GROUP 1

LESSON 6

IT Enters A New Learning Environment

It is most helpful to see useful models of school learning that is ideal to

achieving instructional goals through preferred application of educational
technology.These are the models of Meaningful Learning,Discovery Learning,
Generative Learning and Constructivism.
In these conceptual models,we shall see how effective teachers best interact
with students in innovative learning activities,while integrating technology to the
teaching-learning process.

CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF LEARNING

MEANINGFUL LEARNING
If the traditional learning environment gives stress to rote learning and simple
memorization,meaningful learning gives focus to new experience that is related

to what the learner already knows.The learner is encouraged to recognize

relevant personal experiences.

DISCOVERY LEARNING
Discovery learning is differentiated from reception learning in which ideas are
presented directly to students in a well-organized way,such as through a detailed
set of instructions to complete an experiment or task. To make a contrast,in
discovery learning students perform tasks to uncover what is to be learned.

GENERATIVE LEARNING
In generative learning ,we have active learners who attend to learning events
and generate meaning from this experience and draw inferences thereby creating
a personal model or explanation to the new experience in the context of existing
knowledge.Generative learning is viewed as different from the simple process of
storing information.Motivation and responsibility are seen to be crucial to this
domain of learning.

CONSTRUCTIVISM
In constructivism,the learner builds a personal understanding through
appropriate learning activities and a good learning environment.The most
accepted principles constructivism are:
Learning consists in what a person can actively assemble for himself and not
what he can receive passively.
The role of learning is to help the individual live/adapt to his personal world.
This two principles in turn lead to three practical implications:

The learner is directly responsible for learning.He creates personal

understanding and transforms information into knowledge.The teacher plays
an indirect role by modeling effective learning,assisting,facilitating and
encouraging learners.
The context of meaningful learning consists in the learner connecting his
school activity with real life.

 The purpose of education is the acquisition of practical and personal

knowledge,not abstract or universal truths.

LESSON 7

IT for Higher Thinking Skills and Creativity

This teaching approach has been proven successful for achieving learning
outcomes following the lower end of Blooms
Taxonomy:knowledge,comprehension and application are concerned.
Students are expected to be not only cognitive,but also flexible,analytical and
creative.In this lesson ,there are methods proposed for the use of computer-based
technologies as an integral support to higher thinking skills and creativity.

Higher Level Learning Outcomes

We may adopt a framework that is a helpful synthesis of many models and
definitions on the subject matter.The framework is not exhaustive but a helpful
guide for the teacher to understand and learners higher learning process.

The Upgraded Project Method

The project method for higher learning outcomes consists in having the
students work on projects with depth,complexity,duration and relevance to the
real world.Improving on the Dewey project method,this new method involves
students in the active creation of information,such that there is sustained
reflective thinking on topics that have a real-world quality on them.
In this revised project method,there is a tighter link between the use of
projects for simply coming up with products to having the students undergo the
process of complex/higher thinking under the framework of the constructivist
paradigm.

THE PROCESS
The process of project implementation takes the students to the
steps,effort,and experiences in project compilation.
The process is more important than the product.
The process refers to the thinking/affective/psycho-motor process that occurs
on the part of the learner.This comprises the journey that actualizes learning.

The product is the result of this all important process consisting in a possibly a
summary,a poster,an essay,a term paper,a dramatic presentation,or an IT-based
product.

In the succeeding lessons,we shall examine examples of IT-based projects are:

Resource-based projects
Simple creations
Guided hyper-media projects
Web-based projects