wesleyp's blog

Chapter 2 & 3 of “Neural Networks & The Human Mind” were both very interesting. They focused on defining intelligence, the neocortex and the connections and functions that occur inside the brain that are critical to understanding how the human brain works. Ian did a great job summarizing the chapters and prompting discussion questions, and my replies are below.

I think to be an effective learning designer, one needs to know at least a little bit about intelligence and the general functions of the brain. I think Aaron makes a great point when he talks about utilizing teaching techniques that work in patterns, the same way the human brain does. In my personal experiences, repetition through the use of note cards or listening to my material on my ipod has helped me when studying large amounts of information because it creates study patterns.

This week I completed my third, and so far best, Prezi on John Keller. Even though each Prezi is a huge clean slate to drop content anywhere, I feel like I am now able to create more organized presentations. I wish I could be bold and say that Prezi was my favorite new tool so far, but XMind and Jing are both amazing too!

I really enjoyed researching John Keller and his ARCS model; not only did I learn a lot, but this is the second theorist that I’ve researched and I find it amazing that I agree with a lot of the findings from both. To describe the foundation of the ARCS model in one word, it would be motivation. It is about using teaching techniques t keep the students motivated and engaged by using relevant information so they can learn effectively.

The article “Smart People or Smart Contexts” echos some of the previous arguments that we’ve covered earlier in the semester; explaining that learning limitations exist when traditional teaching methods separate the student from the material with the only connection between the two  coming from the teacher attempting to “transfer knowledge into the head of the learner.” Students learn more effectively when they are put in control or in hands on situations.

My favorite quote from the article is “Talent development is a process that involves doing, not acquiring.”  If a student is learning how to drive, you can only teach them so much without letting them get behind the wheel and learn for themselves. We all know that no matter how much time is spent in the classroom learning how to drive, it is the hands on, driving with the instructor experience that proves to be the most beneficial. When I’m behind the wheel and my mother starts be a back-seat driver, she always lets me know how many years she’s been driving; not how much time she has spent in the classroom or how much time she has spent reading about driving.

The article also states that talent and the ability to learn is not held within an individual, but in the interaction and environment that is being utilized. I find this interesting because it is stating that the ability to learn by anyone is only as strong as the learning environment that has been created for the students. For the most part, I can agree with this argument. Throughout college, I have seen students take advantage of tutoring sessions and group studying techniques that enriched their ability to comprehend materials from the most difficult courses. This allowed them to get the A’s and B’s while other students failed. They weren’t just naturally “smarter”, they just sought out the learning environments that helped them beyond what the instructor provided.

I just finished using XMIND for the first time, and that software will most definitely come in handy for future web design projects! There are a hundred occasions I could have used that for in the past few years, but I’m glad I was finally introduced to it.

I just finished a rough, rough concept map for a paper I’ll be writing in LRND6010. My topic of choice is Digital Learning > Online Training for Franchisees. I am hoping to be able to tie my passion for screen printing, and business in general, with digital learning in a business environment. I hope to some day own a screen printing company that will franchise out across the US, and what better time than now to start planning for it! My goal is to tailor a handful of my masters projects in with my business idea, so I can knock out my degree and business plan without doing the same work twice! I think that being able train future franchisees in digital environments will both train them more effectively and create more resources for them to learn; along with potentially saving thousands of dollars in expenses for the company.

I’m anxious to see how this first research project goes so I can revise my ideas until they are good enough for a thesis or final project.

Since I didn’t get a chance to write a reflection DURING week 4, I am dedicating this post to reflecting on a project I spent a nice chuck of my time working on in week 4.

So far this semester, I’ve spent plenty of time reading, summarizing, analyzing and interacting with my classmates and instructors. This was the first week that I dug in and did some actual research. I spend some time early on dreading the research, mostly due to bad experiences in undergrad, but I was pleasantly surprised both with what I learned and how my first screen cast turned out.

I didn’t realize how “boring” or as Terry nicely put it, “serious,” my screen cast was until after I turned it in (: I was a little bummed, but optimistic that I can be a little more “lively” in future screen casts. Some of my classmates did an excellent job being animated and even lightening up the information they were presenting with a joke.

In the end, I’m glad I spent some time researching Malcolm Knowles, and I am excited and optimistic about future screen casting projects.

Knowles_Final

Please follow the link below to view Breanna & I’s very first Prezi creation! It is a summary of the “Knowing Knowledge” article by George Siemens, followed by a couple questions to head up the discussion.

Knowing Knowledge – George Siemens

After years of enjoying short weeks and holidays as an undergrad, I’ve come to realize that in the real world it actually just means you have fewer days to do the same amount of work (:

I really enjoyed the Elluminate sessions that I got to take part in this past week, and the peer to peer discussions were great. It felt like it was a traditional class full of students interacting and not so much like a completely digital environment where most of the students have not met face to face. As hard as it is to believe, I think I am even more excited about the next synchronous meeting that will be taking place in Second Life!

I poked around in Second Life this past summer socially, but I am excited to see it from an educational point of view.

1) After reading and reflecting on your own ideas concerning e-learning, how would you define your own personal philosophical orientation, and how does it affect your e-learning? Is it a “purist” acceptance of one of the philosophies outlined in the reading or is it a conglomeration of several?

I define my own philosophical orientation on e-learning to be a conglomeration; a mix and match if you will. To evolve, adapt and learn, I find it virtually impossible to choose one learning philosophy. One of the most important things to know about technology is that is it always changing and improving; and we need to do the same. If there are complimentary philosophies for learning, we should be open to using them. While I do agree that it is important to find something that works and to continue using it, but one should always be on the lookout for alternatives that can be added to your “bag of tricks.”

I would say I would work best in an environment that combines progressive, humanist and analytical.

I prefer the progressive philosophy because it involves experimentation and problem solving. This keeps students engaged and feeling  involved in their own learning; not just being taught with the masses like the liberal/perennial approach. Next, I like the humanist approach, as it focuses on interaction and cooperation with others for self growth and self evaluation. Finally – I find certain parts of the analytical philosophy useful as it focuses on lifelong education although I do disagree with the separation of society and education.

2) What latest trends in e-learning or social networking do you think are more damaging to e-learning in the long run, if any?

I think integrating social networking in digital learning environments is very powerful, but the “damaging” part could be drawing the line between social and educational / professional use. We’ve all heard how it is important it is to monitor what kind of images we post of ourselves on Facebook, and to clean up the language of our status updates, but I think there is much more to be conscious of . If we are connecting with our classmates in these digital networks like Facebook and Twitter for class – we are also opening up our personal lives at the same time.  All of a sudden our classmates, who are potentially strangers, have access to our friends, contact information, interests, and even our locations via status updates. 99% of the time this information could be completely harmless, but it might present the question: “Should we have separate accounts on social networks for our “social” and “educational” lives.

Granted, most sites have “lists” and “limited profiles” that we can take advantage of, but not everyone knows how to take advantage of that. Some users are just now joining these networks to meet class requirements. The last thing I want to do is offend a classmate or professional contact by joining a group or making a comment that may offend them. I find myself being very careful trying to separate the two uses, but I am finding it difficult with most of my social networking experience being for social purposes.

Describe an online learning module that was most beneficial to me.

As a web designer and ecommerce developer, I have learned a lot from using tutorials and training modules for open source content management systems like Magento and Joomla. Their communities offer a blend of videos, forums, PDFs, screen shots and even flash tutorials to help you learn and develop your own web site. They have support to contact if you can’t find an answer through any of the other mediums, and the professional relationships that can be built through interacting with other users are very valuable.

Describe an online learning module that was NOT beneficial to me.

When I was employed as a sales rep for Dell, we had monthly training sessions; and they had their own digital platform that was so painful to sit through. The powerpoint slides didn’t match the audio, voting polls never added up to the right number of participants, and it was too easy for the listeners to deactivate listen-only and interrupt the presenter. The worst part was – to take official attendance, we had to call in to a 1-800 number and listen to the entire meeting through our personal cell phones.

What makes a good online learning experience?

If the learning experience is synchronous and in presentation format, it should be to the point, and the images compliment the slides. If there is a lot of information to be processed; the presenter should accompany the presentation with a PDF with the in-depth information because with an over-load of text, one can easily be distracted. If the purpose is educational; I think learning modules should be interactive and not too linear. The user should be able to jump around between topics, as I feel it helps them stay engaged. Also – a search feature is so important for quickly accessing information.

-Wesley Parsell