Week 1 Reflection

Sitting down for the first time in my Managing E-Learning tutorial was a nerve wracking experience. Being in my second year of my degree I had spoken to students who had already completed this class and stories of 60000 word blogs were haunting me. Considering the fact I only had a basic understanding of what a blog is and had no idea what a wiki was I felt my skill set was lacking. During the first lecture Wendy demonstrated many interesting and innovative ways to structure lesson plans with ICT. Wendy showed us how to target and enhance students learning based on their different learning styles. Moving on to the tutorial our class was led by student teachers, these final year students had completed this course with high marks. I have never had this type of learning experience. Almost immediately into the tutorial the first challenge with ITC was explicitly discovered. Due to the high number of students registering for Blogger the website logged our IP as spam and many students, including myself, were unable to register their account. This hiccup demonstrated exactly why as learning managers we always need to have back up plans in case something in our lesson fails us. Unable to create and get started on my Blog I decided to look into the course work for this week. It was clear that the focus of this weeks material was on learning styles and theories and how they impact the learner and the learning environment. Learning theories play a prominent role in the modern classroom, they underpin the frameworks students are taught on. Trying to understand the way students learn and how best to teach them in this format in beneficial to the Learning Manager, the problem is deciding which of the many theories is the 'right' one for your classroom. Outlined in this weeks study guide was a focus on four learning theories, Behaviourism, Cognitive, Constructivism and Connectivism.These theories all have a clear focus in the classroom and how to enhance students learning. After reading into these learning theories it is difficult for me to differentiate which one is 'better' to use in the classroom. All four theories have solid foundations with ideas that would be beneficial for learning. Behaviourism having a solid reliance on behavioural psychology discusses the technique of conditioning students into automatic correct behaviour, Cognitivism looks more at the way in which the brain works and how memory is stored, focusing on the Sensory Memory, Working Memory and Long Term Memory, Social Constructivism ascertains that learning is primarily influenced  by ones experiences, beliefs, mental structures, social influences and social interactions and finally Connectivism values the ability to identify and fund knowledge as opposed to holding and storing all knowledge. These learning theories are four among many, they all hold valuable techniques to harness students learning and for myself I would aim to use elements and ideas from a range of learning theories within my classroom. Every classroom and student is drastically different so the idea of holding true to only one way of teaching or presenting knowledge is unrealistic. When deciding how to construct lesson plans that are built on learning frameworks it is essential to not only coincide with the curriculum but also gain an in depth understanding of your learners and how they will benefit from learning theories in the classroom. Through a rigorous process of profiling, understanding leaning styles and creating lesson plans that engage my students I believe I can create an innovative class environment.