The Learning Theories Wiki

The Learning Theories wiki task required that I work with a partner and perform a PMI on a particular reading(s). Although I found the the PMI useful, I felt that this task has had the least impact upon my learning. I think it is beacuse I chose a topic that used vision instead of text to put forward the argument. I suppose I should have recognised earlier that this was not the best way for me to learn, but as I had already committed to the topic with a partner I couldn't back out. To take something of value out of this experience, is that when conducting lessons in my own classroom, is to ensure that my learners have access to all types of materials to work with. As I will be working with children in primary school, it is my responsibility to know every childs learning style and to provide a suitable platform of learning everyday. Also I must take care to not exclude certain types of materials in class because it doesn't sit naturally with me and my learning style.

 The catergory of '21st Century Learners' was a positve argument for a paradigm shift from traditional methods of teaching towards a Connectivist and Constructivist approach. It argued for a 'new DNA' of teachers and that essentially we are teaching todays learners for jobs that do not exist. It relied heavily upon the principles of  constuctivism/connectivism, where social interaction has a large influence on learning (Vygotsky) and that the learning must have significant personal meaning to the student (youtube vid 2,).It also argued for students to learn skills pertinant to the times, rather than content, and skills such as crtical thinking, adaptation, team work, problem solving , communication and cultural profiency to become the goal posts for future learners. That is, creating the connections and abilities to function in a maleable workforce are critical to the success of a learner in the digital age.

As to activity itself, I believe that there were elements of behaviourism, evinced through PMI, Constructivism through team work and connectivism by the actual wiki itself. Myself and my classmates know where to find the information on the learning theories wiki should we need it. The learning theories wiki supports learning by providing the whole spectrum of learning preferences and contexts, by supporting the different learning styles and allowing the student to choose what is to be learnt and in what manner it is to be learnt. In theory, the wiki should support learning in general, that is, by dividing the topics up and distributing the results to the class. However the quality of the findings are only as strong as the weakest student, and that may negatively affect learning. Additionally, as the wiki is shared space for collaborative learning, and conceptually should support learning, there is no impetus for students to regularly check the wiki updates. That alone is up to the students, and perhaps a further task of discussion and critque may provide a good follow up activity.