Recap of Past Weeks

Several weeks ago when I started my graduate class in learning theories I stated in our weekly discussion the following, “I think that constructivism is the front-runner as the “best” theory”. (I was referring to the theory that was the best for me personally.) Although I feel that constructivism is a strong theory, and that Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is a very logical standpoint/theory that is inside of constructivism.

I now that I have learned more about each learning theory, I feel that connectivism describes my personal learning preferences the best. If you look at some of the outlining principals of connectivism it seems like a current and relatable theory for our current level of technology use. (It’s also known as “"a learning theory for the digital age,")

· For Example, the outline of connectivism lists: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism_(learning_theory)

· Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.

· Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.

· Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.

· Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.

· Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.

I’m a very technological driven person and I realized based on the connectivism theory that learning is always occurring, even when you are just surfing the Internet aimlessly you have the potential to learn something, or even develop/find a new node for your Personal Learning Network. The Internet is a vast resource and the ability to know how to find an answer is almost as important as the answer itself. During a broadcast on Rochester’s PBS radio station, WXXI on 4/14, I heard an interview with Andrew Phelps (Professor Chair, Interactive Games & Media@ RIT). Phelps stated that it’s getting to the point where children are not understanding why memorization of information like state capitals is important because the information is always available via the internet…and the internet is “always on”.

Lastly, I stated that I felt that blogs and other information on the web shouldn’t be trusted because you can’t tell personal opinion from fact (easily). Although I still partly believe this to be true, I now see how beneficial the Web can be to learning. It’s just up to the learner to do their homework to make sure the information is correct before utilizing it.

-Rob

Connectivism (Post #2)

I think that the key to learning is to understand that it never stops. The old adage says, "you learn something new every day", I think it’s now out of date. The new adage should be, "you learn something new every hour or even minute", or it could be, "you learn a new way every day".

My personal learning network has grown within the past few years with the addition of e-college, blogs, online libraries, and all of the mobile learning network options.

The biggest reminder for me of the change in learning from a face-2-face (f2f) class lecture style toward a multi plat formed approach happened a few years ago. I took two years off during my bachelor’s degree. When I started my break, almost nothing that was done at the school was done via an online learning environment. When I started back up, 30% or more, of my f2f class utilized the Learning Management System (LMS) that the school had.

Overall for me, although I’m skeptical about blogs and Wikipedia, I find the general content to be helpful for the start of research. Also, I really enjoy not having to drive to a library for books; just a few clicks way is a full online library. When it comes down to the final learning, I don’t think anything beats a college course (online or f2f). If I want to become an expert in learning theory, I could read about it on Wikipedia, find a few blogs or even call up a peer at work but that still wouldn’t work as well as a true college class designed to teach me learning theory!

I think that the core meaning of connectivism is my entire learning network, the thought that we learn though multiple ways and based strongly off of social interactions. Some of the tenants are pretty easy to see how they play into social interactions. For example Facebook, blogs, text messaging and so on. Other tenant maybe harder to see, like how television can be a social learning tool, yet when think how times a day you say, “I was watching TV the other day and I…” it shows how social TV can really be.

Lastly I found this story very connected to the future of learning:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124695289

Connectivism

Here is my Personal Learning Network Mind Map.
Click on the image to make it larger:










Thanks,
Rob

Daydreams lead to creativity

Hello,

I found this article after think about when I come up with good ideas, and how daydreaming isn't always a bad "thing".

http://mediationchannel.com/2008/08/31/daydreams-lead-to-creativity-productive-problem-solving-contrary-to-popular-belief/

Thanks,
Rob

Information Processing Theory

We utilize the concepts of information processing theory every day, for example if I were to give you my phone number I wouldn’t say my number is 5553450213 and just rattle it off with no breaks. I would say my number is 555-345-0213 this is an example of the chucking approach to the encoding process. “Chunking is breaking the information up into manageable chunks” http://hsc.csu.edu.au/pro_dev/teaching_online/how_we_learn/information.html

We utilize the same approach when trying to memorize account numbers and credit card numbers; it’s helpful to breakdown the information into manageable bit because it aids in the retrieval process (trying to recall the information at a later date).

Over the past week I have been digging into to different websites trying to narrow down the sites that explain information processing theory, in a plain English way. 

The first site that I found on information processing 

theory was: http://www.istheory.yorku.ca/informationprocessingtheory.htm, which is a York 

Univeristy 

website, for Theories used in IS Research.

Overall, It’s a simple site that has a direct overview of the theory listed in a sections titled, “Concise description of theory”. The second useful portion of the site is the “Diagram/schematic of theory” which shows a flow chart of the theory.

 Lastly, the site has a links to other websites which I found very helpful to my research this week.

 The second site I found on Information Processing Theory was: http://hsc.csu.edu.au/pro_dev/teaching_online/how_we_learn/information.html, which is a Charles Sturt University website.

Overall, it has a lot of the same content was the other site, but it’s a little more detailed.

It breaks down the theory and explains in detail different types of encoding and retrieval processes. The part of the site that really caught my eye was section titled “USING THE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH IN THE CLASSROOM”, which is a breakdown of different principals in the theory, and then a real 

world example on how it could be implemented/utilized in a classroom.

There are a lot of other sites out there with information on this theory; feel free to post comments with links to sites you find helpful!

 -Rob

Other Blog Sites on Instructional Design

As I stated in my first blog I'm new to the concept of blogging. So I'm going to jump right into my post.

I have been searching around looking for blogs that are fitting to my area of work, which would be training or instructional design for logistics. So overall, I didn't have to find anything special because my form of training is pretty universal.

As a starting point I visited ideas.blogs.com, which is a blog link site that provided a great deal of information oriented direct to instructional design. I found the site confusing not very aesthetically pleasing...to many words and to large of paragraphs. I didn't want to judge a book by its cover so I clicked around for a little and read the site. After clicking on two links that interested me and not having them work I left the site!

So my second attempt to find information lead me to http://en.wordpress.com/tag/instructional-design/
This was a much better starting point.

One of the blogs that I found on Wordpress that had very interesting information was:
http://elearningconcepts.wordpress.com

Overall I found the blog titled "The great yet underappreciated PowerPoint" which outlined how PowerPoint can actually be more then just the boring overused business presentation software title. The thought is that with a little bit of work in a e-learning software title you can change your boring PowerPoint that normally would be delivered in live setting and transform it into a e-learning presentation.

eLearningconcepts blog links over to the e-learning software company Articulate's blog site because they are very big with what "they" call "rapid e-learning", the idea of being able to design and implement e-learning in as simple and as fast as possible. This idea caught my attention because 90% of training I deliver are designed in PowerPoint, and I have done a conversion of some of my trainings over to e-learning via the software Camtasia Studio...it wasn't as self-paced as I would have liked it to be.

I signed up to receive a free e-book from Articulate's blog, but I haven't seen the confirmation email for the book, I'll post an update when I do!

If your looking for how you can create a powerful message without having to utilize bullet points in PowerPoint take a look at these two video on eLearningConcepts blog, Bullet Points vs No Bullet Points, the message of the blog will speak for itself!

-Rob

My First Post!

Hello, My name is Rob Phillips. I'm 26 and I live in the Rochester, NY area. I'm currently engaged; I don't have any kids, I do how ever have 6 cats, 2 dogs a 55 Gallon (African Cichlids) and 29 Gallon (Community Fish) Aquarium. For fun I play bass, and pretend to be a professional photographer. (Below are two of my favorite pictures I have taken.)



This is my first post on my blog. Blogging is something that I disagree because my under graduate degree is in Broadcast Communication and I believe that blogging is to oriented towards writing without verifying facts and sources. (I'm going to do my best to not write without knowing my facts and sources!)


Information I have researched in the past:
With technology growing it's not hard to believe that according to a Reuters.com news article, nearly half of the 1,979 people who responded to the survey said their primary source of news and information is the Internet. The technology movement coincides with the statistic but also adds a level of complexity to the topic “Technology is the greatest thing, and you can't put the genie back in the bottle so we as journalist need to learn how use that technology to help us do our jobs better. To tell stories, to gather facts, and to get our product out to customers; but at the same time this technology has totally blurred what is factual and what is not factual, for most people.” (Kevin Doran, Anchor/Reporter, Managing Editor WROC-TV/FOX Rochester) With bloggers it's hard to tell if your getting the facts, without knowing the topic and following up with other sources for yourself. Even the United State government is going up against questionable blogging with their own “trustworthy” blog site GOVGAB.GOV. “The blogosphere is full of interesting information...But how can you be sure the “facts” you’re getting are legitimate?” (www.pueblo.gsa.gov)

-Rob