Reflection

What did you find surprising or striking as you furthered your knowledge about how people learn?

The Learning Theories were a major source of eye opening information to process and digest. That people learn differently I have always known, but now I understand that I learn differently based upon the subject matter and material that is in focus, and when, the time of day, my attitude toward learning in general can fluctuate depending upon some of the external conditions surrounding me and that my internal state of focus is the #1 thing that drives me to whether I can succeed or not.

I did not realize, but sad but true, how much my focus can change during a given day. Especially on an empty stomach. I am so glad that this is an online class, because I have had previous experiences where I should have known better, actually I did, but I proceeded to try to communicate with a someone else on an empty stomach and this combined with  low blood sugar produced increasingly disastrous results. I should know better by now.

Since I am only myself and have never been a someone else, how other people learn is entirely their problem or situation unless, of course, they say something to me about their learning situation. I have more patience for other people than I do for myself. Because I expect nothing from no one, this eliminates disappointments, but I do expect a lot from myself. Self-motivation is everything to being successful.

How has this course deepened your understanding of your personal learning process?

The Learning Theories were boring at first when talking about the history and the discarded now obsolete theories that are not being presently used. Even now, the learned Ph D's and such do not agree upon what is "right" or correct and the present situation keeps on changing. Every 30 years or so one can look back and see all of the discard theories that are  lying in a trash heap, being scattered about and kicked around.

Each Individual has their own unique perspective on the world that surrounds them. Each and every Individual inhabits their own unique and solitary world and universe. I do not think it is possible to pander to each person's learning style(s) I am not sure that this is even possible or happening at the present moment in Instructional Design. Is it possible to do this? To create a unique customized program for each person who is taking an online eLearning course? I am not sure if it is or if it is not possible. If I knew the answer to this question this conversation would not be happening. I would be teaching or creating online Instructional Design material somewhere, somehow.

But there is absolutely more possibility now than ever to at least try to customize eLearning to an individual particular learning environment.

What have you learned regarding the connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation?

This is finally something to chew on. There is a lot going on regarding Instructional Design, Learning Theories and Learning Styles as we speak. There is so much going on with Cloud Computing. Tablets and iDevices that is simply dizzying to try to keep up with the Technological achievements an advances that are currently being undertaken and that are going on. The ability to receive instructional material remotely with a hand-held device will definitely be changing the way that Instructional Designers work and supply online coursework content. Technology may not be everything but it is a hell of a lot better than whatever is in second place.

Technology may allow for the individualization of eLearning, but it also may allow for the de-humanification of the distance eLearning paradigm. Knowledge does not exist within a one person, it must exist in more than one person or it is not transferrable. One can learn without the personal presence of another person, remote eLearning, but someone at some point has had to design, assemble, produce the instructional content and context.

How will your learning in this course help you as you further your career in the field of instructional design?

Yes, absolutely yes. I especially like the Adult Learning section where it describes  how an adult eLearner may have different requirements and demands as far as participating in their own education design. This really resonated with me. It explains the frustration that I have had up until this recent point, that what we are studying is so far irrelevant, unusable or not pertinent to actually having a career in the near future.

So reading about the Adult Learner opened up a point of view that I was or had been unable to express.
I may not have as much time as others to be working and definitely not as much time to pay back the cost of this program, my choice to be here, so I am more focused on the practical production side of the process and not the curriculum design part of the process. Just like ZPD, I hope to be working with others who are much more experienced than I so I can learn while doing what I can to contribute. I have more than 30,000 hours in a professional working environment producing technical documents, so I think this course on Instructional Design is well worth the suffering through reading all of the irrelevant ideas to get to something more useful. Or so one would hope.

(my pain and suffering through reading comment is a reference to my severe life long eye difficulty)

Randy