Fitting the Pieces Together

 When beginning this course, I prescribed my learning style as self-paced and audio-visual based from the behaviorist theory.   In the behaviorism theory, learning is accomplished when a proper response is demonstrated following the presentation of a specific environmental stimulus (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). After researching the many styles, strategies and theories in this course it became apparent that my prescription to successful learning wasn’t as concrete as I thought.  Understanding learning styles and theories is much more complex. Dr. Jeanne Ormrod explains the importance in knowing the nature of not only the learner in general but also the nature of specific learners and the fact that different people approach learning tasks in somewhat different ways (2009).  I stated in week one discussion that I was a learner that did well with audio-visual materials in an online environment.  That statement is true however what I found to be different is that my learning style changed based on different tasks.


Gilbert & Swanier stated that learning styles may fluctuate within the context of a course (2008). For example, in the past weeks from lesson to lesson I’ve had to change my learning style in order to complete each assignment or task successfully. Many of our assignments included using blogs and library research that required us to work one with another by collaborating and responding to postings.  At the end of this course, I feel like as an adult learner I must focus more on a strategy to learning rather than style because styles can change based on the context. 


Dr. Jeanne Ormrod explains the importance of teaching strategies rather than focusing on learning styles (2009).  Learning strategies are plans that do, make and proceed which conclude with a result.  I’ve learned the importance of three strategies that actually worked for me in the past weeks of study.  The strategies are elaboration, comprehensive monitoring and mnemonics all-in-one, like a printer, in order to be a success in an online environment (2009).  I’ve been able to take information and do something with it with software called “WebspirationPro” and analyze it to create a mind map.  I’ve been able to periodically stop during the learning process and assess what I was reading or learning from a variety of periodicals and articles found on database in our library.  I’ve been able to identify learning problems by writing, reading and responding to various blogs.  Overall, the accumulation of different learning strategies is the reason for successful learning of theories and instruction as an instructional designer.

References

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50-71.

Gilbert, J., & Swanier, C. (2008). Learning styles: How do they fluctuate? Institute for Learning Styles Journal [Vol. l]. Retrieved from http://www.auburn.edu/~witteje/ilsrj/Journal Volumes/Fall 2008 Volume 1 PDFs/Learning Styles How do They Fluctuate.pdf.

Ormrod, J. (2009)."Learning Styles and Strategies" Retrieved on May 31, 2012 from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher?type=Course&id=_552973_1&url=.