Analyzing Scope Creep

I have previously stated in an earlier blog that I lack experience when it comes to working in a group or a team other than here at Walden University. My job consists of me doing basic office administrative work. I work at a company called ABASM and the founder is my boss. Here my boss is a private investigator that works for various lawyers and business and it is really interesting. I do not have any projects to do or any deadlines to reach here. Just simple office work. Prior to working here, I did the same thing but for finance company and still I have never done any projects for that company.

With this assignment, I will just talk about a personal project, cookout which I had done with my family. I am normally the one who plans all the family events. Nothing major, it’s something that I could plan in a day. However, with this particular project there was a stumbling block or 2. Normally this cookout is for family and friends but it slowly changed into a street wide party. This really took me by surprise. As I was taking up money from family members to get materials, some people from the community came up to me and asked if they could pay. I explained to them that this is just a simple little party that I put together for my family and a few of our friends. To my surprise, some of my brothers and sisters came up to me, giving me money that they collected from some of the people in the community.

This really blew my mind because I have never planned for anything that big and more importantly, for people other than family. With family you can just get food and other ingredients and materials that’s needed to get things going. Sometimes changes must occur due to a changed vision, a changed in the needs of the customer, even sudden change in budget (Lynch & Roecker, 2007).  To my surprise, now that this has become a community wide event, I had to take my hand at decorating and looking professional to say the least. Portny et al. (2008) defined “scope creep” as “the natural tendency of the client, as well as project team members, to try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses. Now I’m online trying to find out ways to throw an awesome party. I know that I am no good at this and now I’m wishing that I would have gotten a team together to help with this random project. But I managed to get everything that was needed for a successful community party. The decorations were not all that good. However, I had no complaints from anyone other than myself.

Reference:                                                                                           

Lynch, M. M., & Roecker, J. (2007). Project managing e-learning: A handbook for successful design, delivery, and management. London: Routledge. Copyright by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communication

Effective Communication

Effective communication between leaders and other coworkers is a characteristic of highly regarded and very successful companies (Durbin, 2007). Good leadership is needed to help move an organization in the future. When leading a group of people or a team, it is important to know your employees and know what it takes to be a great communicator. With that said, I will give my interpretation on the same message delivered in three different modalities.

Email

If a person decides to send an email, they should try to use proper email language and be straight to the point. With this email, I feel that Jane used a very great tone when communicating with Mark. She explained what it was that she needed and also why she needed. A sense of urgency is an emotional response that can range from fear of loss to unbridled enthusiasm, and one way or another you’ve got to create it at your close (Clark, 2006). Depending on her relationship with Mark, I think that he might find it hard to understand how urgent it is. With that said, an email cannot replace an individual person. If I needed something very important, I would opt out of sending an email. But I will make a phone call just to make sure the person on the other end see how urgent and important that the situation is.

Voicemail

Voicemail can take on a new level of urgency. With a voicemail, the person on the receiving end can really get a feel of the importance of the message. And yet the words you use to demonstrate that value and present that offer will determine to what degree people take action (Clark, 2006). With that said, I think that Jane’s message sound very sincere and authoritative. However, I feel that she should have included the deadline to when she needed his part of the report. What if the deadline is later today or sometime tomorrow and Mark wasn’t aware of it? I think that Mark might be out all day and will not be able to check the email until sometime tonight or in the morning.

Face-to-Face

In the face-to-face scenario Jane, appears to be very calm and confident as to what it is that she needed and wanted from Mark. Her body language showed that she was very concerned and worried about Mark’s schedule and if he would have the time to complete his portion of the project. So by going to him face-to-face, I think that she will be able to get what she needs to get done. This will allow for great communication and feedback for any information that she needs to get the project. At this point, she has the opportunity let Mark know that she will contact him if she needs further information through a phone call or either an email. In my opinion, I think that this is the most effective way to communicate with Mark or anyone.

Implications

When it comes to communication, the things that are said can have a different meaning depending on the and how it is delivered. Clear, simple, memorable, often repeated, consistent communication from multiple sources, modeled by executive behavior, helps enormously (Kotter, 1996). Since email has become a part of the virtual world of communication, many people communicate through email just like they would if they were in chat rooms or texting. When sending email, it is important to remember that it is very easy for someone to assume something different. Leaving messages on a phone for someone to return a call can open the door to someone telling you that they did not get the message. You will not have proof of that so it makes their word against yours. So I think that being more verbal or talking to the person face to face in some cases is best.

References

Clark, B. (2006). 50 trigger words and phrases for powerful multimedia content. Retrieved from

http://www.copyblogger.com/trigger-words/.

Dubrin, A. J. (2007). Leadership: Research Findings, Practices, and Skills (5th ed.), Chapter 12,

Communication and Conflict Resolution Skills” (pp. 355–370) Boston: Houghton

Mifflin Company.

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Art of effective communication. [Multimedia file].

Retrieved from  http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6145/03/mm/aoc/index.html.

Learning from a Project

When it comes to me reflecting on a project for work, I have none to talk about. My job consists of me doing basic office administrative work. I work at a company called ABASM and the founder is my boss. Here my boss is a private investigator that works for various lawyers and business and it is really interesting. I do not have any projects to do or any deadlines to reach here. Just simple office work. VERY simple work. Prior to working here, I did the same thing but for finance company and still I have never done any projects for that company. The only times that I have had experience with projects is during my enrollment at here Walden University.

I have been in countless group projects and some have gone really well and some, not so much. My Group designed an online training course called PowerTrain that was designed to help students manage difficult behaviors. The purpose of this model is to help students learn how to manage difficult behaviors while in the online setting. Everyone knows how group projects can be. While this project seem to be an easy task, there were member of the group that wanting to make things harder than what it was supposed to be.

What contributed to the project’s success or failure?

After all that they put me through, the project was still a success. We all received an “A” for the project. Now, this project was very lengthy and time consuming and nothing that I did was enough. I was really thankful that I had an instructor that understood how I was feeling and had the final say. Although the group was saying that I was not doing the assignment correctly, when I submitted it to the teacher she loved my portion and told me to continue what I was doing. We eventually did a group chat, sorted through our differences, and gave out instructions and how they wanted them done, we were able to get on one accord and get the work done. After all the going back and forth, it turned out great!

Which parts of the PM process, if included, would have made the project more successful? Why?

There was not a part for the PM with this project. When we worked on this project, there was not a project manager. Everyone got together and did their parts as assigned. We all just did our parts, posted and the group leader compiled edited and posted. Once we got everything together, everything was great and we all received passing grades. It took a lot of sweat and work but we came out successful.

References:

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

Reflection

What do you think the perceptions of distance learning will be in the future (in 5–10 years; 10–20 years)?

Distance learning has become a great way for learning. Distance learning is defined as institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems used to correct learners, resources, and instructors (Simonson, Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015). Students are allowed to work from home while earning their degree at the same time. This also allows the student to earn their degree in the convenience way rather than being in the classroom. Siemens perception of the future of distance learning delivers two very important aspects of distance; what distance learning is fueled by and what will impact distance-learning in the future (Laureate Education, n.d).

Siemens states, “Growing acceptance of distance education is fueled by; the increase of online communication, practical experience with new tools, growing comfort with online discourse, and the ability to communicate with diverse and global groups”  (Laureate Education, n.d). With technology being as innovative as it is, I think that the perceptions of distance learning in the future are really bright. With that said, distance learning will change the scope on traditional education because the traditional face-to-face classroom will only be used to deliver content when needed. In 5-10 years, the perception of distance learning will grow tremendously and about 10 -20, things will end up being on a steady pace while growing. Distance learning is going to be something that everyone is going to be doing eventually.

How can you as an instructional designer be a proponent for improving societal perceptions of distance learning?

 According to Simonson et al., (2015), distance learning is defined as; “institutional-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors. Now that I have a deeper understanding of learning, I have learned that there are many theories to learning that can describe the way adult learners learn and what strategies are needed to make them learn. Since technology has become more innovative, the way that we learn has become more integrated into the classroom. As the use of technology becomes more readily accepted, and as individuals become more familiar with the various tools available to bridge geo­graphical distances, societal perceptions of distance learning will inevitably change (Laureate Education, n.d.). With that said, it is up to the teacher to create a plan of action that would be suited for each student.

How will you be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education?

In order for me to be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education, I will need to make sure that I am delivering learning approaches that can enhance the learning environment. By doing this, it is important to make the learning environment one that is comfortable, effective and full of communication. The online educational environment is increasingly being used by adults and should be designed based on the needs of adult learners (Cercone, 2008). By incorporating 2.0 tools into a class room, this will ensure an instructor that their class will be fun and filled with many features. Although communication and group networking software is far from perfect, it has advanced to the point that it is possible for teams doing all sorts of work to function virtually purpose (Colquitt, Lepine, & Wesson, 2011).  With the right tools to get your classroom running, you cannot fail at making your online environment functional.

References

Cercone, K. (2008). Characteristics of Adult Learners with Implications for Online Learning

Design. AACE Journal, 16(2), 137–159. Retrieved from

http://www.editlib.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Reader.ViewAbstract&paper_id=24286.

Colquitt, J. A., Lepine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2011). Organizational behavior: Improving

performance and commitment in the workplace (2nd ed.). New York, NY : McGraw-Hill.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance:

Foundations of distance education (6th ed.) Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Laureate Education (n.d.). The future of distance education [Video file]. Retrieved

from https://class.waldenu.edu

Converting to a Distance Learning Format

Converting to a Distance Learning Format

The trainer in this scenario has identified a problem with the face-to-face communication and wants to find a way to bring something new and effective way to communicate. He has come up with the idea to create a blended/hybrid course. I think that this is a great idea and a great way to integrate a new technology and at the same time, enhance the learning experience for everyone. Blended and or hybrid learning environments pertains to a combination of facet-to-face and online learning. By definition, the online portion of the content delivery comprises 30-79% of the course, with the remainder taking place in the traditional classroom setting (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015).

The blended format is guided by constructivist philosophy and principles which put the focus on the learner, in contrast to the typical teacher-centered approach taken in tradition classroom settings (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, 2009). When reading the scenario, there are many applicable theories that could be used to create a sound foundation. But the one theory that comes to mind is Holmberg’s Theory of Interaction and communication because it can create an interactive environment that is rich and can engage the learning experience. Holmberg noted that his theory had explanatory value in relating teaching effectiveness to the impact of feelings of belonging and cooperation as well as to the actual exchange of questions, answers, and arguments in meditated communication (Simonson et.al, 2015). With that said, there should be a model in place to help guide the trainer in the process for successful learning.

Since planning is a crucial part in this task, the ADDIE Model will serve as the best instructional design model for this process. Here is an idea of how these components will fit with the ADDIE Model.

Mind Map

In order for the trainer to employ innovative and creative strategies, he or she must remember that while they are learning and gaining information they are also being active in participating as well. “The addition of technology as part of the learning process means that the learner actively communicates with the instructional setting” (Simonson et al, 2015).

Communication in distant learning format can definitely be enhanced for better learning in certain areas. The students will be able to access any discussion material at any time at their convenience. The use of a discussion forum, blogs and wikis will provide students with different platforms to express opinions, teach and learn from one another, and collaborate (Hartsell & Yuen, 2006).  With all the technology used, the students will be able to use multimedia to communicate and reflect on the topics given by the instructor. With this said, the facilitator needs to make sure that they as well as the teacher are a part of the asynchronous and synchronous discussion to challenge and show support to the students.

References

Hartsell, T., & Yuen, S. C.-y. (2006). Video streaming in online learning. AACE Journal, 14(1),

31–43.

Ormrod, J. E., Schunk, D. H., Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (custom ed.).

Laureate Education, Inc. Boston, MA: Pearson, Inc.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a

distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

The Impact of Open Source

The Impact of Open Source

The free Open Course sit that I found to be interesting and very informative is MITx – MIT’s new online learning initiative http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm. I like the way the course outlined everything that a teacher or student will need to know in order run a successful online course. However, that site states that “you cannot receive credit, a degree, or a certificate upon completion of OCW materials” (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015). OCW does not have registration or enrollment options, and we do not provide interaction or direct contact with MIT faculty, staff, or students (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015). Not being able to receive credit, a degree, or certificate for the online course is fine in my book.

I feel that this course owes me nothing. I think that will all the important and helpful information offered in this course, this will allow me gain the knowledge and apply it to creating and designing my own course. When it comes to the recommendations listed in chapter 5 of the text book, I think that the course follows most of the guidelines. According to the text, organizational guidelines it states that the course should have three-credit course has 3 units, 12 modules, and 48 topics (Simonson, Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015). I think that the page covers that completely.

The page is full of plenty topics, units and modules. This makes the course easy to follow, providing very using information. However, when it comes to assessments guidelines, I think that the course falls short on that recommendation. Assessments are defined as the determination and measurements of learning topics (Simonson, Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015). The course provides extensive measurements and learning topics that could be helpful to students as well as instructor. Ultimately, assessment is used for grading topics (Simonson, Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015).

However, this course does not allow assessment for grading. This course is strictly designed strictly for instruction only. No assessments, only helpful information for everyone that visited the page. Content guidelines suggests that an online course should offer videos, visual presentations with accompanying audio, and other graphical representations of important to the well-designed course topics (Simonson, Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015). The course proved many audio presentations that allowed you to listen and watch instead of doing a lot of reading. This is great will an online course.

By allowing visual, audio, and graphical presentations, this can help with the flow of an online course making it interesting and more appealing to students. This course had no problem making it happen. Lastly, I think that Instructional/teaching guidelines are very important to an online course. Many distance education students are employed full time, it is important to offer instruction in a way that complements their other responsibilities topics (Simonson, Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015). This a very true statement because there are times when I as well as other students, find it difficult to manage day to day life and going to school online. With the MIT Open Courseware, I think that this can be a great course simply because there is only learning content.

OCW provides free MIT educational content you can use to enhance or refresh your knowledge or teach others (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015). Although there were not many course activities, I still feel that the class maximized learning for students. The course offered many learning modules that a student could find very useful for online learning.

References

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2015). Get Started with OCW. Retrieved from

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a

distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Selecting Distance Learning Technologies

Example 1: Collaborative Training Environment

When looking over the examples, the example that I choose was Example 1. Distance learning is becoming one of the best ways for learning. Today, there are a lot of people that are choosing to pursue their education online. This is for the convenience and that it is very cost effective.  Distance learning is defined as institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems used to correct learners, resources, and instructors (Simonson, Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015). With this said, the distance learning technologies that I choose for Example 1 is Moodle and CouseSites.

Moodle

I really do believe that these would provide the best learning experience for their students. First I will explain why Moodle would be one of the best choices for the students as well as the teacher. Moddle Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is a free open-source learning management system or e-Learning platform that serves educators and learners across the globe (Allen, 2015). Moodle offers the following benefits for teachers and students:

• The ability to manage and track a variety of e-learning resources including audio, video, PDFs and more
• Integration with other systems including Open Badges, Active Directory, Google Drive & YouTube
• Calendar to track events and submission deadlines
• Produce discussion forums in a variety of formats
• Create Quizzes & Surveys
• A variety of assignment types including uploading files and online submissions
• Interactive tools for student led learning – Wiki activities, peer reviewed workshops
• Secure chat rooms for group discussions

These are some great ways to utilize Moodle so that the instructors can get the full use of the program. Since this program allows the teachers to add imagines to the page, I think that this will be a great program for them.

CouseSites

CouseSites is a free, hosted online course creation and facilitation service that empowers individual K–12 teachers, college and university instructors and community educators to add a web–based component to their courses, or even host an entire course on the Internet (CourseSites, n.d.). CourseSites is powered by the latest and greatest technology from Blackboard, including Blackboard Learn™, Release 9.1, Blackboard Collaborate™, Blackboard Mobile™, and Blackboard Connect™ (CourseSites, n.d.). Since everything is becoming mobile, I think that this is a good for the teachers and students. This will allow them the ability access all assignments and information from their phones whenever they need too.  Here are some of the things that CourseSite offers:

• Live Classroom
• Learning Modules and Tests and Quizzes
• Lesson Plans and Grade Center
• Central Course File Management Mobile Learning
• Web 2.0 User Experience
• Accessibility
• Wikis
• Instant Messaging and Mobile Learning

This will be a great tool to compliment Moodle. CouseSites allows you to get whatever you did not get from the other CMS, Moodle. I think that you are getting the best of both worlds and cannot go wrong with either one.

References

Allen, J. (2015). Why Moodle with Lambda? Retrieved from

http://www.lambdasolutions.net/products/moodle-lms/#.

CourseSites. (n.d.). Get The Most Powerful Tools For Your Classroom. Retrieved from

https://www.coursesites.com/webapps/Bb-sites-course-creation-

BBLEARN/pages/learn.html.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a

distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Blog Assignment: Defining Distance Learning

Distance learning has become a great way for learning. Distance education can take place when the teacher and the students are disjointed by technology and in most cases in different areas. Distance learning is defined as institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems used to correct learners, resources, and instructors (Simonson, Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015). The one thing that makes distance learning distant is the separation of the student form the teacher with the use of advance technology. With technology being as advanced as it is, this will allow the student and teacher to interact freely and direct.

Before I started this course, I thought that distance learning was just typical on line learning that allowed me to do classes via the web without the inconvenience of the traditional class room. Now that I have studied and read a few articles form this week’s resources, I have learned that it is way more than that. As I reflect back to my undergrad studies, I do not think that on line learning was a prevalent as it is today. It was just basic logging in, viewing assignments, and eventually submitting them. No interaction from the instructor was necessary as long as you did the assignments and had them turned in on time.

When I started at Walden many years after, I learned that things have changed and they changed for the better. Yes you still have to turn in assignments and have them in on time, but you also get a chance to interact with your peers as well as the instructor. Not only that, you will notice that not everyone is in the same area. They are from all over the world. When working online, I think that it is possible to construct meaning in the same ways as if they would in a face-to-face classroom.

This allows students to work from home and at the same time earn their degree on computers. As an online student working the administrative field, I think that it is safe to say that distant learning has been a great help. Ideally, by offering online courses, a small school can provide rich and varied options normally available only at larger schools (Moller, Foshay, and Huett, 2008). With many educational institutions offering the options of distance learning or on line learning, this is allowing many to get the education and still juggle the day to day life. For me, distance learning is allowing me to be able to work and still be able to pursue my degree.

Finally, distant learning is becoming more and more innovative as time goes by. The growth of online distance learning (elearning) is explosive in almost all sectors, and in many developed and developing countries (Moller, Foshay, and Huett, 2008). This allows anyone to be able to have access to classes all over the world. No matter the tie zone, city state or country, a student is able to go to an institution anywhere in the world. This will allow student to further their education at the time and pace of their choosing.

Mind Map

References:

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for

instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development).

TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75. Retrieve this article from the Academic Search Complete

database in the Walden Library.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for

instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher education). TechTrends,

52(4), 66-70. Retrieve this article from the Academic Search Complete database in the

Walden Library.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., &Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a

distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

My Reflection

Reflection

Before I started this course, I really did not think about how I learned. I know that learning is a part of my everyday being but not once have I ever thought of how I did it. I did know that there were people that learned a little slower and in most cases, those people had some kind of learning defect.

I think that fact that each individual has a different learning style that is already encoded in their nervous system, this can allow a teacher to let them the opportunity for expression. But I found to be striking is that you can learn different form your other peers and not have a learning defect. For the individual, learning accounts for the acquisition of a variety of capabilities and skills, strategies, for functioning in the world, and attributes and values that guides one’s actions (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, 2009). Now that I have a deeper understanding of learning, I have learned that there are many theories to learning that can describe the way adult learners learn and how what strategies are needed to make needed learn.

Since technology has become more innovative, the way that we learn has become more integrated into the classroom. When it comes to the learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation, there are so many types of learning theories that is designed to help people through the learning and teaching process. According to Ertmer &Newby (1993) learning is an enduring change in behavior, or in the capacity to behave in a given fashion, which results from practice or other forms of experience. Since all of these theories are tied to learning process, I think that each and every concept can help when determining learning styles and how to make them work for the better your students.

With that being said, it is up to the teacher to create a plan of action that would be suited for each student. In conclusion, I think that this course will most definitely help me in my future in becoming an instructional designer. Since I am not working in a field that is conducive to teaching, I think that when the times come I will be able to interact with students more. I will be able to help students by identifying the different learning styles and teach them accordingly.

References

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing

critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement

Quarterly, 6(4),50-71.

Kerr, B. (2007, January 01). _isms as filter, not blinker. Retrieved from the World Wide Web

http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html.

Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (Laureate

custom edition). New York: Pearson.

 

Fitting the Pieces Together

Fitting the Pieces Together

Now that I have a deeper understanding of learning, I have learned that there are many theories tot learning that can describe the way adult learners learn and how what strategies are needed to make needed learn.

Learning is when someone gains the knowledge that they receive through experiences. For the individual, learning accounts for the acquisition of a variety of capabilities and skills, strategies, for functioning in the world, and attributes and values that guides one’s actions (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, 2009). With the being said, theories have taught me a lot about the learning theories and styles that I did not know before. The learning theory matrix that was completed this week has taught me a lot about learning and how each individual my possess one of the styles that fits them perfectly.

The Learning Theories

Behaviorist Theory, Cognitive Theory, Constructivist Theory, Social Learning Theory, Connectivism, and Adult Learning are the learning styles that give a precise classification on the behaviors on individuals and how they learn and adapt to their environment. The behaviorist theory focuses on the importance of the consequences of those performances and contends that responses that are followed by reinforcement are more likely to recur in the future (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). With the cognitive theory, focusses on the conceptualization of students’ learning processes and addresses the issues of how information is received, organized, stored, and retrieved by the mind (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). The constructivist theory is a function of how the individual creates meaning from his or her own experiences (Ertmer & Newby, 1993).

Social learning theory emphasizes the importance of culture and context in understanding what occurs in society and constructing knowledge based on this understanding (Kim, 2001). Connectivisim is Constructivism is a contemporary epistemology that holds that human beings construct knowledge by giving meaning to current experiences in light of prior knowledge, mental structures, experiences, and beliefs (Jenkins, 2006). Lastly is adult learning which is the process whereby adults engage in systematic and sustained learning activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values (Conlan, Grabowski, & Smith, 2003). When it comes to technology, it plays a big role in my online learning process. Since being in this course, I have used my online class to better me as an online learner. With my online course, I have been responsible for using the online data bases and also had the pleasure of creating a blog site and RSS feeds. I think that technology has played a major part in my learning.

References:

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

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4),50-71.

Jenkins, J. (2006). Constructivism. In Encyclopedia of educational leadership and administration. Retrieved from http://knowledge.sagepub.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/view/edleadership/n121.xml.

Kim, B. (2001). Social constructivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Social_Constructivism

Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson.