Friday, November 13, 2009

Posting on the brain and learning

http://www.newhorizons.org/neuro/zull.htm

This is a site that I like as it discusses the art of teaching and how it is really up to the students as to determine how they learn.
Also it discusses how science plays a role in this process as well as it splits the brain into four segments of learning: sensory cortex, back integrative cortex, front integrative cortex, and motor cortex. I found this site insightful and educational and I think it could be helpful with further inspection of this subject matter.


http://www.newhorizons.org/neuro/diamond_brain_response.htm

This site was interesting as it talked of changes that occurred within the brain during the lifetime of the subject animals. It talked about morphological changes that occured with in the brain and the result.
I found this interesting because if transferred to human brains it can help explain how our brains change over time and thus how our learning processes can morph as well. I also found interesting the section on changes to the cerebral cortex. In it there was a section on how the experiment was conducted and how newness was brought into the equation at a variabnle rate to see how it affected the subjects of the study. This is an important variable, I believe, as if transferred to the classroom this can show how new stimuli can affect a student's learning as well.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Blog APP 2

I am commenting today on http://www.internettime.com/blog/archives/001083.html

I feel that design is prevalent in everyday life, whether we are the one's engineering some new type of thing or merely experiencing something in the everyday world that surrounds us. I agree that art symbolizes the one that designed it in many ways, but on the other hand art, much like writing or any other creative pursuit, comes from a place deep inside us and thus it may not reflect who we are on the outside at all.

But I think that the exact opposite is true as we venture into Instructional Design. I feel that we should focus on adding a part of who we are to the diverse classroom experiences that we, as educators, create to help our students, and possibly colleagues, to get certain learning principles and ideas. I feel that if we do not give this part of us to our teaching then our students will see that it lacks some part of the thing that would make it truly successful and thus it would be flawed at a primordial level.

Secondly, while I agree with the sentiment that less is more I can't help but wonder why we think this is so. Certainly, it is better to be concise rather than verbose, but what if those extra ten words are needed to get exactly what we are trying to say across to the audience that we wish to inform, educate, or entertain.

One size fits all does not work with education as we have seen over the past two weeks in both our readings and electronic resources. Different individuals learn in different manners and so they must be taught in different ways so as to get the full effect of the eduycation that they seek. We must adapt to overcome the differences between the ways in which we teach and the ways in which our students do learn.
Hello all,
It's a rainy day in NC today, YUCK!!! Thanks for joining and I'll be joining yours too if I haven't already.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

EDU 6115 1st Blog

This is my first Blog for EDU 6115 at Walden University. I haven't Blogged in years, so it's nice to be back out in the Blogosphere once more. The course I'm taking is based on Learning Theories and Instruction and this Blog will be devoted to doing work for this class.



I am working on my MS in Instructional Design.







Blog: Instructional Design for eLearning Approaches: http://ideas.blogs.com/









This Blog was good for some of its points on the difference in business learners and traditional learners. I feel that the information contained could help with some of the technical, shall we say, aspects of Instructional Design, at least for me. Also it speaks, with references, to the benefits of on-line learning, and as an on-line student this is something I always like to learn more about.









Streaming Video: Blogs in Plain English by Common Craft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI









I liked the way that this Blog explained Blogs and their power. I think that while this is a great history lesson for all who might be interested in Blogging it also has the power to push one to use the power of the Blog to get their message out and to possibly meet like-minded individuals out in the Blogosphere. I feel that if nothing else this would be a positive, motivating Blog that might push me to write a Blog even if I didn't feel like it. I liked the way that each aspect of Blogging was laid out so as anyone could understand them.







http://www.internettime.com/blog/archives/001083.html







I liked how this Blog discussed the principles of Design. I think that many of these can be translated into the area of Instructional Design. I like this site because it has so much on it. There are links to many places where the different aspects of Design as a theory are talked about. It also gives all the principles of Design, which I found interesting as well. I liked its lists on the keys to good design and many other of the informational lists that were available here.