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MicroLearning Project

Goals:

  • learn a new tool or application that will support you as an instructional designer

  • reflect on how you learn best and, by extension, how others might learn

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Instructions:

  1. Identify/select a tool you have learned during this course (perhaps one you’ve used to develop your portfolio or an infographic). Other examples might be an online Venn diagram tool for your Learning Theories Chart or an image editor to create graphics for your website.

  2. As you explore and learn the tool, think about which learning theories you employ and
    why they are effective or not effective. Take notes for your reflection post on your
    portfolio.

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EdX_IDT100x-MicroLearningProjectFall2017 [PDF]. (n.d.). UMUC.

MicroLearning Project: Using Venngage

July 18, 2018

 

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Identify the main learning theory, or theories, that supported your learning of a new technology tool.

 

I would say that Cognitivism was the main learning theory that supported my learning to use Venngage (https://venngage.com) as an infographic tool.  

 

Venngage's strength is in its variety of customizable templates that help you visualize different ways to present your information.  After you select a template that you like, you tailor-fit it with charts, icons, and image sets from their library. It’s a desktop publishing tool with the specialized purpose of creating infographics. I used Venngage to create the infographic on my Andragogy page.

Describe how you 'used' the theory’s principles and why they were so effective in supporting your learning experience.

 

Some of the principles of Cognitivism include: 

  1. Learning can happen with or without social negotiation: I learned Venngage primarily on my own, it was not a result of a group coming together to discuss ideas.  There was also no “more knowledgeable other” that helped me through my Zone of Proximal Development.

  2. There are internal motivations to learning that, when met, can drive even further learning: I wanted to learn Infographics because I knew that being able to effectively summarize and translate information into smaller chunks of text and pictures would serve me well especially in creating future microlearning material.

  3. Knowledge is organized and stored in schema + Concept of Self-Efficacy: There was one point where I was trying to do my infographic on Constructivism using Venngage and I was getting increasingly frustrated that the editing tools didn’t include something that I needed (I think it was that Venngage didn’t have robust photoediting capabilities).  I grumbled to myself, “I’m wasting too much time trying to figure out how to manage this.  If I was using MS Publisher I’d be done by now.”  And then it hit me: just recreate the whole thing using MS Publisher.  I was done in about 10-15 minutes.  Overcoming the challenge using a different tool increased my sense of self-efficacy.

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What was the biggest 'a-ha' moment about your own approach to learning?

 

I had several a-ha moments.  My biggest three are:

  1. When I started the course, I thought I was most closely aligned to the Behavioral theory of learning.  Now I see that Behaviorism is probably the least tied to how I learn on a regular basis (see my a-ha moment here).

  2. Knowing how to reduce cognitive load will serve me very well in creating effective e-learning.

  3. My favorite pieces of reading were Albert Bandura’s papers (The Evolution of Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change).  I initially groaned when I saw how many pages there were, but was surprised by how disappointed I felt by the time I got to the last page.  As I was reading his paper on self-efficacy I realized its application in business and leadership development—on the first page I was scribbling alternate titles like, “aka Fixing ‘It’s too Difficult!’” and “aka The Power of Modeling in Business Succession Planning.” I will probably continue to read his works even after the course is finished.

References:

Final Reflection: Your Approach to Applying Learning Theory to Design

July 18, 2018

 

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Consider course content (four learning theories and complex approaches).  How do you see these theories and approaches as fitting in to learning you will design?  Which theory or theories do you feel are most relevant and engaging for your learners and objectives? Why?  Do you think these theories/approaches work in conjunction with each other or in isolation from each other?  Explain.

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Creating the Learning Theory Comparison Chart/ Venn Diagram made it very clear that the theories overlap each other in many respects, and a successful eLearning course comes from knowing:

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  1. Your audience (who they are/what they need/what they can currently do);

  2. The strengths and limitations of each learning theory; and

  3. How to match the learning theory and methodology with what you’re trying to teach, and to what degree you would use that methodology.

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If I’m teaching the course on empathy (https://ccslish.wixsite.com/idt100x/complex), I could use videos to demonstrate empathy, but teaching empathy without real-life interaction would be self-defeating.  There would have to be many elements of Constructivism present in teaching an empathy course, the primary element being learning through social negotiation.

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If I was teaching something technical, such as how to format a paragraph in Word, then that could be achieved with minimal face-to-face social negotiation.  I would use microlearning and target specific objectives for each lesson (e.g. Lesson 1: changing the font/color/style.  Lesson 2: changing line spacing, etc.), and would incorporate elements of gamification by using badges and points.

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And If I was teaching touch typing, I’m going to lean towards using more behavioristic methods with a splash of gamification, because I’m trying to teach something that ultimately has to become second nature.

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Many of the readings on microlearning specifically mention teaching Millennials, but I’ve had more than my fair share of Baby Boomers and GenXers tell me, “Just give me what I need to know now.  I don’t need all that extra fluff.”  I think there are more motivational similarities than differences across generations when it comes to learning.  What has changed is the medium by which lessons are delivered, and whether or not the technology of the time is able to provide an accessible, choice-centric experience.  In my childhood, the closest thing I had to an authentic experience with printed material is reading Choose Your Own Adventure books (and by the way, I was always getting killed/ eaten/ zapped into goo :-)).  

Today’s technology has made it easier to incorporate branching into lessons, and that helps deliver a more fulfilling, choice-centric experience to more people at the same time (I’ll have to check how Choose Your Own Adventure is doing things these days.  They probably have an app :-)).

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I work at a contact center and I help create training for people that are 18 and older.  The andragogical approach is definitely most appropriate for my audience, but when it comes to which theory would be most relevant and engaging for my learners and objectives, I think the answer would be, “It depends on what you’re teaching.”

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