Reflection on Walden Course EDUC- 6115 -2

Personal Discoveries

A significant discovery made during participation in the Learning Theories and Instruction course at Walden was that, without previously realizing it, I had been intuitively applying a variety of theoretical principles about learning to individual students according to their particular level of experience. Beginners need basic facts, advanced students should learn to independently analyze and interpret, while experts can be more self-directed by engaging in research, synthesis, and original creation. The whole idea of connectivism was new to me and my thinking about education has changed somewhat as a result. While I already knew that it is important to encourage independent life-long learning, I hadn’t given much thought to the ways technology has created a rather new breed of multi-tasking learner. Today, more than ever before, students engage in numerous forms of communications and select their teachers from a world-wide reservoir. The abundance of information can be beneficial in that a variety of perspectives can be considered. Yet, overload, confusion, and distraction may also result (Dretzin & Rushkoff, 2010). Another concept that I was reminded of is that of the importance of “self-efficacy” or feelings of competence to succeed at a given task. I must say that a learner’s belief that they can succeed is likely one of the most critical determinants of educational success. Building a pattern of success is very important for students to desire to continue in learning. This is why scaffolding is such a useful tool in developing confidence and independence.

Increased Understanding of Personal Learning Process

The Learning Theories and Instruction text contained interesting information about long term memory storage, retrieval, and interference. It seemed valuable to learn that information is stored in the form of propositional networks relating to declarative or procedural knowledge. Apparently, information is often stored under multiple categories or locations within the brain. Organization of information or material was emphasized as helpful to memory because “well-organized material is easier to relate to preexisting memory networks.” Elaboration or “adding material to information to be learned” helps us to connect new information with prior learning. I was reminded of the importance of spreading activation (making associations between concepts or bits of linked information), for cross-referencing, retrieval, and transfer. Larger, more structured propositional networks are referred to as schemata. Information is stored as both verbal propositions and mental images. Forgetting is either the decay of memory trace or improper retrieval cues (Omrod, 2008).

Connections between Theory, Learning Styles, Technology, and Motivation

While memorization is an important aspect of learning, it is not the goal of learning. The goal of learning is to understand how things work, to be able to operate effectively in a given environment, to generate solutions to specific problems, to reach personal goals, and to devise new paradigms which improve quality of life. Telling isn’t the same as teaching. I read (somewhere) recently that Einstein said that he never taught his pupils, he only “created the conditions through which learning may occur.” Learners are best served when allowed to exercise increasing levels of control over the learning process. Learning styles are adaptive to the situation. For instance, there are times when a learner may choose an active instead of reflective learning style. Designers should employ tactics to appeal to multiple learning styles. ICT is growing and changing so rapidly that it is becoming an essential aspect and area of research related to teaching and learning in the twenty-first century. The challenge for today’s student seems to be to utilizing the plethora of available avenues of information gathering and technological gadgetry without allowing it to distract them from educational tasks. The appropriate use of technology may increase motivation to learn through blogs, educational games, etc. Motivation is a shared responsibility between the learner and facilitator. Motivation increases when course objectives are congruent with students’ expectations and goals, when students have positive feelings about content and methods, when students feel socially connected, receive feedback, and are experiencing relative success.

Significance to Career in Instructional Design

We cannot assume that digital immigrants have necessary skills and intrinsic motivation to navigate and complete online courses or training modules. All students need support. It is important to be approachable and accessible to students when they need help. Social interaction is a key component of education and increasing student satisfaction. Even adults sometimes need to be reminded of various learning strategies. Hints are useful to promote thinking. Designers should give adult students apparent locus control of learning process. Allow for individual differences by appealing to various learning styles. Demonstrate how knowledge can be immediately applied to solve problems. There are a number of types of feedback which increase student performance. One type is "response-contingent" which includes elaboration on why some responses are incorrect or "less appropriate" and what exactly makes a particular answer correct or "best" (Mason and Bruning, 2001). Motivational messages can go a long way towards encouraging higher performance and retention (Huett, Kalinowski, Moller & Huett, 2008). Artificial intelligence and adaptive instructional systems are nothing new but are evolving into exciting areas of research related to CBI and WBT (Park and Lee, 2004).

References

Dretzin, R. and Rushkoff, D. (2010, February 2). Digital Nation: Life on the Digital Frontier. Frontline [Television series episode], Washington, DC: Public Broadcasting Service. [Transcript]. Retrieved on April 22, 2010 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation

Huett, J., Kalinowski, K., Moller, L., & Huett, K. (2008). Improving the motivation and retention of online students through the use of ARCS-based E-mails. American Journal of Distance Education, 22(3), 159–176.

Mason, B.J., and Bruning, R. (2001). Providing feedback in computer-based instruction: What the research tells us. Retrieved April 21, 2010 from http://dwb.unl.edu/Edit/MB/MasonBruning.html

Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning Theories and Instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson.

Park, O. and Lee, J. (2004). Adaptive Instructional Systems. Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology. David H. Jonassen - editor. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved April 22, 2010 from http://www.aect.org/edtech/ed1/25.pdf