Considering Learning Theories and Styles

Previous to this course I had a very minimal understanding of learning styles and virtually no knowledge of learning theories. Through the duration of this course I have learned a great deal more about learning styles, learning theories as well as educational technology and how to motivate your student. I was able to develop a whole new understanding about how learning works and how to use what I have learned to improve my instructional curriculum.

One of the aspects of our learning that I found most surprising were that traditional elements in some of the learning theories that we have studied. For example, there were elements of Behaviorist and Cognitive theory that I found surprising because they incorporated methods that were, what I consider, culturally intuitive. You can see similar behaviors practiced by parents with young children, such as the reinforcement of positive behaviors and the attrition of negative behaviors in Behaviorism; and also the significance that a learner’s experience is in Cognitive theory. Both of these elements are quite basic and I was surprised to find that they are approved methods of teaching and do help in the learning process for all learners.

Although I did not have a great deal of knowledge of learning theories and styles before this course I did have an understanding of the basics of my own learning styles from my undergraduate classes. I did have an opportunity, at the time, to take several self-assessment tests which I found helped me to understand how I learn. Back in undergraduate school I learned that I was primarily a visual learner but I was also a kinesthetic learning. I was able to use this information to my advantage to comprehend and store information better. During this course I got to explore learning theory’s more and I discovered that Connectivist learning theory was the most beneficial to me and my lifestyle.

I was also able to discover that learning theories, learning styles, educational technology and motivation are all very closely related. To develop the best curriculum, I believe, that you must include elements of all of these processes to better serve your students’ specific needs. I will take from this course a great deal of knowledge and understanding about how learners learn and how to incorporate a combination of elements into a learning plan that suites my audience.

How I Learned to Learn

Before the course began I had some familiarity with learning styles. I had previously, in undergrad, been made to take self-assessment tests that helped to determine my learning styles. I had already known that I was more of a visual learner than anything else and the assessments reinforced my understanding of my own learning style. However, I was surprised to find that I also learn kinesthetically. Now that I have a deeper understanding of learning styles I see that these assessment tests can be useful beyond just being a fun classroom exercise. Once I was able to determine how I learn it was much easier to self-customize my comprehension and memorization of new topics. Knowing how helpful it was to me, I believe that this self-assessment test should be mandatory for anyone involved in a long term learning plan. One of biggest challenges in learning was recollecting information. The knowledge that I learn visually specifically helped me with memorizing data.

On the other hand, I was not as familiar with learning theories. I owe my knowledge of learning theories to this course and I have learned that there are many theories out there. Each learning theory is different but many of their elements are similar. Similar themes that I have seen in studying learning theories are a problem-solving objective, relevance of cultural/environmental influence and storing data etc. All of these the themes are important and would be useful when integrated into a learning goal. I feel that learning plans that incorporate several elements of learning theories, in accordance with the learning audience, would be the most successful.

I personally feel that connectivism was the theory that most appealed to me and suited my learning style as well as my lifestyle. I think that it puts abundantly available technology to use for educational purposes which is imperative in a technologically advancing world. It also gives students (in particular adults) the independence to customize their own learning to their needs and capabilities. It is for these reasons that I feel connectivism will be the (or one of the) most vital learning theories to be used in the future.

Mind Mapping

This week we looked into the connectivist learning theory and it helped me truly examine all of the connections in my life that contribute to my bank of knowledge. This week I realized, while examining my networks, that the older I get the larger my networks become. It is partially because I acquire more network resources as time goes by, as to be expected, but it is also because as we become more technologically knowledgeable it becomes easier to share information with others; this is the most prominent element of connectivist theory. The advances in technology have made information more accessible but I believe that this has its pluses and its minuses. On the plus side it clearly allows us to acquire a wealth of knowledge that we were not able to before. On the other hand it also can be quite overwhelming trying to rationalize so much information some of which may be contradictory and confusing. In order to make sense of the vast amount information out there I have had to develop some essential skills, one of which is organization and the other is filtering. For all of this data to be useful I have had to learn very quickly how to sift through a large amount of data then locate useful information and store it in an organized way so that I am able to revisit it later. There are many resources available to us bit the ones I find useful are the ones that allow you to build a detailed understanding of the targeted topic. I think I find web articles and blogs most useful to my learning. Blogs allow you to read and comprehend the writers’ thoughts in detail. Unlike a discussion board, where writers tend to shorten their responses, and rightfully so, blogs allow them to freely make a point at length. Similarly, web articles can give the reader a deeper sense of the topic and help them to develop a full understanding but as opposed to text books web article allows you to gather information from the perspective of many authors and not just one. There are some social barriers that come with connectivism. If you are in a classroom setting it is much easier to ask a question if you are confused about a top but when connecting virtually it can be a bit more complicated. I find that I usually have two options in solving this kind of issue, one is by contacting a professor or classmate and the other is by doing my own independent research. I prefer to do my own research. I find that when I do my own work in finding data I am able to comprehend it much better and remember what it is I learned. Although connectivism has its downside I believe that the good outweighs the bad and it gives the learner more control over what he/she is learning.

The Brain and Learning, Information Processing Theory, and Problem-Solving Methods During the Learning Process

For this week’s second assignment I read two very enlightening journal articles.

The first article is entitled "Cognitive Science and Teacher Education" by Carol A. Lyons and Marlin L. Languis. Unfortunately this article is a bit out dated but I still found it to be fairly informative. In the article the authors discuss methods of teaching perspective teacher to identify learning styles and patterns in order to better serve their future students. Lyons and Languis propose that undergraduate students in education programs follow a five step plan that would, ultimately, enable them to categorize their students learning patterns and customize a plan that suites them best.

The second article is entitled "An Investigation of Decision Making Styles and the Five-Factor Personality Traits With Respect ToAttachment Styles" by M.Engin Deniz. Unlike the previous article this one focuses more on the behavior of individuals as it relates to their decision making skills. Deniz investigates how we develop our identity, self-esteem, problem-solving skills and personality. There are four "attachment pattern" personality types that individual fall under. The four patterns are fearful, dismissing, preoccupied and secure; the secure personality being someone with high self-esteem and confidence in others, the fearful personality being someone at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. According to the author an individual’s self-confidence is closely related to his/her decision making skills and therefore individuals who display secure personality traits would be better at problem solving.

Helpful Instructional Design Blogs

http://www1.astd.org/Blog/

The above link is to the website for the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). This website is a great resource for someone who has interest in workplace development and training. This group was started in 1943 and is a great place to go for aspiring instructional designers.

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

The above link is to the blog of Cathy Moore and the motto in her blog is "Let's save the world from boring elearning!" Cathy's blog focuses on the development of challenging and innovative eLearning materials.

http://theelearningcoach.com/

The above link is to a website where “the eLearning coach” Connie Malamed shares her experience as a consultant and former graduate student in instructional design.