Week 6 - Module 7 - Authentic Learning and Cognitive Apprenticeship
According to Dr. Tom Reeves, the guest speaker for this week, "too much of our teaching and learning is still trying to promote learning by telling people or by having them read. Not too much by having them do" (Reeves, 2021). Some educators still prefer to use the teacher-centered approach rather than the learner-centered approach in some educational institutions. Creating a lesson that promotes an actively engaging learning environment is definitely more time-consuming, but the class could be more meaningful for the teacher and the students.
When it comes to creating authentic learning experiences, Herrington (2006) mentions that “courses that employed authentic tasks recognized that there was no necessary for the environment to be real” (p. 6). In the teaching foreign languages field, more and more textbooks are inserting adapted authentic material to present almost close to real-world information. For instance, there are no more audios where actors have unnatural interactions to reinforce grammar or vocabulary from the textbook. In my experience, students seem to be more challenged and motivated by using these particular tasks in class. At the same time, these authentic tasks help students to associate what they are learning with genuine interactions outside the classroom.
Fortunately, some educators are constantly showing how to apply the learned concepts in authentic contexts. For example, Dr. Bonk teaches this introductory class, "R511 Instructional Technology Foundations," at Indiana University (Bonk, 2018). As part of the course, different successful professionals come every week to the online sessions to discuss the main topic from the week. Bonk (2018) mentions that "from a pragmatic standpoint, students would then know what each of these leaders in the field looked and sounded like, as well as gain insights into their thought process" (p. 538). Another example of authentic material that can be used in instructional technology courses is The AECT Legends and Legacies Project. It was designed to have a bank of interviews that students can access to learn more about professionals who have contributed to the field of instructional design.
Having a variety of authentic tasks when teaching a class could offer a variety of real-life opportunities for students to apply concepts using their own perspectives.
- Bonk, C. J. (2018, November). Tapping into history via video: Enlisting the legends and legacies of our field. TechTrends, 62(6), 538-540. DOI: 10.1007/s11528-018-0332-3
- Herrington, J. (2006). Authentic e-learning in higher education: Design principles for authentic learning environments and tasks. In proceedings of the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (E-Learn) 2006, October 13-27, 2006, Honolulu, Hawaii. Retrieved from http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/5247/1/Authentic_e-learning(authors).pdf
- Lockee, B., & Song, K. (2016). The AECT Legends and Legacies Project. TechTrends, 60(2), 107-109.
I felt that quote, because educators always want you to read. Engaging the students with fun learning seems to always do the trick and that learning will stay with them as the get older. I had a English teacher in high school who was always engaging with her students from creating poems with us to doing class plays that her happy interaction way of teaching stuck with me. She would tell you why that paper was wrong and help you improve it, she didn't just give a grade and not explain why. She would take us to play and book signings and that truly helped my love of reading.
ReplyDeleteAn authentic learning environment is defined as a pedagogical approach that allows for the construction of meaning grounded in real-life situations and the learners own personal experience. To me, a successful authentic learning environment doesn't mean the perfect authenticity in every element, but the dynamic and persistent interaction students can have with the environment in support of appropriate learning technologies and tasks.
ReplyDelete