Educational Technology Philosophy

Rebecca Patton

Aligning with modern instruction strategies as being student-centered, my class consists

of more small group, collaborative models of learning. This has always made sense to me as

teacher, hailing back to my foundation as a Psychology major, studying about social learning

theories. Reinforced throughout my education was Bandura's Social Learning Theory, which is

based in the belief that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and

modeling. While I witness Banduras theory in teaching models, I believe that modern

instruction has shifted even closer to a social constructivist model. In contrast to Banduras

theory, where the learner is more of an observer, a student-centered classroom adds

Constructivism components, which, according to David H. Jonasson, support multiple

perspectives or interpretations of reality, knowledge construction, and context-rich,

experience-based activities. These learning theories provide a basis for organization and

technology use in my classroom.

I have seen how social technologies and social media play a large role in the modern

students cognitive development. I see this influence on my two teenage boys that love

YouTube. Often, when they tell me about something that they find interesting or amazing

(such as: What would happen if the world stopped turning? Or, What would happen if

everyone in the world jumped at the same time?), they report having learned about it from

watching YouTube. They hear about YouTube channels from their friends, or follow links from

social media to find videos, from which they learn new information. This supports the social
constructivism theory, which focuses on an individual's learning that takes place because of his

or her interactions in a group. As a teacher, I use this knowledge to enhance student learning

through group discussion, collaboration, and problem solving within the classroom orally and

digitally. I encourage students to interact both with classmates and virtual communities to help

them learn in a way that is now ubiquitous and intuitive to them.

In using discussion groups, I try to instill lessons about appropriate social interaction. I

believe that through modern communication with peers, students have become very casual

and sometimes coarse in their digital interaction with others. I provide opportunities to have

academic discussion, peer editing and evaluation. Throughout the process, I model and guide

students to learn proper interaction. For example, as a concluding step to a group PBL, I have

students post their projects to a class Padlet (a digital bulletin board), where classmates review

each others projects and provide appropriate feedback. I provide an example comment and

monitor student contributions to ensure they express their opinions properly. In addition to

subject content, through this activity, students learn to work with one another in a group,

evaluate each others work, and communicate digitally. Yes, there is a time and place for emojis

and acronyms, however I hope to teach students to elevate their academic discourse and digital

etiquette.

Teaching in a very low SES community, I must take into account the lack of digital

availability for some students, which may affect their participation. Much of the digital access

students have in this area outside of school is a smartphone, and often it belongs to a parent.

This can be embarrassing to a student, and so I try to make sure that this disparity is not

highlighted in front of peers. I make sure that all students know that they can come to my
room before school or during advisory period to use a Chromebook. I do not assign any digital

work to be completed outside of school. Being mindful of the lack of resources in my students

homes, I endeavor to create greater accessibility during the school day to allow all students the

same opportunities.

As I create a technology-rich student-centered classroom, I am careful to be selective in

digital tools and how they will be used. Discriminating how a student can grow through the use

of the tool, I hope to also teach students to evaluate their digital use as worthy and purposeful.

Time is precious in the classroom, and I want to engage the students in active learning as much

as possible. I want to incorporate John Deweys belief that education is growth, rather than an

end in itself as students learn through and by educational technology.

It is my goal as an educator to incorporate and facilitate educational technology in my

classroom in a way that students will be a community of learners, interacting and learning from

one another. I will ensure that students have access to, and learn discernment of appropriate

tools to meet their learning objectives. I want students to leave my class as effective and

responsible digital citizens and scholars.

John Dewey, Philosophy of Education. Retrieved June 25, 2017, from Wilderdom Web site:

http://wilderdom.com/experiential/JohnDeweyPhilosophyEducation.html

Jonassen, D. H., & Land, S. M. (2000). Theoretical foundations of learning environments.

Mahwah, N.J: L. Erlbaum Associates.