Below is my voicethread project for you to take a look at, leave me a comment.
http://voicethread.com/share/782668/
Social Learning Theory is enhanced by using many new and unique learning strategies. On the "Social Learning Theories" DVD, Dr. Michael Orey discusses collaborative and cooperative learning as "working together as a group while applying strategies such as the jigsaw where each member of the group is responsible for a portion of the learning" (Laureate, 2009). This type of learning encourages conversations and interactions between students while they teach eachother a section of the lesson.
Chapter seven of our text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, the authors discuss multimedia and web resources. The web is no longer "an electronic reference book; today, it's a thriving medium for collaboration in business, education, and our personal lives." (McRel, 2007). I love the idea of the JASON Project where students can "engage in hands-on scientific discovery" (McRel, 2007). What an exciting opportunity for students to become a part of the research community and make the learning a socially charged event where conversations can take place as artifacts are constructed electroncally. How often do students have an opportunity to ask questions of experts, especially my students who live in a more rural area of the country. The web has opened up the world to students everywhere.
My students are preparing to participate in C-span's Student Cam competition which is a video contest for middle and high school students. We have been discussing topics and the importance of getting strong interviews. I helped the students realize that they can Skype anyone and post that interview in their documentary. Therefore, the door is wide open to famous and important people who can be their experts and be included in their pieces.
The social networking available through the internet and multimedia are great resources for social learning and should be incorporated as much as possible into instruction.
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I have never heard of the C-span Student Cam competition before. Where did you find out about this contest. I think that it is wonderful that you are actually applying this learning theory into your classroom. I feel that students usually learn more and remember the material better if they are interacting with others or teaching the material to someone else. I think that this project is a great idea and I like how you brought up using Skype to your students. It would be interesting to hear how your project turns out and who your students choose to interview.
ReplyDeleteLindsay:
ReplyDeleteThe project is sponsored by the C-span network. If you want to check it out you can go to http://www.studentcam.org and there are tabs with all of the details on that site. The students are doing all of their research this week on a selected topic. The two topic choices are "What is America's greatest strength?" or "What is America's greatest challenge?" These are really open to any interpretation and angle and some students have come up with really creative ideas. One group is stating that women in the workforce are both - America's greatest strength due to their creativity, productivity and economic boost to society. They also state that women working is a challenge to America due to the stress on children, families, women themselves, etc. They are using academic research and higher level thinking to devise these projects before we ever get to using the technology of video taping, interviewing and editing the projects.
Wow that sounds like a great project. I hope they do well!
ReplyDelete