Sunday, January 31, 2010

Keller's ARCS Model

We all want new technological tools to be used to enhance productivity and promote creativity at work and school. However, the tools themselves cannot do the job; students, employees, pedagogues have to be motivated to use these tools properly. Motivation is a main aspect to achieving a successful outcome at school and or work.  The best teaching methods will not succeed if the student is not motivated to learn, but if his only goal is to pass the test, and at work, the unmotivated employee will only do the job required without putting any additional thought into projects.
Keller’s ARCS model points out important points such as the need to grab a student’s attention, to develop relevance to matters with which the student is familiar, to help students build confidence through encouragement and setting attainable goals during the learning process. Moreover, satisfaction is achieved through positive feedback and rewards for students and employees.
An example is my class where students are currently working through the service learning program on developing a website for one of the local chapters for the TSA organization.  To achieve the desired outcome, students have to be wholly motivated and understand the importance of the project.  Following Keller's ARCS Model helps in generating interest by the students which inspires motivation.  For attention, curiosity was stimulated toward the project. Students work collaboratively and build on each other's strengths. Moreover, through brainstorming and generating ideas, their confidence in their abilities grow. Students understand the relevance of the project to their professional development. The project is relevant because the students build on their previous knowledge, use creativity, learn through researching and developing new skills which they share in their groups and outside their group with other class members. As the semester is coming to conclusion, so is the project. The confidence has been developed in the students through the project because they controlled the process and the final outcome is result of their work.  I know that students are motivated, because at the end of the each class, they continue to work and do not run out.

Reference:
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Keller, J. M. (2006, June 20). Motivation Design. Retrieved January 26, 2010, from : http://www.arcsmodel.com/home.htm

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Connectivism



Through the use of social networks, my learning is not limited to one location or one group of people. Due to social networks, my circle from where my knowledge is generated has expanded. I learn not only from my close circle of co-workers or friends, but also from people I have never met, but with whom I share a common professional interest. We exchange knowledge through listserv or through other social networks such as YouTube and blogs. The exchange of innovative thinking is made easier through social networks since new ideas can be easily debated and discussed without any particular limitations or boundaries such as time and location.
Their is no one particular tool which has facilitated learning more than any other as I find the web to be is a vast resource of information. There are several options as to where to find immediate answers or to look for information as to where the best answers are. The first is to post the question on one of the social networks where there is an interest of the same topic and usually an instantaneous response will be generated. Another option is to use Open University such as http://oyc.yale.edu/; I don’t have to be enrolled in a particular class to listen to a lecture if I have a particular interest on a topic and wish to expand my knowledge.

Educause Learning Initiative Annual Meeting 2008

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Collaboration

Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group,” as Rheingold proposed in his discussion of the evolution of Wikipedia as a collectively developed encyclopedia? How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?

I believe that as humans we have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group.” There are many examples throughout history, especially in the development of technological tools. A recent example is the development of Google's new “Wave” tool. Developed by group of people at Google, it encompasses the instantaneous of an Instant message chat and an email and can work as a motivating collaborative tool. Most computer games and softwares have all been developed by a combined effort of a group utilizing individual skills. We even create study groups in college to facilitate learning.
In his speech on collaboration, Howard Rheingold emphasizes important points, his first presumed cliché statement is that we “succeed by destroying and dominating competition.” However, he continues saying that we also succeed through collaborative effort and when we all work in concert. For example, large corporations merge for the purpose to extend and produce better products, rather than working against each other because it is in their mutual self interest. Another good example introduced by Rheingold is the Open Source products, such as Linux, Mozilla, Apache, Wikipedia, and the free Open University lectures posted by Berkley University and Yale. These free available resources are popular because they are good products in view of the fact that each programmer contributes his knowledge continuously improving these products.
Technology plays an important factor in education and Web2.0, and especially accolade constructivist principles. With Web1.0, the information was only communicated through technology to the public, with Web 2.0 it has became a discourse through the use of social networks. Web2.0 encourages dialog with teachers and with peers, asks questions and nurture a learner’s curiosity. Through the use of technology, it is important to let students analyze, create, classify and accept a learner’s independence and initiative.

Reference:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html