Learning from Digital Pedagogy & Adult Education Courses

Bloom's Taxonomy is a framework that is used to guide instructors to design lessons and training that moves the learners from lower level to higher level thinking. The use of higher level thinking improves learning and better prepares learners to be able to transfer the information for use in real life situations.  3 domains of learning are covered:  1) Cognitive Domain refers to the development of intellectual knowledge 2) Affective Domain refers to handling emotions such as values, motivation and attitude 3) Psychomotor Domain refers to physical movement and behaviours Each of these 3 domains also has subcategories ranging from simple to more complex. The Cognitive domain has 6 subcategories: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create. This is the most widely known and widely used component of Bloom's Taxonomy. Each subcategory is associated with processes that are described as verbs. An instructor can use the subcategories and verbs to write clear and effectiv...

 As someone who struggled in their academic studies in the past, I find self-efficacy from the theory of social learning particularly interesting. Self-efficacy describes a link between learning and motivation. Someone with a stronger sense of self-efficacy is more motivated and puts more effort since they believe there will be positive outcomes from all that work. For example, that their goals will be attained or that the difficult task will be accomplished. This same person is likely to challenge difficult tasks and stick to it. They will experience setbacks just like anyone else, but will likely see them something that can be worked on to be fixed or overcome- instead of setbacks being out of their control and thereby things that will never change. Hence, the link back to motivation and effort. It is not because this higher self-efficate group is less lazy, more hardworking, or smarter. It is because they believe their efforts will amount to what they intended and hoped for, eve...

This is a passage from course readings this week.  " There are both negative and positive aspects to motivation.  Learners might know that a particular course will help get them promoted and will be keen on completely it, others may know that a particular instructor is not open to new ideas and thoughts and might not participate because of it.  They might also have had a bad experience.  This means that as an instructor you must ensure that you create an open environment that promotes positive reinforcement. "  I highlighted the part that hit me like a ton of bricks and made me reflect. How might I practice positive reinforcement in my classroom?  Verbally. And right away is important. It is important to make sure you acknowledge, validate and highlight the good, the accurate, the strong. It tells them "I see you". This helps meet their need for esteem . Be careful in wording feedback in a constructive way. I find this need to be non-hierarchical. Learners...

There is a conflict inherent in workplace training. That conflict is between characteristics of workplace training and how adults learn (as usually it is adults involved). When left to their own devices, adults learn in a way that is focused on what is useful to their immediate situations and needs. Adults also learn in a self-directed way, meaning they exercise full control over what they set out to learn, what resources they'll use, and how they'll go about learning it. As cited in this article , there is evidence that this is type of  learning is deep and it sticks. Now compare this to traditional workplace training which typically has learning objectives, resources and activities all dictated solely by the trainer and the needs and expectations of the employer, professional standards, and even the society at large. Not much room for a personal approach to learning in this traditional way for workplace training.   Ultimately, this unresolved conflict between how ...

  Source:  http://www.teachernology.com/digital-pedagogies.html "Digital Pedagogy is precisely not about using digital technologies for teaching and, rather, about approaching those tools from a critical pedagogical perspective. So, it is as much about using digital tools thoughtfully as it is about deciding when not to use digital tools, and about paying attention to the impact of digital tools on learning." "Digital pedagogy" began appearing in peer-reviewed journals starting in 2011. It is not just about the act of using technology to teach, the "how". At its core, it is about reflecting on the use of technology to enhance or to change the experience of education. The focus is not on the digital tools themselves but how the most basic architecture of our interactions with and through machines can inspire pedagogies . It is looking at how ways of learning, teaching and instruction can be fundamentally different now because of what digital technologies ha...