Week 8 Final Post

Working in the instructional design field for the past five years I came into the IDD course thinking I already knew all that I needed to know to be extremely successful. I had a basic understanding of learning theories, learning strategies, and learning styles, and thought I was already creating great learning curriculum. It wasn’t until week 1 of the course when I began to read through the required materials that I saw a need to humble myself and realized this whole time I have been looking at the surface layer of instructional design, and the topic is much deeper.

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

When I began my career in the adult education and training field, I was groomed to identify my learner’s styles and generation, and then create training to cater to their needs. This became very difficult, as I was not only trying to put the three main learning styles (auditory, kinesthetic, and visual) into a course but also taking their generation into consideration and how Generation Y learns differently than the baby boomers. During this course, I began to understand that I should place little focus on the individuals learning styles as they can change by topic, and focus more on a learning strategy.

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

I originally thought I learned through repetition, seeing something done time and time again until it was ingrained into my thought process. However, after identifying various types of learning theories and behaviors, I know understand that I am a social learner. I learn from my interactions with others, and my involvement in those interactions. Repetition will serve my well when I need to learn a new process, however, to gain a deeper insight of why that process has been put in place, to begin with, that information will come to me through collaboration and sharing of information until I gain an understanding.

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

I have learned that motivation is key to getting adults to participate and fully engage in the learning process. If adults fail to engage or find the curriculum meaningful to them, they will not attempt to learn. Learning styles are still important, however, holds little weight when it comes to planning the design of the course. There are several learnings styles, and each’s identified preferred style can change with the content. Trying to satisfy all of the learning styles in your design is extremely difficult and may not be the best use of a designer’s time and resources. Understanding educational technology, let’s you as a developer know the types of resources that are at your disposal to create, maintain and track learning events. Educational resources are a vital tool in learning, and as they further develop, learners will have more options for delivering materials.

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

I believe that this course has provided me with a deeper understanding of learning theories and the instructional design process. With the information that I have learned in this course, I believe I can create even better curriculum, which will not only motivate adults to want to learn but also ensure the content is meaningful to them. I feel this course has provided me with more resources to develop training based on learning strategies.

During my first week of this course, I had a basic understanding of the different learning theories and how they applied to myself and the work I do. Now that I have been provided with an in-depth overview of the various learning theories, how each theory came to existence and the rationale behind them, I can see which theories I practice without even knowingly doing so. Based on my research and my understanding of the various learning theories, I learn best using the Social Learning Theory. Before me truly understanding the different learning theories, I would have said that I was a behaviorist because I believed my learning was directed by the promotion of a desirable behavior and discouragement of non-desirable behaviors. While that may still be true in smaller isolated situations, I mainly learn by interacting with and learning from others.

My epiphany may be a result of actually putting the social learning theory in practice throughout the course. Each week I was required to interact with others within my class and to discuss points on new topics presented to us. Whereas I would join these conversations and express my understanding of the topic, it was not until I read comments from my peers that I began to look at each topic from a different paradigm and start to understand information differently. During those points, I was able to have a holistic view of each theory.

            Technology plays a vital role in learning. In its most basic form, technology can be used as a deliverable to convey information to learners, however with the advances in technology, we are now able to capture useful data to help IDD enhance the learning experience. The different roles technology plays in learning impacts almost every aspect of learning from design, development, delivery, and evaluation. Technology is making it easier to locate and store information in great quantities.

Daniel's Self Reflection of Personal Mind Map

Be creating a mind map on my network and how I learn, I was able to identify different deliverables that assist me in retaining new information. My mind map did not necessarily change the way I learn. However, it helped me identify how I learn, and how I learn best. By viewing my network, I was able to verify the different social networks I participate in and the deliverables associated with each network.

There are several digital tools that I enjoy using to learn, yet the ones that best facilitate learning for me are simulations, timed multimedia, and virtual classrooms. Virtual classrooms provide me with an outlet to brainstorm with my peers and learn off of their experience. By participating in a virtual class, I can access course content at my leisure and participate in discussion post whenever I have something useful to contribute. Timed multimedia (for example YouTube videos) allow me to watch how processes are performed, or learn via visuals of how a process works. I can reply or fast forward to view only the content I need to learn or do not understand. Simulations allow me to apply the newly learned skill.

Whenever I have questions about a topic, learning becomes slightly easier as I can formulate a question based on my experience and relate the answer provided right back to that experience. For example, if I have a question on how can technology advances assist with learning, I can phrase my question, If I use Facebook a lot, how could I use it to learn. The answer may be something simple as it allows you to connect with your peers and learn from social interaction. Then I can validate, that when I do use Facebook, I am in a way interacting with my peers to communicate, so I can use the same method of communicating to learn new information from their perspective. In this example, I was able to use my experience of using technological advances and how it relates to me, and also relay the answer back to those same experiences.

Daniel's Mind Map on Social Learning Connectivism