Week 1: Reflection & Overview

Hello to all my fellow GDLT peers and welcome to my blogspot. Let me firstly give you a quick background on who I am and what I have been up to lately. I recently graduated from the Bachelor of Music degree here at the Rockhampton campus last year. This required a lot of time and commitment in being able to succeed, which means I will be use to the demand which this course needs. This means I am not use to the assignment writing and heavy reading. Blogs however like every other young female, they are my forte!

Last year I had the privilege of being a private music tutor around the Central Queensland regions, teaching saxophone and clarinet one-on-one with both high school and primary age students. This was a great learning experience for me and revealed to me how differently each student learns and interacts within a learning environment. Technology was a huge help with my students in helping them to learn and made their lessons enjoyable. I can see from this weeks learning theories that I used these different methods on students depending on their personalities, the way they engaged and how was the best way they learnt and retained information.

There are three learning theories, Behaviourism, Cognitivism, and Social Constructivism, as well as the theory of Connectivism, which is regarded as way on how to support learning. 

Behaviourism is when a behaviour is observably changed from the outcome of learning. The methods for this style of learning is practice, positive reinforcement and re-shaping what they had previously learnt throughout the process. Cognitivism is derived from understanding how the brain processes information and stores it. By presenting the information to the student in small portions through a step-by-step process. Social Constructivism focuses on the social interactions of the student in the learning environment. A big part of this learning is students collaborating ideas together to fully understand and retain their new information. Connectivism, according to Siemens, is the importance of identifying how and where to find knowledge rather than knowing that information. 

I can honestly say that I believe all four learning theories are relevant for students in reaching their full potential. Behaviourism is appropriate for students who take time and practice in understanding knowledge or the way that musicians, dancers and sports persons need to physically show the knowledge they have been learning in order to be successful in those fields. Cognitivism is important for students in subject areas that need them to retain a lot of information that is built upon each other. When studying Psychology courses at university I found concept mapping tools to be a huge help in retaining information about the different body parts and even the process of how the brain stores information. This learning method would be suitable for most science subjects and for students who like structure and organisation when studying. Social Constructivism is always a great way to get students to communicate, engage and open their mind to different ideas or views through class discussions. Connectivism is bringing our everyday use of modern technology into the classroom. With assignments and researching it is important for students to know how to successfully find the knowledge required of them through the use of the internet. However, is this leaving our next generation to be lazy in knowing basic information and always needing to rely on technology. Could using technology instead of communicating in person be creating a socially awkward generation. I am sure in the weeks to come that this course will unfold the truth about how technology can really help education to move forward with the best possible learning outcomes for all students in this modern age.