Prior to the last eight weeks, words like constructivism, connectivism and social learning theory were as foreign to me as speaking a different language.  Throughout the class, I have come to appreciate how people learn, not just the why.  The complexity of learning differs from person to person, which is what makes instructional design so challenging.  Like an intricately woven web, learning theories, learning styles, technology and motivation, mesh together to form the basis of learning.  As you move along the behaviorist-cognitivist- constructivist continuum, the focus of instruction sifts from teaching to learning, from passive transfer of acts and routines to the active application of ideas to problems.  (Ertmer & Newby, 1993, p. 62)

What I found interesting about how people learned was the progression of learning that people went through as they aged.  From 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, the behaviorist theory was incorporated by adding in elements of environmental and intrinsic factors.   Then learning was constructed and incorporated it with the social, and cultural environment even more.  With the advent of technology, people are 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, people like to be an active participant in their learning, have problem centered learning with immediate results and are 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 more of a behavioral approach.  If I am exploring a new concept or idea, a more constructivist approach would work better.  One thing that I did not realize before this class was just how big a part our social environment and interactions play in our learning.  “Engagement, social, cultural, and participation are critical in influencing learning.  Motivation is also a key factor that influences learning.  Humans create meaning as opposed to acquiring it.” (Ertmer & Newby, 1993, p. 62).  “Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations and communication with others.”  (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, 2009, p. 214).  It is not enough to read and learn the information, but how we attach that information mentally to a social or interactive event.  Then, when recall is necessary, instead of recalling just the fact, we recall the event which assists us in great detail recall.

When I look back at all we have covered regarding learning theories, learning styles, technology and motivation, what is apparent is that course content and design cannot be a one size fits all approach.  Learning is as uniquely different from person to person as is their DNA.  While commonalities do exist in certain groups of students, no two learners are the same.  Each learner brings with them their own individualized social and life experiences on which to draw from.  The course designer will have to gauge their audience and determine what level they are technologically and what motivates them.  They will then need to determine what theory of learning best suits the material and then decide how to present the material for maximum learning effect.  While each part, theory, style, technology and motivation needs to be addressed individually, synergistically they work together to optimize learning.  “The goal of instruction is to accurately portray tasks, not to define the structure of learning required to achieve a task.” (Ertmer & Newby, 1993, p. 64)

 

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.  Technology will be a key component when coupled with learning theory and style to design effective curriculum and training.

            Lifelong learning is an ever changing, evolving process.  As new theories are introduced such as Connectivism, with the advent of technology and non-human learning, it is incumbent upon us as instructional designers to stay current with process and theory to develop materials where the greatest knowledge transfer can happen.   I see design as a multifold process.  Assess the audience, determine which learning theory or theories work best for the content, design a delivery system for optimal facilitation, and then follow-up for reinforcement or knowledge checks to make sure transfer as indeed taken place.  It is an exciting time for an instructional designer, with a plethora of tools and resources at our fingertips.  Conceptualize, design, create, facilitate and learn.

 

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

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features from an Instructional Design Perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6, 50-72.

Ormrod, J. E., Schunk, D. H., & Gredler, M. (2009.). Learning theories and instruction (Custom ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

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/

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

Left brain versus Right brain learning

In our study this week of the brain, I read with great interest in our text regarding the left brain and the right brain.  I have always been intrigued by that concept and because of my affection for the study of math and science I automatically assumed that I was left brained because I like to learn in a logical step by step process, as opposed to a right brained individual who is more dominant in visual and spatial processing (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, n.d., p. 34-35).  As I read a little further in our text that there was no such thing as teaching to the left brain or the right brain (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, n.d., p. 46), it got me thinking more about the differences between the right and left brain.  A great article on the left brain versus the right brain in the classroom was found on the scholastic website, www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/left-brainright-brain .  It is a great site with a 21 question quiz that you can take to see where you fall in the spectrum of either right brained, left brained or middle brained.  Also listed on the page, were characteristics of the teacher and the student that fell into each category either right or left.  For those that fell into the middle-brained category, characteristics include being more flexible, but vacillation between the two brain hemispheres when making decisions.  For those in the middle brain, tasks can be completed using both the right brain and left brain. 

Another site at http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivespsychology/a/left-brain-right-brain.htm calls the theory of left brained or right brained learning more a myth, and that both sides of the brain work together, and one have a stronger right sided or left sided brain network.

Other sites concerning left brained or right brained learning include, www.mathpower.com/brain.htm, which provides a list of successive hemispheric style and simultaneous hemispheric style,  www.singsurf.org/brain/rightbrain.php. gives a great exposition on the brain, the quadrants and the function of each quadrant, and spdsupport.org/articles/19-learning-styles-both-hemispheres.shtml which toward the end of the article lists some well-known individuals who were misunderstood as children but went on to do amazing things.  If you want to see what category many of them fell into, you will need to check out the article. 

After reading and researching the above sites and our class material this week, I am not convinced that people can be categorized as being left brained or right brained.  I think we all have preferences in how we learn, and what characteristics come a little more naturally, but to say that someone is right brained because they are artistic and someone is left brained because they are good at logic or systematic problems, tends to lead people to think that they think better with that side of the brain, when in actuality, the quadrants of the brain work together simultaneously to learn, process information and solve problems.

References

Ormrod, J. E., Schunk, D. H., & Gredler, M. (n.d.). Learning theories and instruction (Custom ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

 

http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivespsychology/a/left-brain-right-brain.htm

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/left-brainright-brain

http://www.mathpower.com/brain.htm

http://www.singsurf.org/brain/rightbrain.php

http://spdsupport.org/articles/19-learning-styles-both-hemispheres.shtml

My first attempt at searching blogs

Welcome to my very first blog attempt.  I stumbled across a great blog site titled http://www.elearninglearning.com/.  One of the things that I was impressed about was that you could select topics to get a daily feed from, and there were hundreds to choose from.  So, if you were looking for particular topics from eLearning to technology to theories and everything in between, it was listed there.  You could simply select the topic you wanted and any new blogs would be delivered via RSS right to you either daily or weekly.  You chose the frequency.  The only drawback I see for some is that because there is so much information available, it can be a little overwhelming unless you know exactly what you are looking for.  I think that it will be an invaluable resource in my coursework and beyond since the range of topics is so vast.  This will allow me to collaborate with colleagues both in and out of a classroom and to share ideas and thoughts, and learn real life examples that may not be taught in the classroom environment.  There was an interesting blog that peaked my interest.  The title lead the reader to believe that the writer would prove a substantive list with colors and their effect on behavior.  http://www.saffroninteractive.com/does-magenta-make-me-mellow-the-truth-about-how-colours-affect-behaviour/.  I have always been intrigued how colors could affect one’s behavior or mood, or that certain colors would evoke certain responses.  As I read through the article, no list was ever provided and there was very little in the way of explanation.  I had hoped for more context.

Another site I looked at, http://theelearningcoach.com/ was a good site, but not as comprehensive as the first site I found.  It was more technology based, which will come in handy later on when we design coursework.  One of the articles that I found interesting was a blog by Connie Malamed, in which she lists her top 10 qualities that are ideal for an instructional designer to have. http://theelearningcoach.com/elearning_design/10-qualities-of-the-ideal-instructional-designer/#comment-6171  She has the following list-

1.      Conceptually and intuitively understand how people learn.

2.      Know how to connect with an audience on an emotional level.

3.      Be capable of imagining oneself as the learner/audience member.

4.      Be obsessed with learning everything.

5.      Brainstorm creative treatments and innovative instructional strategies.

6.      Visualize instructional graphics, the user interface, interactions and the finished product.

7.      Write effective copy, instructional text, audio scripts and video scripts.

8.      Meld minds with Subject Matter Experts and team members.

9.      Know the capabilities of eLearning development tools and software.

10.  Understand related fields—usability and experience design, information design, communications and new technologies.

She also sites a survey which indicated that 60% of instructional designers did not have a degree in ID.  As I looked down her list, I thought of only a few that would fall under the category of, “I don’t need a degree for that.”  Numbers 2, 3, and 4 on the list above are safe bets that you won’t learn that in a classroom setting.  You either have those skills or you don’t.  The rest of the items on the list benefit from having a degree in Instructional Design.  Whether it is understanding the culture of an organization, how to effectively implement design strategies or use the newest software tools to disseminate information, a degree in ID would prove valuable.

One other blog that I came across was http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/.  This site had a list of resources that branched off into their own blogs.  Topics included, Rapid E-Learning 101 Designing the Right Course Instructional Design Building Scenarios for E-learning Managing E-Learning Projects PowerPoint for E-learning Visual & Graphic Design Audio & Video Tips.  I like this site because it goes beyond the theoretical and into practical application which is great.  You get great information.  I particularly like the layout of the page.  It has little cartoon figures and site is very easy to navigate around in.  Since I tend to be more of a visual learning, the little characters appeal to me. 
One thing I gathered from these blogs was that there is so much more to being a trainer than just presenting information.  There is a very methodical approach to developing training that caters to the learner’s style rather than the teacher’s style.  I learned long ago that telling someone something isn’t the same thing as training them.  These blogs are loaded with great information that I will be able to use not only the theoretical development of courses, but also in the technical aspect as well.  There are many posters on each of these blog sites, which ensures that the thoughts and ideas that are presented are fresh and up to date with the latest technology and trends in instructional design.