Funderstanding is a website thats Mission is stated as "Our mission is to inspire in people the love of learning. We achieve this by helping educators design better programs and products that engage learners fully, where the learning process is fun, meaningful, deep, and long lasting"
A good post in regards to brain based learning can be found at http://www.funderstanding.com/content/brain-based-learning
Another listing that I found to be of interest regarding problem-solving methods was found at http://www.businessballs.com/problemsolving.htm this site has many resources regarding techniques and methods of decision making and problem solving
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Week Two Blog post
Learning is the pathway to doing. If an instructor teaches something and nothing changes, no learning took place. Learning is something you can get better at. "Knowledge is constructed, not transferred. “Skills and knowledge do not exist outside of context. Everything is connected, in mental, physical, or social space," according to Peter Senge, “Schools That Learn”
In the book How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, is the best summary of what it's all about.
"This volume synthesizes the scientific basis of learning. The scientific achievements include a fuller understanding of: (1) memory and the structure of knowledge; (2) problem solving and reasoning; (3) the early foundations of learning; (4) regulatory processes that govern learning, including metacognition; and (5) how symbolic thinking emerges from the culture and community of the learner."
e-Learning was born during the dot-com frenzy. Like many start-up ideas, the first descriptions of eLearning were oversimplified and wildly optimistic. People defined e-Learning as putting all learning on computers, as if it had to be all or nothing. Employees could learn anywhere they could plug into the net, whenever they wanted. Learners would save time by studying only what they needed and at an optimal pace. The only problem was that this sort of e-Learning rarely worked. Learning is social. In the classroom, lots of learning takes place informally, between students. Workers learn more at the water cooler or coffee room than during classes. Most people drop out of 100% computer-led instructional events. These same people learn well when computer-mediated lessons are combined with virtual classes, study groups, team exercises, and help desks. Computers can make aspects of learning more convenient but they don't eliminate the need for human intervention. Today we realize that learning isn't pouring content into heads. Rather, the real deal is an interaction between what's incoming and what's already there. Learning is rewiring the brain.
Marc Prensky's Digital Game-Based Learning has a great list of theories of how people learn:
- Learning happens when one is engaged in hard and challenging activities.
- Learning comes from observing people we respect.
- Learning comes from doing.
- Learning is imitation, which is unique to man and a few animals.
- Learning is a developmental process.
- You can't learn unless you fail.
- Learning is primarily a social activity.
- You need multiple senses involved.
- We learn automatically, from the company we keep, says another.
- People learn in "chunks."
Cognitive learning is demonstrated by knowledge recall and the intellectual skills: comprehending information, organizing ideas, analyzing and synthesizing data, applying knowledge, choosing among alternatives in problem-solving, and evaluating ideas or actions.
Affective learning is demonstrated by behaviors indicating attitudes of awareness, interest, attention, concern, and responsibility, ability to listen and respond in interactions with others, and ability to demonstrate those attitudinal characteristics or values which are appropriate to the test situation and the field of study.
Instructional Designers, Teachers and Education Specialists must know and understand how individuals learn in order to provide learning environments that provide optimal learning.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Designing Instruction for Distance Education
This Blog site is set up for professional Instructional Designers. The resources found on this Blog will be valuable to anyone in the firls of Instructional Design. My personal experience at this time does not allow for me to fully understand alot of the posted blogs meanings but I reviewed a number of the resources within the pages of the blog and found that much can be learned as well as permit for the posting of challenges one may face in the development of an instructional program. It includes numerous categories one would consider when setting out to prepare a program including;
- Educational Technology
- Elearning Delivery systems
- Faculty Development
- Instructional Design and Technology
- Learning Objectives
- Online Teaching
Additionally it had numerous links and a blog roll to other resources. As a working Instructional Designer and to a lesser extent student of instructional designer this blog will come in extremely handy,
This blog is more like a resource blog for locating instructional design blogs. It contains many lists to other resources in instructional design. In comparison to the previous blog I found this to be more like a quick search engine rather then a social media blog for instructional designers. It was not as resourceful as the previous blog and was more suited to people wanting to just have a say or publish something they wrote. I was not as impressed with it though it did have a few good references.
This site has numerous resources one can utlilize. It appears to be more organized and directed into the whole E learning environment.The information it contains is very helpful for acquiring knowledge about e-learning. It is extremely user friendly fast and well laid out to help locate information based on your need. It is a blog and a search engine all wrapped into one. I will likely use this site now and well into the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)