Learning Theories and Instruction – Reflection

When we started this cycle, I thought it would be one of the most boring courses in the program.  Think about it; an entire course on theories attempting to explain how humans learn.  To be honest, at one point or another, I had heard about most of the things we mentioned.  None the less, when it was put into the appropriate order and context, I started realizing how many details were missing in what I thought I knew. The first thing that I found interesting in this course was observing how theories evolved as time passed;  from the very early thinkers who justified what they could not explain through the gods, to the more modern theorists who device new theories as they find out new information about the brain.   I also found striking that there is not a single theory that by itself can explain the learning process yet, in their own way, they all explain a very important part of learning.    Beharivorism recognized that humans responds to stimulus, Cognitivism that humans use their memory to retain information for future usage, Constructivism that learners construct their own knowledge from experience, Social Learning that learning is obtained through social interactions, Connectivism that learning exists in the world rather than the head and is gained through the development of networks that help to provide current information.  Finally, adult learning is a huge topic in and of itself and probably the theory which will have the biggest impact in my role as Instructional Designer.

As I mentioned on a previous discussion, this course has not changed the way that I learn.  None the less, it has definitely deepened my understanding of my personal learning process.  For one thing, this was the first time in my life that I have done an exercise of metacognition to better understand what works for me in a learning environment.  It was also the first time that I put together a mind map and thought about the networks from which I draw knowledge and information.  In fact, after I handed in the original assignment, I was able to come up with another couple of nodes which I could have added to the map.   I found the topic of multiple intelligences very enlightening as well.  This was new to me and again, for the first time I did an exercise of analyzing what I am good at.

You realize you are learning when you are able to start differentiating and understanding the value of theories, learning styles, educational technology and motivation.  My conclusion is that each learning theory explains a particular aspect of how we process information and gain knowledge, our learning style is the mechanism, activity or technique that works best for us to acquire our learning.  As time evolves, we will only see an increase in technology and its usage within the education field.  I think that at the moment, education is being redefined in order to utilize available technology.  The idea of information anywhere/any time is redesigning the playing field of education and making online learning programs a rich alternative at the moment and probably, the preferred learning method for the future.  Motivation is a constant requirement of any learning environment and very tightly related to adult learning.  To the extent the instructional designer is capable of understanding and implementing the principles of the adult learning theory and develop instruction taking into account ARCS (particularly in online learning), the adult learner will remain motivated and ready to learn.

There is no doubt that this course will help me further my career in instructional design.  One thing is to design and another to design with an understanding.  This course has helped me to understand human aspects of learning which will be beneficial in the future.  I think that the most important one is that each learner has a different way of learning.  As instructional designers we need to develop a good understanding of the audience we want to reach, understand their multiple intelligences, understand their learning styles, appeal to their motivation and provide instruction in a way which capitalizes on their differences.  This is not easy to do, but at least I have a good understanding of what to shoot for.