"The _isms"

I could not have asked for two better articles to read this week! I have discussed these "_isms" since high school Psychology class, however, this week's articles were very engaging and interesting!

The quote by Kerr, "It seems to me that each _ism is offering something useful without any of them being complete or stand alone in their own right," not only resonated with Kapp, but me also. There are portions of Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, and Connectivism that I agree with. As Kerr stated, “What we need to is take the best from each philosophy and use it wisely to create solid educational experiences for our learners.” Great teachers already know to do this. They reflect on the "isms" and make them adaptable in their classroom to ensure meaningful learning experiences. Every classroom has a different set of learners, with different needs, so it'd be impossible for one learning theory to work for all students. Also, since it is impossible for all people to agree to one learning theory, and everyone has their own ideas, theories are constantly evolving. Which makes learning about how people learn so interesting. As Kapp stated, "There are too many levels for one school of thought or one model to do it all." Therefore, teachers (or educational technologists) need to just take what WE think is best from each philosophy, implement it, and respect that others different views.

References:

Kapp, K. (2007, January 2). Out and about: Discussion on educational schools of thought [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/index.php/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational/

Kerr, B. (2007, January 1). _isms as filter, not blinker [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html

Blog Responses Week 1

I posted responses on the following blogs:

Christine Rand’s blog-http://walden-crand.blogspot.com/2011/03/module-1-how-people-learn_15.html%20showComment=1300407941964#c9182734603972297506

Bianca Lochner’s blog-http://lochneruni.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-07%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=2

Week 1 Blog Post

Question: What are your beliefs about how people learn best? What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology? 

As a 2nd grade teacher and team leader, I believe that people learn best when instruction and learning are organized with the "learners" in mind. What I mean by this is, when an instructor is designing the curriculum, they need to have the audience they are delivering the content to in the forefront of their mind. This will help ensure that the curriculum is presented in an organized and relevant manner to the students. As a teacher myself, I believe that people learned best in a variety of ways. Some learners learn best through listening to instruction, while others learn better through seeing or touching and experiencing the learning. Learners learn best when instruction is delivered in a way that encompasses all of these senses. If an instructor teaches lessons with their listening, seeing, and touching students in mind, and makes the instruction relevant to all of the learners, learning is inevitable. 

The purpose of learning theory in educational technology is to influence instructional design and the instructional designers. in regards to learning theory in educational technology, Moore (1989) argues that there are three types of learner interaction (learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner interactions). Instructional designers must keep Moore's three types of learner interaction in mind throughout the entire design process. 

Reference: 

Moore, M. (1989). Three Types of Interaction. As retrieved from http://www.ajde.com/Contents/vol3_2.htm#editorial. 

Hello everyone! Welcome to my EDUC 7105 Learning Theory and Educational Technology Blog!!