Reflection
There have been many times when I have been in a classroom and the teacher is giving everyone the same information but the students learned or interpret the information in different ways. I have always heard that people learn information differently even though we are all given the same information. The information in this class has helped me to understand why and how people learn information and why it’s critical for the teachers to give their students motivation while learning.
As I studied how people learned, what were surprising were the many different theories that play a role in people learning. I have always known that people learn differently but there is more than one theory that describes most people learning. The learning theories made me recognize the way I learn which consist of a combination of theories which are cognitivism behaviorism and connectivism. For me it depends on what I am learning at that time and if I am learning it visually or by just hearing the information. Cognitivism is the basic concept of learning mentally, Behaviorism is the behavior that responds to the stimuli and Connectivism is based on the fact knowledge exists in the world more than in the head of an individual. (Mae, Sincero, Sarah 2009 Cognitive Learning Theory- Using Thinking to Learn)
This course has had a little impact on me understanding my personal learning process. I have always known that I learn by both mentally and visually (hands on). This course has helped me in understanding how other people learn and their different ways or strategies that can be used to learn new information. The one strategy that was interesting and I have tried before was Mnemonics. Mnemonics is a word phrase used to remember things especially in a list. (Dr. Jeanne Ormrod Video Program: “Learning Styles and Strategies”) I have tried this strategy before but never knew the technical term for it.
In regards to the connection between the learning theories, learning styles, educational technology and motivation, a person has to know how to deliver the information in a way that learner can learn the information but also the help the learner get motivated. The teacher helps the student get motivated by constant communication and reinforce positive feedback. Also for the educational technology, many elearning classes are becoming more popular because of the flexibility of the learning online. It has a certain way that comes across to students and it also has a impact on students because they can learn from home or on their job and they can also access their classes through their mobile devices instead of having to be in a physical classroom to learn. They all go hand in hand when it comes to learning making them all connected in one way or another. That can lead to Connectivism. George Siemens discusses, “Another critical element that I've emphasized with connectivism is that we're dealing with complex environments that are systems-based. And that means that it's not just the individual learner that's the key consideration, which often is with traditional learning theories, but it's actually the broader environment in which we are situated, and the complex nature of that environment needs to be considered as well.” (Laureate Education, n.d.).
Many, like Philip R. Regier, dean of Arizona State University's Online and Extended Campus program, think we are only now scratching the surface of the capability of online education tools. "The technology will be used to create learning communities among students in new ways," he told The New York Times in 2009. Students, he said, will not only learn through these new media tools, but they'll also teach each other and spend more time applying what they know to the world around them, tackling issues as complex as climate change. (Fast Facts about Online Education Terrence E Loose www.yahooeducation.com) The connection is very exclusive to the whole learning process when a person is obtaining the information.
The learning in this course will help me think about how others learn and interpret information, whether they need to visually see it or hear the information. Through elearning , the information is always going to need to be seen through the technology tools are available today to help students learning in the many different ways that they interpret the information.
Dr. Jeanne Ormrod Video Program: “Learning Styles and Strategies”
Fast Facts about Online Education, Terrence E Loose www.yahooeducation.com
George Siemens Connectivism Laureate Education, n.d.
Mae, Sincero, Sarah 2009 Cognitive Learning Theory- Using Thinking to Learn Retrieved from
Experiment Resources: http://www.experiement-resources.com/cognitive-learning-theory.html
