8 Weeks Reflection

Reflection

As I look back over the last seven weeks of this course on Learning Theories and Instruction, I can’t belive how much I have learned and how much I have grown both personally and professionally. In the last few weeks, I have had other trainers and designers from my job comment on the changes that they have seen in me and in my work. Personally, I have been able to network with other professionals that are also in the field of instructional design, and their experiences and feedback have given me so many ideas and insights. I have been able to use many of the learning theories to understand my own learning quest, and being able to understand how I learn has really provided me a stronger foundation. Professionally, which has been the main motivation for gaining this degree, I have grown leaps and bounds in learning about how adults learn and how that influences my designing of instruction.

I was very surprised to learn that there are so many theories for how adults learn. There is very solid research on what happens in the adult brain when presented with stimulus, and how the brain physically reacts. These various theories present the internal factors of adult learning that can’t be tracked with a machine or computer. Each theory presents very interesting and totally valid points of view on how adults learn, and how courses and instruction should be structured to be the most effective. It is surprising that these theories can be so different and all still be focused on how adults learn. It makes it very difficult as an instructional designer to wade through these theories to find one that you can take and apply to yourself and your design. After doing the research on various theories I have come to my own hybrid of cognitivism and constructivism. But I have also learned to keep an open mind and look at these theories for what they are and what they can contribute to my work.

Through this course, learning about how adults learn, I have been able to identify so many of these in myself. I was able to take what I learned and apply it directly to my own learning as I am completing this program. As a designer, I am in a unique perspective, as right now I am experiencing as the learner, and able to look through a learners “eyes”. This greatly enhances what I have been learning from this course because I can relate now to both sides – the designer and the learner.  I have learned that motivation is the keystone to adult learning as well. You can have all of the learning theories, and learning styles in the world accounted for, but in the learner is not motivated to learn, none of those things matter. Seeing how important motivation is to effective learning has been one of the major lessons for me that I am really  taking forward and looking at in all of my designs. As a designer I must enhance and continue to build the motivation throughout the course to keep the learner engaged. This is something that I didn’t realize until taking this course, and I believe has forever changed my perspective on how I design and market learning courses.

This course has been just amazing! I can’t belive that 8 weeks went by so quickly! I have truly enjoyed the discussion topics, and discussions with the other students, and I was also introduced to Blogging (which I have never done before). What an amazing tool for networking in the instructional design community! The information and personal growth that I will take away from this course is priceless.