The constructivist theory of learning focuses on having students demonstrate their learning by producing or creating some product and then communicating their learning to students. Technology can be a great aid in accomplishing this and also is keeps the students interested and engaged. While they are often used in negative ways on the internet, I think that blogs serve as a great way to use technology in the classroom. Class discussions can be conducted here where students share their ideas about various topics.

I am also a big fan of students using the podcast. Their are numerous websites that allow students to create podcasts quite easily. Students can think of unique and creative ways to put their information together and then share it with their classmates. I have had very positive experiences with podcast in my classroom. The kids love it!

Cognitive Theory in the Classroom

Taking in information and advancing it through the faces of receiving information, short-term memory and long term memory is the basis of Cognitive theory. Technology can be a great aid in completing this process. The use of cues or other reminders is an excellent strategy to help students remember material. The Virtual Field Trip is an excellent engaging activity that will help students put information into long-term memory. Also the advanced graphic organizers mentioned in this weeks reading provide excellent tools to help students in the cognitive process. There are lots of great strategies that the teacher can use in the classroom to help students. As long as long-term memory is the eventual goal, these strategies have their place in the classroom!

Behaviorism at Work

As I reflect on this week's readings, I must consider the variety strategies in technology that relate to the behaviorist learning theory. Behaviorism teaches that desired behaviors can be learned and undesired behaviors can be unlearned. Two strategies that help to accomplish this would be the practice of homework and reinforcing effort.

Many students do not see the relationship between their effort and achievement. Effort is the most important factor in achievement(2007). There are lots of resources a teacher can use to help demonstrate this point. Rubrics(something I personally use quite often) are great for showing the relationship between effort and achievement. This can easily be done using a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel. Rubrics give students a clear idea of what achievement looks like. The Effort/Achievement Spreadsheet is also an excellent tool that allows students to see the relationship between their effort and their grade.

The practice of homework can be enriched by a number of technology tools. I was interested to know that Word Processing Applications have a number of resources most people do not know of. I think my fifth graders will be excited to use the Flesch-Kincaid grade level rating tool which will tell them the grade level of their writing. Also no longer do they need to open a web browser for simple research that can be done with Microsoft Word's Research tools. Multimedia can also be an excellent learning tool. One challenge with using technology with homework however is accessibility. Over time I think this challenge will diminish. More and more students have computers in their home and some schools enjoy the benefits of one-to-one laptop programs in which students have a laptop assigned to them for the entire school year.