The following post was inspired in response to a fellow students brilliant blog post in relation to peer learning in ICTs: https://sandriolo.wordpress.com/2015/03/14/90/
I too have always been a firm believer of the value of collaborative learning or peer learning. I feel as though learning in a group, particularly with different social/cultural backgrounds can be a breeding ground for success. As is discussed in Stefanie’s blog post, we were exposed to Lev Vygotsky’s constructivist theory very early on in our studies and this is certainly a theory which has stuck with me through my years as a pre service teacher. I for one can see the benefit for peer learning when being introduced to new ICTs in the classroom. I took this approach on a previous Prac in which I introduced students to a notation software program, Sibelius. I had previously taken the students through a basic ‘101’ of the program and there were a few students in the class who were familiar with the program but for the majority this was the first time using it properly. I set the students the task of, through using Sibelius, deciding upon creating music to establish a sense of emotion to match a muted film excerpt I provided them with. The students were allowed to work in pairs or converse with one another. As I walked around the classroom I was delighted with the collaborative efforts I could see. The students were discussing and organizing which musical elements they were to utilize to achieve their chosen emotion and, then they would work through using the notation program together. Now although I hadn’t designed this lesson to be set group work when creating the lesson plan, I was glad that some of the students wanted the option to work together. I am confident that this approach is more beneficial to the students learning than if I was to simply give them all separate tasks and let them battle with the new program on their own.
In this same respect, I feel in this ICTs and Pedagogy course, peer learning is going to be, and has already proven to be very effective and beneficial to all of us studying it.
jesseluque 