TheStaffRoom

  Learning Theories and Instruction   Over the past eight weeks, I have taken the plunge to improve my instructional designs by learning more about the history of learning theories and how they can assist and improve my instructional designs. As I furthered my knowledge about how people learn, I found it interesting that educational technology is one of the fastest driving forces behind creating effective learning environments. Whether it increases the odds of a learner’s engagement and overall academic success, incorporating technology is vital to learning in a world where information is developing at a rapid pace daily. Understanding how people learn is a foundation for designing effective instruction (Walden, n.d). As instructional designers use technology to complement and extend learning, I can relate to the notion that self-regulation contributes tremendously to one’s learning process. Dr. Jeanne Ormrod’s and Dr. Anthony Artino’s written works have helped deepen my...

Over time, I have realized that how I learn is by associating new content with old and by comparing what I think I know with experience and familiarity. How information is structured during my learning process will either hinder or strengthen my mental schemas. When considering learning theories and learning styles, I learn best by being actively engaged with lessons which include moments when I am given explicit opportunities that require me to focus beyond what I thought I could do. Learning then becomes effortful and challenging. My worries of having to have learned specific complex tasks by a certain age were laid to rest when I read Dr. Jeanne Ormrod’s suggestions that learning and mastery of complex tasks can continue throughout a life span (Omrod, 2009). My preferred learning style is in the context of visual learning.  A visual learner is one that depends on visual thinking, and imagination, and tends to learn from visual representations such as graphs, movies, and pictur...

Mapping Learning Connections  As an adult learner, I appreciate the idea that learning never stops. As I evolve, so does my understanding of the world around me. The graph below represents some of my experience as an adult learner recognizing that the process is in a continuum of professional and personal frameworks connected to developing an understanding of information. My greater appreciation of what is required to be a successful adult coupled with multiple impact factors is what connectivism values. Here is Dr. George Siemens, as he discusses what connectivism means and where it came from.   Recorded at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, August 2013. http://www.usc.edu.au