reflection questoins from block 4

1. what connections do you personally make to these learning theories?

well, to begin with, I really identify with the constructivism becuase to me that's curriculum as process and that's something that I really want to introduce more into my technician program. I do also recognise that the other half of that equation is the part about the teacher being all knowing ( not really for me, but about pharmacy stuff I am a information sourcde) and the students being an empty slate. I recognize that in my program there is a hugh information base the students do need to acquire, usually through memorization. What I try to stress with the students (because they are often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of material - 300 drug names and manufactures/semester) is the ability to think and problem solve that they can use the information that they have to apply it to new situations. I always tell the students that I can teach them 100 different things and that in the practicum, they'll see 101 different things. this ability to problem solve, apply knowledge, etc is curriculum as process and constructivism. I guess that in my teacing situation, i see the need for both, especially as the work environment changes so rapidly with technology.

2. what evidence of "theory in practice " do you see in your learning environment? Your larger learning community?

As I mentioned above, I see real hands on applications for this in both my teaching environment and my larger learning community which I would describe as the student's practicum sites. When the students are in the practicums, I think that they often feel added pressure to do well and that this sometimes makes it harder for them to use and apply what they have learnt in class. This is something that I'm looking at for the project in this class. I'm thinking of creating a web page (thanks Brent) that the students can use on their practicums to help them. It'll be (hopefully) a communication, connection, information and a fun tool for them to access and connect themselves together. By connecting the students, I think that they can learn from what the others are doing, as well as themselves. Also, sometimes thinking thing through enough to post them help to get a clearer picture of what's really going. Student's can be really perceptive, especially when they're in a similar situation. Everyone learns, me included???

3. How does your use of educational technology, or use of technology within your learning space, reflect your theoretical beliefs of learning?

Well, as I mentioned above, I think that there's lots to be learned from the
"process". I know that student's need to have the foundational knowledge that needs to be memorized, but as I found out from my final project, 21st century skills demand application, extension, problem solving and creativity just to name a few. these are the skills that i think are often missed ( ie encouraged to develop) in teaching. For one of my projects, I interviewed students and coworkers. the coworkers taked about the need for 21st century skills while the students talked about the memoriztion. this got me to thinking that perhaps there was a disconnect.

For myself, we acutally use alot of technolgy in the classroom. One of the conclusions from my final project actually focused around this and it really surprised me. What I saw was that my fellow pharmacist preceptors are like me and are technologically challanged, so when the students go to the practicum site they were actually at a disadvantage becuase they weren't able to use technology as they had in class. I kind of think that this is a good learning opportunity for both the students and the preceptors. how the student's walk me through the technological ins and outs of a site is maybe good practice for when they have to "teach" their preceptors how to do the same??

For me personally, I have to stop being scared of technology and be more willing to give it a try.

4. How to the connectivist or constructionist theoris of learning help you to understand how technology can be support teaching and learning?

Weel, for me, as mentioned above technology learning is a group thing in my class, so I would probably lean more toward the constructivism. I do really like the idea of the half life with connectivism though, becuase this not only applies to technology, but to pharmacy as well. pharmacy is a fast paced, dynamic profession that is always changing and the students might as well learn that now. Another aspect of 21st century skills is self-directed learning. I'm hoping that by us learning together, they may see this as a natural lead to what they're have to do on their own. Continuing education is not only a necessity for me, but something that I really like to do. Hopefully, my students will get this idea too.

As I also mentioned above, I think that a combination of the theories is proably the most effective for my teaching/student learning situation.

Clarence Fisher's Remote Access Blog Continued

Howdy one and all. This is my weekly update on Clarence Fisher's blog Remote Access. This week was again interesting to me personally becuase it's about how as a child he and his family watched the evening news each night. I did too. All we had was peasant vision and the news was the only option to be watched in our house over the supper table. For me, it started an interest in news even when I was probably too young to really understand what was going on, but it's a habbit that continues today. Imagine my surprise when he listed all these internet sites for the news. Go figure, a really tangable and useable way for me to bring the internet to my every day. Lots of times I'm not home for the news and I miss it on tv. Now granted, I don't have a computer, but my sister does at work (this is what I'm using for this program) and I showed it to her and she's a convert now. She too is technologically challanged, but we went through it together and I think that we figured it out?????
Clarence then contined about how students have access to the news on a bigger scale then possible what we do. When all I really try to do is engage and connect with my student in pharmacy, it's kind of nice to find out about another venue that i could maybe use as an ice breaker with them and me. I've gone to other sites ( with classroom applications) with the students and this has been a real learning experience for me. My student's quickly learn that I understand the information on the sites, but that technologically, I'm challanged to say the least. It usually ends up that they teach me the ins and outs of the sites (ie little tricks that speed things up, etc). I've really liked this in the past because it helps me to see what they face everyday when they try to learn the information that I take for granted and sometimes don't really understand when they don't make what I think are easy connections. It's usually really good for me and the students. Thanks Clarence for another easy and interesting venue that I can pracitce with the students.

EDUCATIONAL BLOG THAT I'M FOLLOWING:
Clarence Fisher Remote Access

http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/

I picked this blog to follow for 2 main reasons at the outset. First of all, some of the other ones I looked at on the list really made no sense to me at all. They were talking about stuff that I didn't even resognize and coudn't think how I would actually use in teaching. That changed when I opend this blog. Right away he started with a question that I connected with. He asked:
IS THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH EDUCATION THAT WE ARE CONCENTRATING FAR TOO MUCH ON KNOWWLEGE, AND NOT NEARLY ENOUGH ON WISDOM? WHAT WOULD CHANGE THIS?

This made me think of my final project. I drew a connection between curriculum as product vs. practice. I ackknowledge that with pharmacy technician students there is a strong basis for memorization of facts (product) but that I wanted to bring in more process because this is what is represented by many of the 21st Century skills that I desire my technicians to have for their practicums. So much for not connecting the blog to my own situation.

I should have known that my luck would not hold. He then started talking about Asus eee pcs ( low cost netbooks) and Audiacity, audio recorders and Twitter. This meant a little search on google for me and it went pretty well. What I really liked with this posting was his honesty. I frankly talked about his problems and how he received answers to his problem right away from other bloggers. I didn't really understand everything and even after googling it I'M not totally sure, but it's alot better. He's really given me encouragement to keep on trying. Am acutally looking forward to reading his next postings and seeing what happens. Stay tuned for updates. darcy