Connectivism

My network is made up of all of the people and things that impact me everyday -- family, friends, career, and education. My family and friends have always driven me to continue my education and have driven a lot of my motivation along the years. They have shown me the importance of continuing my education throughout the years. As a child, my mother and grandparents provided me with learning tools, i.e. toy computers, interactive books, so that I can learn everything that I needed to learn. This has made me the hands-on learner that I have become as an adult. Due to being raised as such a hands-on learner, it is tough for me to withstand the lectures and speeches involved in traditional classrooms.

The digital tools that best facilitate learning for me has been tools such as podcasts, YouTube how-to videos, ebooks, and blogs. These have been the tools that I have used and they have helped me to learn and helped me in understanding and comprehending more than I believe I would learn in the traditional classroom.

I gain new knowledge when I have questions by doing research online or at the library and hoping to locate information that I would be able to grasp the concept. At Walden, there are a lot of resources available to learn. In addition to the professor and fellow students, the Walden library is a great resource for doing research.

Neuroscience and Information Processing...Week 2

In order to understand how a person learns, you must understand how the brain works.  This is an interest of mine as I've always wondered what makes the mind tick...what is necessary to make you brain work and why does everyone learn differently.

I reviewed several websites and online journals in the hopes of answering this question.

Orginisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
This website is a great read for those interested in the workings of the brain and how people learn.  A center known as the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) focuses on understanding how students of all age learn.  They developed a project, known as the "Brain and Learning" project, which allows the center to understand the learning processes of a person throughout their life.  It took 7 years to complete, but once completed, they were able to publish a publication on their findings, "Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science".  If you are interested, you should definitely take the time to read through the findings.  It is really intriguing.

Learning and Problem Solving as an Iterative Process: Learner's Living Repository (LEAR)
This article is very interesting.  It focuses on a learning repository that utilizes problem-solving techniques to solve issues in the working environment. It allows for a forum to create ways to ensure that learning and problem-solving occurs in the workplace.