Week 7 Fitting the Pieces Together

Upon embarking on my journey through Learning Theories and Instruction I had no previous experience in formal education classes. My academic resume consisted primarily of business and management classes. The closes my previous education came to touching on educational theories was in classes on organizational psychology. Therefore, when posting my initial response in week one I had limited knowledge on which to base my assessment of my preferred learning style.






Now that I have completed seven weeks of classes and read countless articles and textbook chapters on the topics of learning styles, learning theories and technology use, I find it more difficult to classify my preferred learning style. I can see where certain aspects of each learning style we studied apply to me. From the behaviorist school of thought, receiving a specific stimulus will change my behavior. For example when the deadline for our discussion post was extended from Wednesday to Friday, I did not post my discussion until Friday. I had the chapters we needed well before the week in question, but I tend to be a procrastinator by nature, so when we received and extension, I took advantage of it. From a cognitive standpoint, I am a problem solver. I enjoy defining a problem, analyzing it and figuring out a solution. When I endeavor to learn new things, they must have meaning to me or I will not retain the learning. This characteristic of my learning style fits in nicely with the constructivist theory.


I am aligned with social learning theory in that I really enjoy working in learning teams and as much as I like the convenience of online education, I miss the personal interaction of a classroom setting. I am an adult learner and most everything I read about adult learning applied to me.






What provided me the most insight into my preferred learning style are the five assumptions of Andragogy:


1. Adult learners are autonomous, independent, self-reliant and self-directed toward goals


2. Adults have a rich resource for learning via their reservoir of experience


3. The readiness of adult learners is closely related to the developmental tasks of his or her social roles


4. Adults focus shifts from future application of knowledge to immediacy of application


5. Adults are motivated to learn by internal factors rather than external ones


(Cercone, 2008 pp. 143-145)






I utilize technology to search for articles that will support my ‘gut feeling’ on discussion points. I also utilize technology to organize the articles I download. Without technology I would not be able to attend school at this point in my life. The asynchronous aspect of online classes appeals to me most. I can ‘attend’ class when it fits into my schedule, which allows me to balance my career, family and education.



References:


Cercone, K. (2008). Characteristic of adult learners with implications for online learning design, AACE Journal, 16(2), 137-159.