Understanding the learning theories and learning styles has been quite a fascination for me. This course has provided a wealth of knowledge that allowed me to gain a better understanding of the field of instructional design. In this paper, I wish to address a few points of interest for me regarding this course.
What did you find surprising or striking as you furthered your knowledge about how people learn?
When I first read through the description for this course, I felt that it would be of great interest to me in understanding how people learn. I was not disappointed. One of the things that I learned is that people can relate to more than just one learning theory. Each learner can learn using a combination of different learning theories. Each student possesses different types of intellectual capacities – one person may learn one way and another person may learn in a completely different way. This was definitely interesting to me when there are so many different learning theorists out there that focus on defining the learner.
Can you believe that there are so many learning theories and different variations of each? During my readings for this class and my own personal research, there are a handful of main learning theories, but there are many more variations of the same learning theory. My own personal opinion is that learning theorists are trying to define each learner; however, through their research, they tend to define another variation.
How has this course deepened your understanding of your personal learning process?
This course has provided great clarity in understanding my personal learning process. I understood how I learned and what I needed to retain the most information while learning; however, through this course, I have been able to better define how I learn. I am an independent learner, a cognitive learner. This is the method in which I learn effectively and retain the most information possible. As a cognitive learner, I have a tendency to focus on my previous experience and learnings to determine how to proceed in any given situation.
What have you learned regarding the connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology and motivation?
There is a deep connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation. Learning theories and learning styles assist in understanding how a student, or any person, learns. Learning styles helps us to understand that each person learns differently depending on how you learn or the method by which instruction is designed. Educational technology is a tool to help people learn. Technology allows for students to have the ability to perform research online, pursue online degrees from the comfort of your own home, and allows for the ability to prepare and submit written assignments for face-to-face and online classrooms. In order to continue to have the interest to learn, you need to be thoroughly motivated. This is the link between the learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation. It all focuses on the ability of a student to learn and use the proper tools to stay motivated and retain the most information.
How will your learning in this course help you as you further your career in the field of instructional design?
Gaining an understanding of learning theories will definitely help me within the field of instructional design. How does one know the audience that they are designing instruction for if they don’t understand how students learn? I believe that understanding the learner will help to design instruction that will create the most impact on each individual learner.
In conclusion, understanding learning theories is important to the field of instructional design and understanding how each individual student learn, whether face-to-face or online. In addition to now knowing how to create blogs, this course has been enlightening. I knew how I learned, but I didn’t really consider how other people learn. This course has provided the clarity I needed to move forward in the field of instructional design.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Technology AND Instruction
So, I'm into Week 7 of my course, "Learning Theories and Instruction". It has been an eye-opener of a course and I have learned a lot about learning theories and the impact on Instructional Design.
Now that I have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories and learning styles, my view on how I learn has not changed. I still belive that I am an independent learner. Online learning has truly helped my ability to learn effectively and retain the most information possible. However, now I'm able to define the learning theory that most defines my type of learning -- cognitive theory. I have a tendency to focus on my previous experiences and learnings to determien how to proceed in any given case. This has definitely been the one major learning achievement from this course.
For this course, I had to prepare a Learning Theory Matrix. This assignment allowed me to analyze the learning theories that exist and has provided a greater understanding of how my own personal learning skills were developed. With the Learning Theory Matrix, I learned about six different learning theories -- behaviorist, cognitive, constructivist, social learning, connectivist, and adult learning theory. Learning about these specific theories has helped me to understand a little bit more about my own learning abilities. One of the things that I learned is that people can relate to more than just one selective learning theory. For instance, I tend to lean more towards the cognitive, behaviorist, and adult learning theories. In the cognitive theory, learners tend to be problem solvers and use a lot of reasoning skills. In the behaviorist theory, learners tend to focus on learning through the use of positive or negative reinforcement, thereby allowing me to understand what I'm learning through learned behavior and repeated experiences. With the adult learning theory, learners tend to learn through real-life experiences. I guess this is one of the reasons that students pursuing masters degree are those who have had some work experience related or unrelated to the particular field that they are pursuing. Although I already understood the way in which I learn, I do believe that analyzing the learning theories and learning styles has revealed to me that I didn't know about before. Sometimes, you tend to only focus on your own world and don't realize what other people do or, in this case, learn.
Technology plays a great role in my learning, through my undergraduate and now my graduate program. Technology allows me the ability to perform research online, pursue my undergraduate and graduate degree from the comfort of my home, and even to prepare written assignments, presentations, and diagrams for online courses.
Now that I have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories and learning styles, my view on how I learn has not changed. I still belive that I am an independent learner. Online learning has truly helped my ability to learn effectively and retain the most information possible. However, now I'm able to define the learning theory that most defines my type of learning -- cognitive theory. I have a tendency to focus on my previous experiences and learnings to determien how to proceed in any given case. This has definitely been the one major learning achievement from this course.
For this course, I had to prepare a Learning Theory Matrix. This assignment allowed me to analyze the learning theories that exist and has provided a greater understanding of how my own personal learning skills were developed. With the Learning Theory Matrix, I learned about six different learning theories -- behaviorist, cognitive, constructivist, social learning, connectivist, and adult learning theory. Learning about these specific theories has helped me to understand a little bit more about my own learning abilities. One of the things that I learned is that people can relate to more than just one selective learning theory. For instance, I tend to lean more towards the cognitive, behaviorist, and adult learning theories. In the cognitive theory, learners tend to be problem solvers and use a lot of reasoning skills. In the behaviorist theory, learners tend to focus on learning through the use of positive or negative reinforcement, thereby allowing me to understand what I'm learning through learned behavior and repeated experiences. With the adult learning theory, learners tend to learn through real-life experiences. I guess this is one of the reasons that students pursuing masters degree are those who have had some work experience related or unrelated to the particular field that they are pursuing. Although I already understood the way in which I learn, I do believe that analyzing the learning theories and learning styles has revealed to me that I didn't know about before. Sometimes, you tend to only focus on your own world and don't realize what other people do or, in this case, learn.
Technology plays a great role in my learning, through my undergraduate and now my graduate program. Technology allows me the ability to perform research online, pursue my undergraduate and graduate degree from the comfort of my home, and even to prepare written assignments, presentations, and diagrams for online courses.
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