Epistemology and Theories: You can't have one without the other!

Epistemology seemed at first to be exactly what the definition said, but after much consideration, I have come to believe that it amounts to having about as much "knowledge" as I have of herding of cats.

1. Epistemology (the study of what and how we come to know) is discussed in multiple chapters in this section. Distinguish epistemology from instructional methods or theories. What are the differences between theories, methods, or models of learning and epistemologies or underlying beliefs about ways of knowing?

“I believe that knowledge is built by an individual, is internal to the individual, and is affected by the social culture and experiences of the individual and that the role of the educational practitioner is to guide individuals as they individually construct their knowledge.”  Dr. Susan Colaric, Director of Instructional Technology, Saint Leo University

This quote from Dr. Colaric’s Epistemology website stuck with me as I tried to make sense of this week’s reading and blog post.  I had to understand first what epistemology is so that required a Google search which brought about so much information that I had sensory overload.  Basically I finally figured out that it is how we learn and is based on truth and not how to do something.  Once I figured that out, I was able to realize that theories, methods, and models of learning are simply how the information we need to learn is presented to us as individuals.  So as Dr. Colaric states above, our knowledge is built by us individually and we are responsible for how we construct our knowledge and teachers should be there to guide us in seeking out that knowledge.   They do this by creating lessons which engage us and allow us to learn by interacting with our world and each other.  

 
2. Chapters in this section discuss three contrasting epistemic stances: positivist, relativist, and contextualist (or hermeneutical). Positivists believe that the only truth or knowledge is objective truth. Relativists don’t believe that objective truth is possible and that all knowledge is subjective to perception or relative to a particular frame of reference. Contextualists believe that truth or knowledge is relative to context rather than individual, subjective understanding. While designers and educators with a positivist stance generally apply behaviorist principles to the design and development of instruction, those with either a contextualist or relativist epistemological framework employ constructivist theories and methods. Reflect on whether your stance is primarily positivist, relativist, or contextualist. Then, identify an instance when your perspective or stance as a learner conflicted with that of your instructor. Describe the conflict that you experienced and analyze whether opposing epistemic stances may have been at the heart of the conflict.

As I read through the chapters and then of course employed Google to help me understand all three of the stances better, I realized that depending on the day of the week and subject I am teaching, I can relate with all three of them.  For example, if I am teaching my Pre-AP Science students about photosynthesis, then I relate to the positivist stance.  It is a fact that plants take in carbon dioxide and water then in the presence of radiant energy, convert it to glucose and oxygen.  That will not change no matter what context it is in.  It is never subjective and will not change whether I am sitting in my classroom in Forney, Texas or a Hindu temple in India.  On the other hand, if we are talking about my English class and reading The Outsiders, then I may be looking at the context that the story was written to determine what the author meant when she said that Johnny thought Dallas Winston was like the southern gentlemen in the book Gone With the Wind.  At this point, my students may all have a different answer depending on what they read into this statement and their cultural beliefs.  Again, I really believe these three stances will be determined more by the subject you are trying to design a lesson for, rather than the individual instructor.  Since I primarily teach science, I lean more towards that positivist stance because I deal with absolute truths more than context.  

I tried to think of a time I, as a learner, did not agree with my instructor and honestly could not come up with one.  I am not sure if this is because I have had great instructors who have similar beliefs to mine, or I just did not like conflict when I was younger and never “rocked the boat” so-to-speak.  I did recently have a course with a professor who seemed to be disorganized and did not give timely feedback.  After having several courses in both my undergraduate and graduate studies where the professors not only gave timely feedback, but also went out of their way to explain why you may have missed something, it was very hard for me to sit back and wait.  I was even more disconcerted when I received my grade only to find there wasn’t one bit of feedback on why I did not receive full credit.  Only after emailing for clarification, did I receive the feedback I needed to “learn” from my mistakes.  I guess this qualifies as an instance where I as a learner conflicted with my instructor.  Thinking more on it and the definitions above, as a learner, I lean more towards the positivist stance as I want to know in empirical data, my grade.  I am not sure this particular professor understood the importance of keeping my 4.0 GPA in my graduate courses.  I am sure she was very busy and had many other things going on, but in my world, I was only concerned with my grade in her course and how it would affect my overall GPA.  



3. Differing epistemic stances lead to differing approaches to learning and instruction, and ultimately to problem-solving. Explain differences in problem-solving when approached from behaviorist and constructivist perspectives. How do the approaches differ in both the nature of the problem to be solved and in facilitating the problem solving process? Finally, what effect might these differences have on learner motivation?

Behaviorist Perspective on problem-solving

Constructivist Perspective on problem-solving

·         Students are encouraged to engage in learning with peers using positive reinforcement from teacher. ·         Instructor minimizes negative behavior with negative reinforcement. ·         Students are given no time to evaluate or self-reflect on learning. ·         Simply informed whether they are right or wrong in their learning. ·         Emotions and feelings are not involved in assessment.

·         Students or learners are encouraged to collaborate with their peers on real-world problems. ·         Instructor does not give information, but merely guide students in finding the solution to the problem. ·         Students are able to evaluate their solutions and determine if they solve the problem.  No definite right or wrongs. ·         Assessments are based on context of problem and if all learning objectives are met.

Behaviorist problem solving seems like it would be the simplest.  I believe an example would be touching a hot stove with your bare hand.  Usually it only takes you once to learn from your mistake.  However, if you still think it is a good idea, there is always room for more negative reinforcement.  It is a quick right or wrong situation and while senses are involved, the emotions do not have any place in the problem solving.  My mom told me not to touch a hot stove when I was a little girl.  If I did touch it, then I did not learn from her verbal warning and therefor did not receive any coddling from her when I chose to burn my hand on the hot stove.  Instead I heard those words no kid wants to hear, “I told you so”.


Constructivist problem solving is a little trickier.  For instance, I might tell my students that Disney Corporation has decided to build an amusement park in our town.  The piece of land they are looking at is in an area deemed wetlands and they must determine if it is feasible to build there.  There are many things they would need to consider and I might want to determine what concepts they already know before guiding them in their research.  Once we establish their prior knowledge, they would be able to determine what factors they need to know in order to make a sound decision in the feasibility to build in the wetlands.  In this situation, I gave my students the problem they needed to solve, but will not tell them how to solve it.  This is a true real-world problem that allows them to make decisions and determinations that may affect their lives and our town.  Behaviorists problem solving would have required me to tell them how to come up with the “right” answer instead of letting them see that their opinions and thoughts matter.
 
Students are motivated in different ways.  Those who are motivated intrinsically or extrinsically may lend towards the behaviorist perspective because their learning is related to not only their own, but the instructor’s.  However, motivation that is due to a gap in the learner’s knowledge or their curiosity is peaked, lends more towards the constructivist perspective.  These learners are challenged by the idea they are able to problem solve and thus their motivation is self-promoted.  They want to collaborate with their peers and determine if their solution to the problem is probable.  Learners may fall on one end or the other of this spectrum, but most will fall in the middle.  Most students that I have encountered crave the adventure perceived in working on a real-world problem, but only if they will also receive praise for their hard work.    
 


 

• Behaviorism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2002, January 19).Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved June 14, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism
• Colaric, D. S. (n.d.). Epistemology.Redirect. Retrieved June 14, 2013, from http://iteach.saintleo.edu/InstructionalDesign/Epistemology.html
• ED 190 Online: Education for Change: Journal #14- Alternate Pedagogies (Ashmi). (2011, April 6). ED 190 Online: Education for Change. Retrieved June 14, 2013, from http://educ190.blogspot.com/2011/04/journal-14-alternate-pedagogies-ashmi.html
• Langford, D. (2007, October 10). Presbyopia Patient Education – optoblog.com. optoblog.com - Scripts from Optometrists. Retrieved June 14, 2013, from http://www.optoblog.com/2007/10/10/presbyopia-patient-education/

 

ETEC 561 Week 1 Reflection

Week 1

1.  How do the definitions in the first chapter compare to your own definition of instructional or educational technology?  What experiences or other influences have shaped your definition?  How has your definition changed from examining the definitions in the first chapter of this book?

When I began classes for my Master’s in Educational Technology this past spring, I came with the idea that “Educational Technology” meant using computers and the internet in my classroom.  With my first course, I modified my definition slightly to include all “media” devices from televisions to VCR’s.  The next course made me look more at how I created and planned lessons to meet certain criteria in both educational philosophy’s and technology ideals.  After reading Chapter 1 and the definitions presented as the concept has evolved over the last decade, I have come to realize it is about the design of the instruction, not just the technology we use.  Technology and media is great and does have place in my classroom, but if the content and objectives are not being met, then it is just playing on a computer or watching a video.  Not even close to what it is meant to be.  It is also about continuing the instruction past “school” and into the workplace.  This should have already come to me as I came from the business world prior to teaching.  Keeping abreast of the latest technology and processes was very important in my career field, as it is with teaching.  If I did not attend conferences and training seminars, I would never see how others were using the technology with success, nor learn some of the latest abilities of the software we used.  Reading the evolving definitions in this chapter, made me realize how our thoughts evolve and mature as we learn and add onto our prior knowledge of our field.  They also evolve as technology and learning theories are updated with new discoveries.

2.  Next, think of a lesson or unit of instruction that you have developed.  Or if you haven’t ever taught or developed instruction, think of one that you have received.  How does that lesson adhere or fail to adhere to the six characteristics of instructional design?  How would you redesign it to better adhere to the six characteristics?

Each year, we discuss catastrophic events and human impact in science.  A few years ago, I found a webquest that covers various catastrophic events and tweaked it to use with my Pre-AP students.  I did not know about instructional design, and therefor did not have that in mind when I finished tweaking the assignment.  After looking through it, I have decided that it did follow many of the six characteristics. 

1.  Instructional design is student centered:  the students work in teams to research their event and present their information to the class as a whole. 

2.  Instructional design is goal oriented:  the goals (objectives) were explained in the instructions that students received at the beginning of the project.  I made sure we went over them as a class, but they were also in writing for students to reflect on later in the project.

3.  Instructional design focuses on meaningful performance:  students were asked to present the information they learned during their research to the class at the end.  Each student was told to take notes on important points during each presentation.

4.  Instructional design assumes outcomes can be measured in a reliable and valid way:  for this characteristic, I could see possibly adding a pre-test to see what students already know, before they conduct the research.  Then when they finish presenting to the class, each would take a follow-up assessment to see if they added to their prior knowledge.  It does have specific questions to guide them in their research and also to let them know the goals of the project, but an actual before/after assessment would benefit them as well.

5.  Instructional design is empirical, iterative, and self-correcting:  I was a little unclear of what this particular characteristic is.  With that in mind, I am going to take a stab in the dark and say that the data collected from the pre-assessment and then the post-assessment would give me an idea if the students had learned the information I wanted them to, or if I need to go back and tweak the project more to get the desired results.  I am not sure what changes I would make, and since I did not use this project this past school year, I am unable at this time to give any information on anything that might need to be changed. 

6.  Instructional design typically is a team effort:  this might be one of the hardest ones for me.  I typically find things on the internet and if needed re-create them based on the original concept.  My colleagues usually ask me to find something as they are unsure how to find it.  I do ask their opinions before making the final product, but usually, I am the one who designs it.  After reading this characteristic, I realize how important it is to collaborate on ideas rather than doing all the work myself.  It might also save me a lot of time spent on weekends “working” when I should be saving that time for my family. 

Since it has been at least a year since I used this project, I am not able at this time to give any exact information on what needs to be changed.  I plan to look over it in the coming year and make some of the changes already mentioned above, but I think with any lesson we design, until I use it and take these characteristics into consideration, it is impossible for me to make a decision on what changes I need to make. 

3.  In the 3^rd chapter, Reiser distinguishes instructional media from instructional design, excluding teacher, chalkboards, and textbooks from the definition of instructional media.  Why?  Would you consider teachers, chalkboards, and textbooks instructional media?  Is the purpose of instructional design to incorporate media into instruction?

First, I think Reiser separates instructional media from instructional design so that we understand how each has evolved over the past century.  More often than not, we automatically assume that instructional media is included in instructional design, but he wants us to see the difference between the two.  As far as excluding teachers, chalkboards, and textbooks from the idea of instructional media, I think one of the reasons he does is because it is a given that teachers and textbooks will be part of instruction.  However, I think he is underestimating the influence of the teacher and textbook in a classroom.  This year I tried a few times to create videos of me presenting the material and having students watch them at home during the week before coming to class.  Many said they missed the extra things I added and stories that related in our discussions.  They did not necessarily say they disliked the videos, but wanted more information than what was presented in each one. 

Instructional design, as the history in this chapter portrayed it, seemed to more about how to design instruction rather than incorporating media, at least until the 1970s when the military began creating training material for their use in training personnel.  While Reiser mentions at the end of the chapter that the two overlap, it seemed that the history of design focused more on how it was thought up and not on the media used.  I think ultimately, we should look at how to incorporate media into the design of instruction.  Otherwise, the media may not lend any purpose or value to our instruction. 

Tech Play 4

Tech Play 4
Content Objects

I chose to look at a few different items that I could use with my students.  Teaching Pre-AP students means I need to find resources that use the technology available while challenging them to use their minds to think deeper.  I have found many internet resources that do this, while making it fun for them to learn.

A few years ago, I ran across a website www.learningscience.org which houses several different interactive simulation games to teach the various concepts in science.  I love this website as it breaks the resources down by content, grade level, and concept.  For instance, I looked for simulations to use in the Human body unit we are currently studying in class.  This was under the Life Science link on the home page.  From there, I went to the 6-8 grade level section and found a variety of interactive games that allow my students to not only identify body systems, but also the organs in them.  This is more of a lower level Blooms activity, but they do have several others that allow students to think critically and some even have data to analyze.  The site is ran by a panel of science educators and scientists who evaluate all proposed sites and interactives for content and design before publishing them to the overall website.  They also use National Science Education Standards which means they do cover concepts students need to know.  A great website for new teachers who are looking for several concepts covered in one location.

I also found a website that was established by a science teacher in 2001.  It is called Biologycorner.com and from this site I used a Peppered Moth Simulation to help my students understand natural selection, adaptations, and variations in organisms.  The interactive allows the students to pretend they are birds eating moths.  They are able to choose the color of bark on the trees that the moths land on which changes which ones the bird eats.  If it sees a dark moth on a light colored tree, it is able to eat them easier and vice versa.  The kids loved playing with this one and it is actually one covered in the TEKS for their grade level.  The site does include the teacher's email address if you need to contact her, along with her facebook and blog site.  

Tonight, I played with an interactive simulation for natural selection called Charles Darwin Game on Science Discovery.  This site is run by Discovery Communications which houses Discovery Channel, Discovery Kids, and Science Channel to name a few.  The game gives an introduction by Charles Darwin and then allows students to learn a little more about natural selection before beginning the game.  Once the simulation begins, you choose three organisms from a fictitious species to add to the environment.  The simulation goes through 1 million years to see if your species will survive the test of time.  While it is processing, it adds catastrophic events, predators, and there was even a quarantine.  For some of these, you may use one of your two life preservers to add in an additional organism to see if it changes the chances of survival.  This particular game also has a quiz, biography for Charles Darwin, and glossary of terms.  There was also a credits selection which let me know where the information came from.  The credit went to Robert M Hazen, from Carnegie Institution of Washington's Geophysical Laboratory, and James Trefil who is a physicist at George Mason University.  Both are authors and speakers in their fields.  They also co-authored the book Science Matters which is referenced on the game site.  I read some of the comments and many of the people said they played for an hour or so before they were able to make their species survive.  I am happy to say I did it on my second try, but only with adding extra organisms into the mix.  

The Darwin game, I felt addressed all three of the TPCK sections of the model.  It allowed for learner-centered learning through them changing the species and mutations which covered the pedagogy.  The content knowledge was right on for our TEKS in 7th grade science.  It even expanded on the knowledge with a biography for Darwin.  Of course, the technology aspect of it allowed students to see the changes of their population of organisms over an extended time period.  Of course it all happens in minutes, but as simulations go, I believe it was pretty accurate in what does happen in different environments.  

I would also think that students might be able to later figure out their own simulation that relates to the area they live in and see if a specific species would live with or without variations.  While I know this was supposed to be more about creation tools, for my science classes, they want and need simulations that allow them to see what might happen instead of making a glog, blog, or even cartoon.  I love the idea of using those tools in my classes and will incorporate them into our normal routine.  However, most of the time, I am in search of things that allow them to play while learning about a concept.  

For my english classes, the glogs, blogs, and cartoons would be something I could add in and use when possible.  We do various research projects, book reports, and posters in and out of class.  These items would be a great way to incorporate the technology into a lesson that used to be completed on paper or poster board.  

Technology Play 3

Creativity tools allow students to take the content they have learned and use the knowledge to create a product to share that knowledge.  They only work if the student truly understands the concept taught.  There are many creativity tools available online and many are free to use.  Some allow you to save files on the site, while some allow a pdf to be saved and then printed at a later time.  

I looked at several different creativity tools during this activity.  Some were easier to use than others.  Glogster.edu allowed me to create a graphic poster with images and video from our summer vacation.  I am including a link below to the glog I created for my practice project.  

http://coolmrsd.edu.glogster.com/yellowstone-glog/

Two other items I looked at were for making comic strips.  Professor Garfield Comics was easy to use and allowed me to make funny panels with different characters and backgrounds.  It was fun taking the different characters from Garfield and giving them dialogue for various concepts in science.  One of the things I did not like however, was the limited backgrounds.  Most were rooms with different wallpaper which does not give students enough options to create comics about different concepts in science, especially if we are discussing biomes and ecosystems.  The other site was Make Beliefs Comix.  For this tool, I was able to not only add a variety of characters, but also many props and backgrounds.  The tools allowed for flipping characters around and re-scaling them to fit in the panels.  I did not like how you could not re-size the text in the bubbles, but was able to work around that with using different size bubbles.  I created a comic strip about muscles.  This is currently something we are learning about in class.  

I have also used Photostory and even different online video creation tools for my lessons in the past.  While some were easy to use, a few required more practice to make great presentations.  Once you learn how they work, it is easier to create the presentations you want and share with others. 

I chose this time to focus more on Glogster.edu.  This tool gave me many different poster options and allowed me to upload video and image files for use in my glogs.  Students would be able to use this creative site to make glogs about specific concepts, say biomes, and then add images, videos, and text to support their learning.  They can share these with other students and present to the class.  

This tool supports the constructivist theory that students are creative, innovative, and self-directed.  By using their prior knowledge, they are able to create something that adds information to the filing system in their brains.  Because it is self-directed, they are in charge of how much or little they actually learn.  It can be centered around a specific concept in the content area you teach, such as human body systems.  Students could be assigned a specific system in the human body and then find images and short video clips to present that information to others.  If this is set-up in a teacher account, these presentations may be shared with all classes instead of the one that student is in.  

I might also use this tool to give information I want students to know before they come to the next class.  I did not have a chance to really look at this capability, but I imagine it would allow me to add hyperlinks to websites as well.  For my english classes, I could see them using this tool to create an analysis of a book or short story we read in class.  They could use images and videos to further analyze the setting and even characters in the story.  We could also look at the author and create a poster on his or her life and achievements.  I could see history teachers using a glog to present time periods and even specific events of historical importance.  Through images and even short videos if available, they would bring history to life for others.  

Creativity tools are enjoyable to use.  Students can be as creative as they want and still learn in the process.  It appeals to their desire to socialize with others and they want to share the knowledge they know.  If we use these tools to motivate our students, they will want to learn more.  When they learn more, they become more confident in their ability to learn and share.  Standardized tests do not really give us a good sense of where students are in their learning.  They are more of a snapshot of memory retention, but do not truly show if students are able to take that knowledge and think critically.  Also, we give them choices and they just narrow down the options to the one they think most accurately answers the question.  Most quiz tools only allow for assessing that same memory retention.  Students will memorize the information required and then forget it right after they finish the test or quiz.  I see it everyday in class.  I have to refresh their minds periodically by going back and asking them to think about the concept and important points.  That is what quizzes and online test tools do.  They just make them remember concepts but not apply that knowledge to a deeper level of understanding.  Some interactive games allow for a little more creative thinking, but they do not give students a chance to create something of their own.  The knowledge they have is not shared with others.  That is why teachers should search for different creativity tools to use in the classroom.  Students will learn to use valuable tools that will allow them to be better prepared for the future when they are asked to become innovative and creative in their careers. 

Tech Play 2 - ePortfolios

This week we worked on finding a resource for eportfolios.  Of the two tech play assignments, this was probably the hardest for me to complete.  Since my eportfolio is a work in progress, I looked at two different sources which each had their own advantages.  

The first website I tried was FolioSpaces.org.  After playing for a while and looking through the different options, I decided I did not like this source.  They do offer up to 2GB free storage space which is helpful if you planned on putting a lot of files on it.  One of the features I do like are the pages you can create on the one site.  I added a professional page, but you can add as many different pages as you would like.  You can also set up groups and friend lists.  I am not sure how well this would work for my students, but I could see using it for the campus faculty and even district wide to showcase some of our best products.  The best point for this site is that it is a free resource if you keep it under the 2GB of storage space.  Several of the other proprietary sites charged a fee either by the month or year.  I do not like the idea of paying for something that I can get free elsewhere. 

After playing (very minutely) with FolioSpaces, I decided to see what Google sites offered in the guise of an eportfolio.  I found that I really liked the product.  It was very easy to pick both a layout and background design that I liked.  I chose to set-up a teacher site and it automatically added the teaching philosophy and even the domains of pedagogy.  I will only need to add my information in to complete it.  Again, I have not added much beyond my name and email address.  I would use this though and only need time to decide which artifacts I feel should be on this page.  While I could make other pages, the sections of my eportfolio already give me enough information to add all that I need for teaching.  Great product, easy to use, works with my gmail account, and above all, FREE. 

For my students, I would want something everyone would be able to access.  I think the Google sites make a great eportfolio.  Again it offers different types of pages, and ease of selecting layouts and backgrounds.  The only drawback is that students must have a gmail account to sign on.  I know some districts locally, assign their students an account so teachers are able to interact with them regularly.  This may be something our district should look into.  Another product I use in my classes that works great and is already installed on their laptops is One Note.  I love this product as it is very easy to use.  The students are able to add their own work in pages under section titles.  This would allow them to add either projects or writing samples throughout the school year.  They can save it to their number or even another device and keep adding to it year after year.  Of course the only down side at this time is the availability of the program.  Not all computers have the upgraded version of Microsoft Office which has this tool. 

Overall, I felt that the concept of eportfolio's is a valid idea.  I know that as a teacher, I should keep up with my progress as I mature in my profession.  It is also nice to know I can add my resume and potential employers would have access to it.  They would be able to see different lessons I have created and even outside hobbies to show I am involved in my community.    

The link to my google eportfolio:
https://sites.google.com/site/mrsdodson27/