Week 2 Blog - Integrating Technology into the Classroom

I chose this video by Marnie Grogan because it seemed to follow along with what I had read in chapters one and two. She talks about learning styles and how we should reflect on those as we integrate technology into our teaching. I thought it was really interesting that she made the comment that learning styles have changed. (I don't know if B.F.Skinner or Robert Gagne would agree with her on that.) I wonder if she meant that how we should teach has changed more than the student's learning styles. Our teaching must become more engaging and interactive. She talks about how we may need to redefine success for our students and to look at what skills they will need to be able to perform in the world today. She then talks about how students should be able to explore and investigate as a part of their learning. Students should share, collaborate and communicate. All of these would fall under the Constructivist Learning Theories. John Dewey felt learning should be hands-on and real-life and Jerome Bruner felt students learned by exploring and discovering for themselves. The Constructivist Learning Theories also realize that group projects or multimedia projects could be used to assess student's knowledge rather than the traditional methods of assessment. I would definitely put Ms. Grogan in the constructivist group. I thought Ms.Grogan's video was interesting and the fact that she is from Australia shows that how we integrate technology into the classroom is not just an issue that the teachers in the United States face.