OMDE 610 - Reflective Journal
Week One - September 11th - 17th
Defining DE Theory, ELearning, and Pedagogy
The Cognitivist School of Learning is the school of learning that I am choosing to focus on from “Foundations of Educational Theory for Online Learning” because I agree that learning is an internal process. Learning is a process that starts from within, and I believe that learning starts before we are even born. For instance, a baby becomes familiar with the sound of its mother’s voice from inside of the womb, and when a baby is born, it remembers the sound of its mother’s voice, and responds to that sound. Likewise, when children enter school, and begin learning, they often learn through patterns and songs. Those patterns and songs often require them to remember them, and then to think about them as they are reciting them. Discussing the Cognitivist School of Learning in relation to the online learning environment, per the “Ally” article, learners should be told why the lessons being taken are an important part of the course, and how the lessons will benefit them (Ally, 2008). It is important to share the objectives of all lessons with the students because I believe that clarity in the objectives links to student motivation, which in turn, links to student success. I also believe that when one knows the logic behind something, that they will be more open to cooperating without resistance. Also, when a real-world connection can be established among the content that is being presented to students, and they are clear as to how they will use the information that is being given to them in their careers and/or personal lives, their motivation to learn will be increased.
I believe that the Cognitivist School of Learning is more influential and appropriate for online learning because it involves the use of multiple processes to learn. For instance, one of the implications for the Cognitivist School of Learning is that “information should be chunked to prevent overload during processing in working memory” (Ally, 2008, p. 24). Among the other implications listed in this school of learning, I believe that this particular implication is important because it involves the organization of information in a way so that the student doesn’t feel overwhelmed with what is being presented. For instance, let’s imagine that we weren’t provided with a syllabus to follow, and upon the start of class, we received a message from our instructors telling us that are free to begin the course in any order that we choose. I would think that we would become overwhelmed with trying to determine where to start because the information wouldn’t be presented to us in an orderly fashion, but just thrown at us for us to process it the best way that we know how. The use of the implications from the Cognitivist School of Learning helps us learn how to better organize the information so that it can be effectively processed and then applied appropriately.
Reference:
Ally, M. (2008). Foundations of educational theory for online learning. In T. Anderson (Ed.), The theory and practice of online learning (2nd Ed.). pp. 15 – 49. Athabasca University Press. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/99Z_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf
1st Photo: Kindergarteners learn how to read by first of all learning how to identify the letters, and the sounds of the letters. When learning how to spell, they may initially spell incorrectly, but the most important thing is that they are demonstrating their knowledge by using the correct letters in their sentences based on their appearance and the sound of the letters. They gain the understanding that these single letters and letter sounds form full words. As we progress further into the year and on into the first grade, then the focus is put on spelling the words correctly.
2nd Photo: Kindergarteners are learning about the life cycle, and how things grow. The lessons begin as the teacher presents the information to them, and then they move on into completing activities that require them to tell the teachers about what was learned in the lesson. Finally, they go out to apply what was learned (Planting pumpkin seeds). Just as there is order in learning in the f2f classroom, in the distance education classroom, there must be order in learning. The materials cannot be just given to the students with the expectation that they will learn without being properly guided. There is a “cycle,” a process in learning. The Cognitivist School of Learning explains the multiple processes that are involved in learning.
One of the questions asked during the discussions for week one was how an instructional designer or instructor might use the model shown in figure 4 to create a well-constructed online learning experience.
As an instructional designer, I would use the model in figure 4 to assist in the identification of the components that are available in my online environment. This model could be used by me as a guiding tool to ensure that I am including the tools that are needed to provide my students with the most effective online learning experience. When using this tool, if I find that something is missing and needs to be added to make the learning environment more effective, I can develop a way to incorporate that resource. The Anderson article does emphasize that the use of the online model to create the online learning experience requires decision-making on the part of the instructors and the designers (Anderson, 2008), and with that, types of resources that are provided to the online students are based on what the designers and the instructors choose to give to the students. I believe that they have to ask themselves what they want to get out of the online experience, as well as what they want their students to leave the course with.
The primary objective of any instructor should be to ensure that their students leave the course with knowledge that can be applied to a real-world setting. Additionally, the instructor should want to leave the course with more developed ideas as to how they could enhance their course with each passing semester.
Interaction plays a large role in how much students learn from the online course. Without interaction, it would be hard to build onto our current knowledge of the information that is presented to us. Sharing various perspectives, as well as our experiences, allow us to develop the knowledge that we already have. I believe that as we interact with others in discussing presented topics, our ability to effectively apply what we learn is being developed and/or enhanced.
Interaction in online learning is important because in the virtual community, interactions among each other are equivalent to classroom discussions in a face-to-face environment. Connections can only be built among the instructors and the students through the interaction that takes place in the virtual classroom. Further, the exchange of various perspectives given by people with a variety of experiences is how learning takes place. Sharing those various perspectives allows everyone to broaden their ways of thinking. Per the article, Michael Moore shared that the most common types of interactions that occur in distance education are: student-student; student-teacher, and student-content (Anderson, 2008). Each of these forms of interaction play a pertinent role in distance education because students must become involved with all three interactions in order to ensure that they are making the most of their learning experiences within the online environment. For instance, before a student can meaningfully contribute in discussion, they must become familiar with the content within the virtual classroom (student-content). As they become more familiar with the content, they then share the views and perspectives with the instructors and their fellow classmates (student-teacher and student-student). I believe that the success of an online learning environment is dependent upon the appropriate use of all three of the interactions. Without the interactions, very little learning occurs.
References:
Anderson, T. (2008). Toward a theory of online learning In T. Anderson (Ed.), The Theory and practice of online learning (2nd Ed.) pp. 45-74. Athabasca, CA: AthabascaUniversity Press. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/99Z_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf
