Fitting the Pieces Together

Fitting the Pieces Together

Behaviorist theory, cognitive theory, constructivist theory, social learning theory, connectivism, adult learning, multiple intelligences, visual, auditory, kinesthetic learning styles are all concepts and terminology that has enhanced my view of learning.  When we started this course, I attempted to explain how I learn in the most simplistic of terms.  What I did not realize at the time, was that my description was a loose interpretation of the learning theories and how understanding, and maturing affect the progression of learning.

Behaviorism, typically a rewards and consequence based learning theory typifies early educational rote memorization skills.  Get it right, and you get a sticker.  Get the problem wrong, and a sad face accompanies the paper.  Moving through middle school, and cognitive learning, I added to the behaviorist theory by adding in elements of my environment and intrinsic factors.   Then I constructed my learning and incorporated it with my social, and cultural environment even more.  With the advent of technology, I am able to learn by making connections to non human objects for leaning.  Smart phones, computers, and Ipads all make learning richer and more meaningful.  Finally as an adult, I like to be an active participant in my learning, have problem centered learning with immediate results and I am motivated for internal factors rather than the sticker on the paper (Conlan, Grabowski, & Smith, 2003).

What has intrigued me the most is, that I cannot say I learn in any one particular way.  I would have to say that I learn using all of the theories presented, depending on the subject matter, and type of learning.  If I am practicing for a speech, I will use a more of a behavioral approach.  If I am exploring a new concept or idea, a more constructivist approach would work better.  The one constant in all of my learning though is technology.  Since the beginning of the internet, smart phones, Ipads, and tablets, being connected technologically has had many advantages.  You can easily scan through many documents to get the information you need, whereas 20 years ago, it would have taken all day in the library just to pull your resources, only to hope that you had the correct ones. 

Technology has revolutionized how we all learn.  Everything from YouTube to Facebook, electronic libraries to Google searches, technology has integrated into most facets of everyday life.  One downside I see if we as designers are not careful, the students can soon outpace the instructor, and every care should be made for the designer to stay on top of technology trends and improvements.  This was quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education. "New communications technology and platforms in particular are arriving fast and furiously. Our college freshmen grew up wholly within the era of the commercial Internet. Eighteen-year-olds have seen their lives permeated by social media for almost a decade. Our young up-and-coming scholars, in their 20s and early 30s, are probably the most tech-oriented generation of educators yet."(Perlmutter, 2011).  It is incumbent upon us as future instructional designers to stay up to date with technology, and design curriculum and course work that is relevant and current.

References

Conlan, J., Grabowski, S., & Smith, K. (2003). Adult learning. Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching and technology. Retrieved from http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Adult_Learning

Perlmutter, D. (2011, July 24). Great Colleges to work for in 2011. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Bridging-the-Generational-Tech/128304/

Connectivism

 

Connectivism and learning in the 21^st Century.  When I think back to when I was in high school and then in college for my undergraduate degree in the mid 1980’s, I remember the drudgery of writing a term paper, and all the work that went into just the research portion of the project.  There was the library, the card catalog, and checking out armfuls of books hoping that the ones you selected had the right information in them.  There may have been items on microfiche, and possibly a VCR tape to watch, but that was pretty much the extent of available stored resources.  Then, there were the countless hours of pouring over pages and pages of material trying to glean some tidbits that you could properly cite for your paper.  Fast forward 25 years, and the resources that we have to learn have grown at an astounding rate.  With the invention of the world wide web, personal computers, cell phones, tablets and the increasing use of photos and videos, traditional learning without these things is now archaic. 

As I constructed the attached mind map of my different learning resources, it quickly became apparent how much of what I learn is based on recent technological advances.  I broke my map out into three main areas, the Internet, Media and Face to Face.  I felt that these areas best described the different ways in which I could obtain information and thus learn.  Each category had subcategories and some even had a 2^nd level subcategory associated with them.  I then started thinking about all the different groups of people from which I gather and provide information, family, friends, education, business or work and merchants.  I also broke these categories into small sub categories.  I then compared each of my people oriented categories to my learning resource categories, and I found that each learning category directly contributed to each of my different people groups.  The one with the most profound impact was actually the newest learning resource and that was the internet.  The internet formed the strongest connections with all of the people groups in my mind map.  There wasn’t a group that was not just touched by, but immersed in the use of the internet.  For example, I use social media to connect with family and friends, searches and blogs in my educational connections, the internet searches, social media and news in my job business world, and I use merchant websites and searches to conduct personal business.  There isn’t a facet of my life that is not touched by the internet in some way shape or form.  And with the smart phone, it goes everywhere I go. 

If questions arise and I need answers, no longer am I searching the encyclopedia Britannica.   A quick Google, Yahoo, or Bing search is usually all I need to spring board into other resources.  This allows me the ability to find other online sources or gives me information where I can obtain additional information.  A site as wonderful as www.pinterest.com can provide information on almost any do it yourself project you could think of and teach you step by step how to do it.  I can also search other media at my fingertips, TV on demand, on line books, YouTube, or reach out face to face, email or text with friends, coworkers, teachers or classmates. 

Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources. A learner can exponentially improve their own learning by plugging into an existing network ("Connectivism," n.d.).  Based on my mind map, all of my learning sources are connected in some way.  Whether it is an electronic, physical or human resources, each is interconnected to make the best learning environment possible.

References

Connectivism-a learning theory for today’s learner. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://connectivism.ca/about.html