Using technology to reinforce student efforts and to aid students in homework and practice is a terrific practice that impacts student learning in a significant way.
Reinforcing effort in the classroom, both academically and behaviorally is a very important instructional strategy. it allows students to gauge their own level of success, and it reinforces the positivity or negativity of their choices and level of effort. Because students don't always "realize the importance of believing in effort" (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007), it is important to be very specific about the importance of effort, and what high levels of effort look like. It is also important to involve students in the tracking of that effort (Pitler, et al., 2007). A great way to do this is the use of classroom and project rubrics. These rubrics can be created using spreadsheet programs. Having students use a same basic template to record their progress in meeting these expectations is a great use of technology to help students monitor and reinforce their own behaviors. This exemplifies the behaviorist theory that students will want to continue a behavior that gives them a positive result (Orey, 2001). If students are turning their work in on time, but receiving overall negative results, that student will soon be able to see that the effort in completing the assignment is not what is needed to get the result they want. As a result of seeing and understanding this through the use of the spreadsheet, the student will alter his or her behaviors while completing the assignment. There are also other great technology infused ways of helping students realize what their level of effort as compared to the assignment expectations. Collecting data, through the use of survey and data collection programs also helps students synthesize the specific areas where more effort is needed. Because the student gets specific feedback from these particular types of rubrics and data collections, it gives them positive reinforcement for their areas of strength, and some negative reinforcement for the areas where their effort is less than sufficient (Orey, 2001). This reinforcement is timely, if not immediate, and allows the student to make behavioral changes in their academic process (Orey, 2001).
Homework and practice are also areas in which behaviorism is often put into practice in education. Homework should have a purpose that is clearly articulated to students, and it should vary for students as they advance from elementary school through high school (Pitler, et al., 2007). Perhaps the most important aspect of homework and practice, as it pertains to Behaviorism, is the timeliness and level of feedback from teachers. If homework is given, then feedback should be given to the student quickly (Pitler, et al., 2007). Word processing software helps students in this area, even if they are working at home. The word processor has the ability to give a writer immediate feedback about spelling and word usage. it also has the ability to help students search for the meanings of words they do not know or fully understand, through the use of the dictionary feature. Online skills practice activities also give students immediate feedback as they practice skills like keyboarding and letter/sound matching. This immediate feedback serves as a reinforcement to students as they practice a specific skill, thus changing the behavior and developing learning and understanding (Orey, 2001). Other interactive technologies, like blogs and wikis, also gives students that timely feedback, which reinforces their behavior and efforts.
So, while Behaviorism alone is often seen in the educational community as less than desirable practice, it is certainly present in many parts of a student's learning. Even through the use of technology, behaviorism becomes a part of the learning process through the timely feedback and data tracking that it allows students to access.
References:
Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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Julie-
ReplyDeleteI often use rubrics in my room for different projects and group activities. At a fifth grade level, I have my students grade themselves first to see how their effort effected their grade and then I fill out the rubric myself for their final grade. Do you think that this would work for third graders? I like the students to also be able to self assess their project and effort. The difference is only two years, but sometimes I feel that we are a world apart from the third graders downstairs in our building.
-Mel.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely do agree that using rubrics, even at 3rd grade is appropriate. The important part, and I think this applies to any grade level, is that you model using it, and continue to practice the rubric's use in a guided manner, so that when the students apply using the rubric independently, they can feel very confident about using it. What I like about having the students use the rubric before I score it, is that one I have scored it, I can talk with the student about where there were any differences in our scorings, and we can discuss some very specific feedback about their work.