Week 6-Blog (February 21-27, 2011)

This week's reading along with our discussion questions have helped facilitate the learning objectives for me. I believe that Professor Ge's questions, though time consuming, have helped me to reflect on what I am learning and thus increased my understanding of the objectives. Learning the difference between the objectivist and constructivist theories has helped me begin to understand the different learning theories/philosophies and place them in a better "perspective." ...Reflective learning-Constructivism (Adult Learning Theory, Nursing).

Having background knowledge of the theory and philosophy that guides e-learning (online learning) has helped me comprehend even more clearly the theory and philosophy that guides my nursing profession. Although educational psychology and nursing education have different theorist, it is comforting to know that many of our theories and beliefs stem from these basic concepts, philosophies, and theories. What I think is important is that e-learning or online learning can integrate different contextual perspectives (frameworks) under the same theory, constructivism. This enhances and promotes understanding and learning and enriches our lives.

I found after reading thus far that there are bits and pieces from each theory that I believe fits every learner depending on the learner's objectives, state of knowing, need and perspective. I think it will be a matter of taking a look at these theories and finding what fits our students' needs most appropriately given the contextual framework of the assigned material.

Reflections of Week 5, Saturday, February 19, 2011

I appreciated the online conference we had on Wednesday this week. I like the constructivist theory and agree with its summation provided in our power point by Dr. Ge. It states, "Meaning cannot be imposed on an individual; but rather learner must actively construct knowledge and skills based on one's experience, past or current knowledge." This goes along with cognitive psychology and is familiar to me because we use the cognitive theory as part of faciliation in nursing education. Nursing students progress through traditional learning and behavioral theory in learning the concepts and constructs of nursing and then progress to more reflective and applied learning (experiential theory and learning) as they assimilate into the nursing practice through clinical rotations. It was interesting because during the video conference I referred to my graduate learning requirement as a "practicum" and one of my classmates Melinda responded and said they call it "apprenticeship" in education. This was a reflective learning experience for me because it made me realize that we too as nurses go through an apprenticeship which is more active learning as opposed to a practicum that can be more passive and doesn't necessary require teaching or demonstration of knowledge required. In my case it does because during my practicum I have had to facilitate or help teach in two different class environments. I appreciate how our readings all relate to theories and concepts that will be necessary for us as students to utilize as we begin to learn how to teach. It helps to have the input of other too who are more experienced in this process and helps with our reflections and increases our learning.

Ge, X. (2010). Situated learning and constructivist perspective [Power-Point Presentation]. Retrieved from http://learn.ou.edu/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.asp?ou=1729174

M. Stump. (2011, February 16). [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://ou.na5.acrobat.com/p62596951/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

Why Should an Administrator Use Twitter?

Why Should an Administrator Use Twitter?

Repost....

I haven't done this from one blog to another; hopefully it turns out right.

Blog 2 - Saturday, February 12, 2011

Hi everyone, below are my thoughts on the questions from this week's readings by Renninger & Shumar, Chapters 9 through 12.

Question 1: How do virtual communities impact individuals in information seeking and knowledge construction? What are the possibilities for learning and change in this case study? (Ch. 9)

In chapter 9 we see that virtual communities and in particular self-help communities have impacted knowledge seeking and construction through sharing and networking of individuals who are seeking information. It is not necessarily positive. Individuals are questioning authoritative data and relying on others who have experiential data and this might not be where they would find the best answers. However, it supports the social networking ability of internet connectedness to facilitate learning and sharing and empowers individuals to assess the data they receive and decide to take or leave it. It has also encouraged individuals to look more closely at what government and professionals are asking them to do or expecting them to follow instead of following them blindly without question. It shows that there is a huge potential to disseminate accurate information if instituted properly and make positive changes.

Question 2: How does technology support a knowledge-building community? (Ch. 12)

In chapter 12 the authors have taken a look at the different forms of knowledge building communities and embarked on building a knowledge building community that will support a collaboration of ideas and hopefully succeed. CILT is still in the process of being built but so far it appears that it will continue to grow and one reason why is because it provides networking information that will make knowledge building easier to access and disseminate among it users. This will make collaboration in learning and building learning communities more user friendly and hopefully help sustain this site.

Question 3: What are the specific implications that you can draw and apply to your specific context (e.g., your own online course in which you are an instructor) of building a virtual learning community? (Ch. 10)

The project would need to incorporate the needs of the community. This would require looking at the available resources and time and curriculum and whether or not a virtual community would actually benefit the users. But, if you were going to go to the trouble of building such a site it seems you would also want to incorporate some kind of system where information could be shared with new users even after the original users are done with the community. For instance, in nursing, a virtual community could include discussion of patient outcomes and experiences of students (leaving out the names to ensure confidentiality) and then store that information somewhere that could be accessed and used as discussion material for future students. It would also need to have open ended questions about patient care where students could collaborate and explore nursing interventions, experiences, etc. This would be very helpful as our book in various places and other learning theories point towards experiential learning as being perceived positively by students and also known to increase knowledge. It would also help assimilate acculturation of new students into the community of nursing as perceived by the nursing student. This would all precipitate professional growth and learning.

Question 4: What do you see as the possibilities of virtual communities for learning and change in a specific context, which may be your school, school district, college, institution, or organization, after reading all the chapters so far?

I see endless possibilities. I love the fact the people are forming communities that help provide learning and increase education. Education is power and individuals would be entitled to continued learning and growth if internet access and learning community access was distributed among everyone. In particular, I would love to utilize a virtual learning community like described above to help nursing students and all nurses to increase their knowledge and skills.

Renninger, K. A., Shumar, W. (2002). Building virtual communities learning and change in cyberspace. New York: Cambridge University Press

Think Career: Course Enrollment

Think Career: Course Enrollment

I've run across another state's effort to provide flexible professional development for their teachers. Looks interesting. Graduate credit is offered through some universities for completion.

Blogging

Hi to my team mates Sheryl and Angie. Just wanted to be able to let Sheryl know I was able to post to your blog but not Angie's. Wondering if anyone else is having that problem? Angie, I sent you an email hoping we can put our heads together and figure out why I can't post to your account. We need to be able to respond to one another so I'm getting a little worried.

Journal EIPT 6433 Spring 2011: Week 2 - Questions to ponder

Journal EIPT 6433 Spring 2011: Week 2 - Questions to ponder

Hi Angie - still working on how to comment on your blog. I'm seeing if this works.

Reflections Week 3

As, I read through all the information and begin to understand how all this works, I have started to grasp how important it is to continue to learn. I realize that if I had not chosen to go back to school and become an educator my perspective on many things would not be what it is now. I'm really excited about joining the Tapped-In site and I joined the nursing education group under that site. I plan on taking the tour and really trying to become a member. The possibilities of on-line education is limitless and I am amazed as I read through our book and the other assigned readings of how much the web and computers can assist us in learning and teaching. Now my brain is really wondering all the possibilites and all the ways this could help me learn and teach. I am already involved in a program at UCO where I have to go on-line to grade my students' evaluations of their clinical experience and I am giving them feedback but now I wonder how we could use a similar program to teach in a synchronous manner and be able to discuss and facilitate the groups' learning through a process like what we are learning in class. It is all very cool!