Reflection on EDUC-6115-3

What did you find surprising or striking as you furthered your knowledge about how people learn?

As I reflected on the past 8 weeks I believe the thing I found most striking, and perhaps I could even use the word disturbing, was the vast number of theories and styles that exist in the learning and instructional design world.  It is bothersome to me in a way because I feel the process of instruction has been so inundated with theories and philosophies on how people learn that at times I believe it takes away from the learning.  It seems there is always a new theory arising that contradicts a theory from the past and it makes you wonder, “Is the type of instruction we are doing today going to be found “improper” or “ineffective” in another year because a contradictory theory arises?”  I definitely agree as instructors and educators we are responsible for the transfer of content and the learning process in general, and a large part of that responsibility is staying up to date with the latest technology, theory, and instructional practices.  What I do not agree with; however, is getting so involved in learning the latest and greatest learning theory that we lose site of the learners.

 

How has this course deepened your understanding of your personal learning process?

Throughout this course I have learned a great deal about a number of learning styles that can further explain my own personal preferences.  For example, I have always learned best by “doing”, or by applying the new concept to actual experience.  This type of learning I would connect with behaviorism. Behaviorism is tied to observable performance, and a kinesthetic way of learning is hands on, and therefore extends itself to a performance that is observable. Again, as an instructional designer I attempt to incorporate activities that allow the learners to apply what they are being taught in order to address the needs of the kinesthetic learners.  Another learning theory that has enlightened my understanding of my own style is the Cognitive.  Cognitivism introduced a number of tools to instructional design such as graphic organizers, “chunking” information, and organization of information from simple to complex so learners can build upon prior knowledge.  All of these are things I utilize in my role as an Instructional Designer, but also utilize as a learner since these tools are a great way to organize your thoughts and map the concept in a way that is easily visualized. 

What have you learned regarding the connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation?

I have learned that each learning style seems to have a number of theories that connect to that style and reiterate the needs of a person with that type of learning style.  I have learned that different learning styles require different means in order to comprehend and be able to perform the task they are learning, and I have learned that each learning style has much different things that serve as motivators for them to perform to their greatest ability.  I have also learned a great deal about when educational technology will be impactful, and with which learning style it will not be as successful.  Technology definitely has its place in learning and instruction, but it may not be the best mode of communicating information for all learners. 

How will your learning in this course help you as you further your career in the field of instructional design?

In my career as an educator, and now an Instructional Designer, I consistently try to focus on the different learning styles and develop my training material/curriculum in a way that incorporates a variety of learning styles.  Through this course I have gain a greater depth of knowledge about the learning styles and how they can be incorporated into instructional material through a variety of activities and mediums.  I have also learned what type of external factors might impact a learner’s ability to comprehend material, which will assist me in designing instructional material that will have the greatest impact on the learner.  I believe my future design and development of training material will take into account a number of the suggestions and tools I have gained through this course, and as a result will have a greater return on investment for my customer and a greater learning impact on the participants.  

Fitting the Pieces Together

In my career as an educator, and now an Instructional Designer, I consistently try to focus on the different learning styles and develop my training material/curriculum in a way that incorporates a variety of learning styles. Prior to learning the different theories and styles I have always thought of the learning styles as simply: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic and organized my training material to address these learning styles.  When reflecting on my personal learning style I have always thought of myself as a combination of both visual and kinesthetic. While learning new material I tend to visualize the concept and connect them to things I have learned in the past.  In that manner I am representative of the constructivist theory of learning. With the constructivists belief of understanding concepts through interpretation of our own past experiences, my visual connection of new material to past learning would fall in the constructivist range.


Throughout this course I have learned a great deal about a number of learning styles that can further explain my own personal preferences.  For example, I have always learned best by “doing”, or by applying the new concept to actual experience.  This type of learning I would connect with behaviorism. Behaviorism is tied to observable performance, and a kinesthetic way of learning is hands on, and therefore extends itself to a performance that is observable. Again, as an instructional designer I attempt to incorporate activities that allow the learners to apply what they are being taught in order to address the needs of the kinesthetic learners.  Another learning theory that has enlightened my understanding of my own style is the Cognitivist.  Cognitivism introduced a number of tools to instructional design such as graphic organizers, “chunking” information, and organization of information from simple to complex so learners can build upon prior knowledge.  All of these are things I utilize in my role as an Instructional Designer, but also utilize as a learner since these tools are a great way to organize your thoughts and map the concept in a way that is easily visualized. 

As for technology, it has become an integral part of both my learning and my instructional design role.  Technology has enabled me to earn a masters degree in an online program that fit perfectly into my lifestyle when a traditional classroom did not.  Technology has again offered me the opportunity to participate in another online degree program that will benefit me greatly in my career.  Technology is at the core of my daily routine as an ID as I develop all of my course material through various computer programs, I deliver training via Adobe Connect sessions, I attend Webinars and video conference meetings on a daily basis, and I use technology as my means of communication with my co-workers all over the world.  Online learning is definitely not something for everyone, but for me the ability to attend classes online, deliver training classes online, and receive various training content online has enriched my personal learning and my performance in my career. 

As I reflect on my life as a learner, and my adult life as an educator, I believe my learning style has changed many times over the years and I believe most people are similar to me and their learning styles evolve over time and become somewhat of a combination of many styles.  I also believe; however, as educators and instructional designers we have a responsibility to our learners to evolve our teaching methods to the best of our ability in order to reach the maximum number of learners and learning styles.

Mapping My Learning Connections

While I was creating my mind map I did a great deal of reflection on how each network has become an avenue of learning for me.  Adult learners are not limited to learning in a classroom, but instead can derive learning opportunities from a wide variety of sources.  I have come up with the following networks as being my main sources for communication, support, and knowledge:    

Personal Network:  My personal network is made up of family, friends, and church (including my children’s Catholic school connections).  I engage in discussions regarding education, religion, parenting, finances, basically any and all issue or topic possible.  I am blessed to be surrounded by people who are thought provoking and discussion oriented which enables me to learn from their experience, as well as share my own thoughts.

Online-  Included in this category would be a variety of social network sites such as Facebook, Wiki, and Blogs.  It would also include online communications like email, sametime and instant messaging.  My online network gives me the opportunity to engage in conversation with individuals from all over the globe and individuals who have much different perspectives and experiences.  Through the Internet, search engines like google and Bing, I can obtain information at a click of the mouse that might have taken hours to research in the past.  

Walden University – My Walden online network is made up of my relationships with classmates and my discussion or classroom forums.  Through my Walden network I am able to engage in dialogue with highly educated people who share their knowledge and push me to think outside the box and broaden my own knowledge base.  Through my classroom forum I have access to a great deal of technology such as the Walden Tech Resources, Library, Writing Center, and of course the faculty and administrative resources.  

Work – My professional network includes my co-workers, project teams I am involved with, and the business partners I support with my training efforts.  Through meetings, sametime conversations, adobe connect sessions, webinars, sharepoint sites and virtual learning opportunities I stay connected and learn a great deal from my professional network.  I gain a great deal of knowledge about key performance indicators, returns on investment, and the state of our economy from my professional network.  My professional network also provides me access to massive amounts of technology I would not otherwise have access to.  This technology enables me to broaden my skills as an instructional designer and employee.  

Additional Points:

Which digital tools best facilitate learning for me – definitely the online classroom environment.  I learn a great deal from the conversations I have in the discussion forums, as well as the weekly reading and the tech resources made available to students.  The digital tools I learn the least from are definitely blogs!  I do not enjoy blogging, and I do not feel I gain greater knowledge from participating in blogs…just a personal opinion of mine.  

In what ways does my personal learning network support the ideas of connectivism? - Siemens explains, “Connectivism is presented as a learning theory that integrates technology, social networks, and information” (2011). The ability to incorporate multiple facets for learning (i.e. online, instructor led, systems based, etc) and the incorporation of self-directed learning, partnered with social networking enables me to become connected to my peers while at the same time being empowered to work at my own pace and identify how the learning will directly impact my life. This, in my opinion, is the basic framework for a successful learning situation.

References:

Siemens, G. (n.d.). Connectivism, Video resources Walden University

Identifying and Evaluating Online Resources

The theories behind learning and how the brain works seem to be never ending and can be quite overwhelming.  There are the traditional beliefs and theories that have been around for years, and there seem to be new ones continuously appearing. 

In the spirit of "all things theory-based", I found a great article on the Instructional Design Central website that appropriately enough is titled Instructional Design Models & Theories.  The thing I found extremely valuable about this article is it basically provides a "one stop shop" for Instructional Design Theories.  The opening paragraph simply states; "There have been multiple instructional design models that have been developed and implemented over the years.  Below are just a few of today's most commonly applied and practiced instructional design models, theories, and methodologies" ("Instructional Design Models & Theories," n..d.).  The article then proceeds to outline a number of the most recognized and widely used ID theories and models:  Merrilss's Principles of Instruction, ADDIE Model, Kemp's ID Model, Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction, Blooms Learning Taxonomy, and Kirkpatrick's 4 Levels of Training Evaluation.  Each of the theories are then outlined in the article and contain videos, graphics, and some really simple and informative visual aids to help describe the different attributes of the theories.  I found the site extremely useful and will continue to refer to it when I need some ideas for development of material and evaluation/assessment items.  

http://www.instructionaldesigncentral.com/htm/IDC_instructionaldesignmodels.htm

The other article I found was based more on the idea of learning styles and creating an appropriate environment for learning.  The name of the article is: Understanding Different Learning Styles and I found this article on the NDT Resource Center website.  This article is definitely geared toward those in the field of education, but I still found the information to be valuable for those of us who are creating material for adult learners in a corporate setting.  What I liked about this article was how simply stated the information was, the additional learning styles it outlined (not just the traditional auditory, visual, kinesthetic) and also how clearly it described the most conducive learning environment for each of the learning styles.  It also provided a wealth of links and additional articles you could access for more information on learning styles, learning theory, etc.    http://www.ndt-ed.org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Learning_Styles.htm



References:

Instructional Design Models & Theories. (2009). Retrieved July 8, 2011, from http://www.instructionaldesigncentral.com/

Understanding Different Learning Styles.  (2011).  Retrieved July 8, 2011, from http://www.ndt-ed.org/index_flash.htm

Instructional Design Sites and Blogs

As an Instructional Designer I am continually searching for resources that will provide me with tools and information to help me improve my skills.  I attend a number of free webinars offered from a variety of training organizations, attend training sessions provided by my employer, and often times turn to the internet for the latest ideas and techniques being used in Instructional Design.  While searching for information to complete this blog assignment I referred to a number of sites I already have bookmarked as my favorites, and also found quite a few new sites which provided a great deal of useful information.  The following three sites are the ones I have chosen to share in this post:

1.  The first site is actually a company website for 'CommLab India', which is a company based out of Hyderabad, India but also has locations in US and Australia, and are developers of eLearnrning and online training solutions:  http://blog.commlabindia.com/ .  The website is obviously a marketing tool for CommLab and contains a great deal of information about their products, testimonies from their clients, job opportunities, company description, etc.  But the website also offers a Custom training and eLearning Blog section, which is the area I found a very informative and was able to gain a lot of information.  I found the website via a link that was provided in one of the discussion posts on a LinkedIn blog for Instructional Design which I am a member.  The blog area of the website has a number of different sections that focus on various types of training: Product Training, Process Training, Lean Training, are just a few examples.  When you go into each section you are then introduced to a number of different blog entries, case studies, articles, etc. about that particular type of training.  The site also contains a link to Live Webinars, some of which you can attend for free, and also links to free online training courses.  The blog I participated in was titled "Understanding the Various Content Types Delivered Via eLearning", and it focused on using the appropriate design strategy for the specific content type that is going to be trained.  It provided a number of links to additional information about content types and eLearning development, and presented all of it in a very non-technical language that was easy to read and understand.  The site is definitely loaded with a great deal of sales and marketing information, however if you bypass all of that and go directly to the blog sections, I believe it contains very valuable information.

2. The next site I found very interesting, with a great deal of valuable content, was actually a blogspot by a gentleman by the name of Charles Jennings:  http://charles-jennings.blogspot.com/.   Charles Jennings is the Director of a UK- based Learning & Performance Consultant Company, and his blog has been active since 2008.  The blog contains a host of great blog entries containing information from supporting learning in the workplace, to using social media as a learning source, transforming learning operations to deliver greater value, and a whole host of others.  The particular blog I concentrated on was entitled "Lost in Translation: Why Learning Professionals Need to Learn to Speak their Stakeholders Language".  This has been a "hot button" with my team recently as we have undergone a number of reorganizations and the new senior team we report to is unfamiliar with our line of the business.  This blog entry provided a great deal of information around tactics to use when consulting with your customer and listed a number of "Do's and Dont's" of working with stakeholders.  As with other blogs I viewed, this one also contained a number of links to online learning communities, excellent articles regarding ID work, as well as links to Webinars and online training in the area of Instructional Design.

3.  The third blog site I found is definitely my favorite, and one that I signed up to be a member.  It is called "the eLearning coach" with the byline - "Tips, advice and reviews for online learning" http://www.theelearningcoach.com/.  The great thing about this site is even though it is titled as an eLearning site, the information it contains is relevant to all areas of Instructional Design.  The site contains a variety of sections related to different aspects of Instructional Design.  For example, there is a section for Reviews - where they begin a discussion reviewing some tool, book, system, or ID technique; A section titled: Cognition - which contains articles and blog postings focusing on the cognitive side of learning, how our brains process what we see, information overload, etc.; A section titled "ELearning 2.0" which focuses on a all things ELearning, but also contains a section that contains links to blogs that are written by professors in the Instructional Design field; and finally a Recent Articles section - which posts articles from a number of professional sources with topics pertaining to different aspects of ID work.  I focused on an article under the "Recent Articles" section entitled: "Become a Better Writer".  The article was basically a reflection on a podcast the blogger had attended by Roy Peter Clark, who is the author of Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer.    The article selected what the blogger felt were some of the best of the 50 strategies, and put it into context that is relative to Instructional Design.  Following the article there is a blog where members of the community added comments and also added some of their own writing tips.  The tips were very useful and I actually printed the article so I can post it in my office and also share hard copies with my team.

I am new to the world of blogs, this is actually my first time being exposed to blogs other than the internal blog we use in my Learning & Development team.  The one thing I quickly realized is how overwhelming it can all be as there are so many out there, and I also realized how difficult it is to figure out which ones are valid and trustworthy!  The one drawback of blogs is that anyone can create them, and you have to be extremely careful extracting information from them when you are unable to validate the source.  Other than that; however, I think blogs are a great source of information and a wonderful way to communicate with other professionals in the same field who may be dealing with the same challenges I am facing!  

References:

CommLab India.  (2011).  Retrieved July 3, 2011, from  http://blog.commlabindia.com/

Performance, Learning, Productivity Blog.  (2009).  Retrieved July 3, 2011,  from 
http://charles-jennings.blogspot.com/

The eLearning Coach.  (2010).  Retrieved July 3, 2011 from http://www.theelearningcoach.com/