Reflection

Week 8:  Reflection

The last eight weeks a lot of useful information has been covered.  Have I mastered every theory, no, but I at least gained an understanding of where to start my search.  This class has reminded me of the semester I decided it was a good idea to teach Surgical Anatomy and Physiology I & II in sixteen weeks. Knowing what I have learned would have allowed me to design a much smoother process.  Learning is a never ending process that is constantly evolving.  We started this journey seeing how the brain ticks and worked through the differences and similarities of theories.  Even after holding a piece of a person’s brain in my gloved hand this was far more amazing.

What I found striking was there are more than three different learning styles.  As researched in the Learning Theory Matrix, I gained understanding of the following theories; Behaviorist, Constructivist, Adult Learning, Social Learning, Cognitive, and Connectivism (Ormond).  Lesson plans of adults would be written differently than that of children because of the way they process information.   Adults learn better when information is based off of their previous experiences.  Knowing how theories work and how to implement them into a curriculum is important for an instructional designer.  I have been told I would have to set my online class in the exact format at a face to face class.  Because the classes require differences in the way students are motivated this would not be effective in my current professional.

Over the past five years I have relied heavily on social constructivism.  “The social constructivism view the classroom as a community whose task is to develop knowledge”(Ormond 19).  I thought I know the type of learner I was but have learned differently over the last few weeks.  I came into this program thinking I was a kinesthetic learner.  I have always excelled in hands on but had to put more effort during the didactic portions of class.  I have relied on my memory a lot because my current profession relies on repetition of movements.  Now that I have been introduced to other learning styles I am now able to introduces new methods during lectures to engage students.  When I moved back to Louisiana six years ago I found myself in a predicament where I had to engage into social constructivism.  I was a single parent that needed to finish my degree but did not have time to go to a face to face class and work.  The dilemma with this process was finding motivators to complete the course.  The initial extrinsic motivator was getting my degree but because that was so far off I had to find intrinsic and other extrinsic motivators.

I think it is important as an instructional designer to be familiar with all learning styles, theories, and strategies.  This will allow students the greatest chance of success in a class with the least amount of effort being put forward by the instructor.  It should not be like pulling teeth in the dark to get students to learn information.  A properly designed session allows the student to learn and have fun doing it.  You want the process to come easily so the students stay motivated to finish the task.

I have learned how adults and children learn and process information.  I have also learned that not one learning theory applies to all people or one person could fall into several different theories.  I am waiting for the next three weeks to pass to see if I can properly implement some of the strategies in to my lesson plan.  I do plan on using more social learning activities.  I will be assigning one student per session to be the designated note taker.  This student will then post the notes in the discussion board, and the rest of the class will build the discussion based on this person interpretation of my lecture.  It will be a recap of the lesson without taking a lot of classroom time for the process.  We will also slightly discuss it before the next lecture. 

Felicia

Ormond, J. (2009).  Learning Theories and Instruction. (Laureate custom edition) New York: Pearson.