Week 5 - Relfection

This week, as I developed the mind map, I had to think about how it is my brain gets information. The best digital tools for me come from the Internet these days. However, I do read books and I love to watch the discovery channel. Yet again, when I have a question, I go online and do searches to find the answers. Additionally, I use classroom discussion boards, Google searches, online Wikis, etc. I also get a lot of information from social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

The learning that I do these days is in the category of self directed adult learning. Malcolm Shepherd Knowles’s (1913 - 1997) career was focused on self directed learning. Self directed learning is a process where individuals take on the responsibility for their own learning by diagnosing their personal learning needs, setting goals, identifying resources, implementing strategies and evaluating the outcomes (Conlan. Grabowski,& Smith, 2003). Knowles described his study of adult learning as andragogy. Andragogy is also the philosophy that recognizes that adult learners want to have a hand in, and be responsible for, their own education and their own learning (Timeline, n.d.).

My mind map was in itself a self directed learning process, though it was actually a class assignment. However, since my graduate courses are online, self direction and motivation are a huge part of taking courses online. Therefore, I have to direct myself, motivate myself, and make myself read, study, and do the course work. There are a lot of things that drive me to do this, but mostly it is the desire to obtain new knowledge and the drive to succeed (Timeline, n.d.).

The mind map exercise has forced me to examine how it is I gather information. What is really interesting is what happens once I get it. Though I use a process that can be described by the learning theory connectivism, I still have to process the information. Connectivism assumes that knowledge exists in the world rather than in the head of an individual. Therefore, for me to learn, I must go out and get that knowledge. This week’s mind map not only shows all of my readers how I gather knowledge, but I can also use it when I need to make sure I have checked all of my sources for knowledge.

While connectivism does support the idea that knowledge exists outside the human mind, I prefer to think that we all have knowledge that is not necessarily gathered from the external world. For example, we know that if we punch ourselves in the arm, it will hurt. In that example, we gathered that knowledge ourselves. It was not the external world that gave us that knowledge, it was our fist hitting our arm. This is just one example of how the theory of connectivism is not a catch all theory. However, connectivism does do a good job of showing us as learners and students an effective way of seeing how others may learn and therefore help us to develope instructional programs for others in the future.

Thanks

References

Conlan, J., Grabowski, S., & Smith, K.. (2003). Adult Learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved (2011, May 31), from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Adult_Learning

Timeline of the history of learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/Walden/EDUC/6115/01/mm/tec_timeline.html