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.