Fitting the Pieces Together

Given all that we have learned and discussed over the past seven weeks, my view on how I learn has changed in a few ways.   The first way is that is I don’t approach learning with a “one size fits all” approach.  Now, I think that type of subject and the learning resources available will dictate the approach.  For example, if wanted help with anger management, I would view this in terms of behavioral learning that would engage interpersonal intelligence.  Hence, this is learning where some in-person coaching and feedback would be critical to success.   As another example, if I wanted to learn technical stock market analysis, I would view this as cognitive challenge that would rely having on logical-mathematical intelligence.  Hence, I would start out with a good book on the topic.  Once I had an understanding of the basics, then I would take a more connectivist approach.  Meaning that, I would look for people with expertise in this area to help answer questions.  Thus, I would look for blogs, discussion forums and other online media that have interactive discussion on the topic.

The other way that my view on learning has changed is that I see a clear need for employing metacognitive strategies during the learning process.  In other words, planning out a learning approach and then stopping every so often and ask myself the question “am I making progress?”.

Technology plays an important role in how I learn in two ways.  First, the internet is very efficient way to locate information.   For this course, utilizing the Walden Library has been helpful in locating relevant books and articles.  In addition, I rely heavily on search engines for locating information.  The other role that technology plays is helping to connect with other people.   The online discussions for this class have been very helpful in exploring topics in more depth and presenting new perspectives I had not previously considered.  The blogs have also been helpful is seeing other people’s thinking as well.

Overall, my basic learning preferences are still the same.   However, this course has shown me that sometimes I may have to step out of my comfort zone and try a different approach.  Now, I have toolkit of different approaches to use.  Which one I use will be determined by the topic at hand and the resources I have available to me.