Technology and Learning

As a learner, I have been exposed to many “effects with” technology tools which caused my interest to focus on computer programming in college.  I have learned to work with programming languages for machine coding and artificial intelligence to generate the required results.  Today, machine code and the programming languages that I have used may be now considered primitive and cumbersome.  But my learning experience was very helpful to realize the “effects of” this technology.   There are programming languages that I may not know now, but I have learned how to create and understand the concept of computer algorithm and logic.  We use the same concept and knowledge when using any programming languages to accomplish the desired output.

As an educator, I teach adult students who require learning solutions that are relevant to their experiences and needs.   I currently teach business and office computer applications and my students consider this technology helpful for workplace readiness and practical use.  There have been a few versions for MS Office Suite and we are bombarded with many web 2.0 applications that can generate the same productivity results.   The “effects of” technology can take place when the students are able to understand the major functionality and process of using the technology and eventually transfer the learning to any productivity software.  Regardless of the fast-paced technological changes, students realize that their education was worthwhile if they are able to apply what they have learned to their career or lifestyle. 

I find technology-based learning effective when it involves flexibility, interactivity, and gives me the ability to move through the lessons at my own pace.  I have completed five online courses towards MAET and I have experienced learning that facilitates self-direction in me.  If F2F learning format can fulfill my learning needs, then I don’t mind being in an instructor-led classroom where instructors are the facilitators of my learning. 

Aesthetic and Affect Components of Learning

How do "affect" and "aesthetic" components of learning relate to your experiences with the audio and digital storytelling projects?

The "affect" and "aesthetic" components of learning directly relate to the experiences I had while working with the audio and digital story projects.  The "affect" element reflects my passion, motivation, and inspiration to teaching and learning.  The "aesthetic" element shows my creativity and vision of having my audience get the intentional learning experience that I would like to reveal.  Understanding how to balance these two components in my work will help keep my audience engaged with the projects.  My hope is that as my audience watches or listens to my work, I will be able to embody the relevant ideas, feelings, and perceptions that they can relate to in order to further their learning.

Powerful Learning (Part 2) - Digital Story

THE STORY:  Four students  have been in their career “hang-ups” and bumps when they lost their jobs.  But they have decided to go back to school hoping to “un-slump” themselves as they acquire more work skills needed to find another job.

The teacher partnered with her students to make their stories happen by teaching them how to explore and research occupational information and get the skills required for job searching.

In this 12-week course, we focused on one topic particularly the Interviewing Strategies to illustrate an integrated learning framework called cognitive apprenticeship.  To complete this course, the students completed a mock job interview with an actual HR representative from a local staffing company.

THE ISSUE:  Before they took this course, these students had been going to real job interviews. Unfortunately, they did not receive any requests for a second interview.  It will be very helpful during this course for these students to get feedback from a professional interviewer from the real job world.   
 
THE TWIST:  This course has been revised to give more real-world opportunities to students.  Every student has to call the HR representative to make an appointment for the mock job interview which will take place at the interviewer’s office.  The interview questions are based on the job position the student desires to pursue.  Now these students can identify what works in the real world and what needs to be fine-tuned.

The use of cognitive apprenticeship was an effective instructional paradigm for this learning environment.  To further understand this framework, let us consider the following four dimensions that constitute any learning environment: content, method, sequence, and sociology.

----------

All rights reserved to Random House Children`s Books, the publisher of "Oh the Places You Go" by Dr. Seuss.

Thank you ...

•  Amir Hirelowitz for giving me permission to use the animation in this project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_2muj6fxpc

• Joni Rosema, M-TEC Career Services Coordinator, for letting me join your class
• Jason, Anita, Shannon, Jing  - Career Success students
• Val Putnam, M-TEC Director, for all the books and other relevant  resources 

 
This video was created for my digital story project in CEP 800, MSU-MAET, Spring 2012. I have no intention of violating any copyright laws.