Sharing Links

Here are some links that I like from news/article/blog feeds. Enjoy!

http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/onlinelearning/blogger.html

http://news.google.com/news? - Online Learning

http://www.moreover.com/rss

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/inter-l/

http://teachable.org/blog

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/online-learning/

http://online-study.info/blog

http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/onlinelearning/blogger.html

http://www.stephenp.net/~stephenp/blog/

http://usaonlinelab.blogspot.com

http://www.bloglines.com/blog/JosephHart

http://igge.info

http://blog.loaz.com/timwang/index.php

http://www.fullcirc.com/weblog/onfacblog.htm

BOGGSE Learning Chronicle

Master New Media - Online Learning

http://cgagne.blogspot.com

http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/

http://www.alistapart.com/

http://webdesign.about.com/

http://www.adambosworth.net/

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001014/categories/dailySourceCode/

http://artcompetitionslist.blogspot.com/

http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues

http://www.bloglines.com/toplinks

http://del.icio.us/

http://www.bloglines.com/

http://codebetter.com/blogs/

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/

http://diggnation.typepad.com/diggnation/

http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news

http://www.digitaltechnews.com/news/

http://www.eyebeam.org/reblog/

http://www.geeknewscentral.com/podcasts/

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/

http://www.zeldman.com/

http://www.macrumors.com/

http://www.mezzoblue.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.html?partner=rssnyt

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html?partner=rssnyt

http://www.paulgraham.com/

http://www.pcmag.com/

http://www.randsinrepose.com/

http://go.reuters.com/

http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/

http://www.simplebits.com/

http://slashdot.org/

http://www.techdirt.com/

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/digest.htm

http://www.webdeveloper.com/

http://web-graphics.com/

http://www.wired.com/

Week 4 and 5

These weeks covered the Learning Development Cycle and Ecology Design. I'm finding this course more and more interesting and I'm becoming more self-aware of how I learn. I'm realizing that this is the key to become a successful instructor in the future. I can tell that I have a lot to learn yet, and there's many connections I haven't made.

I think you have to know how to get in the user's head, but also how to design an ecology and experience from what the user's needs are. During the class meeting when we were listing the different aspects of ecology design, it was a little overwhelming to see all the things involved in an effective learning environment. I mean, you have to connect with many areas such as psychology, science, teaching, and so on. It's definitely a daunting task to say the least. The good news is that everyone is transitioning to this together, so as long as teachers can apply what they can and contribute to improving the learning environment, everyone can grow together.

Maybe it would be a good thing to have an online, central site for teachers from all types of studies to network with one another. This could help improve the way they teach, design learning environments and help them have greater success with their students. Maybe a site like this already exists? I do think we are all naturally going to transition into new learning styles, but it will take in-depth understanding of learning from teachers to make a flexible, dynamic environment to take the place of the traditional, systematic, structured school systems.

Week 3 - Learning Theories

This week really gave me a better understanding of how we learn as individuals - and that everyone learns differently. From the 5 theories we studied (Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, Situated, and Social Learning), you can realize that there is no best way, but rather being able to combine these different learning theories can allow you to reach more students with greater success. Everyone posted unique examples of the different learning theories, and I feel I can take this information with me and it utilize it for diverse projects or learning material. I also learned that there may be situations where a specific learning method may be appropriate, and other situations that may be better accomodated by combining some theories together. Each example posed problems too, however, there will likely be drawbacks to each learning theory when applied to a learning environment. Such as too much freedom, group project conflictions, and too much structure, all that may cause barriers in learning for some. In doing further research of the Situated/Social learning theories, I found that there are ways to learn in an exciting environment/experience that can be more fun and interesting for a lot of people. It's really cool to me that we can take advantage of these types of theories to teach people, even when they do not even realize it is happening. I think I've said the word "dynamic" over and over again in all my responses, but I think it's an important word when it comes to learning and teaching. Being able to create an environment based off of many different aspects (students/target audience, what is being taught, methods and styles, etc.) and molding it to fulfill the needs of everyone can prove more effective than the traditional methods. Even choosing to at least incorporate multiple theories will most likely increase the success of the material learned by students allowing them to "experience" learning rather than just knowing it.

Week 2

This past week has made me realize that I actually learn well (by well, I mean was able to take information I learned with me, not just memorize) through group interaction. By working in a group on a specified topic, each person focuses in and relays their thoughts and views. This allows all the others to see a wide variety of points. It's good to learn something and have your personal thoughts about it, but then even better to have multiple person's thoughts that add depth to the topic. I've always enjoyed reading as long as it interests me. So I think my reading of everyone else's interpretation is interesting for me to see, and helps me to understand what other people think of certain things.

I was just talking with my best friend, Amy - and remembered that she had been enrolled in several online courses and asked her what she thought about her experience with learning online. She told me that she loved taking the classes, but then paused for a second, and said - "Well, except for Math". She preferred a teacher in a classroom setting for learning math, and was unable to learn well without the verbal and physical aid aspects. She explained that most of the courses required online participation in chat rooms, where everyone posts responses to topics and each other. Similar to this course. Overall, I think that this type of learning is favorable to people who have the interest to learn.

The main topic this week was about the design process and how it greatly affects the user. Having a positive, meaningful experience with a designed product can have a big impact on the user. Perfecting this method, would mean that you would have to know how to learn from the user, and be able to interpret it and apply it to the design process. Every person's post about their current method of design differed, but in general they all followed relatively similar methods. Which is basically, the planning/brainstorming phase, design/prototype phase, production, and finally follow up or finalization phase. I always knew that the user or target audience is who you are designing for, but hadn't realized the importance of literally involving the user in the planning and development phase. This opened up an opportunity for me to greatly improve upon my current methods and practices for designing media.

Week 1 - Summary

This past week has been full of information about learning and teaching. I learned a lot about learning styles, multiple intelligences, theories and research and how it can be applied to education. Also, using a blog as a form of learning is new to me. I like the concept of blogs, and I think there is a lot of learning potential through these creative, interactive programs. I like the self-direction and freedom you're allowed to find the answers and learn for yourself. I think it's a very different learning style from what I have experienced before in school or college. By posting reponses in the class blog and reading the other's responses, it allows me to see many different sides of the topic, such as a "walking in their shoes" type of experience. I already know that people that maintain a one-track mind are the worst to deal with. Expanding the views I already have with the other's that I hadn't thought about before not only teaches me about the topic, but really helps me gain experience with it.

Week 1

What have I learned about my learning styles this week? There are a few things that I felt I already knew about myself, and then there were lots of new details about my particular learning styles that I hadn't realized before. After going through several surveys and multiple intelligence tests and analyses, I found some interesting discrepencies or conflictions between some of the results. This is actually an important point about how we learn as humans - that there is no accurate way to pinpoint any individual's learning style as it is a dynamic process that can change over time and greatly depends on each individual's surroundings or environment.

Here are my results and response to each of the tests/surveys that I took:

The Kaleidoscope Inventory

AUDITORY (4/12)
TACTUAL (3/12)
KINESTHETIC (12/12)
VISUAL (10/12)

Perceptual & Organizational Styles

SEQUENTIAL (8/12)
GLOBAL (7/12)
ABSTRACT (4/12)
CONCRETE (10/12)
CONCRETE-SEQUENTIAL (18/24)
The highest numbers that you received for Abstract/Concrete and Global/Sequential have been combined. There are four possible combinations. An equal score may result in more than one preference.

Personality Styles

SENSING-JUDGING (9/12)
INTUITIVE-THINKING (7/12)
INTUITIVE-FEELING (5/12)
SENSING-PERCEIVING (10/12)

My Response: I have found that I am not the greatest communicator by speaking, so I believe it is accurate that of all the sensory styles, auditory is low. I already knew that I work best under organization, so I think these results can be assumed accurate as far as me being stronger in organization skills/learning. I also scored lower in Tactual learning styles - I wasn't aware of this specific learning style, which seems to be about emotions playing the role in learning. I already considered myself an emotional being, but I may not be when it comes to learning. It's interesting that I am not very strong in this type of learning style. My highest score was in Kinesthetic Learning which relates to the outdoors, physical movement, and challenges. I think this is true, especially since I have always enjoyed playing sports and being active. My next strongest skill was Visual Learning which involves keen observation skills and critical thinking. I believe this to be also be accurate for my learning styles.

When it comes to the Perceptual and Organizational Styles, I am strongest in Concrete-Sequential, which has the traits of struggling with creativity, but learning in a sequential, logical order. I also scored higher in Global Learning skills which is described as likes to see the big picture as I did in Sensing/Perceiving, which enjoy action and excitement, along with competitiveness and challenges. My lowest skill was Abstract Learning. Abstract learners prefer concepts and symbols to help them learn rather than the literal and obvious tactics. Overall, I believe these results to be accurate when it comes to describing my learning styles.

As for the Personality styles, they to seem to fit the styles or methods I most easily follow, and also the ones that I am not very strong in utilizing for learning. My stronger area was Sensing, Perceiving and Judging where my lesser skills for learning were Intuitive Thinking and Feeling.

V.A.R.K.

VISUAL: 2
AURAL: 2
READ/WRITE: 6
KINESTHETIC: 6

"Multimodal - 50-70% of the population falls into this style of learning. Multimodals choose to match their mode to those around them. Where opposite of Multimodal types would be those people who try to not match (or annoy) those around them. An example would be asking for a written response when you know the other person prefers their usual approach of oral communication."

My Response: I learned from this test that I fall into the Read/Write & Kinesthetic category as strong skills and that I am less skilled with Visual & Aural learning. The test mentions another detail where people who choose fewer than 17 options are more decisive than others that choose over 17 in the Multimodal group. I chose 16 options, but I think this shows me that I may not be a highly decisive person, but at least somewhat decisive.

The most interesting thing I noticed about this test was that it contradicts The Kaleidoscope Inventory test. The V.A.R.K. portrays me as not being a visual learner where The Kaleidoscope Inventory test shows me as a strong visual learner.

Multiple Intelligences Checklist

Interpersonal Intelligence (7/12)
Intrapersonal Intelligence (6/12)
Logical - Mathematical Intelligence (12/12)
Linguistic Intelligence (8/12)
Bodily - Kinaesthetic Intelligence (10/12)
Spatial Intelligence (10/12)
Musical Intelligence (3/12)
Naturalist Intelligence (6/12)

My Response: After reviewing the results from the Multiple Intelligences Checklist, I quickly saw the similarities with The Kaleidoscope Inventory. Also in this test, my stronger skills were with Logical/Mathematic, Bodily/Kinesthetic, and Spatial Intelligences. My weaker skills were in Intrapersonal, Musical, and Naturalist Intelligences. I think that these results in combination with The Kaleidoscope Inventory results, can enable you to see a more clear picture of your personal learning styles.

I have learned that the more you learn about your personal learning styles, the more you will be able to learn more effeciently and effectively and therefore, teach others to learn better too. I also learned that there are many different types of learning that can be used to "rate" your strength levels in one or the other learning styles, and even equal strength or weakness between some styles. These tests cannot be totally accurate since each individual's learning styles are dynamic can change over time or in different environments, but it can however, be used as tool to help increase the knowledge of your own learning styles, so that you may improve your learning methods.