Reflections on Learning Theories and Styles

I found it surprising or striking as I furthered my knowledge about how people learned that there were so many learning theories or styles. I had not idea that learning styles and theories were so similar in their approach to learning. I am still not sure why so many theories are used as a bases for creating academic plans. I felt that many of the theories had little proven success. It was surprising that there is as much research to disprove the use of learning theories as there are theories. I am more of a skeptic than ever before of if learning styles and theories are necessary to consider when creating educational materials.



Over the last eight weeks I have learned a great deal about learning theories and learning styles. This course has expanded my knowledge on the various styles of learning and the many theories that can be applied to my current and future instructional platforms. My views on how I learn however, have not changed as a result of the new information. I have taken a great deal of learning inventories through out my career and opted to take several recently. The results of all the testing confirms that I learn in both a linguistic and visual manner. I am continually realizing that through out my current career learning styles and theories will be a factor. I still do not feel that the majority of inventories benefit the student or instructor. Many inventories can be manipulated by the learner to produce a desired result, therefore skewing the results.

I have found through the readings and research that many of the theories and styles overlap and several explain various areas of learning better than others. I agree that each of us has a style of learning specific to us yet, I also agree that the subject matter and our age effect the way we learn. Motivation, prior knowledge, and mode of transfer are key elements how well I will learn a topic. I have discovered that though I study online, I learn more in traditional environments where face to face contact is prevalent. I would try and seek a course in the future that offered more peer interaction and socialization. I feel that the current online environment I learn it suits my lifestyle, not my learning style.



I have learned there are connections between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation. Based on the is knowledge I have also realized that technology plays a large role in my learning process. I use the Internet to search, gather, and learn new information. I use blogs, posting, emails, and text document to express my ideas. I honestly find that I prefer to read my data in online document verses traditional books and that videos enhance my understanding and help like face to face contact does. Based on my visual and linguistic style of learning each of these aspect enable me to see the data before me and manipulate it to benefit my understanding.

Through out this course I have discovered that learning styles can not fully determine how a topic will be presented. Consideration must be given to the best mode of presenting the data at hand to the majority of learners. As an instructor, I have benefited from this course by having a clearer understanding of how various learning methods can impact student success. I do not however feel that this course will have a major impact on my instructional style or my ability to better plan for learners in my current or future environment. I feel that being taught how to plan would have resulted in a larger growth process. The majority of the information in this course was repeat information for me from my undergraduate course work. I had anticipated learning a wider range of data at the masters level than I had previously. I am not a fan of learning theories, since they can be disproved. I am a fan of proven statistical research that when challenged stands up scrutiny. I would not have taken this course if it was not a required course for my degree program.

Fitting the Pieces Together

Over the last seven weeks I have learned a great deal about learning theories and learning styles. My views on how I learn have not changed as a result of the new information. I have taken a great deal of learning inventories through out my career and opted to take several recently. The results of all the testing confirms that I learn in both a linguistic and visual manner.

I have found through the readings and research that many of the theories and styles overlap and several explain various areas of learning better than others. I agree that each of us has a style of learning specific to us yet, I also agree that the subject matter and our age effect the way we learn. Motivation, prior knowledge, and mode of transfer are key elements how well I will learn a topic. I have discovered that though I study online, I learn more in traditional environments where face to face contact is prevalent.

Technology plays a large role in my learning process. I use the Internet to search, gather, and learn new information. I use blogs, posting, emails, and text document to express my ideas. I honestly find that I prefer to read my data in online document verses traditional books and that videos enhance my understanding and help like face to face contact does. Based on my visual and linguistic style of learning each of these aspect enable me to see the data before me and manipulate it to benefit my understanding.

Through out this course I have discovered that learning styles can not fully determine how a topic will be presented. Consideration must be given to the best mode of presenting the data at hand to the majority of learners. As an instructor, I have benefit ted from this course by having a clearer understanding of how various learning methods can impact student success.

Connectivism

My network of peers, websites, and agencies has changed the way I learn by providing me with instant information. The list of websites that are in my favorites varies depending on the laptop I happen to be using. I recently spent a month without Internet access at home, during this time I discovered how essential it is to my functionality. I use technology at work in the form of my laptop, document camera, projector, and a list of software that grows daily. Each year I find new ways to utilize technology in my classroom. In my personal life technology is everywhere you look from the multiple computers that grace my home. then there are the multiple televisions, game systems, MP3 players, digital cameras, and my living room abounds with electronic toys. All of this technology helps me to locate information, find new adventures, increase my knowledge, provide entertainment, stay connected, and keep the peace.

The most essential resource for me is a laptop with Internet connections. I am constantly connected at home and work with typically 7-8 web pages open at all times. My style of learning involve alternating between various data and continually updating my projects as I learn. to gain new knowledge I am continually researching every questions through new websites, blogs, and on line books. My ability to learn new information and improve my understanding of the world around me has changed though out the years as technology has changed.

Currently I am able to take work on my graduate courses from home, be with my children, and attend to household responsibilities simultaneously. My learning style is in line with the learning tenets of connectivism. Learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions and is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources. Learning may reside in non-human appliances. the capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known. Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning. My ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill. the currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities. Decision making is a learning process in itself, choosing what to learn and the meaning of the incoming information is seen through the lends of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision. All of this is part of my learning style and part of the definition of connectivism. My learning network is fully supportive of the tenets of connectivism. I have an ever changing list of people, resources, and technology that expand my knowledge.

This is my second version of a mind- map I created this version in word then had to convert it to a acrobat file before having the option to convert it to a JPG image. I found this project unnecessarily time consuming. Clear instructions should have been available on how to complete the process. I wasted my time completing a fully hyperlinked version in Webspiration software only to discover this software does not have the option to convert to a JPG file and you can only link the file if other people have the same software. I found the software easy to use and graphically interesting yet the ability to share the information quickly hindered me. This Map is to exemplify how I connect with technology in my daily life.

Understanding Learning

http://www.emtech.net/brain_based_learning.html Brain-Based Learning I found this site to be very infomative. I reviewed various article and websites and have chosen several to highlight here.

http://context.org/ICLIB/IC18/Costa.htm This website list twelve suggested cahracteristics of intelligent behavior that teachers and parents can teach and observe. It is not meant to be a complete, since as studies continue to show new indicators in growth and in thinking abilities.

• Persistence




• Decreasing impulsiveness




• Lestening to others- with understanding and empathy




• Flexibility in thinking




• Metacognition- awareness of our own thinking




• Checking for accuracy and precision




• Questioning and problem posing




• Drawing on past knowledge and applying it to new situations




• Precision of language and thought




• Using all senses




• Ingenuity, originality, insightfulness: creativity




• Wonderment, inquisitiveness, curiosity, and the enjoyment of problem solving- a sense of efficacy as a thinker

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/ I loved the Playground on the Serndip website the link to the Disability Images and Thoughts was enlightening. The intense graphic designs related to mental illness, disabilites, memory, and eating disorders are inspirational. The image of Mental illness haunted me, mental illness has touched my life on so many levels. That this Image clearly reflected the emotions of mental illness as I have seen it.

http://brainrules.blogspot.com/ John Medina's research on the brain was the most enlighting thing I have watched in ages. I recall most the information from his research because he used multiple methods to present it. The videos, powerpoints, scetch comedy routines, combined with traditional reading hightened my desire to learn more. His twelve rules for surviving and thriving at work, bring up issues we are all aware that impact us but explain how they affect our brains. Learning that exercise impacts my ability to learn and that more of it could improve my abilty to comprehend new information got me to moving. Medina's research on learning contradicts other published ideas on learning. Yet, the concepts are backed by research and discussed in a format that is easy to understand.

The purpose of this assignment is for me to gain experience in the use of blogs as a networking and learning toold by my interacting with other instructional designers in an oline professional community. My first assignment is to select three websites that I would use in the field of Instructional Design and Developmetn.

My first website of that is great to visit is http://www.youthedesigner.com/category/free-vector-art/ This is a website that I would actively use when working in the field of Instructional Design. The freebies available to help when me add interest and emphasis to my designs and are high quality. I previously have experience as a webmaster and graphic designer this site helps me to come up with new and creative ways to express my ideas. They offer great tutorials in all the latest graphics and Photoshop applications. You can learn more about Photoshop CS3 and creating slime words, slick black lettering, grunge type, and how to create clouds. There are articles on creating relaxing home offices, finding a job, and how to get more money from a client. Inspiration is my personal favorite, you may not have an idea in your head today but when you look at all the great things that other have created with the same software you have. Well personally my mind soars and I am searching for a way to get all my ideas out before they fly past me in a whirlwind. Check it out and don't forget if you have questions they have a blog. The photo above is a sample from the website of what Photoshop and talent can do when they get together.

And for my second website of choice http://www.davidairey.com/top-50-graphic-design-blogs/ the one stop blogging link you can't miss. David Airey has collected the top 50 graphic design blog sites and compiled them in a nice need list. I love the way he highlights each site even though many of the blogs are not as well designed as he makes them appear. Each blog does contain information that is relevant to the design field and of benefit when researching new concepts or trying to understand how to layout a design in a unique way. As I investigated the sites in hopes of new found intellect and inspiration I came across http://www.inspirationbit.com/33-timeless-time-management-strategies/ and had to share. Time management strategies, surely they were thinking of me when they wrote each and every article. How can I be awesome mother, creative teacher, diligent student and keep all the ball in the air without a fumble. Yes, if you come to think of it – Time Management is not a rocket science, all you need to learn is how to prioritize, delegate and say “no”. If this is not inspiration enough David site is read by over 14000 designers.

My third choice http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs. My favorite part of this website is also a list of the top 100 educational technology blogs that they host. I found it helpful to have a list of numerous blogs related to both my education and career all in one place. the topics are: college, E-Learning, education news, education policy, Internet culture, learning, library research, specialty, teaching, and technology. With so many topics to choose from and over 30, 000 that they host you have a great opportunity to find a discussion that fits your needs. In the top 100 http://bionicteaching.com/ is one of my top picks with insightful commentary and fully developed ideas. The video and cartoon samples on lent to better understanding of the concepts presented.