Quentin's e-Portfolio
ETEC 530: CONSTRUCTIVIST STRATEGIES FOR
E-LEARNING
ETEC 530 was a great opportunity to think deeply about the reasons why things are done a certain way. By thinking through constructivism specifically, I was able to articulate and apply these ideas to my own classroom settings in a fresh and creative ways. As such, this course has had a direct impact on the most important beneficiaries of the program, my students.
Artifact 1: Constructivism Mind Maps
Constructivism is a teaching theory that puts the learning in the hands of the learner. It is learning by doing, just like you learn a lot simply by cooking. There are recipes in my recipe file that have writing on them to indicate necessary adaptations or changes that I wanted to make. We learn by experimenting and sometimes we find that revisions are necessary. Constructivism is a bit of a fluid concept and because of its learner-centredness there are many connections to be made.
To showcase this in this course, we had an ongoing assignment of creating a mind map to illustrate our understanding of constructivism. The mind map was a great exercise in visualizing my own thoughts of the key ideas surrounding constructivism. I created one mind map through the process and this illustrated the connections that I saw among and between the various facets. I then took those ideas and focused in on the essentials and created a second mind map which effectively summarizes the key tenets of constructivism. .
Artifact 2: Reflective Paper on Constructivism in the Classroom
As I continued to think through constructivism, I had the opportunity to reflect on using the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) which I had just begun using in my classes for a few months. The QFT is a process to engage people in asking more of their own questions. And not only that, to ask good questions. The authors of the book and website assert that students are not asking their own questions and that educators must do more to help them.
I saw the opportunity to connect these ideas surrounding question generation to the emerging trend of Project Based Learning (PBL). This reflection paper highlights how my use of these approaches have greatly improved my classroom environment as students now own their own questions and, therefore, their own research. I have become more of a facilitator of the research process. Moreover, I found that when students find their questions are lacking they have the opportunity to revisit their questions. Knowledge building is ongoing and can, and must, be assessed on a continual basis . I have blogged about that idea more extensively for the QFT organization here.
I believe that my effective use of the QFT will lend itself to greater and more effective use of PBL in my own classroom. In fact, I am excited to be reading through PBL starter kit: To-the-point advices, tools, and tips for your first project in middle or high school by the Buck Institute for Education. As with my students, continuing to revise and refine my own skills as an life long learner allows me greater appreciation for the enhanced end product that we will all enjoy in the classroom setting.
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