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

Learning and the brain

This is a topic that has truly fascinated me for years.  It's amazing to think that everyone is born with this almost unbelievable ability to take in and process information from so many different stimuli and sources!  As a teacher, I have worked very hard to see to it that every brain in my class, no matter the "ability level", was engaged and actively learning each day.  There is so much more involved in that than simply lecturing or providing new information.  We have to take each individual into consideration, and work to learn what makes each student "click".  During my research on this topic, I discovered a fantastic website that has links to all sorts of articles, links, and even maps dealing with the brain and how we learn.  There are several articles that I have bookmarked for reference later!  This wonderful website can be found at http://www.newhorizons.org/neuro/front_neuro.html, I hope you find it as fascinating as I do!  Another article I found on the Kappan Magazine site is giving an updated perspective on using brain based education in today's classrooms.  It points out that there was lots of ongoing research, but in order for that research to be helpful to us we must be able to apply it with today's student population.  It made quite a few valid points that I found both interesting and helpful and can be found at http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v89/k0802jen.htm .  Another fabulous website I found has information about many other topics besides brain research while still incorporating that research in the articles, videos, and podcasts that are available there.  I have bookmarked this website as well, since I can see that it will truly help me as I move through my career in education.  Access this website here http://www.brains.org/.   Thanks for looking!
Noelle

Welcome to my Instructional Design blog!

 During my explorations this week, I found several quite helpful sites that resonated with me coming from a public school classroom background.  One of those sites is put out by DePaul University and addresses multiple issues found in a classroom setting no matter what level the classroom serves.  It was quite helpful to me to see what people in the instructional design field actually do in "real life".  I could see how it worked theoretically which is why I began this degree program, but had a very vague idea about what it actually entailed.  You can access this site at the following link:  http://www.iddblog.org/.

Another site I found extremely helpful was about what an instructional designer actually does.  This blog even goes into detail about various skills someone needs to get into the field, careers that use those skills, and even professional organizations people can join related to the field of instructional design.  The author even goes into helping the reader figure out if the field of instructional design is the right one for that particular person.  This site can be accessed at the following link:  http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2007/05/26/what-does-an-instructional-designer-do/ .

 The site that was by far the most diverse was one that lists the top eighteen blogs in instructional design.  This site has links to each of those blogs with a short blurb about each one.  Since the other blogs I bookmarked were not listed on this site, I now have twenty sites to access for information to help me along my way!  You can check this site out at http://www.networkedblogs.com/topic/instructional_design/ .

Thanks for looking!
Noelle Waller

References:

DePaul University. (2010). Instructional Design and Development Blog. Retrieved from http://www.iddblog.org/ on January 9, 2011.

Top 18 Blogs in:  instructional design. (2008). Retrieved from  http://www.networkedblogs.com/topic/instructional_design/ on January 9, 2011.

Tucker, C. (2007). What does an instructional designer do? Retrieved from http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2007/05/26/what-does-an-instructional-designer-do/ on January 9, 2011.