Evaluating and Identifying Online Resources

Problem Solving Skills in education and Life
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/think/methods.htm

This is a wonderful site and resource for educators and anyone interested in thinking skills. The site provides information and strategies for: creative and critical thinking skills, multiple intelligence, problem solving design and science and teaching problem-solving skills in education. The site has many useful links which provide teaching activities, definitions, tools for visual thinking, multiple intelligences and learning styles, design method and some really cool problem based learning and word problems.

Buzzle.com Intelligent Life on the Web
Information Processing Theory
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/information-processing-theory.html

Very fun site containing information for those interested in cognitive development dealing with learning abilities and how information is received processed and then retrieved in the human brain. This site covers various topics in psychology such as problem solving, personality test, personal development, behavior disorders, compulsive lying, difficult people, mental illness, and psychic abilities.

What I've Learned

The end of the first week of a course I am taking at Walden University relating to learning theories and instruction prompted me to reflect on a discussion about how I learn best based on the overview of the explored learning theories here’s what I came up with:

“The learning style which best describes me would be cognitivisim, the theory which attempts to answer how and why people learn by attributing the process to cognitive activity or in other words explains what is occurring in the mind during learning. The cognitive theory focuses on the conceptualization of students’ learning processes, not so much with what learners do but with what they know and how they come to acquire it (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). I’m more of a “show me” type person and I need constant feedback.
I believe it is very important to understand your own learning process which is a primary reason I enroll in on-line courses. On-line courses are aligned with my learning preferences and that allows me to be successful.
In addition, at the beginning of every school year I administer some form of learning style survey to my students. As a teacher, and the one responsible for their learning, I find that understanding how my students learn best allows me to align my curriculum and perceived student outcomes with ease.
One theory I believe is best aligned with my views on learning would be constructivism, or learning by creating meaning from experience (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). The ability to identify real world events and by constructing our own understanding of the world we live in while allowing for the opportunity to become critical thinkers.”

Now that I have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories and learning styles, I can say that I have discovered in-depth why I prefer on-line learning and how it allows me to be a successful learner.

The on-line learning environment allows me to have control over what I am learning therefore I am a motivated learner. Various strategies used in on-line learning are engaging and produce interpretive transactions, in other words I am to happy to be collaborate and share with others which are paramount to successful learning. The use of scaffolding, problem solving activities and simulations provide excellent opportunities to access new information appraise it critically and apply it as I convert “raw knowledge into professional wisdom” (Dixon, 2000, p.41).

I have learned that the various learning theories and learning styles overlap and that my own personal learning preferences have not changed over time. I am a constructivist, hands-on all the way...real world relevancy is important to me and part of the reason I continue my education as an adult learner I am goal oriented and practicality is important. This will not change!

The reasons why I continue my education as an adult learner are goal oriented, practical.

The role technology plays in my learning is as multifaceted as there are available programs. I use technology to search for information (google, Dogpile, Yahoo, Bing, Wikipedia, webcrawler, Lycos, etc...), record information (Excel, Word, audacity, Youtube, video cam, Voki, etc...), and to create information (Myspace, Facebook, Webbuilder, moonfruit.com, blogs, etc…).

Reflection

How has my network changed the way I learn?
First of all I have always had a desire to learn new technologies. When I was a young adult the first jobs I ever had evolved around technology or the use of manipulatives. I was always eager and ready to learn what button to push and impatiently wait for the results if I was fortunate I remembered which buttons yielded desirable results. I spent many hours on the Internet and working with different software bundles on my personal computer in addition I took advantage of professional developments in order to advance my career and better myself, earning professional certificates in Micro Soft Word, Excel, and Access (which no one ever uses). After many years of experimental fun and technological advances I can honestly say that networking has seriously changed the way I learn. Examples of that would be the on-line courses I’ve taken from several universities and of course www.google.com, who hasn’t learned a thing or two from the Internet?

My favorite digital tools are:
Google Tools Knowledge
Google Earth Knowledge
Wiki Knowledge
Blogging Knowledge
Spreadsheets Skills
Database Skills
Social Bookmarking Knowledge
Social Networking Knowledge
Web Resources in content area
Web Searching skills
Web2.0 Tools
Interactive White Board skills (SmartBoard and Promethean)
Presentation Tools
Video and Podcasting
RSS feeds
Mobile and Handheld Computing
Virtual Worlds
Collaboration & Communication Tools

When I have questions I resort to social networks, learning networks including blogs and of course help pages and of course Google as a last resort to gain knowledge.
Based on the principal tenets of connectivism

 Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
 Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
 Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
 Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
 Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
 Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
 Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
 Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

Because as an individual I am the starting point of connectivism, my personal knowledge feeds back into the network and by forming a connection with others since we “derive our competence from forming connections” (Siemens,2004)

Karen Stephenson states:
“Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. Since we cannot experience everything, other people’s experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge. ‘I store my knowledge in my friends’ is an axiom for collecting knowledge through collecting people (undated).”

So I suppose the answer is YES, my personal learning networks support the central tenets of connectivism

Connectivism: Mind Mapping

Connectivism-Learning Theory involving the application of technology with an emphasis on social learning, cultural and social dimensions.