Week 8 BLOG

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

Among the various learning theories that was covered, the advantages of social, constructivist, and adult learning theories were of particular interest to me, as I am interested in online learning in a corporate environment. I enjoyed reading and discussing the challenge of creating a truly social environment in an online class. This class itself served as a great example. My learning was greatly increased by the discussions, blog posts, and other interactions that I had with my fellow students. They shared many insights that I would have otherwise missed or overlooked.

I particularly enjoyed the material on Keller's ARCS approach to promoting motivation. This model provides me with a structured approach to ensure that my instructional design includes a solid strategy for maintaining students' motivation. I plan to do some more study of this model.

I had thought that learning was a pretty simple process. How hard could it be? People do it all the time. Instead I discovered that the variables are complex, dynamic and “sometimes unpredictable”.

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

I genuinely believed that technology, people and environments were relatively incidental to learning. It was always good if these worked to my advantage, but more often than not these were simply obstacles to overcome. I approached the theory of connectivism with a great deal of skepticism. The more closely I examined connectivism, the more I came to realize how powerful these elements were, especially in light of the rapidly decreasing half-life of knowledge (Davis, Edmunds & Kelly-Bateman, 2008). Siemens doesn’t explain everything about learning, but I’ve found his observations on technology, complexity, networks and connections to be extremely powerful. As a result I’ve become far more aware of the role people, technology and environments play in the learning experience and no longer think of them as being a simple ‘pro’ or ‘con’ .

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

Probably the most valuable thing that I have come to appreciate, is that you cannot consider one of these aspects of instructional design by itself. Each is influenced and supported by the others in various ways. Completing the matrix on the learning theories was a valuable exercise for me, in that it gave me a structured method for summarizing the key points of each. This allowed me to understand that each has its merits and there are situations where each can be most valuable. I also now appreciate how motivation can be impacted by the way that a course is constructed and delivered. And that motivation can be a particularly difficult challenge when considering the use of technologies such as online training. As stated above, Keller's model seems to be a very valuable one.

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

I always struggle with learning theory, but I had assumed that once I struggled through it I would be looking at something relatively simple. ‘Relative’ to what I actually found, which was complex to the point of chaotic. This doesn’t scare me, it’s something I find exciting. So to the extent that being excited is motivating, and being motivated leads to success, that I’ve learned what I’ve learned will further my career. In the same vein, I believe that my learning in this course has made me a better learner.

My awareness of the myriad resources and information available to me as an instructional designer was greatly increased. I will continue to expand my learning network so that I can be the most effective that I can be.