The Journey Begins: My Network Learning Project

6/4/2022

This week's homework has struck me at times as decadent. The daily routine does not leave much room for such guilty pleasures like learning something new for my Network Learning Project (NLP). I realized early last week that tying flies wasn't doable, so I settled on learning how to knit a beanie. Beanies are a main staple to any Coloradian wardrobe and considered an essential accessory.

As I began research for my NLP, it quickly became apparent the wealth of information available. I began with Youtube. This was the most helpful to my learning. I liked how I could choose a brief video and replay it when I needed the directions repeated. I also explored a helpful self-help forum (love.life.yarn). Although forums tend to be lengthier, it was beneficial because they connect to additional information. Twitter and Reddit were the least helpful. These platforms are designed to showcase work with a short comment rather than instruct.

Additionally, I recorded my researched sources on the Resource NLP Tracker. Carrie Devlin NLP Resource Tracker.

My thinking turned to TPACK. It resonated with me when Mishra and Koehler state,

This (TPACK) is a contingent, flexible kind of knowledge that lies at the
intersection of all three of these knowledge bases, allowing the creative
repurposing of the traditional approaches (2009).

This certainly is not the traditional way to learn how to knit. I often watched my grandmother and mother stop at the local yarn shop where the shop keeper would help them. Where as I explore what technological platforms can support new learning? I look forward to experiencing this flexible intersecting of creativity as my NLP progresses. It is exciting to experience this technological creativity in regards to learning and teaching (Mishra and Koehler, 2009).

References and Media Credits:

B., Michael. (2020, April 23). Down the rabbit hole. Quora. https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-to-go-down-the-rabbit-hole/answer/Michael-B-720

Devlin, C. (2022, June 5) NLP the journey begins . [Video]. Loom.
https://www.loom.com/share/41df0558dbf6410389317e746d551d14

Devlin, C. (2022, June 3). NLP resource tracker. Google Spreadsheet.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13YEqI6TjqqTE6YFp4tJsCKI6-bJh333gsCOFVfWuY-g/edit#gid=0

Mishra, P. and Koehler, M. (2009, May). Too cool for school? no way! using the TPACK framework: you can have your hot tools and teach with them, too. Gale Academic Onefile. https://go-gale-com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=msu_main&id=GALE%7CA199794723&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon

0 Comments

Start at the Beginning

Have you ever just wanted to skip over the whole process of being a novice learner? All of the mistakes, the uncertainty, cringeyness, lack of confidence, and general messiness of the learning process. A necessary place to begin.

I found this video years ago when I first started teaching. Many of my days felt like this: The Novice

One main difference between experts and novices is that the expert’s organizational knowledge enables them to readily and efficiently identify patterns in order to ‘chunk’ information (Bransford et. al 2000). This ability provides experts to view a problem from a conceptual perspective or with the intent to understand the issue.

Another difference between the expert and novice is the expert's ability to efficiently and fluently retrieve knowledge to support problem-solving in new situations or learning. In my early years of teaching, I struggled with identifying students with academic disabilities (SLD). It is like a puzzle, yet the pieces are scattered and sometimes hidden. It was challenging to analyze the data and identify their learning patterns. As my content knowledge increased so did my pedagogical knowledge. As my PCK grew, my thinking changed in regards to teaching and learning. Therefore it would stand that as we learn to understand technology integration, we grow our understanding of its connections to our pedagogical content knowledge.

Another tell-tale sign of the expert is their ability to adapt their knowledge and teaching to any classroom in any given opportunity. In fact, I would suggest that experts often look for opportunities to adapt their skills to a variety of teaching and learning settings. Experts are the artisans of their craft.

The novice must step out of their comfort zone to grasp these foundational pieces of learning in educational technology and technological integration in order to access a deeper understanding of how our PCK connects to technological knowledge.

To read more: revision2_cep_810_unit_1.pdf

Just a Thought