Social Learning Theory

One of psychology's most famous debates is the argument of nature versus nurture. Does genetics have more of an influence on our behavior and personality, or are we products of our environment? Julian B. Rotter’s Social Learning Theory supports the position that environment plays a larger role in the development of behaviors and personality than that of instinctual drive. Rotter's Social Learning Theory was developed during a time when the prevailing belief of personality development was influenced by Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory held that behavior was influenced by inner forces operating below the level of consciousness, or interactions between the three components of the mind, id,ego, and superego.  Albert Bandura called Psychoanalytic theory “pseudo explanations” because they ignored the complexity of human responsiveness. The ideas for Social Learning Theory was formulated in Brooklyn New York where Rotter was born to Jewish immigrant parents in October 1916. His father operated a successful business within the city until the Great depression hit, Bonnie R. Strickland wrote in Rotter’s obituary published in the Journal American Psychologist, that growing up in this time period is what led Rotter to realize how much environmental influencer's can shape one’s life. Rotter’s first work Social Learning Theory and Clinical Psychology was published in 1954, the book was written as an attempt to account for human behavior in relatively complex social situations. To this day Rotters ideas shape the way we view behavior and personality, and psychologist such as Bandura and Mearns continue to expand and evolve the theories that Rotter put forth.

I've been thinking a lot about Rotter's Social Learning Theory and how it applies to my life, my son is due to be born in less than a month, I want to make sure the environment I provide for him is one where he can grow into a moral and successful adult. As Rotter says we are products of our environment, children learn from observation and imitation, I need to set a good example for him. My parents didn't finish traditional high school, and neither received a college education. I'm the first in my family to graduate from college, and I would like my son to follow in my footsteps. I'm going to be sure teach him the importance of education, but I also realize that he might have different ambitions and need to respect whatever it is he wants to do. Growing up my mother always seemed to know what I was up to, like she had eyes in the back of her head. I suspect she might have unknowingly been using Rotter's formula for predicting behavior, I look forward to developing these super powers after Marcelo is born.

Julian B. Rotter

link

A reflection about relecting

This week was Thanksgiving, a time to sit and reflect about the good things in our lives. With our busy schedules it can be hard to take a moment to sit and reflect, but the holidays let us have time to focus on the important things, like family, friends, health, etc. We shouldn't just reflect during the holidays, its important to remind ourselves of how fortunate we are, especially during the rough patches that crop up from time to time. I'm a big fan of apple's watch, with the recent update it started giving me reminders about taking a moment to breathe and meditate. Usually I would just dismiss this notification, but if we can't take a minute out of our day to breathe then maybe we need to change something in our lives. Here lately every time I receive the notification I've been taking the time to breathe, during these sessions I like to focus on my goals and the positive things in my life. I'd like to encourage all my readers to try to find time each day to close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing and the positive things you have going for you. 

Learning from Experience

My fiancé and I had our baby shower last weekend, all of our closest family and friends attended and it only made us more excited about our little peanut. We're first time parents and it was an eye opening experience unwrapping all the gifts, we got stuff we never would of thought we needed! We got a stroller and a travel system (they do the same thing but I guess they're different), a wipe warmer to keep the babies butt happy, a bottle steamer to keep everything sanitary. It was a little overwhelming to say the least but I think we got everything we need. 

At the entry way to the hall we had a advice box where our guest could provide us with parenting tips. One that particularly stood out to me said " don't worry about making mistakes, you'll learn from your experiences, we were all first time parents at one point." I don't know who provided this advice but it helped put me at ease. I've been stressing out lately with the due date inching closer and closer, I've even developed a twitch in my left eye that won't seem to go away from all the stress. It's not that I'm worried about being a bad parent, it's just that I don't want to mess up, I want make sure everything is done right. Reading John Dewey this week reinforced that I need to breathe and stop thinking to much into things, I'm going to make mistakes but those mistakes will lead to knowledge because all knowledge is gained through experience. I'm going to learn as I go through doing, I might change a diaper wrong or struggle with getting the car seat perfectly leveled but its not the end of the world and I will only make that mistake once. 

I also have the benefit of a great support system of experienced parents and teachers, if any of my readers would like to provides me some advice please comment below :-)

Communities of Practice

This weeks in my Foundations of Learning Theory Class we focused on Communities of Practice or CoP's. You may find yourself asking, as I did, what in the world are CoP's? Etienne Wenger defines CoP's as a congregation of people who come together to partake in collective learning in a shared domain or human endeavor. Communities of Practice differ from clubs or other groups because they aren't just a gathering of people with a common interest but a group of people who come together to hone their skills and learn from one another.

Members of CoP's are all practitioners of a craft or domain of knowledge, while its perfectly fine for members to differ in expertise, they should all have a grasp on the area of focus. The benefit of this collective learning is that members can share knowledge with one another which can lead to greater competency for all.

An example of a CoP is a group of local wood workers who come together twice a month to share their latest projects, the members always document their work with pictures so during their meetings they can show their process. During these meetings the wood workers share best practices and tips with one another. Since the members share their process so that others can learn from and provide feedback this makes this group a CoP rather than just a wood working club.

What CoP's are you a member of? Share below in the comments. 

Is the future classroom strictly digital?

Seymour Papert in his book Mindstorms talks about the strong emotions that are provoked when the subject of a future without schools is brought up. Papert says that many people envision a dystopian world where kids are running wild in a Lord of the Flies scenario. Papert says that people who imagine this model are envisioning a world where we get rid of brick and mortar schools completely. What those who decry the idea of a schoolless future can't seem to grasp is that we're not getting rid of schools, just digitizing them, so we can reap the benefits of what computers and the Internet bring. Computers are tools that provide teachers and students a new way to teach and learn, we shouldn’t fear this change just because it’s different then how we learned when we were in school. What is becoming increasingly evident though is we’re moving towards a future where the entirety of lessons and course work is going to be done through digital mediums. In this model teachers move into a role of facilitator and learning becomes more student centered. This is a natural evolution of the traditional classroom, in this model students have the reigns and teachers act as a guide to their educational pursuits. I believe Students will still attend class and have a face to face with an instructor, but all course work and a lot of instruction will be conduced through LMS's. What do you guys think, will we ever come to a point where all course work and instruction is strictly digital?  

Connectivism

Recently I have noticed a extreme lag in my desktop computer while doing graphically intensive task, usually this is a sign a component is on its last legs. My suspicions were confirmed when I took my case apart and heard something rattling around inside. As I was shaking my computer around like a mad man a plastic stud and a loose spring fell out of the case onto the floor. 

I had no idea where these loose parts came from, but knew it couldn't be good. I turned to Google to source the answer for me, after scouring multiple blogs I came across someone who found themselves in the same conundrum. The user was able to identify the part as the arm that holds the heat sink to the graphics card, others were chiming in with their own experiences. I was able to determine that eventually my card would fail due to excessive heat and this was the most likely reason I had been experiencing lags during task that required some extra extra oomph.

The article that we read from Christopher Guder identifies the basic principles that make up the learning theory of connectivism. Connectivism has been called the learning theory for the digital age, the basic principles that make up this theory is as follows

• Learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions.
• Learning is a process and connecting specialized nodes of information sources.
• Learning may reside in non-human appliances. 
• Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.
• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activity.
• Decision making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. 

In my search for discovering the cause of my computers hard ware failure I exercised many of the principles of connectivism. I turned to a diversity of opinions in order to narrow down a solution for my issue. I connected to specialized nodes of information sources when I accessed a forum discussing hardware failure on computers. I found the most up to date post so I could ensure that I had the most accurate information available. 

There's no denying that technology has had a major impact on the way we learn, we have access to a almost unlimited amount of information. Learning has become more collaborative, we use others understanding of subjects or problems in order to form our own understanding. We have access to the most up to date information the minute it becomes available. Technology allows the learner to be an active participant in their learning, which makes learning more student centered. The learning theory of connectivism explains the processes of how modern technology is used in the learning process, and the impact tech has had on students and teachers. Technology isn't static and we may find ourselves needing to redefine this theory as tech like virtual and augmented reality change the way students learn. 

Wearable Tech and Education

Interesting article by Courtney Pepe about how wearables can be a tool use to promote education, give it a read. 

GAFE

Google is a company that has become nearly synonymous with the modern internet. Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as a research project while they were at Stanford University (Google). Since then Google has branched off from just being an internet search site and now offers a multitude of products for consumer, business, and educational use. Google Apps for Education is Google’s powerful software productivity suite that is offered to schools and educational institutions for free. Googles products for consumers are free for use as well, but under the conditions that information gathered is use to provided targeted ads. Google’s has had complaints filed from the Electric Frontier Foundation and other critics due to privacy concerns but Jonathan Rochelle director of GAFE in a 2015 blog post ensures that Google is committed to keeping student information private and secure (Rochelle, 2015). Google is a signer of the Student Privacy Pledge an organization that was created to ensure educational software avoids violating student security and privacy, student’s information isn’t gathered so they are not shown the target marketing that makes up so much of Google’s other business (Rochelle, 2015). Marty Bray the chief technology and information officer for the Forsyth County Schools in Georgia brings up a valid point, “It is important to re-emphasize that it is critical for any school system contemplating adoption of any digital resource to review all agreements and ensure that any user data collected is used only to facilitate instruction and conforms with community expectations” he suggest that school site should actively monitor for collection of data even if the agreements say that data mining isn’t taking place (Bray, 2016).

            Lehmann’s and Mcleod’s praise Google Apps for Education in Chapter 13 of their book What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technology, they call Googles apps for education a powerful tool for educational leaders and point out that it is easier to set up than competitors like Microsoft’s offerings (Lehmann, Mcleod, 2011, pg 153-155). Google makes implementation of the software suite a breeze with many avenues for support and training offered online, all free of charge. Shannon McClintock Miller a librarian at Van Meter School District helped convince the school into “going Google” she says
“one of the main goals of education is to prepare young people for the future and the world that surrounds them” (Miller, 2013). She is confident that GAFE is the tool that can make achieving this goal a reality, by providing teachers with a tool box that teaches essential skills, promotes collaboration and experimentation students are better prepared for higher education and future careers. 

Apple's Swift Playground

Apple's Swift Playground is a great app for kids to learn basic programming skills in the swift programming language. Apple describes Swift as a revolutionary new app for iPad that makes learning Swift interactive and fun. Solve puzzles to master the basics using Swift — a powerful programming language created by Apple and used by the pros to build many of today’s most popular apps. Then take on a series of challenges and step up to more advanced creations. Swift Playgrounds requires no coding knowledge, so it’s perfect for students just starting out. It also provides a unique way for seasoned developers to quickly bring ideas to life. And because it’s built to take full advantage of iPad, it’s a first-of-its-kind learning experience.

Check it out!

3D Printing and Education

3D Printing Revolution 

The printing press brought about an information revolution, its creation allowed information to be reproduced quicker and more accurate than the traditional method of copying by hand. This invention drove the cost of books down, and made them accessible to the poor. Before the printing press, books were rare and could only be found at academic and religious institutions or in the homes of the very wealthy. 3D printers one day may do the same for consumer goods. 

Sites like Thingiverse host designs that can be downloaded and printed out on your home 3D printer. You can find things like chess pieces, car door handles, and even the instructions to 3D print the body for a full size car. Home 3D printers are getting cheaper the Makerbot Mini can be found for less than $1000 bucks and FlashForge's printer has raving reviews and only cost $500! In the future instead of going to the store or waiting days for an item to ship you might just download the design and click print right from the connivence of your own home. 

PLN

It's not the destination that matters its the journey; and what a journey it has been. I went into this course not knowing what to expect, when I found out we had to design a site, I was both excited and a little intimidated. I had tried to learn to code in the past but never had the attention span or the drive to master the art. I remember first logging into blogger and being instantly relieved, the site is a breeze to use and offers users a lot of control over layout and design.

I have learned a lot of invaluable skills that will help me become a better educator once I take the plunge and step into the classroom. Having just completed my bachelors in December, I have yet to enter the world of teaching. This class and the others in the program have given me more confidence in my abilities and after my son is born I'm going to start subbing to gain experience before I eventually pursue a position within a district.

But I will have developed one heck of a Personal Learning Network by the time I'm ready to stand in front of the whiteboard (or the digital whiteboard). PLN's were a foreign concept to me before taking this class, but once I understood just how indispensable they were, I was bought in. As I talked about in an earlier post I was happy to find that the teaching community is so warm and welcoming. Our insructor Ed Warkentin encouraged us to participate in twitter chats and follow other Tech Ed leaders in order to grow our PLN. It was through my PLN that I was able to connect with Jimmy Casas one of the authors of What Connected Educators Do Differently, I interviewed Jimmy on the benefits of being a connected educator and what we can expect for the future of education (link to interview).

One of my biggest challenges is going to be pushing myself to continue blogging and growing my PLN, but I'm ready to take on that challenge. I've set reminders on my iPhone to write a post weekly on my blog, and to send daily tweets. I've learned so much in this course and its bittersweet that its ending so soon but I'm stoked about how much I've grown in these six weeks. To my fellow ET735 classmates thank you for the constructive feedback! I look forward to seeing your blogs blossom and stealing from your PLN's ;-P. 

It's a Boy!!!

We just found out we're having a baby boy!!!

Introducing Marcelo Arcadio Melville 

Trending on Twitter

This week Pokemon Go was trending big time on twitter! If you're one of the few people who haven't been bitten by the bug or formed an opinion on the game let me give you a brief overview. Pokemon Go is an augmented reality game by Niantic Inc that allows users to catch Pokemon that are overlaid in the real world by using a smartphone's camera and gyroscope. The game promotes exercise by requiring players to get out of the house in order to hunt down Pokemon, there's also a social aspect to the game because players can choose 1 of 3 teams and take down gyms together. I participated in an Edtech chat on the topic and was happy to see that a lot of educators are seeing the game through a positive lens. I brought up the fact that a lot of the gyms and pokestops are street art and statues since I started playing I've gotten the chance to discover art within my city that I otherwise probably would have never seen. Another educator brought up the fact that Pokemon Go is a numbers game, it takes strategy to level up and math skills are definitely utilized.

Not to mention the health benefits of the game! Pokemon Go has gotten more people to willingly exercise than any health app or fitness tracker ever has. I walked 10 miles in a single day without even realizing it!

What's your opinion on the education potential of games like Pokemon Go? Comment below.

Ed Tech Flipboard Mag

View my Flipboard Magazine.

PLN

Personalized Learning Network 

Social media is one of the most important tools that connected educators have at their disposal. Sites like twitter and facebook, make it easy for to educators to collect, collaborate, communicate, and create with other teachers from around the world. Personal Learning Networks or PLNs, are networks of connected educators that share resources and ideas in order to become more effective teachers. 

Our instructor Ed Warkentin has issued us the challenge of becoming connected educators and building our own Personal Learning Networks. The go-to tool has been twitter for its ease of use and large user base. You would think that sifting through all the content to find quality post would be difficult, but the amount of educators contributing to the site makes finding valuable content and resources a breeze.

had hesitations at first about reaching out to others, but I was pleasantly surprised just how helpful and welcoming the teaching community is. One of the most fun assignments we've done was a video interview with a connected educator. For my interview, I reached out to Jimmy Casas one of the authors of "What Connected Educators Do Differently" he agreed to sit down with me and answer some questions about ed tech and the future of education. Our conversation was one of the most inspiring and inspirational experiences I've had on my education journey. You can find that interview here.

It is truly a small world after all, since creating my twitter account I've connected with educators from Africa, Germany, and France. I've also enjoyed viewing my classmate's blogs and twitter postings. With online classes, you rarely get the chance to interact with other students outside of the class forums. It's nice to have another platform for interaction, and I've been impressed with the content and resources that my fellow students have shared.

I recently picked up a Samsung Gear VR and they have an app that allows you to interact with others in virtual meeting spaces. I imagine that once the technology becomes more prevalent these spaces will become another place for educators to network with one another. What Do you guys think? Will VR will become another PLN tool in the near future? Comment below. 

Follow, Find, Take

This week's assignment required us to FOLLOW a connected educator on twitter. I stumbled upon David Geurin's twitter account by accident, and I'm lucky that I did.  David started out as a highly motivated basketball coach and worked his way up to being a High School Principal. He recently authored a book about how Social Media can help educators, by subscribing to his blog you can get a free copy! Go check it out . David's twitter account is a gold mine for connected educators, I recommend everyone go click that blue follow button. 

For the FIND part of this assignment, I recommend the blogging tool Grammarly. Grammarly is a plugin for the Google Chrome browser that proofreads your post for you. The free version is plenty powerful but they also offer a paid version that promises, even more, capabilities. 

As for the TAKE action portion of this assignment, I plan on taking part in some edtech chats on twitter this week. My interview with Jimmy Casas inspired me to reach out to other edtech leaders so that I can get involved in the community and better prepare myself for the future. I also plan on doing some renovation to my blog to make it more visually pleasing to my visitors. 

Insightful interview with Jimmy Casas 

Author of What Connected Educators Do Differently 

Rich Miner Co-founder of Android is

Starting an Education Focused Project

Within Google

Android Open Source Project was a major player in shaping the modern smart phone. They challenged apples walled garden approach and invited developers to add their own flair and modify their OS. I'm curious to see what Miner plans on bringing to the education world, you can read more on 9 to 5. 

   

 Educational Website Review

Guest Blog

Hey everyone today I have special treat for you Maxwell Debbas wrote a piece about the great how-to site Lynda. Check it out below and be sure to follow the link at the end of the post to check out Max's awesome blog.





One of my favorite teachers is a little lady named Lynda.com

Lynda.com (www.lynda.com) -

Lynda.com helps challenge the process of 'how-to' videos.  While anybody can make a YouTube tutorial video, Lynda.com only allows experts in the industry to teach the video courses.  This makes for an incredibly professional experience, one where you feel like you are actually taking a class and not listening to some kid chew gum while he shows you how to create a blur in Photoshop with his Family Guy computer background.

Lynda has courses in nearly every aspect of business, creative, and technology subject.  Each of these are broken down into categories, sub-categories, and even by lesson sections.  By breaking each course down into shorter videos, the courses are easily digestible and simple to re-watch areas that may be confusing.  Lynda also has transcripts of each course!  If you learn better by reading instead of watching, you are all set.

Lynda can be used heavily in a flipped classroom environment.  It allows at-home learning through professional videos created by some of the most respected people in the field.

I have used Lynda to have my students complete a Photoshop course at home, which allowed me to focus on helping them answer questions or work on larger projects in class.

Lynda.com was purchased by Linkedin last year which didn’t change the site much at all, however Microsoft recently purchased Linkedin.  I do not expect many changes, but if there are any, I can only imagine Lynda.com to become a greater resource.

Tip: Many educational institutions and libraries have Lynda.com subscriptions which give you a free Lynda.com account!  Before you go drop the monthly fee, make sure you don’t already have free access.

peace.

-Max

Maxwellsmart.co

Poll Everywhere!

Poll Everywhere is an easy to use tool to create interactive lectures and quizzes 

Below is a video I made going over the basics of using Poll Everywhere

Great Ted Talk!

Great Ted Talk by Raj Dhingra on Technology and how it can influence student centered learning.

Codecademy 

Codecademy is a great site for picking up coding skills at your own pace!

Codecademy's mission is to make learning to code easy, fun, and accessible.

The lessons are easy to follow and keep you motivated by offering badges for completing a task.

Awhile back I completed a few courses and definitely felt like I learned valuable information.

The Codecademy community is also great, if I had questions someone was always able to point me in the right direction.

Give it a shot fellow teachers, you got nothing to loose!