One of the more interesting sections from the readings for me was the discussion on Constructivism offered by Issroff and Scanlon in ‘Educational Technology: The Influence of Theory’.

I believe that key to any definition to ET must include some value placed on the experiential learning that comes from interacting with technology.  As Issroff and Scanlon mention, one of the most significant trends of the last 10 years has been the importance “of the role of context and social processes in learning” (pg. 8).

While learning as a collaborative process has often been viewed as an Elementary school pedagogy (at least in the province of Ontario), the importance of social interaction in learning has a huge impact when we consider ET and the learning of students in the Secondary level.

Social media and forums like Twitter and Facebook have shown how ideas and information are a collaborative effort, and have quickly become the venue where adolescents spend most of their time. By using these types of emerging technologies, students, parents and teachers gain a fuller understanding of each other and information.

On a personal note, my 3 year old son has just started in a new Pre-School and his teacher and school have asked parents to follow them on Twitter. During the day I get ‘tweets’ about what the class is doing and what they are learning. This helps me to engage my son after school as I can further his learning through our own conversations, the books we read or the trips we take. While we have only been ‘tweeting’ for a few days the experience has been really inspiring.