In completing an assignment for CEP 810, I must learn something new using only youtube and online forums. Seems simple enough…
My initial thoughts:
1. I have always wanted to learn to play the cello. However, that requires having a cello or regular access to one. Might be an obstacle.
2. I am highly curious about the art of cutting a deck of cards with one hand… possibility?
3. Classic: coin rolling over the knuckles (in the interest of becoming more like a pirate)
I suppose I will need to decide quickly. If only I had a cello sitting around!
If I do this, I make no promises. It is possible I will end up like this (skip to 1:30 or 2:15… she talks too much):
OR, in the event that I am an undiscovered prodigy, I may end up like this (skip to 6:20… wow!):
Would love to hear your opinions… do I take the dive and give it a try? Post a comment!
As an educator, it is my responsibility to myself, my students, and my employer to continue my own personal education. I find this to be a sensible expectation, for the best way to learn to teach a person is to place oneself in that person’s role.
Many of the topics of this blog will represent my thoughts, products, and creations that result from the courses in which I am engaged for this very purpose. Here, you will find one such post.
En route to earn greater mastery in the field of technology in education, I am taking a CEP 810 course focused on technology integration. Before technology can be properly integrated, however, one must understand learning.
In an essay devoted to this very purpose, I define learning and understanding as “the construction of knowledge and development of skills on the foundation of prior knowledge and skills and through the application of interests and experiences.” In studying the work of Branson, Brown and Cocking (2000), How People Learn, it becomes clear that learning and understanding are significantly different aspects of education that are inseparably intertwined. (For a complete reference to this work, view the essay linked above.)
The purpose of my essay is to not only define these concepts, but also discuss their dynamics within the contrast between experts and novices and the possible strategies for remedying that contrast. Experts and novices in a field clearly demonstrate differences, and since the more desirous of the two is the expert, educators must tackle the problem of how to move an individual of novice cognition to expert.
View the essay above to learn more, and feel free to share thoughts and comments below.
Did you find the essay insightful or uninteresting? Share below.
Every person on the planet who interacts with other people (whether personally, impersonally, or digitally) is both a teacher and a student. The art of learning is not limited to one or the other of these roles, it is the complete blending of the two. It is not a mosaic, where attributes of each are assigned positions and postures to together create a larger, beautiful masterpiece. It is a boiling and melting of each, a chemical change by fire and pressure to create a new role entirely: