Course Reflections

            I had always thought if we knew what type of learning style a student was then you would know how to teach to that student. But since taking this course, I realize that is not the case. There are many factors that go into play when designing a course and knowing the students learning style is just a small piece of the puzzle.

            It is important to understand the different learning theories, motivations, and technology. Each one of these items is a part of the puzzle that makes the whole picture. To have a well-designed course you have to incorporate all the pieces. This is where the difficulty comes into place. Our textbook did a wonderful job explaining in detail the different learning theories however; I found the textbook to also be confusing it was if there was too much information. I found myself going to the internet and doing research; I was able to retrieve a wealth of information explaining the different theories and ideas on how to incorporate them into my design.

            In week 3 we looked at the different –isms this was a difficult task. I felt the description of each was running together. It was not until I truly understood the meaning of each that I realized they all work together. I understand that when designing a course it is important that you utilize a little from each of the –isms as Bill Kerr states in his blog “It seems to me that each _ism is offering something useful without any of them being complete or stand alone in their own right”.
            I find that I lean more towards behaviorism. For example, when designing our Introduction to Business course the instructor has the students complete a business plan. Because the business plan is so large, I suggested we split it up into chunks. I recommend 4 different parts to the plan. Making the assignment more manageable for the students and allowing the instructor to check on the student’s progress and give them feedback on how they are doing. It seems to be working well for this course. The reason I lean more towards behaviorism I think is because of the step-by-step process I feel accomplished after completing all the steps in the process.

            This course has opened by eyes to the different learning styles, theories, technology and motivation. Just this past week I implemented a change in my online orientation course applying the motivation theory. It is too early to tell if I was successful in applying this but I feel personally that it will be a success. I look forward to the next step. 

Fitting the Pieces Together

I used to think that if we understood our learning style that we understood how to learn. I soon found out that is not the case there are many factors that influence the way we learn. All of these factors can be explained by the many different learning theories.

I have learned that it takes all of the theories in order to have a well rounded-developed course. You have to think of the many different theories and how to incorporate them into your courses. I am not saying that each assignment or assessment has to include each theory but if your overall course includes items that cover all of the learning theories then you will have a well-designed course.

Technology is the superhighway of distance learning. We rely on it heavily to provide information for our students either in the form of communication, research, assessments and assignments. Each of us has our own Personal learning network where we go to find the information we need. Our network continues to grow as technology continues to grow.

I thought that it was just one learning theory that I learned by but now I realize that I too am like most of my students, that is, I learn by all of the theories not just one.

Connectivism Reflection

Networking used to be something you did face-to-face usually in a group setting or just recently for me at a conference. Being able to share stories and experiences with others is a very valuable tool. There have been many times that I have gone to conferences and I learned more from the networking then I did with the actually conference sessions. Utilizing the online networking sites has been a very valuable tool for me also. Some of the sites I use on a regular basis is the Quality Matters and Sloan Consortium. Both of these sites pertain to distance learning and have done the research pertaining to distance learning thus saving me a lot of time when I am searching for the latest and greatest.

When I am looking to find something new I utilize the my sites I listed in my mind map ninety percent of the time that is all I need to do. The other thing I utilize a lot is a Google search. Many times it returns more than enough information to get me started on what I am looking for.

The definition of connectivism that knowledge exists in the world rather than in the head of a person my personal learning network I think supports this definition.  I personally know that I have learned from my personal learning network. Sharing of information and teaching and learning from each other I think is very vital to anyone.