Behaviorist method & the use of technology

Hello fellow bloggers,

Here are a few of my thoughts on behaviorist learning methods and the use of technology in the classroom.

First of all, as I mentioned in the discussion posting, I completely disagree with the idea that behaviorist methods are antiquated and have no place in today's classroom. I teach elementary school age children, and I actually believe that for the majority of the subjects I teach, behaviorist methods are possibly the best methods. At the very least, they are a major ingredient in the combination of instructional methods.

Behaviorist methods are the most effecient way to lay down a foundation of basic information to build off of. In elementary school people sometimes take for granted that a student can read or do simple math. If they lack these skills, behaviorist methods are a great way to help them learn them. If they lack these skills, it is impossible to reach for loftier goals in the future.

It is important to recognize the use of behaviorist methods in establishing classroom discipline, and individual expectations of effort, attitude, and quality of work.

Of course, educators certainly cannot fully rely on behaviorist methods to teach. If they do, they will never be able to go beyond a basic understanding of simple subjects. In order to fully address the needs of every student, and to lead them in the direction of higher learning and higher order thinking, teachers must use a variety of methods.

I believe that technology and behaviorist learning methods are a good match. Most of us use computer programs that we learned using behaviorist methods, like tutorials. In addition, the computational and statistical nature of computers is a good fit with the desire to assess, monitor, and reward progress towards goals.

However, just like traditional teaching environments, it is important to recognize that behaviorist methodology in combination with technology can only take a student so far, at which point it is necessary to move away from behaviorist methods, not move away from technological assistance.

Blogging for Students

I have created a google account for my students to respond to other blogs. The impetus for this was finding a blog from an archaeologist that we will be visiting inthe Spring. I hope that the students can use this opportunity to deepen their understanding of the subject, ask questions and interact with a real professional from the field. Will update onhow it is going.

Here is her blog: http://hparchaeology.blogspot.com/

Who Moved my Cheese?

I have recently had a lot of changes in my life when it comes to my computer. I have always been an internet explorer kind of girl and I was content in this role. All of this changed the other day when I began uploading all sorts of new and exciting applications at the impetus of my Walden professor. Skype, delicious, wiki's, readers, rss feeds- a lot of stuff I barely know anything about but am having fun getting to know. Now my favorite blogger, Amy Alkon, comes to me instead of me having to search her out. All of this did not come without a price though. From my research on the web, it might have been the skype- or maybe the fact that I tried to download a Mozilla application into an IE navigator- whatever it was, my computer started freaking out- of course... right when I am about to plunge full steam into my new hands- on technology course, my computer would die. That is right up there with "my dog ate my homework"- noone is going to believe it! Whenever I checked my groupwise e-mail and responded or closed a window the computer would close all internet windows and have errors... whenever I tried to close a cnn window, same thing. I couldn't even get to my new blog and all the attempts to follow or suscribe to other classmates' sites sent my computer reeling. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling- everything I could imagine- and finally decided to try firefox instead of IE. It has taken a lot of adjusting on my part. I miss having my igoogle pop up immediately and I miss all my bookmarks. I know, I know- I have my new delicious bookmarks- but I cleaned those up as I am sharing them with my cohorts at school. All the advice columns and recipes are gone!!! boo hooooooo. At least my computer seems to be working like a charm and I am enjoying firefox for the most part. change...is...good...grrrrr- Venting is even better.

Delicious

Learning and Sharing