1. What are some of the examples from your teaching experience, which fit the Anderson’s learning attributes?
A lot of my more recent teaching experiences have included an inquiry based approach. I feel that this approach fits Anderson’s (2008a) learning attributes completely. Prior to moving to Denver, my Grade ones did an inquiry about “Water”. This was sparked by them wanting to raise pennies for a charity and chose to donate to Free the Children- pennies for Clean Water. Students researched all about water, from what is usable water to water on earth. They questioned how water can be cleaned, hot we can help provide clean drinking water to people who need it, illnesses that occur with unclean drinking water, and much more. With the use of many technologies from iPad’s, online videos, Smart Table activities, and video conferencing, all four of Anderson’s (2008a) learning attributes were evident. Students added what they knew and what they wanted to know in one document and collectively found answers to all their questions. Class generated rubrics are also a huge part of my classroom learning and my students use rubrics to assess their learning and ensure they are on track.
2. How well this classification reflects your learning experience with the interactions organized for educational purposes?
At this point in my life, an online learning environment is ideal only because it is convenient. I am also a more shy and reserved person; therefore, I feel that my participation in terms of sharing my thoughts and ideas in an online course is far greater than my participation in courses I took for my undergrad. Part of that reason is also because I have the time to collect my thoughts and think about what I want to say before “posting”. Having said this, the discussion threads in online courses does an excellent job of helping to create a community-centred learning environment because everyone has to participate and more knowledge is shared because of that.
3. What are some examples of the digital tools that are conducive to the Andersons’ classification types?
In my 510 course, I came across this global weather project put together by a teacher in Australia. She uses a LMS called Schoology to collaborate with students all over the world in deciding where in the world is the best place to live? As this was a blended-learning approach, the online component clearly demonstrated a dominant student-content interaction that engaged learners in the global community to connect and learn together with the same objective in mind. I personally feel that this approach incorporates all four attributes of learning discussed by Anderson (2008a). You can view the video at:http://www.schoology.com/group/25228991/blog/post/96508089
4. What digital tools you never implement in your instruction and would not recommend for educational use?
What are the reasons for this?I’m not sure I have come across digital tools that I would not recommend. Again, I teach gr.½ and so if I were to discourage using any tools it would be because they are not age appropriate. I think there are many fantastic tools out there and yes, they must be evaluated before having students use them. However, what does not work for one, may work for another, and that is why digital tools are best for a personalized learning approach.
“The net provides opportunities to “plunge ever deeper into knowledge resources”-grow knowledge, find your way around knowledge, benefiting from thousands of formats/contexts” (Anderson, 2008).
References:
Anderson, T. (2008a). “Towards a Theory of Online Learning.” In Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory of Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University.