Reflection

- What did you find surprising or striking as you furthered your knowledge about how people learn?
As I furthered my knowledge about how people learn I began to discover, people generally first acknowledge what catches their attention first. I would say that this is a fact of life: first impression last impression sort of deal: Attention makes us receptive to information, which we process together with prior knowledge, until we arrive at conclusions and understanding, which we then apply and test for confirmation. People are also motivated for the most part through extrinsic factors; however, intrinsic factors forms or fuels a student’s desire for autonomy.
- How has this course deepened your understanding of your personal learning process?
What have you learned regarding the connection between learning theories, learning styles, education of the learning theories and perspectives that best describes how you I learn: The behaviorist approach emphasizes that every leaner must have some sort of beginning; in other words, at what level is the learner currently performing successfully? Behavioral theories imply that teachers ought to arrange environmental conditions so that student responds properly to presented stimuli (Ertmer & Nemby, 1993, p. 60). I can only agree with the behaviorist approach up to a certain extent.
After learning more about the various theories, I’ve discovered that I could learn within the realms of all theories depending on the qualifications and factors of the cause.
- What have you learned regarding the connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation?

First, learning styles vary depending on the situation of instruction or desired objective(s). I believe that all learners learn within the means of each learning theory; it’s just not realized yet. Overall, I’m not convinced that people learn by way of only one learning style; I would suggest a melting-pot of learning styles to be exact.

Motivational factors are suggested to influence how attentive an individual absorbs information: for example, in order for students to enjoy a lecture or course, something has to spark their interest in order to trigger a sense of motivation; whether it’s intrinsic or extrinsic.


- How will your learning in this course help you as you further your career in the field of instructional design?
Learning in this course will help me as I further my career in the field of instructional designer: I now have the knowledge of how people actually go through a process of learning and I’m able to identify the characteristics. I think one of the crucial things that an instructional designer can (and should!) do is make sure that students have opportunities to actively practice what they are learning. I’ve always had a desire to develop and build websites to increase how students (people) learn.
References
1. Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective