My Learning Experience on EDS 103

Looking back four months ago, I remember myself so happy and thrilled knowing that I got accepted for the PTC program. I have always dreamt of being a teacher just like my parents, and now I’m making it a reality. Late last year, I decided to enroll at UPOU with the following courses: EDS 111 Principles of Teaching and EDS 103 Theories of Learning.

I must admit though, that I got a little scared at first. The distance-learning education is quite new to me and I was used to the traditional classroom learning approach. Some of the questions that popped up my mind include: Will this work for me? How can I balance the demands of my work and school? Am I ready for new challenges?

As days went by, I found myself totally immersed on the topics and modules provided. I was able to learn about the teaching profession, the important roles that teachers and students play, and most especially, I got to know myself more. One of the topics that I found interesting the most is the different learning styles.

I have realized that in order for us to teach effectively, we have to center our efforts to our students. We should be able to acknowledge differences on personality, learning styles and preferences, behaviors, and experiences. With this, I have come to realize that a “one-size-fits-all” approach will not work thus the need to use multiple strategies and methodologies as we deliver our content.

Being a student, I have come to know that I am more of a verbal/visual learner, thus making this type of learning successful. I prefer to see words and visual representations (images, concept map, graph) upon knowing and understanding the content. I have taken some personality tests too during the course and justified that I learn best using this method.

Also, I find the different learning theories helpful enough to understand a student’s behavior. I have realized that among all other things, motivation plays an important part in learning. We tend to exert effort to learn the things that we find interesting and add value to our existence. It is true that sometimes, we are motivated by external factors such as rewards and recognition. I think, however, that nothing beats intrinsic motivation. The inner desire to learn things without expecting to receive anything but the knowledge itself cannot be undervalued.

Then and now, I define learning, in reference to the cognitive approach:

Cognitivism refers to the study of the mind and how it obtains, processes, and stores information (Stavredes, 2011). Information comes in as input, the mind processes the information for the time being, and the information is stored away to be retrieved later (Learning Theories, 2011b).

The information that we receive on a daily basis undergoes certain cognitive processes – should we welcome this information or disregard such? If we allowed its entry, did it justified pre-existing knowledge or changed it entirely? Apart from the mental processes that we apply, social factors also affect our learning. By observing other people, we tend to learn from their experiences. We look up to our parents, teachers, and experts as good sources of information.

Having understood the modules presented in the course, my view on teaching and learning deepened. Before, I used to believe that teaching is just easy – we just have to refer to the curriculum and teach students the things they need to know. I have realized after this course that teaching involves a lot of considerations. It entails continuous decision-making – what learning goals and objectives to set, the mode of instruction to use, the metrics to be used for evaluation, etc.

The most significant lesson I have learned would be the importance of using student-centered approaches. I used to be an advocate of the traditional approach where the teacher gives a lecture to students. As a trainer in the work place, we used to have classroom sessions where mostly, I do the talking. I have learned that in order to achieve effective teaching, we must encourage critical thinking among students. We should inspire them to speak up and voice out their opinions and views. With this, I would like to make a shift from the traditional expert/formal authority type to a supportive facilitator or delegator.

The course may have ended, but I know that learning does not end here. It is in fact, the beginning of many more learning experiences I aim to have. 🙂

Reference:

Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism & Connectivism. Retrieved March 31, 2015 from http://ci484-learning-technologies.wikispaces.com/Behaviorism,+Cognitivism,+Constructivism+%26+Connectivism

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