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EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND TECHNOLOGY ROLE

My Educational Philosophy and The Role of Technology

Qiuyan Jiang

California State University, San Bernardino

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EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND TECHNOLOGY ROLE

My Educational Philosophy and The Role of Technology

Introduction

In my perspective, education is a process that include are teaching, acquisition of knowledge,

self-solving problem and evaluation. Educational method is a technique that include are

storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research in the learning process (Dewey,

1944). In normal education, all educational activities occur in structured environment whose

significant purpose are how to teach best and how people learn best. Moreover, the teacher plays

a significant role in facilitating students’ interest in learning and constructing their own

understanding of knowledge. However, each student in a classroom has different learning

abilities and types of knowledge, therefore, how to build student independence and problem-

solving skills are important things for teaching.

Also, self-directed learning and collaborative skills are important study method for students. For

example, teamwork and group discussion are useful way to improve self-directed learning and

collaborative skills because students can share different ideas and their individual knowledge

with each other in courses when they communicate and collaborate with members within groups.

Educational philosophy

Educational philosophy is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the

effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology

of schools as organizations (Noddings, 1995). Educational psychology has been built upon

theories of operant conditioning, functionalism, structuralism, constructivism, and information

process (Snowman, 1997). Therefore, behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three

main educational theories for the foundations of instructional design in educational philosophy.

• Behaviorism
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EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND TECHNOLOGY ROLE

1938 - B.F. Skinner introduces the Behavioral Learning Theory. This theory focus on learning

can be understand, explained and predicated entirely rely on observable events. (Skinner, 1954).

In early instructional technology, this theory not only influence conceptions of instructional

feedback, but also influence behavioral objectives and practice of instruction. For example,

behaviorism can be used in teaching children’ learning behaviors, In kindergarten, some children

may not pay attention to courses, if the course activities are not interesting because of age

restrictions. For kindergarten students, the learner's learning behavior is passive, and the teacher

should provide interesting materials and subject to gain learners’ attention.

Cognitivism

1971 - Allan Pivio hypothesized a theory of cognition. Cognitivism theory focus on information

and knowledge received, transformed, and stored for recall and use in individual mind. Compare

with behavioral theory, cognitivism theory more pay attention to what happened in the learner’s

mind. The researcher who named Yilmaz views that “the cognitive approach focuses on making

knowledge meaningful and helping learners organize and relate new information to prior

knowledge in memory” (Yilmaz, 2011).

Constructivism

This theory focus on learner gain the knowledge through individual study experience and

interactions with world. Constructivism is often associated with pedagogic approaches that

promote active learning (Tobias & Duffy, 2009). Constructivism is the learning process by

creating meaning from people. For example, the teacher creates learning experiences and skills

for learners to apply what they could learned, and learners can use their individual experiences

and individual knowledge to analyze, synthesize all knowledge in learning process. Indeed,

constructivism divided two style which are cognitive constructivism and social constructivism.
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EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND TECHNOLOGY ROLE

For social constructivism, leaner can interaction with others such as partner or group member in

learning process. Finally, the constructivism helps learners to improve their skills in problem

solving, independent thinking and collaboration in learning.

My educational philosophy

My philosophy of education is based on social constructivism. In recent decades, compare with

alternative theory, constructivist theorists have extended the traditional focus on individual

learning to address collaborative and social dimensions of learning (wood, 1998). For me, self-

directed learning and collaborative skills are significant method in learning process. For

example, students can communicate and share their individual knowledge with each other

through group discussions. Participating in group discussion allows students to generalize and

transfer their knowledge of classroom learning and builds a strong foundation for communicating

ideas orally (Reznitskaya et al., 2007). As educators, sometimes we hard to balanced learning

time and after-activities in learning process. Furthermore, different grade students also have

different attitude toward learning. There is good method to help students easily to build their

self-directed learning environment and collaborative skills because they afford students the

opportunity to use to express their independent thoughts. Therefore, I have decided to use the

constructivism theory as my teaching method.

The Role of Technology in My Philosophy of Education

In modern society, people cannot learn anything without technological equipment because

technology is a significant element of education system. Moreover, technology could advance

the development of traditional education.

In some courses that I have taken, we always use teamwork and group discussion to develop our

educational research or academic discussion. For example, my group member and I conducted an
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EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND TECHNOLOGY ROLE

action research about getting parents more involved with their kindergarten students homework

using a PowerPoint as a technology tool. In our project, we choose power-point as a technology

tool to promote students’ learning. In fact, students carry backpacks over-filled with books,

papers and electronic devices such as IPads and phones have become a commonplace sight in

primary, middle, and high schools across the country, as they carry their work with them (Katz et

al., 2012). Those situations are effectively evidence to evident technology plays an important

role in our learning process.

Reflection

In this module, I learned what is educational philosophy and how to write professional

educational philosophy. This is my first time to write professional paper, the paper has some

limitations. In the future, I will to improve my performance.

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EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND TECHNOLOGY ROLE

Reference

Dewey, John (1944) [1916]. Democracy and Education. The Free Press. pp. 1–4. ISBN 978-0-

684-83631-7.

Katz, I., Buzukashvili, T., & Feingold, L. (2012). Homework stress: Construct validation of a

measure. Journal of Experimental Education, 80, 405–421. Doi:10.1080/00220973.2011.610389

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Noddings, Nel (1995). Philosophy of Education. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-

0-8133-8429-0.

Reznitskaya, A., Anderson, R.C., and Kuo, L.J. (2007). Teaching and Learning Argumentation.

Elementary School Journal, 107: 449–472.

Snowman, Jack (1997). Educational Psychology: What Do We Teach, What Should We Teach?.

"Educational Psychology", 9, 151-169

Skinner, B.F. (1954). The science of learning and the art of teaching. Harvard Educational

Review, 24, 86-97.

Tobias, S.; Duffy, T. M. (2009). Constructivist instruction: Success or failure?. New York:

Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780415994231.

Wood, David (1998). How Children Think and Learn. Understanding children's worlds (2nd ed.).

Oxford, UK: Blackwell. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-631-20007-9.

Yilmaz, K. (2011). The cognitive perspective on learning: Its theoretical underpinnings and

implications for classroom practices. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies,

Issues and Ideas, 84(5), 204-212. doi:10.1080/00098655.2011.568989.