As a young learner, my learning was dependent on my teachers. If I had a ‘good’ teacher I would learn a lot. If I had a ‘bad’ teacher, I believed the learning experience to be a waste of my time. Learning outside the confines of the traditional classroom, however, has taught me to rely on many different resources.
When creating my mind map, I broke my connections into two subgroups: people and technology. Although people are behind the creation of technology, I decided to split my connections into these particular branches after realizing that each of my connections could be traced back to either a person or a type of technology.
I believe the people that surrounding me have had the most impact on not only what I have been exposed to, but also motivating me to learn new material. Adult learner’s can be motivated in many different ways. Lieb outlines several of them in his article, “Principles of Adult Learning” (1991).
1. Social relationships: to make new friends, to meet a need for associations and friendships.
2. External expectations: to comply with instructions from someone else; to fulfill the expectations or recommendations of someone with formal authority.
3. Social welfare: to improve ability to serve mankind, prepare for service to the community, and improve ability to participate in community work.
4. Personal advancement: to achieve higher status in a job, secure professional advancement, and stay abreast of competitors.
5. Escape/Stimulation: to relieve boredom, provide a break in the routine of home or work, and provide a contrast to other exacting details of life.
6. Cognitive interest: to learn for the sake of learning, seek knowledge for its own sake, and to satisfy an inquiring mind.
What I find interesting about this list is that the first four mentioned are directly related, not with the individual learner, but with people surrounding the learner. Meeting new people, impressing someone, improving the quality of life for a stranger, or competing against another. It is all about people. I have found this is true of myself as well. As an adult, I have come to learn the value of the resources I have surrounding me. Each person I interact with has a certain level of expertise in a particular area. When I do not have the prior knowledge required to complete a task, I often seek help from family, friends, mentors, classmates, professors, or co-workers. Sometimes, I learn through conversation and observation. Other times, my resources act as guides and will point me in the correct direction. Quite often the direction is in the field of technology.
Technology is a way for me to be in control of my own learning. Ten years ago technology would not have played such a large role in my network of connections. Technology enhances my learning for several reasons: convenience, speed, and the plethora of resources available. As a teacher, I have found that educational blogs have become a convenient way for me to connect and learn from other educators looking to improve their teaching style as well. As a student trying to balance work, family and school, the speed of the internet and search engines makes it possible to learn in a limited amount of time.
In the article, “Connectivism,” the authors explain how the learning experience is not complete as an individual. There is no way one learner can experience everything a network of people and technology could collectively experience (Davis, Edmunds, & Kelly-Bateman, 2008). My ability to learn has increased as my network of connections has grown. With each new job that I have, each new piece of technology that I learn, I become a more efficient and effective learner.
Resources
Davis, C., Edmunds, E., & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging Principles on Learning, Teaching, and Technology. Retrieved from: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Connectivism
Lieb, S. (1991). Principles of Adult Learning. Retrieved from: http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm
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