EDC 665--Blog 9

Melissa asks: "From your experience in OMET thus far, what design practice has resonated with you the most? Why?

From my experiences in OMET thus far, two different design practices have really been effective in my learning, the first being learning adventures and the second being group learning.

Embarking on learning adventures was a very challenging concept for me, but it taught me the most! Learning adventures are tasks given to you and you complete the assignments by doing research and using prior knowledge to figure out the answer. Gary Stager's class was primarily centered around learning adventures. About every week or two, we would have a new task and question to answer. These tasks always centered around a certain concept and then an activity was performed.

I use learning adventures in both my technology club and my class. At each tech club meeting, my students are presented with a mission of what they need to accomplish. They are to use their prior knowledge and tools given to them to complete the task. I have found this to be very effective because all of my students are engaged while also learning new technology concepts. In my own particular classroom, I have used learning missions as a part of my curriculum. In science, we are studying rocks and minerals. While all students have read and learned about Moh's hardness Scale, they have not applied this learning. I designed a mission of giving them Moh's Hardness kits and using their knowledge to place the minerals in their correct places by conducting the tests of hardness, streak, and luster. Students also work in groups while completing this task.

Working in groups has also been an effective way of learning for me. I have found that when working in groups I learn from others who have given me input or who have more knowledge on a particular subject. I have been able to provide feedback to others about things I am more knowledgable of. We have been grouped in a variety of ways for our program, and have also had different tasks while working within the groups. It has been nice to know that I can trust my partners to carry their weight in group projects. Knowing that we have all come here for a common purpose of learning has been great! From previous group experiences (outside of OMET) I have been the one to carry most of the weight and completing the projects on my own. For once, I can see the benefit of working with others in an educational setting, I am learning from others in this way and I am helping them out in return.