Reflection of Learning Theories Class

New Learning

     Over the past 8 weeks, we’ve learned about the many different ways people learn.  We have developed an understanding about how people learn and discussed strategies of how to best address these learners in our classrooms.  A second thing that I am walking away from this class is that I believe I now have a better understanding for what type of learner I am.  Why is this important? Well for me, I’ve spent most of my life as a learner, being frustrated that I haven’t been able to retain learning, that I lose interest in my learning and that I have a hard time learning through extrinsic motivation.  But by having a better understanding of how I learn, I now have better understanding of what I need to learn and thus I have a better understanding of how to teach students no matter what type of learners they are.

Surprising New Thinking.

In week one we defined learning as “an enduring change in behavior…resulting from practice or other forms of experience. (Schunk) One thing that really surprised me this quarter was the idea that people form their knowledge through their unique experience. “Learners actively interpret what they see and hear, and construct and transform their own unique knowledge” (Foley, 60) This tells that my no matter what I teach, my students will each transform that knowledge into their own unique understanding.   So I begin to wonder about the assessment process all together.  If students individually transform what I teach them, than how can I expect them to retrieve their understanding in way similar to what I expect or I am asking for.   After thinking about this, the only true way to assess students is to have explain their thinking using evidences to support their understanding,

My Learning

            As I’ve said many times in this course, I believe I learn in a variety of different ways, you

could say I’m a behaviorist, you could say I’m a constructivist, either way I believe motivation is a major issue when it comes to my ability to learn.  That’s one reason why I think I’m most effective when I’m learning through cognitivist strategies.  I have found that when I am motivated to learn I am more willing to develop schemata for me to retain the knowledge of how I learn.  Throughout this class, I have found myself connecting my learning to how I’ve learned in athletics.  The repetitions of different movements have allowed those movements to become second nature, where I can do them without thinking.

Connecting Learning

This quarter, I’ve really developed a better understanding of how the internet has is perfect place for the constructivist learner.  The “Personal Web” is “a collection of technologies that confer the ability to reorganize, configure and manage online content rather than just viewing it.” (Johnson)  Users of the “Personal Web” or the internet have ability to find new ideas, develop thinking and then share it with the rest of the world really allows the learner to move through all steps of the learning process. 

Instructional Design

This course has been truly helpful because it allows me to see my students in a different light.  By understanding that my students learn in different ways, I developed a deeper understanding of who my students are and why they learn or act the way they do.  Students need a learning environment that allows them an opportunity to succeed. (Ormrod)  I will try to use the ARCS motivational process that we learned this week as well in order to do my best to reach each and every one of my students and be sure that motivation is not a hindrance to their learning.

References:Top of Form

Foley, G. (Ed.). (2004). Dimensions of adult learning: Adult education and training in a global

    era. McGraw-Hill Education.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., & Smith, R. (2009). The Horizon Report (2009 ed.). Austin, TX: The    

    New Media Consortium.

Ormrod, J. Video Program: "Motivation in Learning" (approximately 10 minutes)

Schunk, R.D (1991) Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective.  New York: Macmillan

How I learn?

For the past 7 weeks, I have been doing my best to basically learn how people learn.  While doing the classwork in my Learning theories and Instruction class,  I have continued to construct my knowledge around the constructivist theory, I have developed an understanding of the behavioral learning strategies my wife has been testing on me for years, I connected my previous knowledge of education and the ways students learn to some new strategies and theories, and I now understand that we has adults need to be taught differently because we encode information differently then when we where children.

Now as a learner myself, I believe I am probably even more lost then I was before we begun this class.  I’m not talking about being lost around how people learn,  I believe I understand a number of the different strategies that we've been reading about and I understand how I might be able to teach students who learn in these ways.  My problem is I’m not sure how I learn. 

I know in one sense I’m a behavioralist.  I know I relish positive feedback, have the ability to learn from negative reinforcement, and I am willing to change or learn if it is supported with positive reinforcement.

I believe in another way I learn through cognitive theory.  As I was coaching my little league team this spring, I noticed I started to add schemata to the drills that I was teaching.  Running each player strategically through the movements of being ready, fielding a grounder and seamlessly moving into throwing position.  Through developing this schemata, I figured out that this is very much how I learned in many situations, especially in the field of athletics.  The ability to shoot a basketball or free throw shooting came from repeatedly following of the same steps over and over until it became second nature.

But as I had always thought, I am probably a constructivist learner.  When given the tools to produce knowledge, I am normally at my best when I’m allowed to construct my own learning, taking previous knowledge and combining it with new information in order to construct a new understanding.  I've seen this a lot when working with new technology, I am more likely to try things out and create my own understanding of the technology before I will read instructions on how to use it.

As you might assume at this time, I definitely can see myself as an adult learner and with that being said much of what I learn is through technology.  Weather it is obtaining new information through blogs or online news sources,  creating new pieces of work through apps or online programs that allow me to share my work, or keeping track of information I've discovered, developed and shared with the world, technology is a major part of my life and seems to becoming more so every day. 

My Connections to Connectivism

In this week’s blog entry, we've been asked to consider how we learn, how our connections help facilitate our learning, how has your network changed the way we learn, what tools do we use to facilitate learning, and finally how do we gain knowledge when needed?

After looking at my mind map, you can see that I truly have a lot going on, that I am constantly learning no matter which part of life I’m in, and I constantly need to build my knowledge through the connections that I make. 

As you can see in my teaching and coaching areas, I use a lot of my individual experiences combined with the experiences of my co-workers and or students in order to develop a true understanding of a new knowledge or strategies of learning.    I've learned that I truly don’t understand a process or strategy until I try to teach it myself, so by working cooperatively with other teachers where I can share my thoughts, ideas or teach new strategies, or by teaching my students in class, I've learned that I become more confident or have a greater understanding of the concept.

I’ve believe that I’m truly lucky to have connections that I can turn to in all areas of my life.  If I have video production questions I have my co-workers or mentor who I turn to with questions.  I have technology websites and blogs, including streaming media and teaching and technology, that keep me informed and updated on technology or devices that are being used in the industry today.  In education, I have a plethora of co-workers and resources that allow me to continually learn and develop my craft.  Teachers share with me their past experiences, expectations and concepts and knowledge obtained through trainings.  I’m constantly learning through my own experiences in my classroom, plus I use a variety educational blogs and other websites that share strategies and concepts that can be implemented in my classroom, including but not limited to Safe and Civil Schools and the AVID program.  In athletics, I have continued my search for new knowledge and education.  I've attended various trainings that have provided me with new strategies or new schemata in order to teach or reteach concepts to athletes in a variety of different levels.  I also use websites like youtube.com or littleleague.org that help me develop concepts or create practice plans that are both educational and fun for the athletes.

A lot of my learning can be traced back to the idea of connectivism.  I use the network of connections (co-workers, professional development opportunities, and technology) in order to strengthen my understanding of concepts or strategies, I am able to recognize patterns I see between my network connections or developmental areas, and I’m able to obtain knowledge from a diverse list of sources.  All in all, I am able to collect information from my connections in order to develop my  own understanding of a given concept or subject.

This past week, I've spent a lot of time learning about how our brains work.  I've read numerous texts that have walked through the many different ways that we are able to not only obtain new knowledge but also how our brains are able keep hold of the knowledge for the long term.

I started searching through different websites in order to see what other knowledge was out there.  One website I found was designed for students with disabilities but the information shared in the site can really open a person's eyes, not just how the brain works but how teachers can effectively teach students with disabilities.  The site I checked was the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities. One thing that I've noticed as a teacher is that modifications you need to make for students with disabilities usually work for all students in your classroom. The NICHCY offers multiple well thought out posts that can be helpful with working with both students with disabilities and students without.  These posts range from understanding how the brain works, what learning does for your brain, to understanding how to create a curriculum that gives all individuals an opportunity to learn.  I found this website very helpful and can definitely see myself revisiting it in the near future.

Another site that I visited was the Expertlearners.com.  Expert learners provides strategies to help you to process information more efficiently and help you develop a greater understanding.  They break their strategies into 3 categories; Expert learners topics like self-regulated learning, note taking, and visualization through graphic organizers.  The Expert learners combine learning theory with high level learning strategies.  I have found the site very helpful, especially in the area of self-regulated learning. This is one area that I know that I struggle in, and I found the SRL cycle very helpful.

Hello World

With how easy it is to start a blog and let the world know what is bouncing around in a person's head, I find it a little interesting that it took an assignment in a Instructional Design Course from Walden University for me to get started.  But that is the world we live in, and my first assignment is to blog about other blogs. I have been asked to look at blogs that can help me in the field of education and educational design.  In doing so, I have also been asked to critique the sites and discuss how the sites will be used as a resource in the future.

The first blog that I have bookmarked was  the Usable Learners Blog in which it is described to be designed for how people learn.  Usable Learners is written by Julie Dirksen who has been an independent consultant and instructional designer for the past 15 years.  The Useable user site seems to be orgininally created to sell her stuff, but her blog really seems perfect for me, since I currently work in middle school and her last couple of blog posts include WIIFM (What's in it for Me) and the discussion of how extrinsic motivation in the classroom.  Her sight also allows my voice to be heard, after each blog post, she asks for thoughts and comment on what she has posted.

The second blog that I bookmarked was  The Writers Gateway.  The Gateway is blog written by  Rupa Rajagopalan, an instructional designer for the past 7 years.  At first look I wasn't to impressed.  Rupa's latest post is about the best way to sales talk.   It did have a nifty little video to work with it, but I didn't think it was going to be helpful for me.  But after a more exhaustive search, I found that he offers a beginners guide to Instructional design, in which he discusses the concepts and process in order to be successful in the field.

The third blog I bookmarked was the Rapid E-Learning Blog.  The Rapid E-Learning Blog is hosted y Tom Kuhlmann who has over 15 years of experience in the training industry. The E-Learning blog shares tricks and tips to build a creative and successful e-learning environment including how to work with audio, video and graphic design.  I find it is even helpful in my own classroom, their tips for powerpoints and video will also help me improve my visual presentations.