Trends & Issues Various Settings

I find it very interesting that we now have so much technology in our society.  It is used world wide  for education of children through adults.  We use it in our schools, our medical facilities and in our work places. I find that we use it a lot more than I realized.  Hospitals use it to educate their doctors and nurses.  They are able to discuss medical conditions with many other health care professionals just by using a link.  They can get help on a particular case which is good for the patient and the physicians.  In our pre-k through 12 schools we are teaching more about how to use technology and integrating it into our lessons.   It is a necessity for children to learn to use technology in order for them to be able to function in society.  We use technology in all jobs in some way or another.  In post-secondary schools  technology is used and taught.  We can attend school online just by clicking a link. We can share a professor with another school with cameras and a link to that camera.  Technology is everywhere we turn and it can no longer be avoided.  As a Kindergarten teacher I use it in my everyday classroom.  I have 4 desktop computers, 4 laptop computers, 5 iPads, 3 iPods and a Promethean board.  We use all of these technologies everyday is some way or another.  I can also use my technology at work to collaborate with other teachers in my district and get help with things I don't understand.  So I think in my profession I use my technology very much the same way a Doctor may use his.  I teach with it and I can get help and get educated by other with it.

As far as teaching our students in a world that is be over run by people, I think we are doing a good job.  I think sometimes we are trying to hard to teach children to problem solve by giving them thing to solve that in a lot of ways is way our of their reasoning.  I think we need to slow down a little and get back to the basics.  I think we do our children an inservice in a lot of ways by asking them to grow up to quickly.  We don't let kids be kids anymore.  We have a system where were are supposed to be leaving no kids behind, but they are being left.  We change learning standers all the time.  For example we take learning standards that were being taught to say 6th graders and make those the standards for 4th graders, then there are two grades of students that are expected to just know those standards that they were never taught and never will be.  We need to slow down!

Human Performance and Technology

I am a third year teacher and I teach kindergarten, I would say that a performance problem I face is with my aid that helps out our team.   She has a schedule of what to do, where to be and when and for the most part she follows it.  The problem we have is that if we don’t give her something to do, she disappears and we cannot find her.  We are trying to find a way to get her to stay in our classrooms even if we don’t ask her to do something.  We need her to help monitor and co-teach with us.  I think that if we maybe offer her some time of incentive maybe she would hang around and help a little more.  I think an incentive would work, just as it works with the students we teach, and I know that our principal offers us incentive’s to do things she expects as well.  Sometimes all we need is a blue jean pass to put a little pep in our step so to say.

According to the book performance support can be defined as a system that provides performers with varying levels of access to support information and tools at the moment of need. I think a performance support system would help with my issues.  I think if we had a system in place for our aid maybe she would feel more important and more part of the team.

We need to collaborate as a team and discuss our aid performance. We could each collect data on when she is in our rooms, in her office working, or just MIA.  We could come up with incentives to help keep her on track and meet once a month to evaluate how we think our system is working.

We have had seminars at work that I believe would be considered informal learning.  Usually we are being taught, but in a fun and casual way.  I think most people learn better when they are interested in what they are learning and it is presented in a way that feels more laid back. I believe all learning can be manages in some way or another, but I don’t feel that it is always necessary to do so.  Some times we just need to sit back and let learning take it natural course. If the learner was taught effectively and enjoyed what they learned they would naturally pass on the knowledge to others.

Evaluating, Implementing & Managing Instructional Programs & Projects

I looked at Rossis Five-Domain Evaluation Model and  and Patton's Utilization-Focused Evaluation. Rossi's Five-Domain Evaluation Model was developed to be useful. Rossi said that evaluation should be tailored to fit local needs, resources and the type of program it will be use on.   This model of evaluation consist of five steps per say. 1st - needs assessments which asks is there a need for this program. 2nd - theory assessment which asks if the program set up in a way it will work. 3rd - implementation assessment which asks was this program implemented properly. 4th - impact assessment asks did the program have an impact on its intended target. 5th - efficiency assessment asks if it is cost effective.  Patton's Utilization-Focused Evaluation is an evaluation done for and with specific intended users  and specific uses.  U-FE's one real rule is that the utility of an evaluation is to be judged by the degree to which it will be used.  This model has steps as well 9 to be exact. They are 1. Conduct a readiness assessment
2. Identify the "primary intended users" and develop a working relationship with them.
3. Conduct a situational analysis
4. Identify the "primary intended uses"
5. Focus the evaluation
6. Design the evaluation
7. Collect, analyze, and interpret the evaluation data
8. Continually facilitate evaluation use
9. Conduct a metaevaluation
Both of these models are good, but I think that U-FE is more throughout.  However I think in my career I would come closer to using Rossi's.  It seems to me that I could use Rossi's model easier with Kindergartner's.  With most most things I teach I have to ask those questions to evaluate my lessons.

Theories & Models of Learning & Instruction

According to Google, epistemology is the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion. And Google defines instructional methods as the process by which instruction occurs, whether that might be lecture, class discussion, small group discussion, simulation, experience, or individual project.

Ok, if I understand my readings right epistemology is pretty concrete and can be proven.  It is not based on opinion but by fact.  Instructional methods are the methods (opinions) of how we learn.   Some differences in the two would be in how instruction is delivered. When I was in high school knowledge was just handed down, more by word of mouth and text book readings.  Today we as educators are expected to do more that just hand down knowledge.  We are expected to present the information in a way that intrigues our students and peaks their interest to learn the information presented.  We offer a great deal of tools to help students learn.  We have technology, we encourage students to lean on each other for help and support, and we allow more hands on opportunities.  In today’s classrooms we encourage curiosity where as back in the day, so to say we expected our students to sit down, shut up, and listen.

I would say that I take a positivists stance on learning.  I think we have to knowledge in and apply it to our own experiences to fully understand something.  We can apply something learned to a life experience then we tend to remember it.  I will use math instruction as an example of my own learning. I can go to a math class and do all that I am asked to do.  You can give me all the information and I retain it only long enough to take a test on it, but when you give me the same information and show me how it applies in my life and we remember it much longer than just on a test.  To this day I still struggle with algebra, mainly because I am not applying it to my life ever.  I think if math instruction was given to me in away that it applied to my life I might still be able to do some algebra with out having to have it explained to me all over again.

The differences in how problems are solved by behaviorist and constructivist are quite different.  The constructivist takes in the environment and surroundings.  They learn from everyday life, so learning isn’t as concrete, and each person learns from their own experiences. What this means is that each individual could perceive the knowledge differently. A behaviorist solves problems based on observable events and behaviors instead of self.  It is more concrete and can be proven. I think these two approaches can cause learners to bloom or rebel. I think it is important to allow students to learn from their own experiences instead of trying to force feed them facts.