How I have used technologies for learning (one formal and one informal)
Tuesday, 24 Feb 2015, 11:23
Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Tom Cheek, Tuesday, 24 Feb 2015, 11:26
On reflecting upon the metaphors of learning I considered both an informal and formal example of using technology to support my learning and have detailed below including referencing back to the metaphor qualities:
Informally – my 4 year old son is constantly asking me questions for which I don’t have the answer. I made a decision very early in my parenthood that I would always look to find out information to support his desire of information and support his understanding of the world. On this particular occasion we were in an Italian Restaurant and he asked what do they call the tool that is used to put in and collect the pizza into the oven (he was colouring in a picture of one given by the waiter. I encouraged him to ask the waiter but the waiter didn’t know the answer either so I used my smart phone, used google and found the result being ‘pizza peel’. Three people learnt something that day through one 4 year olds desire and investigation to understand something he saw in a picture.
Knowing More
Gaining Something
Relating to the metaphors AM and PM – The initial motivation was someone wanting to ‘know’ something or ‘acquire’ new knowledge so therefore I would place this example as being more on the ‘acquisition metaphor’. However, because we built new connections with the waiter and shared knowledge and ideas there was some concept of the Participation Metaphor too. Additionally I didn’t have the ‘knowledge’ so I too was a learner and acted as an expert participant rather than a teacher or facilitator.
Formal – I used Powtoon to create a presentation on ‘reflective practice’ as part of a group activity within my last OU course. I hadn’t used powtoon before but I did have an idea of the content I wanted to include within it. I learnt by trial and error and gradually over the course of two lengthy sessions created a ‘first draft’ of the learning object to share with others. I gained feedback from the group on what was good and which areas could be improved. I reflected on that feedback and during a 3rd session was able to strengthen those weak areas to improve the final outcome. The result being that I had a better understanding and ability in how to use Powtoon and also strengthened my understanding of the content being covered within the presentation. The feedback gave me confidence and confirmed that I was heading about the project in the right way and contributing to the group work in a positive way.
Being able to do something
Participating in new activities and a group
Relating to the metaphors AM and PM – Strong influence on Participation Metaphor. As the learner I had become a participant by developing a learning object for the whole group. It was community building as the group themselves decided what to develop and which areas had strengths or improvements required. I was an apprentice in terms of understanding what it meant by ‘reflective practice’ but as were the other students – by sharing our understanding and ideas we were able to form some outcomes which supported our learning.
I also reflect further on the question raised that a learning experience is at it's best when a combination of the acquistion and participation metaphors. With this in mind I designed a sliding scale diagram so that I could place (for each of the key headings within the table that distinguishes between the two metaphors) a marker of where I feel each example fits as it is not as simple to say this it is entirely AM or PM. By designing this it allowed to to visually see if it is a spiked profile and if the profile shows a strong trend towards one of the metaphors. For my two examples it did seem to work well and support my understanding of the application of this knowledge into learning scenarios.
How I have used technologies for learning (one formal and one informal)
On reflecting upon the metaphors of learning I considered both an informal and formal example of using technology to support my learning and have detailed below including referencing back to the metaphor qualities:
Informally – my 4 year old son is constantly asking me questions for which I don’t have the answer. I made a decision very early in my parenthood that I would always look to find out information to support his desire of information and support his understanding of the world. On this particular occasion we were in an Italian Restaurant and he asked what do they call the tool that is used to put in and collect the pizza into the oven (he was colouring in a picture of one given by the waiter. I encouraged him to ask the waiter but the waiter didn’t know the answer either so I used my smart phone, used google and found the result being ‘pizza peel’. Three people learnt something that day through one 4 year olds desire and investigation to understand something he saw in a picture.
Relating to the metaphors AM and PM – The initial motivation was someone wanting to ‘know’ something or ‘acquire’ new knowledge so therefore I would place this example as being more on the ‘acquisition metaphor’. However, because we built new connections with the waiter and shared knowledge and ideas there was some concept of the Participation Metaphor too. Additionally I didn’t have the ‘knowledge’ so I too was a learner and acted as an expert participant rather than a teacher or facilitator.
Formal – I used Powtoon to create a presentation on ‘reflective practice’ as part of a group activity within my last OU course. I hadn’t used powtoon before but I did have an idea of the content I wanted to include within it. I learnt by trial and error and gradually over the course of two lengthy sessions created a ‘first draft’ of the learning object to share with others. I gained feedback from the group on what was good and which areas could be improved. I reflected on that feedback and during a 3rd session was able to strengthen those weak areas to improve the final outcome. The result being that I had a better understanding and ability in how to use Powtoon and also strengthened my understanding of the content being covered within the presentation. The feedback gave me confidence and confirmed that I was heading about the project in the right way and contributing to the group work in a positive way.
Relating to the metaphors AM and PM – Strong influence on Participation Metaphor. As the learner I had become a participant by developing a learning object for the whole group. It was community building as the group themselves decided what to develop and which areas had strengths or improvements required. I was an apprentice in terms of understanding what it meant by ‘reflective practice’ but as were the other students – by sharing our understanding and ideas we were able to form some outcomes which supported our learning.
I also reflect further on the question raised that a learning experience is at it's best when a combination of the acquistion and participation metaphors. With this in mind I designed a sliding scale diagram so that I could place (for each of the key headings within the table that distinguishes between the two metaphors) a marker of where I feel each example fits as it is not as simple to say this it is entirely AM or PM. By designing this it allowed to to visually see if it is a spiked profile and if the profile shows a strong trend towards one of the metaphors. For my two examples it did seem to work well and support my understanding of the application of this knowledge into learning scenarios.