Final Reflection

Taking this course was an essential part in furthering my career in the field of instructional design. Each and every one of us is an individual and has different ways that we take in and retain information. In order to be a successful instructional designer, I have to know how to reach the learners in which I am designing for. So far the common theme of this course, in reference to the learning theories, is that no theory is better that the other. I learned that it is important that I find that median to accommodate all the learners and not just cater to one group in particular. On way that I learned to achieve this was from Dr. Ormrod’s video, Learning Styles and Strategies. She stated using learning strategies such as elaboration, mnemonics, and comprehension, will help. In addition to learning about learning theories and styles, I also learned about motivation and engaging the learners. If learners are not engaged in what they are learning then they are more likely to become unmotivated. To address this issue, I can use Keller’s ARCS model to make sure I cover the areas of Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction.

The most surprising part of this course was learning about how emerging technologies are being incorporated into education. The Horizon Report very interesting. I liked reading about the many strides schools and researchers are doing to take advantage of technology in the classrooms. I especially liked what was being done with personal web. I feel like the possibilities with personal web are endless. Some of my favorites are wikis, websites, and social networking sites. I think that they are great and given the opportunity, can be used for so much more.

This course has deepened my understanding of my own learning process in that it made me take a more in depth look at the way in which I learn and why. Before this class, I have never really thought how I process information and why. The way I think has not changed too much since the beginning of this course. I am learning more about what works for me and what doesn’t. I have found that out that self-directed learning requires ALOT of motivation, focus, and time management. There are many variables that affect independent adult learning, mainly life. It is definitely more of a challenge than in undergrad. Overall, I feel that my personal experiences coupled with what I learned in this course will aid me in my journey in becoming an instructional designer and understanding those that I seek to help.

Learning Revisited

Now that I have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories and style, I feel that my view on how I learn has not changed too much. I still tend to learn and think in the same way I did before. I think what has changed is I categorize or define my learning. I think that I have learned enough over the past few weeks to say it is not just a mixture of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. I think at this point I can rule out behaviorism. Not to say that behaviorism is dead with me, it is just not relevant with the subject matter and tasks that I am asked to perform. They require a higher level of thinking and deeper understanding of me, others, and my environment. Most of the fields I have chosen so far require a large amount of thinking and problem-solving, I don’t see cognitivism leaving anytime soon. I’m still a concrete fact-based person in most aspects so I’m still trying to wrap my head around some of the concepts of constructivism. I understand them and know that they fit somewhere into how I learn, but they are still a little foreign to me.

After learning about social learning, connectivism, and adult learning theories, I fee that I would have to add to my learning repertoire. With new innovations in technology and my chosen fields of study, it makes since to come up with new learning theories that can apply to technology.

Technology plays an important role in my learning. Being in an on-line class, it is necessary that I utilize as many aspects of technology as I can. So far the most helpful in my journey have been wikis, blogs, and the articles from the Walden Library. I have been able to access a lot of information that has been both beneficial in my class studies as well as in my personal learning.

Connectivism

Okay, so apparently I am slow and misread the due date for this. So here is my mind map. Click on the image for a larger view. My reflection coming soon and on time. ;)

Reflection
My network has changed the way I learn in that it has granted me access to articles and other material that I wouldn’t necessarily have contact with. Yet at the same time it has made me somewhat dependant on technology. That’s not much of a bad thing. I love technology. It just makes researching a bit easier and less time consuming. Plus, I value online research for the simple fact that I am from one of the last few generations that had to do physical research before the technology boom.

The best digital tools that facilitate my learning are the blogs and wikis. Although I don’t particularly like to write them, I find the blogs of my classmates and the professional interesting and informative. It’s like an informal way of learning for me. People share their thoughts and insights on topics that interest me. I kind of prefer them a bit more than the class text book. Wikis are just plain fun. I think that they are an excellent way to post information about a topic. I enjoyed creating one for my last class. I spend a lot of time on wikipedia for various reasons, so making my own was very exciting.

The way I gain new knowledge when I have a questions, is to try and find out the information form myself. If I am reading a book and have a question, then I would try to find the answer to my questions in the book. But I usually use the internet (mostly wikipedia) in my search. If I can’t find it that way, then I’d just ask someone.

My personal learning network supports connectivism because it follows George Siemens priciples of connectivism: Learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions, learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources, learning may reside in non-human appliances, capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known, nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning, ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill, and currency (accurate) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities (Davis, Edmunds, & Kelly-Bateman, 2008) .

Davis, C, Edmunds, E, & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/eplt