New Technology-Module 5

Experience is not what happens to a man.  It is what a man does with what happens to him.

~Aldous Huxley

 

Technology performance can be fearful experience for some teachers and students. I have entered many workshops with teachers who spread the gossip about their relationships with computers. You would think that it is illegal to date your computer or to spread bad language such as “I hate computers” or “I can’t do this”.    Then, there are students who live and eat with their cell phones.  Believe or not they do struggle with learning new technology in the classroom.  According to Bandura, self-efficacy is defined as beliefs about themselves that is related to the difficulty and the outcome (Driscoll, 2005).   

ARCS Model:

A1:  Perceptual arousal:  Teach specific strategies such as summarizing to improve their ability to focus on their tasks. (R1: Relevance; C1: Confidence)  When introducing a new technology, the best strategy to use is an overview.  Overview allows the students to see how the technology tool works such as introducing new terms and illustrating each component.    Goal setting can enhance students’ self-efficacy and skill development (R: 1, R: 2) (Keller, 2006).    Also, positive support plays an important role    “You can do this.”  Peer groups provide support to have each group to work on some part of the task and allow the students to collaborate about their new found technology.  Finally, the students give feedback on how their learning strategies relate to their performance by completing a small project such as a Mindmapping (www.thinkbuzan.com) workshop(S: 2- Extrinsic rewards) (Keller, 2006).  When you use active thinking by using Web 2.0 tools (Prezi, Blog,Wiki,or Voicethread), the authentic tasks builds the students’ motivation and increase students’ interest. 

Works Cited

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of Learning For Instruction. New York: Pearson.

Keller, J. (2006). ARCSModel.Com. Retrieved May 7, 2013, from Motivitational Design: http://www.arcsmodel.com/Mot%20dsgn%20A%20model.htm