Week Nine - June 13

Designing Digital Rich Learning Environments

Norton & Wiburg (1998). Chapter 9: Designing Learning Environments.

Jonassen, Peck & Wilson (1999). Chapter 7: Learning by Doing: Immersion in constructivist Learning Environments.

http://www.k12.hi.us/~lachang/tethree/skills/White%20Papers/scomp.htm

Great presentation by Group 2 tonight! Their chosen article was fascinating given our course topic and readings. It is easy to become an extreme advocate of technology participating in such enthralling discussions. Considering I disconnect 12:30 am after our audio conferences you might think I would dive into bed. I have found it impossible to sleep immediately after class as my mind is reeling with new ideas and issues. An article such as this does much to slow me know and reflect on the negative aspects of technology and our society’s sprint toward digital literacy. I feel that I have a responsibility to be aware of such downfalls so that I can address them fairly and accurately. Holding a Masters degree on a topic requires the ability to critically discuss and analyze topics and I feel that articles such as the one chosen by Group 2 goes a long way to assist us in being informative learners!

Constructivist Learning Environments

Here we have another issue in technology that is “an emerging science so the state of the art of changing rapidly”. It seems this phenomena of fast-paced change is a characteristic of all things technological! Anyway, this is beside the point.

Jonassen et al quote Wilson as stating, “a learning environment is a place where learners may work together and support each other as they use a variety of tools and information in their guided pursuit of learning goals and problem-solving activities” (p.5) How do we foster such an environment of a constructivist nature? As Norton & Wyberg describe, the physical environment we present for our students shape the nature of their learning but what about the spiritual? As we discussed last night, teachers should reflect on their philosophy and allow those values to influence every aspect of our teaching to truly create an environment worthy of our learners.

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