Reflection 1 - Week 2

This week we were asked to participate in a wiki activity using De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. De Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats is a simple, effective parallel thinking process that helps people be more productive, focused, and mindfully involved (http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php)’.

Source: www.stacyclaudia.weebly.com

This is the first time I have used a wiki and the concept of De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. It was a very insightful activity to take part in. Not only did I learn how to participate in a wiki activity, but De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats got me to consider the use of mobile phones in the classroom in many different ways. Following is a link to the De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats wiki activity http://debonoshats.wikispaces.com/ .

source: www.mymindursts.com

Constructivism was demonstrated as one of the learning theories through the social aspect of the activity. Constructivism is creating your own knowledge through experience. The wiki activity allowed everyone to share their ideas on using mobile phones in the classroom based on De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. By having everyone’s opinions and thoughts in the one area it allows you to expand on your knowledge and also to think about the topic in different ways. The activity was scaffolded with supporting information that was supplied on the De Bono’s Hats wiki with instructions on how to add to the wiki and the thoughts and ideas to consider when putting on different coloured hats. 

Cognitivism is a learning process of acquiring information; the wiki activity provided you with information from others on the mobile phones in the classroom. The entire class is able to connect and collaborate their ideas. It provides a great networking space. Throughout the activity I could see other students’ perspectives on using mobile phones in the classroom. 

The wiki activity is a good platform to support learning by doing. When students participate in the activity they are presented with similar ideas, differentiated ideas and new ideas. De Bono’s Hats makes you think outside the box. When I first thought of having mobile phones in the classroom my response was ‘if you have access to a laptop why do you need to use mobile phones.’ While working through De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats I found that there were a number of factors and thoughts that I had not considered. My opinion in the end may not have changed but I am more open to the idea due to going through the six thinking hats.

Source: www.pinterest.com

 

 The scaffolding of the activity was fantastic as it allowed students who have not participated in a wiki activity before participate with confidence as there were step by step instructions. 

 

While participating in the wiki activity I could see there would be positives and negatives associated with such an activity and these would need to be considered before implementing a wiki in the classroom.

Positives:

• Promotes Teamwork
• Collaboration
• Connectivism
• Engaging
• Expansion of knowledge on the topic

Negatives:

• Students could go off the topic
• Information could be misinterpreted which could lead to arguments
• Erasing other students work, whether it be accidentally or intentional
• Negative comments (bullying)

Monitoring and having strict guidelines on the content of the wiki would need to be given to the students before participating in a wiki activity. I do think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Reflection

Source: www.irenemerrow.blog.com

My thoughts of the wiki activity from when I first read about the activity to the completion are very different.  At first I was very apprehensive about the wiki activity, and participating in such an activity was daunting. I had a lot of ‘What If’s' going through my mind. What If I deleted someone else’s work, What if my work doesn’t save properly. (I did check three times after saving that my work was saved in the wiki). All of my What If’s just made the task seem harder than what is was. The activity was scaffolded; I had all the information needed to successfully participate in the activity.

Source: www.connorpmullins.com

Guess what? It was not as daunting as I thought it was going to be. I successfully navigated my way through the wiki and added my thoughts and ideas on the topic of mobile phones in the classroom. Yay me !

Overall, I found this activity to be interesting, engaging and informative.

References:

The De Bono Group LLC. Retrieved 18.03.2015. http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php

De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. Image Retrieved 18.03.2015. www.stacyclaudia.weebly.com.

Traditional Learning Theories. Image Retrieved 18.03.2015. www.mymindursts.com.

Scaffolding. Image Retrieved 18.03.2015. www.pinterest.com.

I Have No Idea What I Am Doing. Image Retrieved 18.03.2015. www.irenemerrow.blog.com

Success. Image Retrieved 18.303.2015, www.connorpmullins.com.