My experience from participating in synchronised online discussion

 

 

participating in a synchronous chat session

On the April 15, 2013 we participated in a synchronous online chat session from 16:00 to 15:15.  It was our firt experience as honours students in online teaching and learning. We were in separate places, everyone on his computer. We all knew the topic to discuss and had done the readings in preparation of the chat session. The session began with welcoming words from the course presenter and few minutes later we engaged with the topic. What took me by suprise was to see a couple of messages from the classmates arriving  at the same time. I wondered whose message I should read first. There was no time to waste, each second counted. I could imagine  how the course coordinator was able to read each one's message, and give an immediate feedback. I salute my course coordinator! I somehow got lost, and my course presenter sent a message to redirect me.  The session was enjoyable. Though my eyes were focussed on the computer, I could laugh whilst reading  messages from the classmates. I could even conceptualise my classmates' experience.

The session was different from face- to face classroom discussion. The session was informal, one could even listen to his favorite classic music whilst participating in the chat discussion. In the chat session we  were very  productive. There was no time wasted, each second was used effectively. We need more sinchronised online chat sessions.



My experience with podcasting

Background

On April 8, 2013 we had a podcasting experience. Each student in online teaching and learning course had to choose a learning theory, to research on it and share the information using a five minutes podcast. The podcast had to be uploaded on the website before 16:oo PM. At 17:00 the class listened to the podcasts then asked questions for clarity.

May be you do not know what a podcast is ! A podcast is an audio file. Students or teachers recorded themselves, then upload the file on the web to make it accessible to everyone.

My experience

I chose to present on the theory of behaviorism. I read various papers to gain in depth understanding of the theory. I wrote the main features, assimulated them then proceeded with recording. After the recording was done I played the recording several times to find if there were gaps in the information recorded. I recorded three times to get it right.

I found podcasting to be a very useful educational tool. It fosters you to prepare throuroughly. You have to assimulate the content before you can record it. You also have to study your target audience in terms of their interest and cognitive level. It fosters you to logically structure and sequence the information you are presenting. Students can save the podcat on their cellphones or flash discs so that they  listen to it any time and from anywhere.

Simplistic Understanding of Contemporary Learning Theories

1.The use of behaviorism  .

 Just consider how parents teach children good manners! If a child behaves well, she/he is rewarded to go at the stadium to watch Chiefs and Pirates playing.  And if  he/she doesn’t behave well he/she is refused to watch his or her favorite TV program.



Negative reinforcement

 The behavior of the child is being shaped by the reinforcements. If a child is rewarded to go to watch soccer because he behaves well, that is a positive reinforcement. If a child is refused to watch his/her favorite TV program for being naughty; that is a negative reinforcement. Any parent uses this way of shaping the child’s behavior with or without the knowledge behaviorism theory.

2.The use of Constructivism at home.

How does a father teach his son to hunt? How does a mother teach her daughter to cook? It is through involvment in these activities. The father takes his son with him to hunt and as the son wacthes his father hunting he also gets interested to hunting. The father will then brief him on how to become a good hunter, and give him the tools and the oportunity to hunt. By observing and participating in hunting activity, the child later hunts on his own. The child's knowledge is being constructed through experience. The mother on the other hand is first assisted by her daughter, she explains and demonstrates all cooking steps and later allows her daughter cook. The child  learns by doing. She is also provided with a support which is removed as he/she gets skilful. That is scaffolding part of constructivism.

3. Social cognitivism at home

How do we teach our children the language at home? We first teach them to repeat the word ‘ dad’,’ mum’ or ‘baba’, ‘ mama’’. As they become familiar with these words we add more words such as’’ sisi’, ‘’budi’’'gogo'… We don’t teach them the whole iSizulu in one day. That is cognitivism theory. The child’s mind cannot process or store a lot of and complex information at once. The information must be simplified to be processed.

4. Distributed cognition at home

How do we learn our cultures and traditions? Our parents taught us through stories, tales, and mythology. Our traditional dress carry a lot of information which is part of our identities. We learn the culture also through the cultural practices. All different tools that our parents use to teach us the culture are artefacts.  When you enter into someone’s house you may find photos on the wall, traditional shield, you might also find that the food they eat is different from what you eat… All these are cultural artefacts that shape how we are socialised from generation to generations and help us understand where we come from and who we are. That is distributed cognition

It is clear that our parents use learning theories when they educate us. Suprisingly some of them never went to school to learn these theories. The question is ‘’ From where and how did they get to know how to use these learning theories?

Our parents do what they found their forefathers doing. They teach us in the way they were taught. Some of the parents also went to school. They teach us the way their teachers taught them. They copy from other people they visit. They might copy a parent whose children perform or behaves well. They might inform themselves from internet or from the radio and television. They also teach us from their own experience based on the cultural background, the context and the time.

What do you think makes constructivism a more favorable theory for users of resources?

Constructivism is a theory of learning emphasizing that learners construct  their own knowledge as they act on their environment and engage in social activities, Moll et al ( 2001, p. 7 ). Constructivist believes that knowledge is the result of experience or verbal or audio-visual presentation presented to the child, Moll et al ( 2001, p. 7 ). In this perspective the child who has access to a number of resources has also greater chance of being more knowledgeable. The more resources you have access to and interact with, the greater chance you have of constructing knowledge. This idea is also supported by Jonassen quoted by Ertmer & Newby ( 1993, p. 62 ), '' constructivist believes that the mind filters input from the world to produce its own unique reality''. To emphasize  the importance of resources in constructing own knowledge , Constructivism suggests that we should use computers in our classrooms so that our learners have access to  an array of resources and multimedia, Moll et al ( 2001, p. 8 ). This helps to shy away passive learning , and to create an environment where learners learn by doing, e,g hands on activities, experiments, drama and simulations.   In conclusion, constructivism is a more favorable theory for users of resources because it advocates that the learner should interact, manipulate, experiment with tools in the environment ( resources ) for learning to occur.

 Reference list
Ertmer, A.P & Newby, J.T. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective: Performance Improvement Quartely, 6 (4) pp. 50-72 Moll, I et al. ( 2001). Learning and computing, theoretical perspectives on the pedagogic integration of ICTs: In Teaching and e-learning

How I find http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU0zEGWp56Y, a multimedia on behaviorism

I find this multimedia very helpful. Professor Nash uses photos and animations (cartoons) that are powerful to catch the learner's attention and each concept is associated to a picture or animation. By associating the spoken message to the picture or animation learners easily understand the concept. The following photos taken from Professor Nash’s presentation on Behaviorism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU0zEGWp56Y carry the message in a simple way. One can easily understand that behaviorism is concerned about observation and experimentation, there is no free will within behaviorism and it involves two types of conditioning: classical and operant conditioning
The multimedia offer us the following advantages: The combination of music , cartoon animations and spoken words keep learners' mind focused and their attention doesn’t fade away. The presentation ( video ) is done as a dialogue. Different voices in the video carry us in the classroom environment and we fill like we seating in the classroom whereby the teacher and the learners discuss  behaviorism. The information is presented step by step, in such a way that it is easy to gasp. We can pause the video or play it back so that we catch every spoken message. It is online, so we can have access to it any time and anywhere. Every time that the learner asks or answer the questions, Professor Nash congratulates her and therefore the learner is motivated to ask and answer more questions. one can say that Professor Nash controls the learner' s behavior by presenting the stimulus ( information on behaviorism), getting the learner to respond to the stimulus ( asking answering questions ) and presenting a reinforcement ( congratulating the learner ) From this multimedia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU0zEGWp56Y, we know that : Behaviorism is a theory of learning. Behaviorism is a type of psychology. People have no free will. Behaviorism is not concerned with internal thoughts, thinking or emotions. When we are born our mind is a blank slate ‘’ tabula rasa’’ ready to learn from the environment. Emphasis on conditioning ( classical conditioning and operant conditioning). Positive reinforcement occurs when a parent/teacher praises the child for doing well. Positive punishment occurs when a child is refused desert after being impolite on the table.

WHO AM I ? WHY DID I CHOOSE WITS UNIVERSITY FOR POSTGRADUATE STUDIES?

My name is Meschac Rafiki. I am from Rwanda. I am in South Africa since January 2008. I did my Bachelor of Education degree with North West University, South Africa. I majored in th teaching of Life Sciences ( Biology ), Business studies and Economics subjects. I was inspired to come to Wits by my classmates who witnessed that Wits had the best academic staff on the African continent. I am a full time student. One should mindfull that technology is turning the word around; when you go to the bank you find the automated Telling Machines (ATM), you find computers in most offices and hospitals... Education is therefore not exempted. Technology will definately change how we teach and learn. That is why I chose to do postgraduate studies in Educational Technology  so that I am equipped to teach in a technologically changing  world and that I can also help improve our education systems in this regards. About my hobbies; i like listening to gospel songs, reading the Bible and visiting the shopping malls. I definately like exploring new technological innovations.