Monday, November 26, 2012

Week 5 Blog Post


Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenosk (2007) offered that “the instructional strategy of cooperative learning focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning” (p. 139). Orey (2011) provided that the results of social learning theories depend on learners interacting with others and the environment those same learners are placed in. Therefore, the instructional strategy of cooperative learning correlates to social learning theories because in both situations, the students work in cooperative groups and construct meaning for new knowledge by interacting with others.

The social networking and collaboration tool that I explored is the voice thread. The voice thread is an interactive and web based tool that allows a student to create a problem or issue and record a verbal, pictorial, and/or written explanation of that problem or issue. Once the problem or issue is created, others can use their social networking skills to collaborate and address the problem or issue. This type of learning experience correlates to the cooperative learning instructional strategy and social learning theories because it too constructs meaning for new knowledge by allowing students to interact with others via the voice thread.  

 

 

Laureate Education, Inc. Orey (2011). Program eight: Social Learning Theories [Video webcast]. Social learning theories. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

4 comments:

  1. Hi Craig,
    I enjoyed reading your blog posting! Great Job :) I think we are both experiencing the advantages of voice thread. It is nice to experience the cooperative learning this week through Voice Thread. It is fun, I enjoyed all aspects! Your last sentence in your first paragraph thoroughly explained the similarities between cooperative learning and social learning theories.

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  2. Thanks Jenny! Yes, I think I'll definitely put Voice Thread into my tool box. The students loved it! Thanks again for the feedback!

    Craig

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  3. Hi Craig, the chapter we read mentioned using multimedia projects as cooperative learning activities. Can your students use the Nooks to create, edit and share multimedia projects?

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    1. Hello Tracy,
      I wish! We have the basic Nooks and they won't have access to the internet. We can only download eBooks and PDF files for them to read. They can also do the normal functions on the Nook like adding notes, looking up words in the Nook dictionary, and changing text size. Even with this limited capability, the students seem really engaged just to be using portable technologies. Our next grant will be to have more capability and they yes, the students will be able to create, edit, and share multimedia projects. Thanks for asking!

      Craig

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