This class was a great deal of new information or new ways to utilize knowledge I already had. Seeing the various styles and differences in everyone’s PPT also reinforced the fact I need to step up my game. This week’s presentations were definitely better than last classes; I have a lot of room for improvement. Looking at the spiritual aspect of learning as more philosophical made it more understandable. Spiritual is just another one of those words like journal that rings warning bells in my head. While there were a lot of good concepts and theories presented this week this would be my top 10 list of what I felt to be most important to me as an adult learner and as an educator.
1. Number 1 on my list is Bloom’s revised taxonomy. The difference between the 2 versions to me is the difference between pedagogy & andragogy, the revised version is more of a “grown up” model in that it invokes a greater level of critical thinking within the objectives &seems to be more geared toward adult learners. The original taxonomy is easier to use, because it does not require as much effort to create an objective. The revised taxonomy really makes you step back and look at the objective more critically and devise the objective towards an adult audience so that the learner will be more engaged.
2. Self-efficacy is an important concept as an adult learner and as an educator. Believing in yourself is important in the learning process because it encourages you to strive more and be actively involved in your learning. It also means that even when I make mistakes, like with my PPT, I can accept it and learn from it and try to do better next time, because there will be a next time since I am not going to give up over one bad grade. Self-efficacy is important as an educator, because I should know my material and believe in my abilities to instruct others effectively. It also means that when someone does not understand or just can’t get it, I don’t give up on them but try a different approach.
3. Emotional intelligence was a totally new concept for me, but one I found interesting and it made a lot of sense. Emotional maturity and the intelligence of being able to control your emotions and respond appropriately to others are vital in day to day activities. As a learner I need to be able to control my emotions in order to not let it affect my work or get in the way of being open minded and learning new things. As an educator it is important to maintain a higher level of professionalism if I expect others to understand what I am teaching, and not be distracted from the learning objective by my out of control emotions or inappropriate comments or actions.
4. Multiple intelligences was also a new concept for me, yet again it made perfect sense. Knowing we all have different learning styles & different personality traits that drive our ability to learn this fit into the bigger picture of learning theory. My learning styles and personality traits play a large role in my way of learning and preferences, and although I have certain intelligences that are stronger than others I can see how all of them apply to me. Understanding that for myself, I have to understand that others may not have the same areas of strengths or the level of diversity that I do, & I need to take into account different needs for different people.
5. Self-directed learning is a big item on my list, mostly because I could use some improvement in this area. Self-direction is important as an adult learner because I need to seek my own answers and improve my understanding of subjects through additional research. Self-directed learning is important to understand as an educator working with adult learners because I need to be able to encourage self-direction by engaging my students with a desire to learn thereby causing them to seek additional information on their own.
6. Understanding the difference between active and passive learning will help me be a better instructor. Instead of giving lectures I can adjust the class to make it more involved and engage my students with games, activities, puzzles, or group activities and make it a competition to see who gets the most answers right. Being an active learner goes along with self-directed learning, because self-direction makes you active in your own education. My natural laziness prefers passive learning because then I don’t have to do anything and don’t run the risk of being called on in class. However, I am also not going to retain as much information, or be able to comprehend why it’s important and how to use it.
7. Although critical thinking was not my favorite class in college, I understand more about how important it is in education. Critical thinking means using my brain to come up with the right questions to ask to get the most out of the learning situation. It also means challenging those I instruct to ask good questions and be able to have solid discussions either for or against an idea or concept. Critical thinking is more about intelligent discourse and less about arguing, by being able to see all sides of a subject and defend your position with more than just personal bias or feelings.
8. Motivation is a constant topic for adult learning theory, since you have to be motivated to be self-directed and an active learner; it is kind of the foundation for adult learners. It’s also important to have motivation as an educator, since if you don’t have a passion for what you are teaching it is hard to instill a passion for learning. Motivation is not one of my strong points so I could use more work on it. Right now I am motivated for reasons besides learning and self-improvement so I could rearrange some priorities in that department.
9. Lifelong learning is what we are here for. Understanding the concept better enables me to apply the principles I am learning to my own education. Since learning is cyclical I can see how working with others and in groups can benefit me by learning from others experiences & personal knowledge. This also encourages me to share my own knowledge, skills, and experiences with others to benefit their learning experience.
10. My last item I wanted to discuss was the role of technology in learning. Obviously since this is an online class we are using some of what is available. The military uses a lot of various media and types of technology based training like simulators and CBT training so I am used to seeing it. After reading the textbook and discussing it in class I can see that not all technology is appropriate or feasible for all types of learning. Being able to use technology doesn’t mean you always should, it’s all a matter of applying the best method available and not just using it because you can.
