Module 6 Blog- Sara Becker

Learning in a Digital World

I believe that technology has had a positive impact on my learning. In an online environment, I think I tend to enjoy collaborative learning much more than I do in a face-to-face environment. Maybe it's because the online environment enables you to connect with others that have much more varied experiences than those that you might interact with in a face-to-face environment. Whenever I engage in learning in a face-to-face environment, I feel that I would much rather work independently rather than as part of a group.

What I think is crucial and non-negotiable in teaching and learning is encouraging students to utilize critical thinking and higher-order thinking skills to really examine the world around them. I also think relevance is essential in teaching and learning. Driscoll suggests that an essential part of learning to think independently is critical and creative thinking where learners are seeing things from a different perspective and providing a new insight or approach to a problem (2005). I also believe that the role of the instructor must change when we encourage students to utilize critical thinking skills. The instructor really needs to put the control of the learning in the hands of the students. Siemens proposes several metaphors for the role of the instructor (2008). Of the metaphors proposed the one that best fits my idea of the role of the instructor is that of instructor as Network Administrator. In this role, the instructor encourages learners as they encounter new information to critically evaluate the role of that information within their own learning network (Siemens, 2008). Learning becomes more self-guided or self-directed and the educator can assist the learner when they have gaps in the information that they need to continue learning.

References:
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Paper105/Siemens.pdf