Fitting The Pieces Together

“Learning is commonly defined as a process that brings together cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences and experiences for acquiring, enhancing, or making changes in one's knowledge, skills, values, and world views (Illeris, 2004; Ormrod, 1995). Learning as a process focuses on what happens when the learning takes place. Explanations of what happens constitute learning theories. A learning theory is an attempt to describe how people and animals learn, thereby helping us understand the inherently complex process of learning. Learning theories have two chief values according to Hill (2002). The theories do not give us solutions, but they do direct our attention to those variables that are crucial in finding solutions.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_theory_(education) accessed on June 19, 2011).

Now that I have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories and learning styles, my view on learning has certainly changed for the better because I am more informed.

I have learned that the various learning theories and learning styles over the past week play an important role in my learning preference. I prefer the connectivism, but I find that I am not stuck with only one preference. There are many theories that play an important role in how I learn. Connectivism deals with all the theories in a single instant, even though it speaks of networks and being connected to various groups. The people within the different networks all have different learning styles so therefore, we are connected at some point to the whole of the learning process.

Technology plays a very important role. This online class that I am currently taking as a part of the Walden University curriculum, would not be possible without the use of technology. I can search information and not physically be in the building where the information is located. I can communicate with my professor over an online platform and receive the same information as if I was sitting in the classroom. The fact that I am communicating to finish this assignment I have been given is through the use of technology, without all of this would not be impossible but much more time consuming. Technology simplifies my process for learning.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_theory_(education) accessed on June 19, 2011.