GROUP WORK

Hazel B. Paclar
BEED SPED 2x3
"EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY"
GROUP WORK

INTRODUCTION
Group work is practiced in many schools around the world. Many authors have made a lot of definitions about what Group work means and what it involves. This paper contains the description and analysis of the group learning process, my experiences in the involvement of a group work , synthesis of readings and researches, and a reflection with regards to group work and learning community. The basic ingredient of group work to be successful lies within the cooperation of each members of a group. To learn cooperatively is the basic objective of the group work. It is much accepted nowadays that group work is indeed effective than self study. You can gain lots of ideas and knowledge because group work is doing a task at hand with the cooperation and collaboration of all of the members of the entire group. They help each other hand in hand and also, they learn from each other. With group work that mixed with collaboration, the task to be done become much simpler, easier and faster than doing it alone. In this way, I can impart my experiences and also, to make my readers know how amusing to be a part of a group work.
WHAT IS GROUP WORK AND HOW IT FACILITATES LEARNING?
(Wikipedia foundation,Inc.,2010) defines Group work as a "form of cooperative learning. It aims to cater for individual differences, develop students' knowledge, generic skills (e.g. communication skills, collaborative skills, critical thinking skills) and attitudes". This means that group work is done cooperatively and it considers the differences of individuals that will develop their own field of strengths in the different areas of learning. By doing a group task, members of the group do their very best to help one another and by completing the task together. By means of doing group work, Collaboration is the very essential part of the group learning process. (Scott London,2010) says Collaboration "is to work together"(Para. 6). Without collaboration of the members, group work isn't possible to exist effectively. It depends on the members on how they lend a hand to each other in order for the group work to be successful. It is said that learning with others is more effective than learning with self activity. Self activity is also very important because you learn from your own effort without the help of others yet the learning that will arise is just limited unlike learning with others because learning with others can widen up every perspective of the members and from one idea to another, they can foresee and can make another idea from the previous idea that is presented. Meaning, with group work, learning is continuous.

I, AS A MEMBER OF A GROUP WORK
(A description and analysis of the group learning process)
I became part of a group work in which I myself is actively participating. Together with my colleagues, we are asked to do a task in which we are about to design our own learning community. To know the task, I wasn't able to be nervous at all since what's on my mind is that the task will definitely be easy if we, in our group just cooperate. Our learning community is about Educational Arts. We intend to make this our subject because we want to design a learning community that both learning and arts resides. For us, the designers of this site has the aim to help individuals cope up with learning through different categories of arts which best interests them. (e.g., Photography, Drama, Painting, Drawing, Handicrafts, Architecture, Dance, Drama, Music, and many others.). (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010) defines arts as modes of expression that use skill or imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others (Para. 1). This means that arts is something that results from our imaginations, the different expressions of our feelings for which comes from our senses. In this, we want to let the members of the community learn through the form of arts. While they learn, they also develop their creativity skills and be able to enjoy what they are doing.

SYNTHESIS OF READINGS AND RESEARCHES
(Wikipedia foundation,Inc.,2010) defines Educational Technology as the integrating of Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis, and other types of interactive technologies into the classroom to engage students and enhance the learning experience(Para. 1). Meaning, Educational technology is learning with the use of technology. There are lots of things that I had learned in Educational Technology. It doesn't fail to let me learn many things that I have never explored before. From the different online activities and classes that I had done, from the topical videos that I had watched, from the articles that I had read, and from all the experiences to become part of a learning community, the best thing that I'd experienced is that we created our own design of a learning community. I, together with my colleagues, worked hand in hand to select the best subject of design. We shared ideas and opinions and we came up with the best possible idea that we all agreed upon. We decided to make an Educational arts design of a learning community and from that on, we wasted no time and read some articles and different resources with regards to Educational arts. We collaborate and unify the things we had discovered and come up with the production of one entity and that is the Educational arts learning community design.

MY REFLECTION ON HOW THE GROUP LEARNING PROCESS INFORM MY EXPERIENCES OF LEARNING COMMUNITIES
The group learning process that I encountered widens my perspective about learning communities. Learning communities are of big help especially for the students like me. With the group task that was given to us, I explored, discovered, I walk around many possibilities in many situations at hand. It expanded my ideas and thoughts into a much larger views. I became informant and recognizes the importance and the purposes of every learning community that exists. A learning community is open to all ages and to those who wants to gain more knowledge. Scores of information are provided and shared. People in the community collaborate and are actively participating to engage into a much more meaningful learning. My experiences for involving in a learning community had taught me a lot. As (Vernon Sanders Law, 2010) says "Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards". It gives a lesson in which we can never forget.

CONCLUSION:
In general, Group work, as one way of cooperative learning plays a very important role in Education. In this type of learning, learning can't be limited with the idea of a single person but with the ideas, reflections and opinions of the entire members of the group as a whole and it widens the knowledge and ideas gained. It is of big help especially for the students since it ensures continuous learning and interest that encourages them to learn more.

REFERENCES:
1. Wikipedia, (2010). Group work. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_work
2. Scott London, (2010). Collaboration and Community. Retrieved from http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/ppcc.html
3. Encyclopedia Britannica, (2010). The Arts. Retrieved from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36405/the-arts
4. Wikipedia (2010). Edtech. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edtech
5. (Vernon Sanders Law, 2010). Experience. Retrieved from: http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/experience/index.html

group work

1. What I like most about group work?
- What I like most in group work is that there is collaboration among the members of the group and we tend to share our ideas and thought together to make a very creative and better work. It also makes the work one easier.
2. What I dislike most about group work?
- What I dislike most about group work is that when the members are not cooperating and irresponsible.
3. What makes a good team player?
- A good team player is to be cooperative and responsible enough to contribute in the group.
4. What makes a bad team player?
- A bad team player is to be irresponsible and not participative in doing group tasks.
5. What grade are you hoping to achieve for this project?
- Hopefully, I want to achieve the grade of 95 percent.
6. What are your strengths in relation to this project?
- In my own, I think, I can best contribute ideas and thoughts in my mind so that I can be helpful enough to my group mates. Being cooperative is also my strength.
7. What are your weaknesses?
- My weakness could be my laziness and tardiness at times.
8. How would you like to arrange meeting?
- For me, I would like to arrange meeting both face to face and online meetings.
9. How do you think the group should make a decision?
- I think, the group should make any decisions with the agreement of all or majority of its members.
10. What if a group member doesn’t meet our standards? How do you think we should deal with this?
- When a group member doesn’t meet our standards, we should deal with them by approaching that member in a right way and let him know what he should improve.

Hedberg06

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STUDENT CASE STUDY

SETTING: Zone 14, El Mundo, Natumolan, Tagoloan, Mis. Or.

THE CHILD:
NAME: Alexander James G. Ladra
NICKNAME: James
AGE & GENDER: 6 Yrs. Of age, Male
BIRTHDAY: June 3, 2004

BACKGROUND:
 NAME OF PARENTS: Jemuel S. Ladra ,
Jocelyn G. Ladra
 OCCUPATION OF FATHER: Carpenter
 OCCUPATION OF MOTHER: Housewife
 NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: 1
 He is physically healthy.
 He acts as any other children do.

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS:
 Playing computer games.
 Interested in sports such as basketball.

SCHOOL:
 He is performing well in school.
 He is an honor student.

OBSERVATION:

During the observation, we ask the child of certain things that he might already know and most especially in regards to his academic experiences. Generally, when we first take a look to the child, he seems no problem at all for he looks like any other children but when we start our session, we found some difficulty on him. We've let the child write his name and he can do it very well. We also let him take a look for illustration pictures and he responded right. He can also recognize different colors and he knows the alphabet. He knows the directions to school and can speaks with complete sentences. He's very much interested in reading materials and we can see that he's interested to learn. He also shows good attitude and no signs of hyperactivity. He appears to be a very bright child and we found out that he's an honor student in the class. Overall, we can definitely say that the child has no potential problem when it comes to academic performance but when we let him dictates spoken site words, we have observed that he has difficulty in articulating the s, z and Ch sounds and then the "s" sound may be replaced by t and z by d.





"STUDENT CASE STUDY"
SPED 40
BEED SPED 2x3
4:00-7:00 pm

OBSERVERS:
Acenas, Melissa
Chan, Cheryl
De Asis, Estther Joy
De Guia, Aljon
Emlano, Kenny Ray
Empinado, John Prenex
Madrigal, Mailyn
Nugas, Flower Mae
Paclar, Hazel
Paglinawan, Carl Joseph
Vanessa

“EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN THE PHILIPPINES”

“EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN THE PHILIPPINES”
GROUP 4 OF BEED SPED 2x3
MEMBERS OF THE GROUP:
PACLAR, HAZEL
ENCARGUEZ, JUY CLAIR
DOPITILLO, BENIS
TABLANDO, RICHELLE
PAIG, JEANNE MAE
BANAL, KRIZZIA
CABACTULAN, AIZA
CELOCIA, ANA MAE
ALMIÑE, VINCENT
NEGATIVE OUTCOMES:
The environment of some other schools in the Philippines is not conducive to learning.
Schools are overly populated specifically in the public school institutions.
There are lack of facilities and equipments to be used for the students.
Teaching strategies of teachers are not appropriate to the children’s learning needs.
POSITIVE OUTCOMES:
There are lots of extra curricular activities that are available that develops the student’s skills and interests.
There are Educational programs available for the poor ones. There are scholarship and vocational programs to improve student’s career.

TONGUE DRIVE SYSTEM POWERPOINT

TONGUE DRIVE SYSTEM Power Point

THE TONGUE DRIVE SYSTEM

”THE TONGUE DRIVE SYSTEM”
DEFINITION:
 The "Tongue Drive" system is a tongue-operated assistive technology developed for people with severe disability to control their environment. The tongue is considered an excellent appendage in severely disabled people for operating an assistive device.
WHY THE TONGUE?
 unlike hands and feet, which are controlled by the brain through the spinal cord, the tongue is directly connected to the brain by a cranial nerve that generally escapes damage in severe spinal cord injuries or neuromuscular diseases.
WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?
 The novel system allows individuals with disabilities to operate a computer, control a powered wheelchair and interact with their environments simply by moving their tongues.
 This device could revolutionize the field of assistive technologies by helping individuals with severe disabilities such as those with high-level spinal cord injuries return to rich, active, independent and productive lives.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
 To operate the Tongue Drive system, potential users only need to be able to move their tongues. Attaching a small magnet, the size of a grain of rice, to an individual's tongue by implantation, piercing or tissue adhesive allows tongue motion to direct the movement of a cursor across a computer screen or a powered wheelchair around a room.
 Movement of the magnetic tracer attached to the tongue is detected by an array of magnetic field sensors mounted on a headset outside the mouth or on an orthodontic brace inside the mouth. The sensor output signals are wirelessly transmitted to a portable computer, which can be carried on the user's clothing or wheelchair.
 The sensor output signals are processed to determine the relative motion of the magnet with respect to the array of sensors in real-time. This information is then used to control the movements of a cursor on the computer screen or to substitute for the joystick function in a powered wheelchair.
 The system can potentially capture a large number of tongue movements, each of which can represent a different user command. A unique set of specific tongue movements can be tailored for each individual based on the user's abilities, oral anatomy, personal preferences and lifestyle.
 The Tongue Drive system is also non-invasive and does not require brain surgery like some of the brain-computer interface technologies.
 There are completed trials in which six able-bodied individuals tested the Tongue Drive system. Each participant defined six tongue commands that would substitute for computer mouse tasks -- left, right, up and down pointer movements and single- and double-click. For each trial, the individual began by training the system. During the five-minute training session, the individual repeated each of the six designated tongue movements 10 times.
 During the testing session, the user moved his or her tongue to one of the predefined command positions and the mouse pointer started moving in the selected direction. To move the cursor faster, users could hold their tongue in the position of the issued command to gradually accelerate the pointer until it reached a maximum velocity.
 Results of the computer access test by novice users with the current Tongue Drive prototype showed a response time of less than one second with almost 100 percent accuracy for the six individual commands. This is equivalent to an information transfer rate of approximately 150 bits per minute, which is much faster than the bandwidth of most brain-computer interfaces
 The researchers have also tested the ability of twelve able-bodied individuals to operate an electric-powered wheelchair with the Tongue Drive system. The next step is to test and assess the usability and acceptability of the system by people with severe disabilities.
 The research team has also begun to develop software to connect the Tongue Drive system to a wide variety of readily available communication tools such as text generators, speech synthesizers and readers. In addition, the researchers plan to add control commands, such as switching the system into standby mode to permit the user to eat, sleep or engage in a conversation while extending battery life.
ADVANTAGES OF TONGUE DRIVE SYSTEM:
 The signals from the magnetic sensors are linear functions the magnetic field, which is a continuous position dependent property. Thus a few sensors are able to capture a wide variety of tongue movements.
 This would provide a tremendous advantage over switch based devices in that the user has the options of proportional, fuzzy, or adaptive control over the environment.
 These would offer smoother, faster, and more natural controls as the user is saved the trouble of multiple on/off switch operations. Alternative assistive technologies that emulate a computer mouse use an additional input device such as a switch for the mouse button clicks besides the primary method for moving the pointer.
 In Tongue Drive system on the other hand, the additional switches are unnecessary since a specific tongue movement can be assigned to the button press.
 The permanent magnet which generates the magnetic field is a small, passive, and inherently wireless component leading to user convenience and additional power saving mouthpiece electronics can be integrated circuit (AISC). The AISC along with the transmitter antenna can be incorporated into a miniaturized package that may be fitted under the tongue as part of the dental retainer.
DISADVANTAGES OF TONGUE DRIVE SYSTEM:
 Implementation is slightly harder.
 Slightly costlier.
CONCLUSION:
 A tongue operated magnetic sensor based wireless assistive technology has been developed for people with severe disabilities to lead a self-supportive independent life enabling them to control their environment using their tongue. This technology works by tracking movements of permanent magnet, secured on the tongue, utilizing an array of linear Hall-effect sensors. The sensor outputs are a function of the position-dependent magnetic field generated by the permanent magnet. This allows a small array of sensors to capture a large number of tongue movements. Thus, providing quicker, smoother, and more convenient proportional control compared to many existing assistive technologies. Other advantages of the Tongue Drive system are being unobtrusive, low cost, minimally invasive, flexible, and easy to operate. A more advanced version with custom designed low-power electronics that entirely fit within the mouthpiece is currently under development.
PREPARED BY:
HAZEL PACLAR
FLOWER MAE NUGAS
ESTHER JOY DE ASIS

Minds on fire open education, tail, and learning 2

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MY PERSONAL VIEW ON A LEARNING COMMUNITY

INTRODUCTION:

Learning community is practiced all over the world. Many authors have made a lot of definitions about what learning community means and what it involves. This paper contains my personal views, perspectives and experiences in regards to learning community. A lot of topics may be discussed and revealed including the technological tools in making a learning community more efficient and productive. Learning is the most important objective why learning community was created. It is more focused on how each member of the community learns on whatever discussions were made. This is how why members on a certain learning community speaks out and express their thoughts and ideas to have a collaborative way of learning. In this way, I can impart whatever ideas in my mind and also, to make my readers know how amusing to be a part of such learning community.

What is learning community?

(Wikipedia foundation,Inc.,2010) defines learning community as a "group of people who share common values and beliefs, that are actively engaged in learning together from each other". It only shows that people are grouped together possessing the same purpose and objectives, making connections, learning interactively with each other, respecting diversities, imparting knowledge and learning unendingly. As on my own perspective, Learning community is just simply learning inside a community of people addressing the purpose to learn. It may sound simple but when you look deeper, it means everything to those who eagerly desires to augment their knowledge to much broader views. Learning is like a cycle where in learners perform the give and take process of learning. In an educational setting, the teacher imparts his knowledge to his students while students acquires the information given by the teacher. In feedback, students add additional thoughts and ideas and without knowing, they already had expanded the information into a much wider angle. By engaging one's self in a learning community situation means to be a part of the learning process that does not merely acquires information but also, to contribute and produce information. Collaborative or cooperative way of learning is also practiced on a learning community. Gregorio (1974) point out that "cooperation is the life of the school"(p.120). It means that students learns best when they are working together cooperatively. Sharing of thoughts and ideas were made, truly informative discussions and full of sense conversations are present in the whole thing. To make it broad, people in the learning community exert the utmost effort to do things together to achieve one primary goal and that is to obtain and acquire new phases of ideas and make each minds fill with overwhelming knowledge.

Learning with technology

(Dror,2008) says that "Learning’ is not new; it has existed for millions of years. In fact, it is a cornerstone characteristic of intelligence and of being human. In contrast, technology, and its application to learning, is a very new endeavor". For the past several years since men existed, I undeniably agree that learning has already been present. It is actually an innate characteristic of a man that cannot be easily taken away by someone. However, In the modern times, learning with the use of technology is a new attempt for everyone. Technology brings a lot of benefits to a learning community nowadays. Through the use of computers as the most common technological advances to aid learning, research findings and information gathering has been made so easy. It is much faster and it replaces the usual work done manually. With technology around, it seems that learning can be more automatic. Nowadays, we can't deny the fact that technological advances has been persistently progressing. With this progression, people's thinking is also turning to a much higher level that's why people's curiosity won't end up and by discovering new things, people tend to invent something very useful to the benefit of many people. In an educational setting, students use technology to make their tasks done precisely. Technology makes the students explore the world of learning. They are actually learning by themselves. They search things by their own, they make criticisms after reading an article and it makes the students think analytically and become more open to new ideas and insights. In a different angle, self-activity is present. According to (Merriam Webster Dictionary,2010), self-activity is an "independent and especially self-determined activity" which means that students learn by doing things independently and they tend to be more progressive in their way of learning. In general, technology helps people to improve their learning.

My views and experiences as a part of a learning community

(Victor,2010) points out that "The most basic level human beings learn is through experience" which is very authentic. I do believe that learning by experiencing is the best way to learn. It is like applying all the theories and lectures in an actual situation. As I became a part of a learning community, the activities that I experienced were extra ordinary. To take note, it is not just a simple learning community that I'm a part of but this community uses technological advances to aid learning and this is what we call the online community or the e-learning community. Through the use of Internet, which is the most prominent tool of technology, has made online access easy. A lot of things to explore and lots of curious minds can be answered with just a click of a mouse, every information you're looking at has made to be instant already. On our learning community, we became a member of a Ning site. It made me explore things and ideas not only coming from me but from the other members of the community as well. It made me think critically because when we are asked to read an article, we have to understand fully the exact details of the article and make criticisms after. Perhaps, it is indeed a great exercise for the mind and I became open to new ideas that may come. Sharing of thoughts and ideas is also present. I receive ideas from others and at the same time, I produce ideas as well by imparting it to other people in the community. Online interaction is present and having an online class session is very new to me but it gave me the impression that learning can be everywhere even it is not done in the classroom setting. I also experienced how to make my own blog site. I can really say that it was fun. I made my own designs and I've been creative in organizing everything in my posts. On my blog, I post whatever ideas that will come out in my mind and I want to impart it to other people. I can freely express myself through blogging and when people have something in mind, they may add up their insights on my post through posting a comment right below my blog. Blogging is like having my own journal of learning since it is where I put all the things that I have in mind. As a total experience, I'd learned a lot of things especially those things that I didn't knew before and I'm enjoying at the same time as well. It definitely motivates me to desire for more things to learn and in that, I will never stop learning.

CONCLUSION:

Learning community means learning interactively. It is to learn with other people around the community and it involves the give and take process of learning. Giving out of ideas and information is exercised and with the use of technology, interactive learning has been made so easy even without seeing the other people in the learning community personally. Learning is everywhere and even where you go, everyday, you may learn a lot of things by just experiencing and it is very important that you are enjoying while you are learning.

REFERENCES:

Wikipedia Foundation Inc., (2010). Learning community. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/learning_community

Gregorio, H. (1974). Theories of learning and their implications. R.P. Garcia Pub. Co.

Dror(2008). Technology enhanced learning: The good, the bad, and the ugly(Master's thesis, University of Southhampton, England, United Kingdom). Retrieved from http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/id/

Victor(2010). Learn through experience. Retrieved from http://EzineArticles.com/expert=Ron Victor

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, (2010). Self-activity. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-activity

WHY DO WE NEED TO LEARN?

Some people asks this question a number of times and when I ask myself, at first, I'm a bit confuse. Well, for me, we need to learn because it is actually a need that our minds should be filled up with unending knowledge. Human beings have an innate capacity of understanding things around. It is something that should be used in everyday decisions that we make. Let's just imagine how life can be without the ability to learn things? it would definitely be awful. It is like living in a mental institution and filled with lots of mentally disabled person around. I could just imagine how it looks like. So then, people really need to learn. ;)

Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together.^[1] More specifically, collaborative learning is based on the model that knowledge can be created within a population where members actively interact by sharing experiences and take on asymmetry roles.^[2] Put differently, collaborative learning refers to methodologies and environments in which learners engage in a common task where each individual depends on and is accountable to each other. Collaborative learning is heavily rooted in Vygotsky’s views that there exists an inherent social nature of learning which is shown through his theory of zone of proximal development.^[3] Often, collaborative learning is used as an umbrella term for a variety of approaches in education that involve joint intellectual effort by students or students and teachers.^[4] Thus, collaborative learning is commonly illustrated when groups of students work together to search for understanding, meaning, or solutions or to create an artifact or product of their learning. Further, collaborative learning redefines traditional student-teacher relationship in the classroom which results in controversy over whether this paradigm is more beneficial than harmful.^[5] Collaborative learning activities can include collaborative writing, group projects, joint problem solving, debates, study teams,and other activities. The approach is closely related to cooperative learning.