Who would have thought that at this age I will be creating my first ever e-journal/blog ? Yikes! For someone who belongs to the demographic cohort Generation X, this is outrageous! I am no tech-savvy. Other than emails, Whatsapp and LinkedIn (which I have not updated since God knows when) I do not own the more popular social media accounts – not that I am technophobic, it’s just that I do not have the luxury of time to have and maintain one; and perhaps because I prefer the face-to-face social interaction over online discourse; and perhaps because I value privacy. My privacy. But times change and so we should, I should … embrace change. That’s what learning is all about. Unfortunately, I have to deal with this e-journal because I have to. Gosh! I did not even bother writing a diary when I was younger and now this? Well, there’s always a first time. Writing this, I suddenly recalled my first-day-of-school jitters in KG. I said to myself what the heck, who cares? Just do it!
Dear reader/s, welcome to my thoughts and reflections on discussion topics in EDS_103 (Theories of Learning)! You may not always agree with what I write or say, but come on … give this “lowla” (lola) a chance to speak her mind and pick your brains, too!
Module 1 – Perspectives and Conceptions About Learning
Home is our first school. Our family can be credited for our first life lessons with our parents as our first teachers who molded us during the cognitive years from our first walk through our first formal school attendance. I thought I’d share with you here a link to a poem full of wisdom reflecting life’s learning realities by Dr. Dorothy L. Nolte.
Many of you may have known and forgotten this, but just in case – here’s to remind you. And for those who are reading this for the first time, I hope it inspires you. http://www.empowermentresources.com/info2/childrenlearn-long_version.html
I’ve read most of the given reference materials for the module but I took a while because my eyes get strained easily I had to take breaks in between and I admit after going through them I got perplexed I thought my brains are gonna come out!! While I agree with what the proponents of learning have written, there is not a single, perfect definition that could describe it because there are different kinds of learning and it involves a process which is not always the same. This was mentioned in Kendra Cherry’s article. However we define it, for me the most important factors for learning are change and experience.
We cannot refute the theories about learning by the other experts since they are based on facts, experiments and experience but it seems to me they are focused on and are more applicable in the classroom setup and academic environment. One article that caught my attention was Joanne Yatvin’s, which discussed the diminishing role of textbooks, although they are still significant in school. There is truth in this claim.
In the university where I am working porters do the rounds to collect the textbooks lying around the whole campus which are dumped by students every end-of-term. An unbelievable waste of resources! Five years ago I was overwhelmed with the tons of used and unused new textbooks collected around the campus that were to be thrown. I gathered my courage to ask one of the Deans if I could take some of them, and he agreed. I managed to collect two jumbo boxes of the newer textbooks and sent them directly to the library of a technical institute in Manila. Those textbooks deserve better students who know its value in cost and in learning. With the advent of internet which provides information on almost every single thing we could think of, what could be the future of textbooks and for how long could they be around? I wonder. For such old-schooler like me, I still derive pleasure out of reading books. How about you ?
Driving a colleague home on late Wednesday evening last week, I had this curious urge to ask her whether learning should always result in positive outcome in order for it to be called “learning”. Her answer was no. Well, I thought so, too and I’m glad we share the same view. Again, in her article, Kendra Cherry mentioned learning can involve both beneficial and negative behaviors. A person can learn new things that can either be good or detrimental for them and could affect people around them.
I’m not sure maybe I missed on readings but I do not remember negative learning (if I may call it that) being discussed much in the reference materials.
Dale Schunk’s essential constituents of learning (change, endurance over time and consequence of experience) obviously resonate with the more practical form of learning – from life which I guess all of us can relate to.
Last night while waiting for my turn to see the doctor I was reading on E.L. Thorndike. He believed that ability to learn did not decline until age 35 and only at the rate of 1% yearly. Later on it was shown that speed of learning and not the power of learning declined with age. That pretty much opposed the old saying, “you can’t teach old dogs new tricks!” Take it from me, I’m over 50 and still learning!
Ciao!
Marga's thoughts 