Think back over the last three weeks of the course and the subjects and our related discussions. We have explored Adult Learning Theory and the double-week of Online Learning Research. Now it is time to reflect back on the relevance and meaning of these subjects and how they fit together with you and your own learning style or preference and how it mixes with your professional life. As you think about these issues, also consider how you may teach others online and how this research has impacted that. How do you see these concepts affecting you when you are leading your own online community?
Learning theory continues to baffle me. I need to draw connections/relationships in order to understand abstract concepts. While I could see the relationship between behaviorism and cognitivism (that cognitivism was created out of behaviorism), I did not see a strong connection to constructivism (though I understand what it is - learning by doing). I think I should re-read those articles. How would this affect my own online learning community? Perhaps I would create an assignment that focuses on the similarities and differences between those three (and a few other) learning theories.
The practice of reviewing journal articles was very beneficial. I haven't been in a writing oriented class in a few years, so those two reviews reintroduced me to writing. Additionally, I was surprised too see how quickly I was able to write the second review. While my first review took 5-6 hours, the second review took just over three. This has been very good practice for a future as an academic or simply as a professional development practice. I would include this kind of assignment in my own online community.
On a negative note, I was reminded of how much I do not like group work during these past few weeks. This is made more difficult because we do not meet together, so we cannot pick up on visual cues and body language. I am confident that some of my posts came across much harsher than they would have in person. Additionally, people do not naturally spend a lot of time reading in order to fully understand. Therefore, much clarification was needed, and when team members expected me to completed extra tasks for them, I did not know how to respond in a discussion thread.
This experience with group work would inform my own leadership in an online community considerably. I appreciated having a team in order to feel more connected to the group; it was nearly impossible to get to know all 15 classmates. Knowing four was much more manageable. Therefore, I plan to continue to incorporate group work, but I would make the assignments basic and focus on discussion instead of projects.
