Reflection Time

The kids are asleep, the lunches are made and I have just read about 40 different articles on-line for my various GDLT courses. I thought it might be opportune to reflect on my ‘wiki-ing’ and blogging over the past week and how now - finally - I am seeing how everything is finally ‘coming together’.

Profile Wiki:-

During Residential School (Week 0), we were asked to prepare a profile wiki. A little out of my comfort zone, I told myself not to panic and to ask questions if I need to.  I looked at what my peers had written and watched the little wiki ‘how-to’ video and low and behold it was actually simple. We needed to go to a link, click on edit, fill out a profile template that had some basic getting to know you questions and then we needed to save the template.  According to Wendy’s comments in discussion forums, there appeared to be a few complications with the wiki’s, but thankfully I did not experience any of these problems!

The GDLT Program is mostly online based using Moodle.  The purpose of setting up a profile Wiki was a way to introduce ourselves to other students in the Program. 

I could then see an additional purpose in setting up an online profile.  As we moved into Week One, it was a requirement to work with a partner to complete a Learning Theory Activity in a wiki.  We were encouraged to pair up with someone from the course who we thought we might be compatible with. So I contacted Renae and away we went. We sent a couple of emails and text messages and rather than meeting face-to-face we ended up using technology to complete the activity. 

I see the activity as being constructivist and connectivist. Constructivist as I actively engaged in learning how to do the Wiki. Connectivist as not only did I use the Wiki ‘how to’ video to teach me how to master the wiki, but I constantly refer back to the profile tabs and to the course materials a number of times to learn new information about my peers.

Learning Theory Wiki:-

This activity asked us to work with a partner to look at a particular Learning Theory and to put forward an analysis of the theory to a group wiki.  The analysis tool we were asked to use was PMI (Pluses, Minuses and Interestings).

There are 4 different learning theories that we looked at in week one of this course. Behaviourism, Congnitivism, Constructivism and Connectivism. We also touched on Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and Felder and Solomon to get an idea of our learning styles. We analysed the Learning Theories to ensure we were thinking deeply about the topic. What’s good about it? What’s not good about it? Inadvertently I found myself thinking how did I learn and learn well in the past? What theory will I use or build on as a teacher?

This activity was constructivism in nature. I learnt about learning by constructively having active learning experiences.  If the task we were asked to complete was to read the learning theory readings and come up with our own PMIs, I likely wouldn’t have read it in detail and I may not have taken the activity too seriously.  By working with a partner, within a structured scaffolded activity, I was forced to put forward clear and solid arguments and review my work.  Not only did I gain knowledge about learning theories, but I was also introduced to a jigsaw technique and the PMI activity.

Mobile Phones Wiki – De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats:

Edward de Bono (1995) concludes that most logical and critical thinking is limited. The six hat theory focuses on creative thinking.  It encourages us to focus our thinking in a certain way by putting on a metaphorical hat.

• White Hat: Objective Hat focusing on Information:- What information do I have? What are the facts? What information do I need? What do I want to KNOW? 
• Black Hat: Negative Hat focusing on Judgement:- What is wrong with this? Why will this not work? Is this safe? Can this be done? 
• Blue Hat: Process Hat focusing on the Process:- Where are we now? What is the next step? Where have we been? What sort of thinking is needed? 
• Green Hat: Creative Hat focusing on Creativity:- What new ideas are possible with this? What is my suggestion for success? Can I create something new? 
• Red Hat: Intuitive Hat focusing on Feelings:- How do I feel about this? What do I like about the idea? What don't I like about the idea? 
• Yellow Hat: Positive Hat focusing on Benefits:- What are the good points? Why can this be successful? Why is this a good thing?

This activity uses constructivist theory.  We have been encouraged to seek out the knowledge ourselves, understand it and apply it.  Once we knew about the hats, we were asked to put forward our thoughts on mobile phones being used in the class room.  

The idea of putting on a ‘hat’ to encourage you to look at an idea from different perspectives is an impressive mechanism to establish all the benefits, minuses and how’s of certain ideas.  It really encourages you to ‘think outside the square’ and focus your brainstorming on a particular area with no holding back. 

I can see as a group we came up with some fantastic ideas for introducing mobile phones to the classroom, many of which I hadn’t even considered. There were some really creative thoughts and concepts and I can really see how successful the de Bono’s hats tool would be in marketing, facilitation, product development and learning management.

If there was no requirement to reflect my learnings in a public Blog, I wouldn’t have gone back and looked at the completed wiki, now I see why we need to do this! I just wanted to sing “it’s gonna be a bright, bright, sun shiny day." Johnny Nash