“Having taken a number of those surveys and quizzes to determine my learning style, I have tons of evidence to support that I am an abstract thinker rely as much on creativity as knowledge to problem solve and produce. I can learn in all kinds of environments in multiple styles. At the same time, I have been forced to recognize that this is a freakish quality, and most people are less comfortable beginning with abstract conclusions (unless they have extremely practical knowledge of something similar). There is something powerful in the concrete.
I think I see general education as being both constructivist and cognitive. In fact, they both seem to have very similar assumptions that the brain must build on what it knows and observes. We relate new knowledge, or situate it physiologically, based on established knowledge and "mental schema."
Understanding and reviewing instructional theories will redefine and reinforce the ways I approach teaching and designing effective instruction for students.”
At the (almost) end of the course, we are asked to re-evaluate our responses based on what we have learned in the course:
• Now that you have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories and learning styles, how has your view on how you learn changed?
• What have you learned about the various learning theories and learning styles over the past weeks that can further explain your own personal learning preferences?
• What role does technology play in your learning (i.e., as a way to search for information, to record information, to create, etc.)?
I do not feel my understanding of the different learning theories has changed the way I view my own learning, but I am reminded (as I often remind my students) that the social aspect of those building blocks we use to construct our knowledge of the world is as important as ever, especially considering the way that technology is constantly streaming a more global culture into our lives. I still see the individual learner as the locus of learning per se, but the institution of education is also a preserver of social traditions and values.
Again, I know I am freakishly adept at learning in all manner of styles. Thankfully, the reading we did by Gilbert and Swanier (2008) made me feel a little less like an oddball since people's preferences appear to fluctuate. Generally, I prefer to do more individual activities, and I love reading just about everything I can lay my eyes on, but I also appreciate a good lecture or interview with or without any visual, and manipulatives or movement are usually at least entertaining, and I love the actual aesthetics of writing and drawing even though I find typing much more efficient. I tend to purposely relate information I learn to stuff I already know - which came in really handy when I was learning Spanish since so many words share similar roots like "edifice" and "edifico" - so the cognitivist/constructive theories still apply pretty well.
Technology is encompassing ever more of our lives - honesty, how far are we from implantable devices for which we can serve as the battery? - so the ways I use technology are changing. I appreciate the ability to quickly access a variety of information, store it, "write" or create (though I am fairly paper trained in terms of prewiritng, drafting, planning, etc. because no single screen can hold everything the way a desk of several papers can). Technology opens up an avenue for more individuals to take in and put out whatever they choose. There is an audience for everything and every audience has a leader.
I think the point of the learning theories is that, no matter the course or style of delivery, it is still the individual (the learner situated in a social environment, equipped with various dendrites and synapses) that is left with the task of interpretation, the meaning-making and value-attributing, as well as the decision of whether to do anything with these building blocks of information.
No comments:
Post a Comment