Looking Back Over the Course

Now that I have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories and learning styles, MY view on how I learn has changed quite a bit. Before I thought that I was a traditional learner that could adapt to taking the notes and listening to the lecture, type of learner. I have realized that I am a visual learner that does better with seeing the vision of information that I am trying to retain. I also believe in the role of evoking my other interests such as Music, Media, and past experiences when learning. I also think that with today’s technology visual learners, such as myself have a better chance for learning more.

What I have learned about the various learning theories and learning styles over the past weeks that can further explain my own personal learning preferences is that I am a believer in the Constructivist theory about learning. I believe that my learning has come from the Social Culture that I have been introduced to since childhood, which consists also of a music influence. I also have come to believe that people can relate and react to situations that are relative to their experiences in life. I plan on drawing from peoples experiences in life to engage them in learning.

The role that technology plays in my learning is a big one. Anytime I search for information it is with the internet using the Google or Bing search engines as a way to search for the most current information. If I need to create a presentation it is done with a power point presentation using online visual resources. After learning about the Mobile, Geo, and personal web tools I see myself integrating them more into my present instruction and later into my instructional design career.

Connectivism

Connectivism- Mind map Reflection

First there is http://instructech3000.blogspot.com I use this site to post

information for my classwork. Second there is wuwcnewsletter.blogspot.com which is from the Walden University Writing Center, which gives updates and information about writing techniques, upcoming webcasts, and seminars. Next there is Learning Solutions Magazine LearningSolutionsMagazine@elearningguild.net via bounce. This helps me to learn about the topics and resources that Instructional Designer professionals use. Then there is MasteryConnect Learning Community which is used for teachers who are mostly “sharing and discovering common formative assessments, tracking mastery of state and

Common Core standards, and engaging with like-minded teachers in the community.”

Last there is http://www.educationjobsite.com. I use this website that shows the Instructional Design and Training positions in my area. I use this to see what companies are looking for when they hire.

The network has changed the way that I learn by giving me a broader atmosphere for obtaining information. I have more views and perspectives on what’s going on in the world. The digital tools that best facilitate learning for me are the MasteryConnect Learning Community and LearningSolutionsMagazine@elearningguild.  MasteryConnect Learning Community  helps in me in my current profession. LearningSolutionsMagazine@elearningguild helps me learn more information about the profession that I hope to enter soon.  I gain new knowledge when I have questions by looking through these sites. I try to look through the blogs that are offered and if the questions aren’t answered, then I use the search site on a particular page.  The ways my personal learning network support the central tenets of connectivism are by using all of my resources as a network to feed my learning concerns. The blogs by Instructional designers feeds my social curiosity for how they interact in workshops, conventions, and private sector settings. The technical learning knowledge that I gain is from the display of new products that are being introduced in both the Common Core standards and the demonstration e-learning products by trainers.

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I have read through the sites in the class of my colleagues and found two sites that were of interest to me and I have added them to my feed reader as well. After looking at Nathaniel’s webpage the rjaquez blog seemed very interesting. I especially enjoyed the information about moving from the elearning to the (mobile) mlearning format. After looking at Joan’S Blog the iddblog Instructional Design was also of interest to me.

   

Evaluating and Identifying Online Resources

Educational Journals

Metacognition Learning (2012) 7:151–173 DOI 10.1007/s11409-012-9089-9

Executive functioning, metacognition, and self-perceived competence in elementary school children: an explorative

study on their interrelations and their role for school achievement

      This article talks about a study that was done on 209 1^st grade children that were pre-assessed “in terms of their executive functioning and academic self-concept”.  They were then tested again after a year to test their brain functions in mathematics and reading. The test looked at several factors such as emotion, self-regulation, and functions within the memory of the brain. The conclusion was that the students had more executive functioning properties when dealing with Mathematics and Metacognitive control when dealing with Language Arts. I thing this study validates the studies that argue the different functions of the brain that are used to carry out certain tasks. It also validates the presence of more self-control in children as they grow older.

Learning, Memory & Cognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology

 Nov2013, Vol. 39 Issue 6, p1726-1741. 16p. DOI: 10.1037/a0033671.

Examining the Causes of Memory Strength Variability: Recollection, Attention Failure, or  Encoding Variability?

     This article talks about the findings in recognition memory. Although Encoding , Retrival, and Metacognition are the cognitive processes of memory there are others aspects that have been studied, such as the strength of each step in the memory process. This study pretty states that the more old items are viewed with new items the more likely that the new items will become stored in the memory with the old items. This reinforces the idea of recollection through association

My Threads

On this blog there will be threads from several Instructional Design blogs such as:

eLearning Solutions Magazine http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/rssfeed/lsm.xml  

 eLearning Guild http://www.elearningguild.com/rssfeed/elearningguild.rss

 Our Blog  http://www.elearningguild.com/rssfeed/elearningguild.rss.

Training Stone http://trainingstone.wordpress.com/  

Learning Circuits Archives

http://www.astd.org/rss/syndication.ashx?sources=7756364010F64FBD9553DFFF54E3B7C0.  

The type of content that can be found will be found useful to me in my pursuit of my Master’s Degree in Instructional Design as well as my future career as a Instructural Designer or Online Instructor. The eLearning Solutions Magazine, eLearning Guild, and Our Blog all tie in together. The Guild offers courses regarding blended learning theories, learning environments by design, and elearning design. It also gives information about salaries in the Instructional Design profession, ebooks about strategies for Instructional Designers, and other Best Practices Strategies. The magazine offers news about learning technology and articles from professionals in the learning and training environment. It includes information about conferences that are offered for Instructional Designers. I also like that it covers topics like design strategies, Performance Support, and Training Strategies.

The Training Stone offers examples of web graphics that have been used as tools by Jackie Van Nice, a professional of the Instructional Design industry. She shows samples that she has used and gives a narrative about the process she used to develop the concept. It is a very helpful source that I plan to refer to often. The other blog resource is by the American Society for Training and Development. It gives information about the elearning technologies being developed and utilized in the corporate training setting. I believe that it is used as a resource by several professionals and will become a resource of mine as well.