Fitting the Pieces Together

“Learning is an enduring change in behavior, or in the capacity to behave in a given fashion, which results from practice or other forms of experience”. (Ertmer & Newby, 1993).  At the start of this course, Learning Theories and Instruction, I identified myself as a hand-ons, trial and error, on-the-job type of learner one that leans towards constructivism.  Seven weeks later I still hold true to that; however, as we progressed throughout readings becoming more familiar with all ‘isms I realized that I move throughout different theories depending on the material or task.  As Bill Kerr states on his blog “….each _ism is offering something useful without any of them begin complete or stand alone in their own right.”  Dr. Ormrod also agrees with this as she states we cannot take a particular learning style into account, design instruction and have everything turn out hunky-dory. (Ormrod, 2009)

 

As an adult learner, I require a certain level of ownership and involvement with my learning and benefit from the intrinsic rewards that being career advancement and further my knowledge and skillset.  I have also realized that my ability to retain the information I have learned depends on the opportunity to apply the knowledge.  These characteristics fall in line with social learning and connectivism.  It has been interesting to better understand the way I learn as well as others. Technology plays an important role in my learning as I need to have interactions with others and the ability to apply knowledge as I learn.  The learning community we have at Walden provides opportunity to connect with instructors as well as students as often as needed.  The internet also provides social networking sites and blogs to further expand this opportunity.

 

“Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.”  -Albert Bandura, Social Learning Theory, 1977

 

References:

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50–71.

Kerr, B. (2007) Retrieved November 16, 2011 from http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html

Cherry, Kendra., (2011) About.com psychology. Social learning theory. Retrieved December 17, 2011, from http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/sociallearning.htm

Connectivism MindMap Commentary

Connectivism, in today’s technology-rich society, it has become increasingly important to learn how to learn.(Davis, Edmunds,Kelly-Batman, 2008).

As technology continues to advance and provide many avenues for learners, we must quickly adapt and learn how learn using these technological opportunities.

This week we created a mind map to demonstrate the many resources we have available to help with this learning.  I have focused on the five that I believe provide the greatest opportunity for me to solidify my learning.

Online Classroom – In this sector we have the benefit of an instructor that has the experience and education needed to guide us down the path of becoming instructional designers.  We also have the benefit of collaborating with our classmates as each has a wealth of knowledge to share.

Co-Workers – Personally, I take advantage of the resources I have available to me at the workplace. The director of our site was a teacher in her past and has a wealth of knowledge to share with me as well as others.  I frequently consult with her and ask her advise, guidance, and suggestions.

Past experiences – Adult learners tend to bring their educational and life experiences into their new learning experiences.  As a trainer and future instructional designer I always remind myself that students will bring their own conceptions, experiences, and expectations.  I want to ensure I recognize and acknowledge the value of this to my students and allow them to share these experiences through discussions, activities,and opportunities to collaborate.  I regularly conduct customer service training for our employees and during these sessions I encourage my classes to participate and share their thoughts and experiences.  I believe doing this provides them with the opportunity to own the training.  I always receive excellent feedback from my classes as they enjoy the session.

Internet – Our brains have been accustomed to absorbing mass amounts of information in a short amount of time over the years. (Shoemaker, 2010).  All of the information available can be quite overwhelming at times; however, as adult learners we have learned how to learn from this information and filter it in a way in which we can gain the knowledge and skills needed. “…connectivism is that nature of abundant information, of primary use of technology, the increasingly complex systemic-based environments that we face today.” (Siemens, 2009).  While I have not used social networking on a regular basis for collaborating in the sense of my learning, I see the benefits of doing so and continue to push myself towards doing this on a more regular basis.  I also have the benefit on a social network that is just for our company.  You may have heard of it:  Yammer.  Yammer is very similar to those other social networking sites except that it is only for the company that you work for.  This provides an opportunity to collaborate with workers all over the world (or U.S. if your company is not global).

Our Students – I have listed this group because we can also learn a great deal from our students.  We should keep in mind that this is another resource for us to utilize.  For me, I work with adult learners; however, I suspect even when working with young learners we can learn something new…even if it just comes in the form of what works and what does not work.

References:

Davis, C., Edmunds, E., & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved November 30, 2011 from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Connectivism

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Connectivism. [Video]. George Siemens.

Connectivism MindMap

The Brain & Learning

This week we focused on the functions of the brain and how this impacts our learning.  I found the following website very interesting as it discusses the right and left hemispheres of the brain and how each processed information.  Understanding how your brain processes information gives you the opportunity to make adjustments to your thinking processes.  It is important for instructional designers to understand this process as we need to be able to target all our students and it helps if we understanding the different ways our audience will interpret information.

For example, a student who predominately uses their left-side of the brain will think in a more logical manner; step-by-step in order ending with the conclusion. The left-brain student will require more structure and approach assignments or task with a plan.  While the student who predominately uses their right-side will be more random looking for the big picture and then stepping back to understand the steps to get there.  This student will also be more fluid or spontaneous with their process and less task oriented.

I would encourage you to complete the Which Side Do You Use test.  It is a short list of questions which will help identify if you are a right, left, or both-sided brain.  I took this test and was not at all surprise by the results:  16 responses to the right, and 2 to the left.  I had already concluded from the article that I was dominant to the right-side of my brain.

For myself, learning more about the right and left hemispheres has cleared up a lot questions in regards to how I learn and steps I need to take to fully understand or sometimes buy-in to a subject.  As a right-brain dominant learner, I am very visual I focus on visualizing how I can utilize material I am learning.  I also tend to focus on the big picture and the overall results.  As stated in our reading this week, the side left side tends to handle the details better while the right side looks for the overall big picture. (Ormrod et al, 2009). Most people will use both sides of the brain; however, some are dominant to one side or the other.  As you read from my results above, I am right-side dominant. A fun fact:  my husband is left-side dominant.  Does this reinforce the saying “opposites attract”?  Maybe…..

Another site which discusses the dominant hemispheres and also talks about how effective teachers work with both left and right side dominant students.  http://gaininginsight.com/blog/archives/569  This information reinforces this week’s reading which states that teachers should vary their presentations, materials used, student activities, and so on. (Ormrod et al, 2009).

References:

Ezine Articles. (2011). How Effective Teachers Teach to Both Hemispheres of the Brain. Retrieved on November 13, 2011 from http://gaininginsight.com/blog/archives/569

Intelegen Inc. (2009). Left vs. right which side are you on?
Retrieved on November 12, 2011 from http://web-us.com/brain/LRBrain.html

Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and
instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson.

Welcome!

I wanted to take a minute to welcome you to my blog. I have created this blog as a requirement for an online course – EDUC-6115-2 Learning Theories and Instruction; however, as I create this blog I have started to imagine the benefits of it. I’m looking forward to great discussions and learning a great deal from those of you that participate in these discussions. As you can see from the title of the blog (2LearnTogether); this blog is all about collaboration and hope you will participate.

Thank you for visiting 2LearnTogether and don’t forget to follow this blog before leaving. You can also click on the RSS feeds link to keep up with the latest.

Instructional Design Resources

Tom Kuhlmann – Rapid E-Learning Blog

http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/

Tom hosts a wonderful blog that shares tips and tricks on creating elearning material.  He addresses common roadblocks, making your slides relevant and engaging, application usage, asking the right questions, how to motivate elearners and much more. My personal favorite is Rapid E-Learning 101 which includes 5 simple ways to get started with elearning development. I also enjoyed his article about motivating elearners.   Much of what he recommends is not surprising and quite similar to what we use in traditional classroom training; rewarding learners, ensuring the course has value, help learners to perform better by connecting the material to the learner – I like to think of this as”What’s in it for me”, setting clear expectations, create an environment where learners feel safe to make mistakes and challenge learners by telling them their wrong (using tact for this, of course).  Visit Tom’s blog to learn more.

Cathy Moore – Let’s save the world from boring elearning

http://blog.cathy-moore.com/

Cathy discusses different methods for instruction such as allowing students to learn from their mistakes.  The first article How to create a memorable mini-scenario shows how asking the student a question about what a person who has stuck themselves with needle should do.  Instead of providing the rules right out front, she starts with a question which allows the student to be surprise by the result.

The Learning Longtail

http://learninglongtail.com/2011/11/03/tales-from-the-trenches-learning-styles/

I found this article from the The Learning Longtail team very insightful.  They discuss the four learning styles (diverging, assimilating, converging, and accommodating) and how to adapt your curriculum to engage each of the styles.  While we are discussing learning theories this week ; I am a believer that understanding the learning styles is also important.  The team also had an article posted (September 14) which discussed the challenges and frustrations with online instruction and addressed some ways in which we can keep our students engaged.  If you haven’t already visited this blog I would encourage you to do so.

References:

Kuhlmann, T. (2007) – Practical real-world tips for e-learning success. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/

Moore, C. (2011) – Let’s save the world from boring elearning. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://blog.cathy-moore.com/

The Learning Longtail (2011). The learning longtail: experiences voices, fresh perspectives. [Blog].  http://learninglongtail.com/2011/11/03/tales-from-the-trenches-learning-styles/