What are your beliefs about how people learn best? What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology?
I certainly believe that people learn best when the content is meaningful to their lives, is enjoyable, and they are engaged in the learning process. It is apparent that no two children learn the same way. Therefore, we as educators must determine the best practices for all of our students, planning for the array of learning styles we see in our classrooms. It is not enough to gauge our teaching by one learning style or even one learning theory. We must embrace the variety of our students and adapt our teaching to suit their needs. So much research exists that could benefit educators and how we teach. Society places a lot of pressure on the education system, and rightly so. The students in our country are not prepared to compete with others globally. Siemens (2008) believes that before education can meet the needs of society, it must first rethink and reconsider its view of learning and knowledge, and its approach to teaching.
Learning theories are important in any educational setting, whether it be the conventional classroom or the online classroom. Embracing the different learning theories will help an educator determine how to teach his/her students and what to teach them with. A variety of technolgy should be used in the online classroom, once again in, support of reaching all of the students.
Reference:
Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Paper105/Siemens.pdf
Responded to:
Jane Dewitt - http://janedewitt.blogspot.com/
Carol Lee - http://carollee387.blogspot.com/
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Holly
ReplyDeleteI also agree that in order for learning to be relevant to the students there must be some type of real world application. If students do not see the importance of learning something, they will not put forth the effort to master the skill. I teach 8th grade Algebra and many students have a difficult time learning the skills and mastering the steps to complete problems. They will constantly challenge the learning because they do not see real world application of the skills presented. I attempt to explain that many of the skills being presented will be used later in life, but for the here and now learner this is an eternity away. I do try to teach to all the learning styles by presenting information in a multitude of formats, in hopes of sparking the interest of my students.
Jane
Holly,
ReplyDeleteI agree that people learn best when the content in classroom experiences are relevant to their daily lives. I believe when people are able to make connections through their prior knowledge they are able to gain a deeper understanding of content and instruction in the classroom. When this happens people are active participants in the learning process and it is easier to keep them engaged throughout instruction. They also take ownership of their learning when they are able to make authentic learning connections between classroom and outside of the classroom experiences.