Fitting the pieces together

As I have moved through the assignments, resources, and reflections of this course, I have come to the conclusion that learning styles and strategies play a much bigger part in how we actually learn than I originally thought.  I hadn't ever really considered how knowledge was transferred, or the role of memory in various learning theories and situations.  My view on how I learn has not really changed.  I am a learner that learns best intrinsically, on my own or by using my connections.  My best strategy is to learn visually, followed closely by actually participating in the learning activity.  Apparently, I am a strange mix of connectivism and constructivism as far as learning theories go!  I do find that I am heavily dependent on technology to find information.  This is in part, I am sure, due to the fact that I am unable to function at full capacity in a face to face social situation.  However, in a virtual world, I am not constrained by the social anxieties and fears that usually plague me in a brick and mortar world.  Creation of projects, displays of information, and organization of data are all made far easier by use of the computer.  This serves to bring home the fact that someone had to design the technological tools I now take for granted, and that I need to consider my user/learner when I in turn design a tool for use technologically.  In developing the learning theory matrix, in addition to our own course resources, I discovered some pretty valuable information at the following websites:

http://www.educ.drake.edu/romig/educ350/paradigms.html

http://otec.uoregon.edu/learning_theory.htm

http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~Lynda_abbot/Social.html

http://t4tl.wikispaces.com/file/view/Connectivism+luis+gutierrez%27s+paper.pdf

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm

I suppose the old adage my grandfather always said really is true, the only way to keep young is to continue learning in keeping with the times!

Connectivism

I used to depend upon solely my own abilities to learn.  However, as I have gotten older and the material has become more complicated and out of my comfort zone, I have learned to network to gain information on a variety of subjects.  I have learned to rely on my friends and family for information, particularly from those members who are older than I am.  The ability to network is a skill that has changed dramatically over the last few decades.  Technology has created opportunities that never existed before.  I now subscribe to various lists to gain information about subjects that I am not proficient in such as livestock guardian dogs, goat health, and now technology design.  Facebook is a fantastic resource because it links people on every continent together.  By doing so, it has widened the knowledge pool exponentially.  I also quite enjoy the ability to use search engines within the scope of the internet to find information quickly.  The process of researching information used to take a long time searching card catalogs (I know, I’m dating myself here), microfiche (again, dating myself), and encyclopedias.  Now, it takes merely seconds to have hundreds of choices at your fingertips.  When I learn something, it tends to stick with me and I have the ability to recall it when needed.  Because of that ability, people within my network often come to me to either get information or get help finding that information.  I was always very good at finding the information, now I am able to find it, use it, and share it with little effort.  Since the connectivism theory depends heavily upon our connections, I feel my learning network definitely confirms the validity of that theory.

Noelle's Mind Map