Blog Week of February 20 – 26.
This week has been an exceptionally busy one. I learned a lot, I just hope the information made it to my long term memory storage. I enjoyed the chapter by M. Ally (2004). His information on memory was especially appreciated. I never really thought about the three types of memory; sensory store, short term memory and long term memory (Ally, M. 2004). Ally’s (2004) statement that “information should be chunked to prevent overload during processing in working memory” hit home for me. I think the information we are getting is “chunked”, but I do feel I am on information overload and I have no idea how much of it made it past the working memory stage.
I also watched the recording of the John Seely Brown webinar on “The New Culture of Learning”. They stated in the webinar the basic theme of his book is institutions need to be transformed. I liked his term “the edge”. The edge being the after school programs, etc that can help change the core (Caise, K. 2010). He also stated, ”the best way to learn something is to teach it”. One of the most interesting things discussed was the tools used to modify text. The story he told was about having students change the music on a movie. The music can actually change what you see, with music being the context and what you see being the content (Caise, K. 2010). I do know that when I watch a scary move that the music can have me on the edge of my seat before the actual scary part hits the screen. The music makes the anticipation just as nerve racking as the actual scary scene.
I have discovered that I am a Constructivist learner. I am an active learner not passive. But it is interesting that Behaviorist, Cognitivist and Constructionist all overlap (Ally, M. 2010).
Ally, M. (2004). Theory and practice of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Foundations of educational theory for online learning. Athabasca, AB,T953A3, Canada. Athabasca University.
Caise, K. (Event Creator). (2010, February 23). John seely brown on the new culture of learning {Webinar}. Retrieved from https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-02- 22.1654.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350
Hi Suzanne, I enjoyed your blog. I too enjoyed reading Ally (2004) about memory and I too think I'm on memory overload. I took a class too many years ago about films and it's interesting all the things that film makers do to change our mood and enhance the film. I think I'm a constructivist learner too. I think we all have to learn from all three theories but as we age I believe the constructivist theory applies as we add the knowledge we acquire to all of our existing knowledge and link it contextually and interally to what we know. Hope you have a nice day. Talk at you later.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you incorporated the reading into your daily life reflections! I agree with you. Most of us, particularly adult learners, benefit most from a constructivist learning philosophy. We need knowledge that is personal and that we can apply to our daily lives. Great post.
ReplyDeleteLooking back over the semester, you (and I) have learned a lot. We learned about virtual learning communities and how they have grown and changed life. VLCs make known more accessible to anyone that has an Internet access.
ReplyDeleteYou talked about how theories are applied to how we learn. Especially the knowledge that if we incorporate other senses, such as music, it affects our processing of information. I like the way that Tanya and you related our learning to constructivists and noted how we take our personal experiences to apply knowledge to our long-term memory.