Week 14 post

I think it's week 14 anyway. We skipped Thanksgiving so I'm pretty sure I'm on track. This is my last post for this class but I have enjoyed being able to use my blog for my reflections. Makes things so much easier. I am thinking about my last post, only moments ago where I was griping about not knowing the new technology and I realized that before our motivation class I had never used a blog before, and now I'm relying on it for this class when this wasn't the prescribed method so I feel like I have come around a bit and have stepped into the 21st century with my tech knowledge, however minimal it may be. I would have never thought to use a blog for reflection purposes before our motivation class though so I am pretty proud of myself here.
So this week's questions. What were they again? What did we learn? Seems like that should have been one of them. What method or theory do we identify with? I will have to stake my claim in the social learning theory camp. I feel that that encompasses everything I believe in and it allows the environment and others to play a part in the learning process for each person. That is important to me. The whole idea that knowledge is constructed really resonates with me because I see a link to how I learn in there, and into how my daughter learns as well. Maybe because I've witnessed the power of knowledge being constructed in my own kid is what sells me on SLT but I feel like knowledge is more easily um saturated I will say, into our brains, when it's constructed based on things that are meaningful to us personally. I think that we each contribute to the learning of others in so many ways that it's difficult to ignore that influence. Yes, I know, learning is a social event!
When I took a learning class as an undergrad we focused on Piaget and his methods, Skinner and his, for most of the course so I am glad that we branched out in this class and included more of a variety. I didn't feel this way about learning after that previous class so it took this to get me to actually form an opinion about why I think the way I think.
So in closing I'd like to say thanks for teaching a great class. So much would have made more sense had I taken this class in the beginning as the sequence suggests but I'm glad I waited for you to teach it! I like your style of teaching and i feel like it suits my learning style well. Onward and upward!

Week 12 post

So I am a little behind on my posts here, only by 2 weeks though so I will get right to it. Let's see, the week before Thanksgiving we went over everyone's front page of their KB and I liked everyone's work but I think I will keep mine the way it is. I may attempt to add some outside links but that would be all I would change. If I was more versed in prezi I would definitely use that but time is of the essence here and since i am so technologically stunted, I will go with what I know, my old standby, PowerPoint. I know, it's lame but what is a girl to do this late in the game? I need a course on all these new tools! Seriously, I could really use such a thing. I love what all these new tools can do, how they can make a presentation come alive, but what good are they to me if I can't figure out how to even use them? And this is the thing that really irks me actually. Our department is all about instructional design, which includes but is not limited to technology and the latest advances in technology for use in instruction, yet we do not have the resources to teach it to our current students even! Doesn't make sense to me at all. How are we supposed to be at the forefront of our field if we cant even teach our students to use the technology we promote? Maybe it's just me but whenever someone uses a new technology in a class, I am not the only one who is awed by what can be done. In this class even, there are a number of students who have asked what certain websites are for creating new presentations. And this class is full of younger students so if they don't know it, who does?
So back to my lame old presentation...I was thinking in class that I would like to make the whole presentation into a google pages thing but then I don't know how to convert my interactive front page for that so I will stick with what I have for now. I was very impressed with the other front pages though and would like to use some of their ideas for future projects. Until next time...which is in a few minutes...

Week 11 reflection

So now that I've bashed behaviorism I am back on track with my posting! So for this reflection I will get back to the actual assignment and discuss the week's work. I thought the in-class exam was fun and enlightening. It was the nice way to go through what we've learned, or in my case what I think I've learned! I felt like I had the opportunity to elaborate on parts one and two which allowed me to show in better form how and what I understand about the theories. The first part I actually found a bit daunting because I didn't remember certain quotes and I wasn't reading into what they were actually saying like I should have been. It was so simple yet I was over thinking it, as is usually the case with me. I was stuck on trying to remember which theorist said that, when that was, and so on. It's the process they were speaking of that I should have been concentrating on, which I was not. Parts 2 & 3 were much easier for me because they each gave me the chance to write down my thoughts and answer questions in my own words. That way I could gauge for myself what I actually knew and did not know. Much more helpful to my learning style. It's funny actually because sometimes I think I don't know the answer to something but then as I start to write things out on paper it comes to me and I realize that I do know what I'm talking about! I feel like sometimes it takes me a minute to parse things out but once I get through that process, I'm on the road to recovery.
So I'm currently working on my kb title page and I've decided to use my slides as a guide to make a chart. From the chart one can navigate to the corresponding pages through hyperlinks. I know, I'm living in the dark ages with PowerPoint! It suits me for now though. Kerry Edmonds told me last year that he used to teach one week summer classes that showed students how to use technology effectively. I think it's too bad that's no longer the case because I could certainly use that! We learned how to use some of the tools in project management but that was things like flash and scratch. Not anything I find will be useful to me in my disaster response work of the future. Anyway, the semester ticks on and we are almost done. I'm happy with my project so far and excited to finally finish it! I've learned so much from it and I love the kb assignment. It really helped me to put the learning in perspective through my own lens. I also like the idea of a group kb where everyone contributes to the same one, sort of like editing the wiki in our motivation class. There are so many different opinions and various learning styles, different schemas, varying prior knowledge, that it would be interesting to have the whole class work on a kb together and try their luck and coming to a consensus. Similar to our class exercise 2 weeks ago but that was only in groups of three and that proved a bit difficult at times, depending on the scenario. Onward and upward...

Week 10 reflection

Time is ticking away on the semester here and I am behind 2 posts! My trip to California put me about behind but I am back up to speed now so I will be posting weeks 10 & 11 back to back. I don't remember what the exact questions were for this reflection butiwould like to discuss my social learning kb so I'm sure that's somewhat in sync with some of the questions. I felt that the social learning kb tied together all of what I think about learning. Serving an apprenticeship in my younger years has made me see the value in the social aspect of learning and how it's much more than simply behavioral or cognitive. That was an important part of my life and I see now that it helped me to better understand this learning theory. Observation and modeling are integral to the learning process of becoming a steamfitter and also a welder. There is really no other way to learn than throu observation and modeling for either of those. But the social aspect really comes into light here as well because you learn what is accepted based on the social cues that you learn while you're not the job. That's actually a really important part of it all too, especially in a trade such as that because one wrong move could get you into trouble.
I think that social learning theory encompasses so much of behaviorism and cognitivism and I wonder how the behaviorists make sense of that. Because we are human beings and we are all social beings as well, how do the behaviorists justify the belief that cognitive processes are not involved? I know the Smith & Ragan book states that behaviorism really isn't even used in instructional design anymore and for that I'm thankful because I feel that its shelf life is used up what with all the technology and differences in learning styles these days. It just doesnt seem to offer the practicality that it once did. Behaviorism seems to be stuck in the dark ages a bit. And it's hard to believe that the only way to learn is to see a behavior change. I guess my post about social learning was just a cover to bash behaviorism!

Week 9 reflection

I figured I'd get this weeks reflection out of the way since I'm getting ready to attend the conference and won't have extra time this week. There are original questions for these reflections that I've been blowing off in favor of writing about topics of my choice but I think this week I will stick to protocol. So, what did I learn this week? I learned that each time we do the same exercise where we have to design a lesson plan for the given scenario, it gets easier because each theory plays off the other in some way. We are learning in the same way we are being taught to design instruction and that is having an impact on me for sure. I like social learning theory because it feels like a combination of behaviorism and cognitivism that I can relate to. I was feeling like I could use aspects of both theories so combining the two into social learning really appeals to me. My learning scenario seemed to go a lot smoother this time around though, with the cognitivism kb. So I am looking forward to putting together the social learning kb as well now. I felt that my learning scenario was tailored more to cognitivism and it felt like I was forcing it to fit into the behaviorism theory, only because of the map making process and the idea that I have that there's a thought process that goes into how we make meaning of mapping. There's that qualitative bit again! What else...I like that we are actually working with the same groups each time because I know what to expect from my team members and it makes it easier to do the work. We have each other figured out, we know our own limitations and can put a design together better now that we have familiarized ourselves with each other's work habits, ethics, styles, etc. That's all for now.

Week 8 reflection

I almost forgot to submit a reflection this week! I feel like missing a class really put me behind the eight ball in that I think I missed some great conversations about cognitive learning. I can get the just from the notes but it's more useful to me to learn by interacting with a group because I get to hear different opinions of how others perceive things and that helps me to see the same thing in many different ways. I got a lot out of the readings on cognitive behavior though so that will certainly help in putting my cognitive kb together. I also think the cognitive kb will be easier for me in the learning scenario I have chosen because all the while I was writing the learning scenario out for the behaviorist kb, I felt like I was grabbing at straws a bit. What I mean by that is that each time I came up with something I would think to myself how it really fit more with cognitivism instead of behaviorism. For each aspect of the behaviorism kb I was thinking okay, how can I turn this into a behaviorist kb because right now it looks like a cognitivist kb? I guess I am more of a fan of the cognitivist aspect of learning because I can see that there needs to be a mindset involved in learning and hat it's not as simply as just see it, repeat it, learn in. I think it's more about how we perceive things, how we are taking in the information and how we are making sense of that information in our minds. Then how do we translate that into meaning to show that we actually have learned something? It's just a process that makes more sense to me. I think that because we learn so differently, the cognitive process almost has to take precedence over the behaviorist process. In looking st my project I think I will have to tweak my learning scenario a bit to meet the needs of both aspects though. I was thinking I would have to do that but I really wasn't sure until I got involved in the cognitive piece a bit more. I was almost wishing we had started it with the cognitive piece, then molded that somehow into a behaviorist scenario after. It seems more difficult going the opposite direction. I think that's because the cognitive piece seems a bit less challenging so if we started out on the simpler side, adding a more difficult plan to the lesson wouldn't be as challenging. Needless to say, it will get done! Thankfully, this is only a draft so I will be looking forward to feedback!

Week 7 reflection

Since I wasn't in class this week I will comment on the readings. I'm sorry I missed the class though because I really enjoy this stuff! This is actually where I think it gets interesting. Behaviorism is one thing, I mean who can't train a monkey to do tricks?? But the cognitive stuff is where it's at for me. I read something in one of the chapters that mentioned that learning can take place without a specific change in behavior and I tend to agree with that. I think the behavior change can be noticed over time but it owlud seem that behaviorists are looking for instant gratification and I don't necessarily believe it always has to work out like that. I think back to my training as a steamfitter. There was a lot of repition on the job and in the classes but there were certain things I learned that I didn't apply for years. We never drilled certain things (I mean skill drilling, not actual machine drilling...hard to know which one I'm speaking of due to the nature of the trade!) and we never got the chance to practice certain things either so it was just the idea that we learned the information then when we needed it we would be expected to recall it for future use. Granted, we always had a journeyman with us in the beginning to help refresh our memories but the point is that there was no immediate behavior change when we were initially taught the information. It seems that behaviorism is more tuned in with the elementary tasks and while I think many cognitive skills can be reduced to such elementary tasks, I think that in order to fully grasp it for use and significance at a later time, cognitive learning had to be present. I think the cognitivist point is much more imrtant when we study things like learning disabilities because we need to attempt to understand what the person is thinking and how that person learns. The behaviorist ideal would suppose that everyone, regardless of disability, can learn by doing. we all know that some people simply are not wired to learn that way so we need to better understand how they think.
I took a learning class as an undergrad and I remember the professor giving us this cognitive test in every class. She would say 15 items slowly while we listened, then she would go about her lesson for the next 15 minutes. Then we would be asked to recall and write down what words she said. The catch though is that some of the words would be used again in her lesson in such a way that themes were built around the word, or including the word. So for instance if one of her words was "social" she would use that word a few times related to her lesson. In each class we were encouraged to not simply concentrate on the word we heard so we could recall it easier, we were encouraged to formulate groupings of the words. To categorize them if you will. After our recalls it was always so interesting to see how each person grouped things together so differently based on their own schema. I always loved that class because we were able to see on a weekly basis how different people learn simply based on what attributes they bring into the mix or based on what existing knowledge they already had.
So alas, I'm glad we're on to the fun stuff!