As I began the course on Learning Theories and
Instruction, I was mistakenly under the impression that I already knew the
basics, and that this course would just enhance the information that I already
had acquired through my undergrad studies in Elementary Education. Plus, the department I work in is the
Education Department, so I felt as though I had gained some further insight in
the projects and teaching in which I have been involved. As I read in week two, the “nurturance of
learning and cognitive growth must be a long-term enterprise,” (Ormrod, Schunk,
& Gredler, 2009, p. 46), and I continually find this to be true in my
pursuit of this Masters degree. To reflect more accurately the journey that I
have taken, I looked back through my discussion postings and tried to
consolidate my thoughts though these eight weeks.
In growing older and acquiring more experience, I
have come to the realization that not everyone thinks or learns as I do. What I found striking while traveling through
this subject matter is that there is much more complexity in how people learn
than what I understood at the beginning of the course. This includes how I perceived my learning to
occur.
What I remember from my college days is that the
focus was on cognitive and behavior theories of learning. Wow, there are so many more theories to integrate into instruction! My personal learning experience is not just
memorizing the facts, but involves social constructivism, as well as
connectivism (Ertmer & Newby, 1993) (Davis, Edmunds, & Kelly-Bateman,
2008). I especially appreciated the
self-direction and internal motivation qualities of the Adult Learning theory
(Conlan, Grabowski, & Smith, 2003) as it relates to my personal learning
process.
I will again mention the term complexity in regarding
the connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational
technology, and motivation. Just the
volume of subject matter and research in each category suggests complexity, but
then the teacher has to consider the learner as well. One perspective that struck a chord with me
in week five was no one theory trumps another in the teaching and
learning experience (Fenwick & Tennant, 2004, p. 55). In week six our focus was on learning styles,
and we read that unless the instruction is one-on-one, the provision of
material needs to be comprehensive to meet the styles of as many learners as
possible (Gilbert & Swanier, 2008, p. 30).
Another facet to the learner is the multiple intelligences theory. I encourage the reader to explore this theory
by searching for Howard Gardner as his thoughts and research are fascinating.
The learning in this course has
been most valuable in furthering my instructional design career. The depictions of learning with the use of
technology were so inspiring on the Edutopia website (http://www.edutopia.org). This is another resource I would recommend
the reader to explore further. I can
peruse the writings and ideas that have been provided in the various blogs and
other resources to accomplish using available technology and information to
maximize the learner experience. In this
way I can hopefully use technology in meaning-making training (Davis, Edmunds,
& Kelly-Bateman, 2008).
The plethora of resources coupled
with the knowledge and guidance of the professor are invaluable in my learning
experience at Walden University. And I
can’t neglect the fact that without the expertise and insight shared by my
peers in this journey, the learning would not be as complete. I am thankful for the material that I have
gained, and look forward to using it in the future, as I’m sure I did not
obtain the fullness of information that it contains in the eight weeks of this
leg of my journey.
References:
Conlan, J., Grabowski, S., & Smith, K. (2003).
Adult learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning,
teaching, and technology.
Davis, C., Edmunds, E.,
& Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging
perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism,
cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional
design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4),50-71.
Foley, G. (Ed.). (2004). Dimensions
of adult learning: Adult education and training in a global era.
McGraw-Hill Education. Chapter 4, "Understanding Adult Learners" by
Tara Fenwick and Mark Tennant.
Gilbert, J., & Swanier, C.
(2008). Learning styles: How do they fluctuate? Institute for Learning
Styles Journal [Vol. l].
Kim, B. (2001). Social constructivism. In M. Orey
(Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology.
Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009).
Learning Theories and Instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson.
