Reflection

Upon reflecting on the past seven weeks of my current Walden class, “Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology,” I took a journey back to the first week when we had to define our personal learning theory.  In defining my learning theory at that time, I said that in my Physical Education world and on a personal level, the learning theories that I think help our students to be successful in the experiences that we offer are the Constructionism and the Social Learning Theories.  In all activities and sports skills, there is a building process as well as understanding and storing of information. The Social Learning Theory naturally is a great fit for my Physical Education classes due to the high level of conversation and collaboration (Orey, 2001).   After a more in depth study of the learning theories, I still feel that I primary rely on the Constructionism and Social Learning Theories.  In our classes, we have our students participate in Cooperative Learning activities almost on a daily basis, and this strategy aligns with the Social Learning Theory.  Most of our units involve team sports or team building activities, so this theory and strategy work well for our classes. 

 In studying various resources for learning theories, I found that I love an idea by Dr. Judy Rink, one of my former professors at The University of South Carolina.  In an article written in The Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, Dr. Judy Rink (2001) states that “we need to be wary of appeals for wholesale adoption of particular teaching methods” (p. 113).  This solidifies the fact that we need to adopt a variety of teaching methods to ensure that our students succeed through the learning experiences that we provide for them.  Even though, I still feel that Constructionism and Social Learning Theories are predominant in our classes, even though some aspects of the Cognitive and Behaviorist Learning Theories have to be present. 

Immediate adjustments that I have made regarding instructional practice and technology integration are to incorporate some of the technology tools that I have learned about through this course.  Before this course, I had not used VoiceThread or Concept Mapping.  Both of these tools would greatly enhance our lessons and contribute to student success.  Utilizing these tools would help our students think more deeply about the skills and activities being taught.  This class has given me a greater understanding of how the Learning Theories, strategies, and technology tools go hand in hand which will also assist me in our districts teacher technology requirements and assessments.  We are required to pass a technology assessment and produce a student-centered technology lesson plan once per year.  This assessment is done once a year with in mind that the teacher will integrate technology on a more frequent basis. 

 In our state, we have strict activity guidelines for Physical Education.  Even with this in mind, I would like to make it a goal to integrate technology into my lessons at least once a quarter or more.  This goal will take some planning to determine which technology tools would be compatible with which units of study. Another goal that I would like to achieve is to assist our Technology Integration Specialist in helping classroom teachers with ideas on integrating technology.  I have already done this to some degree in helping the other PE teacher that I work with carry out a SKYPE lesson for his National Board recertification.    

 

References: 

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology.

Retrieved  from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

 

Rink, J. (2001). Investigating the assumptions of pedagogy. Journal of Teaching in

          Physical Education, 20, 112-128.

 

 

Social Theory and Cooperative Learning

In our resources this week, we focused on the Social Learning Theory and how the strategy of Cooperative Learning correlates with that theory.  Dr. Michael Orey explains the Social Learning Theory very simply as “students actively engaged in constructing artifacts and conversing with others” (Laureate, 2011).  In our South Carolina Physical Education Curriculum Standards, we have two standards that address the social aspect of learning.  Standard Five states, “The student will exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical-activity settings. The intent of this standard is achievement of self-initiated behaviors that promote personal and group success in activity settings. These include safe practices, adherence to rules and procedures, etiquette, cooperation and teamwork, ethical behavior, and positive social interaction.”  Standard Six states, “The student will demonstrate awareness that physical activity provides the opportunity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and social interaction. One of the indicators for these standards is that the students will be able to “work independently and with others on physical-activity tasks”(ed.sc.gov, 2008).  The way that these standards correlate with the Social Learning Theory and Cooperative Learning strategy is that they do not just address the social interaction, but also the cooperation, teamwork, group successes, working with others on tasks.  In most Physical Education classes, students have an opportunity to work independently, with a partner, and within a group.  This learning environment ties into the cooperative strategy as it increases “motivation for learning by establishing a strong kinship and sense of obligation to one another among students, which can lead to greater buy-in and increased achievement.  In well-designed cooperative learning activities, participants develop a sense of positive interdependence-a “sink or swim together” attitude where success on the part of one promotes success among the others”(Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, 2012, pp 73). 

 

This idea is evident in most of our daily activities, but one of my favorite units that incorporate cooperative learning is our gymnastics unit.  The students have to work with a peer group to achieve a certain outcome.  They have individual requirements as well as group requirements within the final routine.  During this unit, I have seen students succeed and make accomplishments in areas where they needed improvement.  I have also seen students make strides in achieving a goal working with peers that they would not have chosen to work with.  Another area of focus for us is Fitness Testing where the students score individually and set individual goals for future assessments.  Once this is established, we have them collaborate and work cooperatively with a group to devise a plan to improve their fitness.  Some groups have developed with fitness stations to be used for the entire class and some have researched and found individual activities to help make improvements for specific fitness assessments. At our school, we use Edmodo as a communication tool.  It provides a safe and easy way for students and teachers to connect, collaborate, share content and access assignments. The classroom teachers use it for assignments and communication with parents.  It has been neat to for us as far as PE goes to be able to use it as a reminder for specific units or events.  Some of our students have had conversations about their favorite PE activity. 

Here is a link to my first VoiceThread which briefly explains to the students the components of fitness testing and questions to consider when setting goals for improvement.

 http://voicethread.com/share/5614814/
 

 

 

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H.  Hubbell, E.  & Kuhn, M.  (2012).  Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.  Alexandria, VA: ASCD

 South Carolina Department of Education (2008).  South Carolina Academic

          Standards for Physical Education.  Retrieved from http://ed.sc.gov.