What did you find surprising or striking as you furthered your knowledge about how people learn? Dr. Ormrod states, “To teach effectively, you've got to know how students learn. And you've got know in particular how they think, what's going on in their heads as they're studying, as they're reading, as they're responding to questions.” (Laureate n.d.). What surprised me most about how people learn are the various ways people transfer information from short-term memory to long-term memory and the tricks we as learners and designers can use to help in that process. To reach the majority of learners a designer needs to provide education using a multi-faceted approach and hope you have a learner who engages themselves in the learning process. So what approaches should we cover to attract a majority of learners? Education content should have verbal, visual, and practice components to reach as many learners as possible.
How has this course deepened your understanding of your personal learning process? My original reflection of who I am as a learner has not changed much since week 1. However, I do understand more about how the learning process takes place inside my brain. How best to move information from short-term memory to long-term memory. I have realized I need to place information (such as names) with the object (or person) in order to make a connection. To describe an orange to me does not help me learn what an orange is. But to tell me what an orange is as I hold one and eat one does (please excuse the analogy). Ertmer and Newby detail "the goal of instruction is not to ensure that individuals know particular facts but rather that they elaborate on and interpret information." (Ertmer and Newby, 1993) I employ much of the social learning theories in my own learning process and use that social facet to help in my elaboration and development of information.
What have you learned regarding the connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation? This course has taught me that everything is connected in some way. Designers and learners need to be aware of the approaches and connections in order to derive the most out of a learning experience. Ertmer and Newby state, “Knowledge of a variety of such strategies is critical when attempting to select an effective prescription for overcoming a given instructional problem.” (Ertmer and Newby, 1993). As instructional designers we have to take into consideration all learning styles but not necessary write to them all, use technology as a tool in delivering education but not as a gimmick, and we should include ARCS in our designs to try and address the basic cravings of a learner. We cannot be solely responsible for a students learning process but we are responsible to provide an atmosphere that is optimal for an engaging learning process.
How will your learning in this course help you further your career in the field of instructional design? I think I will take away the most from the last segment on motivation and what we can do to develop engaging education and also the information on transferring information from short-term memory to long-term memory. I wish we had more discussion on the application of the theories in our work lives as it would have helped me move the information into working knowledge.
References:
Laureate, n.d. An Introduction to Learning. Available from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4603374&Survey=1&47=8013418&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50–71.
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