Learning Theory Background
The learning experience provided by the wiki can be analysed
as combination of Constructivism place in a background of Connectivism.
The Connectivism in this activity can be described as a
means of being able to collect information for the activity. Siemens (2005) states
"Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of
ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting
specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more
are more important than our current state of knowing."
Examples of this in the activity included a brief
description of de Bono's Six Hats scaffolded activity and a link to help
explain and understand the activity. Since the activity was done online, the
implication was there for further online research on the topic of mobile phones
in school. This self guided research style is a major facet of Connectivism as
a learning theory, however, this implication may not be clear for school age
children, so a instruction and further scaffolding may be required for them.
After the information was gathered, we were asked to put our
ideas forward in the wiki activity into a table for the 6 hats theory,
organising them into the various hat perspectives. This learning experience
fits into the Constructivism learning theory, the way that students learn from
building on each other’s ideas. Fasso (2013) suggests Constructivism
differs from behaviourism and cognitivism in that learning is founded upon
social interactions within a learning community or expert community. This
implies that our peers and teachers are the most important source of how we
construct meaning; from the way they interpret information.
In the wiki activity, I constructed my own views personally
and posted them online, others posted theirs, after reflecting on each other’s
ideas, I enhanced my understanding on the topic and created a different
cognitive model from the ideas of others.
The constructivist style of the wiki leads me to a
higher-level understanding of the topic. The collaborative model of the wiki
assisted with constructing my understanding and the Six Hats activity
structured my responses in a way that was beneficial to me as a learner. The
use of a table greatly heightened my ability to structure my own learning
throughout the activity. This table scaffolded the activity in a number of ways
that support a range of perspectives, from sequential learners to global
thinkers amongst others.
For me personally, I feel that a wiki is an excellent tool
to use for collaboration as well as group activities. I can foresee myself
using a wiki for a brainstorming activity, maybe even using that brainstorming
as homework. I can see it being used as an effective group assessment tool as
well. I found that the lack of timeframe (or the ambiguity of it) hampered my
experience because not all the participants had got involved yet at the same
time as me so I cannot draw on their experiences.
SWOT Analysis of Wiki's
This discussion can be summarised in a SWOT chart
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) covering this Wiki activity.
Strengths
- Structure of the Six Hats Activity
- Lack of peer pressure for brainstorming via wiki
- Ability to connect to internet resources throughout the activity
- Interactive medium for learning to take place
- Use of table to provide excellent learning structure
- Ability to collaborate with a large group of learners and still have positive discussion
Weaknesses
- Lack of timeframe leading to a wide range of varying responses (all over the place because they aren’t all at the same time.)
- No consequence for no learning, no teacher over the shoulder forcing positive contribution
Opportunities
- Wiki could be used for collaborative group assessments (small group presentations, but online)
- Can be used for group discussion about class material
- These can be done from the comfort of home (maybe as homework or assessable material)
Threats
- Lack of engagement from absences of learning environment provoking learning (lack of teachers, classmates to force learning)
- Other distractions from the internet and computers (Facebook anyone?)
How Can Wiki's Contribute to Student's Learning
Wiki activities would contribute to my students in a number
of ways. Firstly, the interactive nature of the wiki would actively engage
students in the electronic style of learning, whilst subconsciously engaging
them on the content. Secondly, discussions would be come so much more rich and
in detail because of the access to the Internet and the way they can edit and
modify their ideas with ease via word processing will create a range of
theories and ideas that they themselves have connected from resources online.
Next, the brainstorming aspect of the wiki would be enhanced, because all ideas
posted can be accessed whenever, wherever and however by the students trying to
construct their own meaning for the lessons. At all stages of this activity,
students are not feeling pressured in similar ways to what they are in
traditional methods of brainstorming i.e. face to face which adds to peer
pressure and a lack of freedom of ideas.
De Bono's Thinking Hats
The scaffolding of this activity, de Bono’s Thinking Hats,
proves to be an effective tool to use for providing structure to brainstorming.
The scaffold provided a positive approach to the topic, being such diverse and well-debated
topic, the subject required more framework than simply – talk about mobile
phones in the classroom. This would have lead to a diverse and highly debated
threads that wouldn’t have lead to any measurable learning engagement. This is
commonly known as ARGUING!! With the hats, responses have become more engaging
and directed towards the topic being discussed, and provided a greater amount
of learning experience because of the better input of students responding
directly using the hats. This is known better as DISCUSSION. This leads to
better construction of ideas by other students and the learning capability goes
through the roof with a simple scaffold.
This video explains the thinking hats idea. Edward de Bono explains his own scaffold.
References
Fasso, W. (2013, March 2). A brief overview of learning theory. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from
CQU Moodle, EDED20491 ICTs for Learning Design, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=115326
Siemens, G. (2005, April 5). Connectivism: A Learning
Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from eLearn Space:
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
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