Cooperative and Social Learning Strategies Through Technology

The instructional strategies described in the resources I explored this week correlate with the principles of social learning theories in many ways. To begin, let's take a glance at what social learning theories consist of. Dr. Orey in his video Social Learning Theories describes it as collaborative and cooperative learning, in which children work together to build something. It is a work in progress where children are actively engaged in learning and able to discuss, bounce ideas off of each other, question, and come to conclusions (Laureate Inc, 2008). Next let's look at what cooperative learning consist of and how some of the social networking and collaboration tools mentioned in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Work support the two. "The instructional strategy cooperative learning focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning. When students work in cooperative groups, they make sense of, or construct meaning for, new knowledge by interacting with others"(Pitler, 2007, pg. 139). After defining the two it is very obvious that social and cooperative learning correlate. Therefore, when exploring the networking and collaboration tools in our assigned readings for this week it is easy to recognize the impact these types of resources can have on learning.

We cannot escape the fact that we must prepare our children for the fast paced, virtual workplace that they will inherit, today's students need to learn and produce cooperatively (Pitler, 2007). Luckily technology has provided us with the means for students to learn collaboratively and cooperatively through social networking tools. I was inundated with the many resources that are available and so easily accessible for teaching and learning such as multimedia, web resources, and keypals to name a few. I found each and everyone of these tools to support cooperative and social learning theories, because they support the ideas of working in groups to create an artifact based on all students being actively engaged. By using these resources individuals can create meaning through their interactions with each other and with the environment they live in and as we know meaningful learning occurs when individuals are engaged.

References: Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program eight. Social Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA