, 2005). This shift creates a model in which educators and students are working in tandem to create a learning environment in which students are responsible for their learning but also engaged in their learning.
In addition to this shift in the means in which students are learning, there are important factors that are believed to contribute to how students perceive their learning even as the shift and focus becomes more on student centered learning. According to a study that Cerbin conducted on the approaches that Chinese American and African American students take in relation to learning Calculus, “Chinese students formed study groups outside of class and devoted their time to the most difficult material rather than simply reviewing the mathematics they already knew” whereas, “The African-American students also invested a lot of time studying calculus, but did it alone,” (2005). Essentially the students in the study like all other students have cultural differences that contribute to their learning practices and engagement. While the African American students did not simply forego studying, they approached learning the material in a different means from those students who were Chinese American -both students gained a better understanding of the concepts, yet did not receive that understanding the same way. The concept that Cerbin explores focuses on how students of different racial/ethnic backgrounds approach their learning and their engagement in their learning. It appears that one group is less involved in their learning depending on how one would view the approach to obtaining a concept, however, the reality is that students are going to learn differently and their engagement will differ. While engagement will differ the bigger problem is when students are not involved in their learning at all, which is why the work of scholars like Neo and Tran focusing on the means in which students engage and feel more responsible for their learning is critical.
Tran focuses on how 9th grade students with a positive learning environment will have more positive perceptions of themselves and increase their self-esteem in direct relation to their learning. So, the focus is on how students engage in their learning based on things such as how safe or comfortable they feel in their learning environments. Essentially, environmental and social/emotional factors such as safety, and self-esteem attribute to the engagement students have in relation to how responsible they feel for their learning. So, a student who has higher self-esteem and feel comfortable in their learning environment begin to take more responsibility for their learning, also allowing for a more student centered learning environment.
Students are beginning to become more active in their learning and that has come with educators who are using their own culture, the culture of their students, and working together with more modern approaches to instruct and actively engage their students.
Research:
Cerbin, B. (2009, Jul 13). Assessing how students learn. The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 19,
24. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com
Summary:
While this article take time to focus essentially on how students acquire concepts in relation to mathematics, it’s equally important to realize how the article focuses on two racial groups, both African Americans and Chinese Americans. This becomes interesting because the learning practices of students in those groups, varied drastically even when students were covering the same subject matter. Some of the more interesting findings related to this article was “Chinese students formed study groups outside of class and devoted their time to the most difficult material rather than simply reviewing the mathematics they already knew” whereas, “The African-American students also invested a lot of time studying calculus, but did it alone. Only two ever studied with classmates.” While this may seem like a small group of students (n=40), it is equally important to understand that this particular research group represents a larger problem in relation to how student’s learn. Often, the notion of race is not accounted for; however, it is very important that race is not disregarded because not only does race but several cultural factors contribute to how students are learning and more importantly the role they perceive in their learning. Understanding such factors and relationships lead into classroom dynamics. For example, “[However], assessing how students learn can be integrated with classroom teaching.” The manner in which students learn and interact with their learning should transpire into teaching practices.
Tran, V. D. (2012). Predicting the attitudes and self-esteem of the grade 9th lower secondary school
students towards mathematics from their perceptions of the classroom learning environment. World
Journal of Education, 2(4), 34-n/a. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/
1035265876?accountid=12598
Summary:
The article by Tran focuses on how 9th grade students with a positive learning environment will have more positive perceptions of themselves and increase their self-esteem in direct relation to their learning. So, the focus is on how students engage in their learning based on things such as how safe or comfortable they feel in their learning environments. Some of the findings of the study included but was not limited to the following: “The findings reveal that if students are more satisfied with mathematics learning, and if they find their mathematics classroom atmosphere more cohesive, then their self-esteem and attitudes towards mathematics would be positive. In contrast, if students perceived mathematics as difficult, and if students perceived the learning atmosphere as competitive, then their self-esteem and attitudes towards mathematics would be negative,” (Tran, 2012). Essentially, students become more engaged and responsible for their learning when the students can engage positively with the content matter and if the literal environment is more inviting and engaging. Additionally, the article focuses on learning styles that contribute to students engaging with their learning and gaining more than just concepts but also focusing on how they learn best and how those practices affect what they are learning. A quote from the article that addresses this is as follows, “In this case, the centered-student learning approaches such as cooperative learning should be applied in the mathematics classrooms (LaRocque, 2008). This learning approach has been reported to help students perceive the learning activities more cohesive and less difficult, and perceive the learning atmosphere less competitive because students in cooperative situations are encouraged to work together in groups rather than to work individually (Johnson & Johnson, 2009).”
Neo, M. (2005). Web-enhanced learning: Engaging students in constructivist learning. Campus – Wide
Information Systems,22(1), 4-14. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/218070700?accountid=12598
Summary:
Student engagement and the role in which students play in their learning is a topic that seems to quite interconnected. Furthermore, the focus becomes students are becoming more involved in their learning when given the opportunity to actively engage with peers and the instructor but they also play more active roles when they are interested in the means in which the instruction is delivered. This article focuses on the internet being a medium that increases student engagement. The concept is that students who are able to utilize the internet as their medium are moving into the modern-constructivist paradigm, where students are more responsible for their learning. When considering the more modern constructivist perspective, Neo addresses this theory as a means for learning that moves past simply memorizing a concept and being able to recite it verbatim, without a means of connection – a less subjective means of receiving information. According to Neo, the theory that is best in practice is one that, “[In this context], students must play an active part in their learning process and not remain passive learners as in the teacher-led instruction process, in which the teacher is the sole authority and distributor of knowledge,” ( Neo, 2005). Students are moving into a model in which they are more responsible for their learning; therefore, increasing engagement.
After covering these topics I believe that we have started to make headway on solving our wicked problem, but come listen to us discuss our findings and poise questions and suggested answers on our VoiceThread.
gerehead's MAET year 1 