Understanding My Techno Learning Environment

            Understanding how people learn is a complex issue.  There are so many strategies to learning.  How does an Instructional Designer make sure he/she is tapping into each scholars learning style?  I truly believe in order for adult learners to fully comprehend new material they have to have autonomy and relatedness to the topic.  The psychological needs for motivation (Ormrod, 2011) have to be the main approach that educators use to keep learners engaged.  Technology is another tool that I find interesting and most useful to the educational arena today.  Learners must utilize technology resources while knowledge is taking place.

Learners utilizing Connectivism for instruction.

            Technology has such a fundamental aspect of learning.  A Transformational Leader or Instructional Designer who utilizes technology in their learning environment often uses most if not all of the learning styles.  They are often conjoined with multipleintelligences to get the dynamics of the topic encoded into the learners’ brain as a stored long-term memory.  “People can demonstrate different levels of proficiency across the eight intelligences in each cognitive area” (Armstrong, 2000, p. 14) and this is prevalent with online learning.  For example, students may have to create a blog assignment that has a maximum word length of 600 and reflect on the assignment.  To accomplish this scholars are going to have to listen to audio, observe a visual of the topic, or read materials to understand the concept (Linguistic), demonstrate an example of the learned assignment (Spatial), monitor the length of the blog (logical-math), and reflect on the assignment as well as students feedback from discussion boards and online comments (Interpersonal).  So most of the Multiple Intelligences out of eight that includes Linguistic, Logical-Math, Spatial, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Naturalist, and Interpersonal (pp. 6-7) were utilized along with different learning styles in one assignment. 

            This is why Connectivist learners have such an advantage on learning.  They become skilled at environments where they utilize technology resources and most of the learning styles.  The world is steadily changing into the world of technology.  There are so many different types of organizations that rely on technology for everyday business from the world of Academia to Corporate America.  Learners are going to have to keep up with technology in order to stay competitive.  As an Instructional Designer, this course will insure that I have learned the new technology and gain knowledge of all of the technical resources that are available for constructing programs.  It will also allow me to Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate instructional classes to make sure employees are getting the information they need in order to succeed in their environment.

References

Armstrong, T. (2009). Multiple intelligences in the classroom. (3rd ed.). Alexandria: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/waldenu/docDetail.action?docID=10326283

Ormrod , J. (Performer) (2011). Motivation in learning [Web]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5693692&Survey=1&47=9547890&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1