Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Johnson Module 6 Blog

Learning in a Digital World

My current area of instructional interest is adult education.  Of all the popular learning theories, the adult learning theory is a sole and separate one that doesn’t seem to get talked or written about as much as some of the others.  “Andragogy is a set of assumptions about how adults learn” (Fidishun, n.d.).  Knowles is credited with developing the theory of andragogy that explains how adults learn and how to best prepare to teach them.  Knowles posited that adults and children learned differently, and adult learning was distinguished by the following:

“1. Self-concept: As a person matures his self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being

2. Experience: As a person matures he accumulates a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning.

3. Readiness to learn: As a person matures his readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social roles.

4. Orientation to learning: As a person matures his time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem-centeredness.

5. Motivation to learn: As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal” (Smith, 2002).

Boggs said that adult education should enhance the life of the adult learner, and “adult educational experiences should enhance personal growth and make it easier for adults to adapt to internal and external changes until the end of life” (Cooper, 2009). Based on the adult theory of learning as espoused by Knowles, my philosophy of learning for adult students is different from a philosophy of learning I might have for students K-12.  I believe instruction for adult students must be relevant; they must be able to relate to it and see where it fits in with their life and fulfills a need in their life or professions that they can readily see.  Adult students bring a lifetime of knowledge and experience to their instruction, and I believe as an instructor I need to tap into that resource and include their personal experiences in the lessons I teach.  Adult students should be actively involved in their learning; my lessons should be based on their goals and objectives from the class.  For this reason, I survey incoming students to find out what their goals and objectives from the class are, then modify my lessons to meet as many of those goals and objectives as possible.  Adult students have different sensitivities than younger students may have, so my instruction must take those sensitivities into consideration.  I must allow my adult students to express themselves throughout the learning process and I must create a safe, comfortable environment where they do not feel threatened or embarrassed for doing so.

Adults are autonomous, but Fidishun (n.d.) said “In spite of their need for autonomy, previous schooling has made them dependent learners. It is the job of the adult educator to move adult students away from their old habits and into new patterns of learning where they become self-directed, taking responsibility for their own learning and the direction it takes.”  Technology can help facilitate this as Fidishun (n.d.) said because it provides adult students the ability to "skip sections a student already understands, and multiple forms of presentation of material which can assist people with various learning styles.”  As a computer applications instructor in adult education, I have the unique opportunity to introduce adult learners to computer technology, the Internet, computer applications and programs that will benefit them throughout their academic and professional lives and careers, as well as aid them in becoming true autonomous learners that is one of the tenets of the adult learning theory espoused by Knowles.

References

Cooper, S. (2009). Theories of learning in educational psychology: Malcolm Knowles and the theory of andragogy. Retrieved from

Fidishun, D. (n.d.). Andragogy and technology: Integrating adult learning theory as we teach with technology. Retrieved from http://frank.mtsu.edu/~itconf/proceed00/fidishun.htm

Smith, M. K. (2002). Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and andragogy: The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-knowl.htm


Thursday, May 10, 2012

Johnson Module 5 Blog


New Technologies

I was the assistant to the principal at a public high school in one of San Diego’s school districts when the district started using Outlook calendar to schedule meetings.  My principal used a calendar which she carried around with her penciling in appointments as she made them.  As her assistant, I got calls from the superintendent and other officials from central office, as well as parents and community members wanting to schedule meetings with her.  If she wasn’t in her office, I had to try to decipher her writing in her calendar to see if she was available.  If she wasn’t on campus, I had to go through a lot of extra steps to try and facilitate these meetings.  If this principal had used the calendaring convenience of Outlook, other district employees would have been able to view her availability and it would have made scheduling meetings with multiple parties so much simpler.  They would have sent her a calendar invitation which she could choose to accept or reject.  She could also have given me calendar rights so I could accept and/or view her calendar and act as her intermediary in these cases that came up a lot.  This principal remained adamant about not using Outlook calendar for the entire three years I worked with her.  Based on Keller’s ARC, I think this principal was not motivated to change from her comfortable archaic method of calendaring her appointments.  She saw no need to change, and did not perceive my suggestions as important or relevant.  I also think she lacked confidence in her technological skills and was hesitant to give up her pencil and paper calendar because of that. 

I was not an adult education computer applications instructor at the time, or I may have been more patient and used different tactics to try and persuade her.  I do believe she was one of the principals who was forced by her superiors in the district office to begin using Outlook calendar after I no longer worked there.  If I was working there then, I would have worked with her to show her how simple the program was to use, and let her see firsthand the relevancy of it.  I think if she had used it with me as support, she would have developed confidence in how efficiently the system worked.  She would have been able to see how much easier it made her work day, and with all her other responsibilities, delegating keeping her calendar to her assistant would have given her more time for other priorities. 

The way I presented Outlook calendar to her obviously did not capture her attention nor “stimulate lasting curiosity” (Driscoll, 2005, p. 339), but I could have done that by offering an after-school class to teach her and the other administrators how to use the program, then let them practice scheduling meetings on each other’s calendars and mine over a period of a few days or weeks.  This would have given them an opportunity to see the relevance of the program, and also given them opportunities to develop confidence using it.  I loved Outlook calendar when I was trying to keep track of appointments as a school district employee, so I feel confident had I known then what I know now and approached the subject differently, the result would have been not only the principal but her assistants and administrative staff all coming on board with using it to complete satisfaction!

Reference

Driscoll, M.P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction. Pearson: Boston, MA

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Johnson Module 4 Blog




What a discovery! Almost every important aspect of my life is connected and interconnected using technology and the Internet/World Wide Web!  I keep in touch with friends, family and acquaintances mainly via the online social network on Facebook.  I read and post on walls; I contribute to and read newsfeeds and discussions threads from the President and First Lady, to Walden University’s Facebook page, MSNBC’s page, and so forth.  Not only is social media a social interaction mechanism, but it is an educational environment as well. 

The way I learn has changed largely in part because my means of networking has changed.  The Internet has allowed me to connect with people I would not otherwise meet or interact so intimately with.  I can watch news interactively and engage in discussions and debates with others who comment on the same news or article I read or watched. 

These are all forms of learning, and being able to network with people from around the world using the latest technology makes it all possible at a heightened degree over how it was possible ten or twenty years ago. 

The digital tools that enhance my learning are applications I can download onto my smartphone and carry with me.  I can interact on many of the same websites I utilize for educational and social purposes on my computer from my smart phone.  If anyone emails me, sends me a chat message, or an inbox message on Facebook, I have apps on my phone that notify me and make those emails and messages instantly available to me. 

When I have questions there are numerous ways I can go about finding the answer using technology.  I constantly type questions in the search field of search engines like Google and even before I tap the enter key, a plethora of answers to my question begin to populate the field.  This has been my most common way of learning new knowledge.  If I hear of something, or see something I only partly understand if at all, I form it into a question and “ask Google.”  Online search engines allow me to research, compare and contrast a limitless knowledge base.  I can compare the opinions of others, and find solutions to almost any question or problem I may encounter.  I believe I know much more in this present age than I knew even ten years ago just because of the ever increasing knowledge base that is available to me via technology that I can access and use via the world wide web.