fitting the pieces together

week 7 assignment for Walden class
This week we were asked to revisit our responses to the week 1 discussion question regarding how we learn best based on the learning theories we had explored up to that point (Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Constructionism).
Then, consider the following questions:

Now that you have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories and learning styles, how has your view on how you learn changed?
What have you learned about the various learning theories and learning styles over the past weeks that can further explain your own personal learning preferences?
What role does technology play in your learning (i.e., as a way to search for information, to record information, to create, etc.)?


My week one response was that I learned by all of the above.
In elementary school I was definitely a behaviorist. I learned everything by practice and repetition.
As I grew and matured my learning style moved along the learning continuum from behaviorist to cognitivist. Taking information that was learned in English class and applying it to writing a paper in History, or standardizing program code in the work environment so that problem solving is easier are examples of applying cognitive learning.
Once I was out in the work place I applied the Constructivist learning theory. Using what I already knew and collaborating with others to create new solutions.

As for how has my view of how I learn changed from week 1 to week 7 - I now have to add Connectivism to how I learn. Connectivism makes use of current technology and networking to explain the effect technology has had on how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn.
I used technology to create training programs for the user community at my previous employer. I also used elearning classes to do my own self directed training. I am fairly comfortable with navigating the Web using Google search, creating blogs and subscribing to blog feeds.
This class has gotten me off to a good start with understanding how I learn so that I can build on the knowledge to find out how others learn and utilize that information when creating my own Instructional Design courses in the future.