What do you agree with in the texts and videos?The texts and videos focus on various learning strategies that foster and develop independent learners. All the learning strategies describe in the texts and videos call for a learning environment that force learners to take charge of their own learning through developing problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, and collaboration skills that they successfully use an apply in real life situations. I completely agree that creating a learning environment where learners are able to seek answers to authentic questions, are able to transfer knowledge in new situations, and are able to choose paths to solve problem is the most effective learning strategy to prepare learners for the 21st century. “Authentic learning is a pedagogical approach that situates learning tasks in the context of real-world situations, and in so doing, provides opportunities for learning by allowing students to experience the same problem-solving challenges in the curriculum as they do in their daily endeavors.” (Spector 2014, p. 401-402). The aforementioned quote completely summarizes the main ideas presented in the texts and videos. Learning should take place in an authentic environment where are learners are giving the opportunity to transfer their knowledge to new situations and real-life situations.
What do you want to argue with in the texts and videos?I don’t want to argue with text and videos on anything in particular. However, I do believe that the instructional models presented in texts and videos require educators to take a hard look at their teaching methods and philosophy and to take a changing approach and attitude to their methodologies by adopting to the concept of becoming a facilitator. I strongly believe that those learning models are most effective than traditional models because they are learner-focused instructional models. I believe that we are in the business of providing services to the learners, therefore their needs are of the utmost importance. We have a duty and responsibility to adjust ourselves and move away from our comfort zone in order to meet the needs of the learners. I would only argue that either of these method will require great consensus, time, and dedication from all involved. Most importantly, teachers must also not feel that this is just another thing to do.
In light of these texts and videos, discuss which instructional model(s) you think would be effective in your school/district and why. In light of these texts and videos I think project-based learning would be most effective in my school/ district. In my school, ninety percent of my students are minorities. Many of them don’t perform well in high stakes tests, and our school was labeled as an “At Risk School by the state of Georgia. However, I would categorize all the students in my school as the tech-savvy Generation for their knowledge of daily use of emerging and popular technology. I believe that adopting project-based learning strategies would have various benefits to the learners in my school and my district. “Project-based learning hails from a tradition of pedagogy which asserts that students learn best by experiencing and solving real-world problems.” (Vega 2012). I have many reasons for selecting this instructional model because of the benefits of project-based learning. First it will enable the students in my school to become more engaged. In my school, the most prevalent complaint from both teachers and students is how boring classes are. The teachers complain that the students are bored and disengaged while the students complain that the teachers are boring. Project-based learning instructional model would definitely eliminate these complaints. Secondly, this model would definitely resulted in my learners performing better in high stakes exam such as the Georgia Milestones. Finally. It will provide my learners to develop the abilities to work collaboratively and to develop problem-solving skills, while given them the opportunity to transfer their knowledge to new situations and real-world situations. References Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V. and Freeman, A. (2014). NMC Hoizon report: 2014 K-12 Edition. Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2014-nmc-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf Spector, J.M.; Merrill, M.D.; Elen, J.; Bishop, M.J. (2014). Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology. (4th ed.). New York: Springer Science + Business Media. Vega, V. (2012, December 3). Project-based learning research review. Edutopia.org. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/pbl-research-learning-outcomes
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