In the first week of this class, we learned about the learning styles: Auditory, Kinesthetic, and Visual. We were asked to decide which one of those helps us learn best and for me it was kinesthetically. During the course, we expanded on the learning styles and learned about the different learning strategies: Elaboration, Comprehension Monitoring, and Mnemonics. Learning about these strategies expanded my view of how I learn. I learn by experiencing hands-on learning but mnemonics also helps me learn. I am constantly trying to put new content I'm learning into some kind of phrase, poem, metaphor, etc. to help me remember it. My brain seems to remember what I learn better by doing this. I have experienced in my classes that there are a lot of other learners who learn well with mnemonics too. Therefore, I have incorporated different mnemonics into the material I create. Now that I have a further understanding of both the learning styles and strategies, I plan to incorporate all of those in the material I create so I am truly reaching all levels of learning.
With the learning styles and strategies, one challenge for me is going to be incorporating this into technology based content. My company is starting to put a lot of our training material on-line and it has been a challenge because everything needs to be explained fully since it is just the learner and the computer. Along with that challenge is making sure I am reaching all types of learners by using all of the learning styles and strategies. After a few trial and errors, the on-line learning seems to be taking off and the learners are enjoying their training and truly learning the material.
For me, technology is a great tool to help me learn new things. I consistently go on-line and research items that I want to learn more about and at the tip of my fingers I have millions of answers. I find myself using the internet more and more for learning purposes than leisure activities. It is just so neat to go out and find blogs about topics that you didn’t think were important to other people and reading many different people’s point of view on things is quite intriguing and allows me to think outside of my own learning box. Another way I use technology is to create material. At work, I am creating material on the computer using Word, Excel, Captivate, PowerPoint, etc. The possibilities seem endless when you have different programs to choose from and the internet to gain ideas. Technology has truly created a whole new Instructional Design world for me and I am enjoying every bit of it.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Connectivism - Reflection on My Learning Network
This weeks blog assignment was to create a mind map of my learning network and then right a reflection on it. Below you will find my mind map.
While creating this mind map, I was very surprised at what mine consisted of. I never thought about my learning network or specific things that help my knowledge grow, but this was definitely a good eye opener. I'm sure that if I would have created one a few years ago it would've been very different considering the Internet didn't have a huge part in my life then. Therefore, one major difference in how I learn is through the Internet. I am able to truly use my kinesthetic learning abilities to try things out on-line and search for the answers on my own, which allows me to grasp the knowledge better. A brand new part of the Internet for me is blogs. I never realized how much information is out there in blogs. Being able to communicate back and forth between a wide range of backgrounds is excellent and broadens my learning network farther than I could imagine. I'm able to post questions on-line now and get many different viewpoints and answers. It's great!
One part of my learning network that I will always count on is "Courses". I like to think of myself as a sponge and the more knowledge about things that will help me in life and my career the better. And for me, the best place to learn new important skills is in some kind of a classroom - whether on-line or in the classroom. I love the interaction with the knowledgeable professor and classmates. Bouncing off ideas of one another is one of the most successful ways I learn.
My learning network supports the central ideas of connectivism, which was one of our topics in class this week. The idea it fits the most is the importance of networks. In our course reading Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology, the authors state that "this new viewpoint on learning is the idea that we can no longer personally experience everything there is to experience as we try to learn something new. We must create networks..." (Davis, Edmunds, & Kelly-Bateman 2008). This statement nails my thinking of my network. As much as I take away from personal learning experiences, it isn't possible to experience everything and even if I did, it would only be through my viewpoint. With the network, I am experiencing things but also getting the "out of the box" thinking from my networks such as, courses I take, co-workers, the Internet, etc.
If your in any kind of education field or just want to learn more about your own learning networks, I would highly recommend sitting down and creating a mind map of your own. I used the Webspiration mind map program and it was very user friendly.
Resources
Davis, C., Edmunds, E., & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (ed.), Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology. Retrieved December 2009, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
While creating this mind map, I was very surprised at what mine consisted of. I never thought about my learning network or specific things that help my knowledge grow, but this was definitely a good eye opener. I'm sure that if I would have created one a few years ago it would've been very different considering the Internet didn't have a huge part in my life then. Therefore, one major difference in how I learn is through the Internet. I am able to truly use my kinesthetic learning abilities to try things out on-line and search for the answers on my own, which allows me to grasp the knowledge better. A brand new part of the Internet for me is blogs. I never realized how much information is out there in blogs. Being able to communicate back and forth between a wide range of backgrounds is excellent and broadens my learning network farther than I could imagine. I'm able to post questions on-line now and get many different viewpoints and answers. It's great!
One part of my learning network that I will always count on is "Courses". I like to think of myself as a sponge and the more knowledge about things that will help me in life and my career the better. And for me, the best place to learn new important skills is in some kind of a classroom - whether on-line or in the classroom. I love the interaction with the knowledgeable professor and classmates. Bouncing off ideas of one another is one of the most successful ways I learn.
My learning network supports the central ideas of connectivism, which was one of our topics in class this week. The idea it fits the most is the importance of networks. In our course reading Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology, the authors state that "this new viewpoint on learning is the idea that we can no longer personally experience everything there is to experience as we try to learn something new. We must create networks..." (Davis, Edmunds, & Kelly-Bateman 2008). This statement nails my thinking of my network. As much as I take away from personal learning experiences, it isn't possible to experience everything and even if I did, it would only be through my viewpoint. With the network, I am experiencing things but also getting the "out of the box" thinking from my networks such as, courses I take, co-workers, the Internet, etc.
If your in any kind of education field or just want to learn more about your own learning networks, I would highly recommend sitting down and creating a mind map of your own. I used the Webspiration mind map program and it was very user friendly.
Resources
Davis, C., Edmunds, E., & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (ed.), Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology. Retrieved December 2009, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Saturday, November 14, 2009
On-line Journal/Article Reviews
This week's assignment was to review two websites or on-line journals that discussed the topics this week - the brain and learning, information processing theory, and problem-solving methods during learning process.
The first on-line article I read was about the brain and learning. It came from "The Educational Forum" journal and is titled "What Brain Research Suggests for Teaching Reading Strategies" by Judy Willis. This journal article was very interesting in describing the brain and how it learns to read. It goes into detail of neurons and how the brain responds to the presentation of sensory stimuli in the complex processes of reading. At the end, it discusses how it is difficult for teachers to be able to pin-point the best way to teach their students effective reading strategies so that they can truly learn the material. As a Trainer, I think this article is beneficial to corporate Trainers as well since we do a lot of our facilitating through audio tools - either having the learners read items or performing a lecturette. This allows any kind of facilitator to have a better idea of the brain and understand that it is difficult to reach all types of learners because all of our brains function differently, but not to give up on trying because science isn't giving up on their research. In the future, we may have a better understanding of how we can successfully reach all types of learners.
The second on-line article is from Scholastic Parent and Child magazine. It discusses the brain and learning in terms of babies. It's a short article, but offers a lot of good information that agrees with Aristotle's theory that mental capabilities are developed through experience with the environment (Gredler, Ormrod, & Schunk 2009). It emphasizes how parents play an important role in their child's learning capabilities. This article provides simple steps the parents can take to keep their child's brain constantly learning. Now, I don't work with children, but I think that a lot of this can be used for adults as well. For example, the article discusses positive emotional learning and that is still crucial in adults, just not done the same way as with children. Adults need to know they are doing a great job - either with a promotion, raise, or simply a company gift. This makes us feel good that we are doing something right and appreciated by our actions being noticed by someone else. While reading this article, it dawned on me that a lot of the points made there are relevant to adults, just presented to them in a different way.
The first on-line article I read was about the brain and learning. It came from "The Educational Forum" journal and is titled "What Brain Research Suggests for Teaching Reading Strategies" by Judy Willis. This journal article was very interesting in describing the brain and how it learns to read. It goes into detail of neurons and how the brain responds to the presentation of sensory stimuli in the complex processes of reading. At the end, it discusses how it is difficult for teachers to be able to pin-point the best way to teach their students effective reading strategies so that they can truly learn the material. As a Trainer, I think this article is beneficial to corporate Trainers as well since we do a lot of our facilitating through audio tools - either having the learners read items or performing a lecturette. This allows any kind of facilitator to have a better idea of the brain and understand that it is difficult to reach all types of learners because all of our brains function differently, but not to give up on trying because science isn't giving up on their research. In the future, we may have a better understanding of how we can successfully reach all types of learners.
The second on-line article is from Scholastic Parent and Child magazine. It discusses the brain and learning in terms of babies. It's a short article, but offers a lot of good information that agrees with Aristotle's theory that mental capabilities are developed through experience with the environment (Gredler, Ormrod, & Schunk 2009). It emphasizes how parents play an important role in their child's learning capabilities. This article provides simple steps the parents can take to keep their child's brain constantly learning. Now, I don't work with children, but I think that a lot of this can be used for adults as well. For example, the article discusses positive emotional learning and that is still crucial in adults, just not done the same way as with children. Adults need to know they are doing a great job - either with a promotion, raise, or simply a company gift. This makes us feel good that we are doing something right and appreciated by our actions being noticed by someone else. While reading this article, it dawned on me that a lot of the points made there are relevant to adults, just presented to them in a different way.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Instructional Design Website Reviews
Hello Everyone,
This is my first blog and I am writing it for a class at Walden University where I'm attaining a Masters in Instructional Design. Our assignment was to review blogs or on-line newsletters and write about our opinions of each one, so here are my reviews:
The first one is Instructional Design Open Studio located at: http://id.ome.ksu.edu/blog/
This blogs home page is very simplistic and easy to follow, which is what drew me to reading more about it. It opens with different blog entries discussing instructional design and points on learning. The posts just describe different types of learning like e-learning, "gray or fugitive" literature, and some posts discuss effective design techniques. The posts come from instructors and designers giving their opinions on learning, discussing research they've conducted, or their own first-hand experiences. This site also has something called "ROUNDTABLES" where there are presentations done by various people and comments are made on those. This site is one I see myself continuously referring to during my career to read some great ideas on how to more effectively design my material.
The second blog is Williams Instructional Design, LLC at: http://williamsinstructionaldesign.blogspot.com/
This blog is conducted by Mary Williams who is an Instructional Designer and Training professional. She has her own company called Williams Instructional Design and she's started a blog to get some more ideas flowing for everyone in this industry and to share her own experiences. The posts in this blog all refer to instructional design and different tools on it. People are posting different graphs explaining where designers should aim their material for and different tools designers can use to better their material either on-line or on paper. Another neat feature is it has an area for blog archives that breaks down by months so if you've been a user of this site for awhile and want to refer to a post, you can just go to it based on the month instead of searching through hundreds of posts at once. This is another site I plan on using often to advance my knowledge in instructional design and just learn more tips and tools on this topic.
The third website I thought was useful is not a blog, but an on-line newsletter called Train-Ease, Inc. located at: http://www.train-ease.com/news.html
This on-line newsletter is about learning and performance solutions. It has articles on different types of learning (on-line, webinar, mobile, etc.) and discusses different tools and tips people in the Training and Instructional Design field can use. It also has articles that discuss the company and their plans for now and the future. The company is based in Columbus, OH, which for me is local and I like to support local businesses. The newsletter has some interesting articles that I have read and used in the past. I've referred this newsletter quite often as my main field is Training, but I am the creator of our training material. This site helps me with the design aspect of my job, but also gives me some tips on how to create the material for the Trainers who are facilitating it.
Those are the three blogs and newsletters I have found while searching for material on instructional design. I hope these will be helpful to you as well as you continue, or start, in the Instructional Design field. They have certainly provided me with some great ideas that I can use at the office.
This is my first blog and I am writing it for a class at Walden University where I'm attaining a Masters in Instructional Design. Our assignment was to review blogs or on-line newsletters and write about our opinions of each one, so here are my reviews:
The first one is Instructional Design Open Studio located at: http://id.ome.ksu.edu/blog/
This blogs home page is very simplistic and easy to follow, which is what drew me to reading more about it. It opens with different blog entries discussing instructional design and points on learning. The posts just describe different types of learning like e-learning, "gray or fugitive" literature, and some posts discuss effective design techniques. The posts come from instructors and designers giving their opinions on learning, discussing research they've conducted, or their own first-hand experiences. This site also has something called "ROUNDTABLES" where there are presentations done by various people and comments are made on those. This site is one I see myself continuously referring to during my career to read some great ideas on how to more effectively design my material.
The second blog is Williams Instructional Design, LLC at: http://williamsinstructionaldesign.blogspot.com/
This blog is conducted by Mary Williams who is an Instructional Designer and Training professional. She has her own company called Williams Instructional Design and she's started a blog to get some more ideas flowing for everyone in this industry and to share her own experiences. The posts in this blog all refer to instructional design and different tools on it. People are posting different graphs explaining where designers should aim their material for and different tools designers can use to better their material either on-line or on paper. Another neat feature is it has an area for blog archives that breaks down by months so if you've been a user of this site for awhile and want to refer to a post, you can just go to it based on the month instead of searching through hundreds of posts at once. This is another site I plan on using often to advance my knowledge in instructional design and just learn more tips and tools on this topic.
The third website I thought was useful is not a blog, but an on-line newsletter called Train-Ease, Inc. located at: http://www.train-ease.com/news.html
This on-line newsletter is about learning and performance solutions. It has articles on different types of learning (on-line, webinar, mobile, etc.) and discusses different tools and tips people in the Training and Instructional Design field can use. It also has articles that discuss the company and their plans for now and the future. The company is based in Columbus, OH, which for me is local and I like to support local businesses. The newsletter has some interesting articles that I have read and used in the past. I've referred this newsletter quite often as my main field is Training, but I am the creator of our training material. This site helps me with the design aspect of my job, but also gives me some tips on how to create the material for the Trainers who are facilitating it.
Those are the three blogs and newsletters I have found while searching for material on instructional design. I hope these will be helpful to you as well as you continue, or start, in the Instructional Design field. They have certainly provided me with some great ideas that I can use at the office.
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