Each time I take a class, a workshop, or attend a professional development I am excited about what I will learn and how I can use it to impact my personal, social, or professional life. Taking a dive into learning theories and instruction I was excited to learn how I could apply the information to my learners and even my own children. But what I've walked away with is a greater understanding of myself as a learner and hopefully some strategies to aid me in being a better learner overall. Each of those strategies is another piece in my own learning puzzle.
Learning styles and methods can be ever evolving as one
learns and attains new information and insight. In the beginning of this course
I stated that through my recent job change I was able to discover that I learn
best via kinesthetic and visual learning opportunities as well as the use of
the Socratic Method to encourage greater depth and insight into the information
I’m seeking to learn. This is still very true for me. I am a very hands on
person who learns best by having a set of instructions, the ability to work
through the material, and then receive feedback based on performance. I also
learn well through discussion and even debate. However, though I could attempt
to place myself neatly into one learning theory or style, it is not feasible. I
do not believe that makes me different from any other learner. In fact, what I
have learned really debunks many of my previous assumptions about learning and
synthesis of material. No longer do I believe there is any one set way to learn
or gather information. Rather, each learning opportunity places us in a unique
situation to gain knowledge. Key factors here would include intrinsic
motivation as well as prior knowledge or experience.
What it comes down to for me is that if I am not motivated
to learn in some way, then I will not learn. And that though I can name and
categorize ways that tend to suit me as a learner, I do myself a great
disservice in pinning myself to one style or modality of learning. Instead,
this knowledge leads me to seek strategies to assist me in learning. And what I
have found is that just because a strategy works well in one situation that
does not mean that it will work well in another situation. In fact, each
learning opportunity is as unique as each learner partaking in the learning
opportunity.
One of the common factors for me to achieve learning success
comes down to technology. There are times that the resources I have been
provided are not enough for me, or they do not resonate with me and therefore I
may struggle to access them in one way or another. Technology allows me to seek
out alternate resources whether it be a video presentation, an infographic,
article, etc. I have access now that I never had as a K12 or undergrad learner.
In addition, there are time that I will desire further information about something
mentioned in a resource, or I will want to see it in action. A few keystrokes,
and I have access to the material. The final way that technology continues to
make learning more accessible is the portability and flexibility in learning.
Recently my family went on a long planned vacation. Though I had completed the
bulk of my assignments prior to our departure, I knew that I had to participate
in an ongoing discussion board. At one time, this vacation would have meant a loss
of a week’s worth of learning and interaction with my peers. However, through
just access to my cell phone I was able to continue the participation and even
lead to further resources in which to engage while I was away and had some
downtime to read. This truly brought to life, for me anyway, the idea of continuing education being something attainable despite a full family life, full time job, and other responsibilities.
Learning is not a static process. We cannot rest on what we think we know about ourselves as a learner, rather we must be educated on learning strategies and tools to aid in furthering that learning process. Discovering more about learning theories and methods is a step toward self awareness that will lead to a greater capacity for learning and the tendency toward lifelong learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment