Weel 10 PLE

The most important thing that I have learned by watching these videos is that it is entirely possible to use technology even with very young students. I realized that there are many ways to incorporate technology and some of the programs that children already like to play around with, such as Kidpix, can be a valuable learning tool. I also have come to realize that even younger children can use the internet for communication and research purposes if someone is there to monitor. The Spider video showed the class communicating with another class in another state and I think that this would not only be a great learning experience for the students but they would also be excited about sharing what they are learning and see what another class is discovering. I can also see in these videos that it is possible for students to learn to use a lot of the different technologies on their own such as the cameras and different computer programs. Two of the videos showed the classes sharing their products with their parents and families. I think that this is an important use of technology because it is a great way to try and get the parents involved in what the students are studying. I can see that there are many different uses for technology even with very young students.

Week 9 PLE

Week 9 PLE

My initial thoughts were that it would be nice to have more technology available to my teacher. On the other hand, I didn’t see a whole ton of technology being used by the lower grade teachers in my hallway so I don’t know if they would really use the additional resources if they had them. The school has enough technology to share as long as teachers who wish to use these items plan ahead and sign up for the things that they need. One thing that I would have liked to use more and I wish was more readily available would be a projector for powerpoints and other things I would like to show the students from the computer. The school does have enough technology to use for a variety of different lessons. I also talked to a 5^th grade teacher who really liked using the Elmo for many of her lessons and so she was permitted to keep one of the school Elmos in her classroom so it seems that if you actually use the technology, you will have access to it.

I completed the survey and the informed consent.

IPT 301 Week 9

1. I think that the students in my cohort classroom are more extrinsically motivated. Some evidence of this is that they want to show the teacher their work as soon as they are done and be praised for it. They also read with the intent of earning minutes towards a free pizza or kids meal at Applebees and they turn in their homework folders to get a piece of candy. I am sure that there are some lessons where they are intrinsically motivated but I think right now, they are usually externally motivated.
2. Intrinsic motivation is decreased by rewards and praise because then those students who were otherwise motivated by a desire to learn and discover will start to attribute their efforts to gaining said reward rather than just learning and discovering. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation will be increased by rewards and praise because those people who expect rewards for their efforts and perform merely to receive those rewards will continue to perform just to get those rewards and will not learn to be intrinsically motivated until said rewards are removed.
3. Expectancies and values influence student motivation because students lose any motivation to try a task if they have the expectancy that they will fail. They also lose motivation if they do not think that there is a real value in the task they are completing. On the other hand, students will have more motivation if they believe they will succeed and will be especially more intrinsically motivated if they believe that what they are doing is of real worth and something that they will need or want to know in the future. Expectancy and value also effects students’ motivation because they will think about what the cost of a certain task is and if it is worth them taking time away from other things in order to complete.
4. I noticed that my mentor teacher did not praise the students for things that she already expected them to know how to do. This made her praise more real because then if she praised the students it was more likely that they actually deserved if for their efforts. She also kept high expectations for all of the students and put a big emphasis on their own responsibility to learn. I think that this view helped increase their motivation because it focused on the effort that the students put forth and put success on controllable causes. She wouldn’t help the students with things she knew they could do themselves which also helps increase motivation and increases their expectancy.
5. I agree with the behavioral theory because it makes sense that some people are motivated to learn by the outward rewards, the need to please others, or the desire to learn. I have seen all of these things at some point in my life and could agree that these explanations are accurate. On the other hand, I also think that the self-worth theory has a very convincing argument because I can also see instances where people may have been fearing failure or accepting failure and these are the things that affected their performance.