The Synergy of Technology with Basic Learning Theories, Principles and Practices

1. The Synergy of Technology with Basic Learning Theories, Principles and Practices • Synergy is compounded words taken from synchronize and energy which can be stated also as synchronized energy. The term is rather long though so some parts are clipped to come up with the new term, synergy. This implies that energy comes from various sources or factors which are made to act simultaneously upon a certain teaching and learning situation. This has been taken to mean that the effect of the individual factors or sources becomes more pronounced and felt if they are in operation at the same time rather than if they act singly one after the other. This is in line with Gestalt Psychology, which states that the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of aggregate parts.

2. Technology and the Development of the 21st Century Skills • Digital Age Literacy Skill. This means the ability to use the computer and its various applications to search and process the information. The students should not just be mere computer literate: he/she should be fluent so as to allow him to work on the computer, particularly with ease and confidence. He should know the appropriate software to use for a particular project. • Effective Communication Skill. Communication is a reciprocal influence of man which maybe face to face or thru different media. It is the sharing of information, thoughts, feelings and emotions, a process of encoding and decoding ideas and concepts. One such powerful medium is the computer and its applications.

3. Critical Thinking Skills. This involves the higher order thinking skills like analysis, synthesis and evaluation (Bloom’s Taxonomy). Activities or questions must be planned so as to enable the students to transcend from low level thinking to the more advanced level. It is only when students develop a critical mind that he/she can become creative and dynamic in solving day to day problems and in coming out with innovations to promote progress. • High Productivity Skills. Thru technology, teachers students can accomplish more targets because it facilitates the execution of the different learning processes such as providing information, explanation of concepts, illustrating principles, giving examples, outlining procedures, demonstrating processes, advancing arguments, highlighting points, asking questions, giving feedbacks, exchanging ideas and performing tasks.

4. Societal Values Skills. This involves the development of favorable relationship and concern for the welfare of others. Teaching and learning must not be purely technology –driven, it must still be based on the needs and problems of the learners or the students during a specific stage of their development.

5. Basic Learning Theories vis a vis Technology Application • Constructivist Theoryunderscored that learning is an active process where learners acquire and construct new ideas or concepts based on their past or current knowledge and experiences. • Cognitive Learning Theory. This was popularized by Piaget. The term cognitive comes from the Latin word cognoscere, which means the act or process of knowing. Cognition therefore involves the higher mental processes like thinking, reasoning, judging, inferring, interpreting, classifying and the like.

6. 2 Fundamental Characteristics of Cognitive Functioning: • Organization is the systematic arranging of perceptual and cognitive information into meaningful patterns called cognitive structures. It is actually putting the information, concepts and ideas gained together and relating them into internally organized wholes. • Adaptation is the process thru which the person seeks an equilibrium or balance between what he/she perceives, knows and understands. This involves assimilation, which is the process of fitting what is perceived and experienced into existing cognitive structures.

7. Systematic Behavior Theory. According to this theory, behavior involves an interaction between stimuli in the environment and the responses which the organism makes towards the stimuli. This is the reinforcement which means that any set of condition which when applied properly reinforces learning. It states that the quantity of exposure or experiences that learners have on a particular activity can facilitate their perception and understanding of various stimuli in their environment. This is especially true if they are actively involved in all experiences.

8. Basic Principles of Teaching and Educational Technology • Principle of Active Involvement. This implies that for learning to take place, the student must be focused or engaged directly with the activity or task where he may draw knowledge, concepts, principles, attitudes, skills or habits. This is in consonance with the principle of self activity by Froebel which states that learning is the result of the activity of the child himself. The student should take an active role in the search for knowledge. • Principle of Connectivity.This involves the building of relationships or linkages between and among experiences. Learning is not seen as compartmentalized or isolated concerns of the organism. This is meaningless unless a new experience is related to the existing experiences of the individual and is of use to real life situation. In fact the process of connectivity facilitates remembering of names, dates, events, issues, processes, including spelling, number combinations, grammatical relationship and formula in mathematics.

9. Principle of Integration. This refers to the organization or putting together diverse elements to form a unified and harmonious whole. The students should be able to combine his previous experiences together in meaningful patterns of understanding and application. • Principle of Intention (Motivation and Interest).Learning does not take place unless the student has a purpose or intention for undertaking the activity. He must have a clear idea as to why he must do certain activities. In other words, learning is not by accident, learning is intentionally undertaken; there is a purpose for doing the activities to bring about the desired change in the behavior of the learner. Learning becomes a personal affair because the will to learn is largely dependent upon the intensity of the learner’s purpose or goal.

10. Principle of Creativity and Innovation. This refers to the ability to produce an original concept or idea and translate it to some forms of expression. When some aspects are changed to pave the way for the introduction of new aspects, the original piece is transformed to something new. Creativity is shown in this situation. • Principle of Discovery. This is what psychologist’s term as the “Aha” experience. Students are elated at the thought of being able to discover by themselves the solutions to the problems related to their topics and assignments. They feel so accomplished if they are able to discover a process, a relationship or a pattern of behavior with the least assistance from their teacher. This is situation where genuine learning happens. • Principle if Socialization.One very important aspect of this integration is the development of positive values and good human relationships because to live is to be with people. One pedagogical approach relevant to the use of technology to promote social skills is cooperative learning. Here the individuals are divided into small groups and together they work on certain problems or issues.