George Siemens tells us “Learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime. Learning and work-related activities are no longer separate. In many situations, they are the same.”

David Kolb tells us that “the emphasis on the process of learning as opposed to the behavioral outcomes distinguishes experiential learning from the idealist approaches of traditional education and from the behavioral theories of learning created by Watson, Hull, Skinner, and others.  The theory of experiential learning rests on a different philosophical and epistemological base from behavioral theories of learning and idealistic approaches.”

These two theories certainly complement each other in that the iterative learning model espoused by experiential learning is also reflected in lifelong learning- we try something, notice what works and what doesn’t, research better options, and try again. As Kolb writes, “The emphasis on the process of learning as opposed to the behavioral outcomes distinguishes experiential learning from the idealist approaches of the traditional education…” A metaphor I share with my students (I teach a lot of student-athletes) is that your skills don’t improve when you’re playing a game, they improve during practice, and that it’s the process of failure and incremental adjustments that actually increases skill. Coupled with that is the concept of Connectivism, as described by Siemens. In this model, learning begins with the individual, who then acts as a node of information within the larger system or community. He suggests the “information flow within an organization is an important element in organizational
effectiveness,” and that the individual is also tasked with the validation of that information.

Technology is able to support both of these learning theories, but more so in that it facilitates the collection of group knowledge. Sharing can exist both within and between organizations in an ever expanding network that also leads back to the individual learner. Information can also be scaffolded to support learners at all levels.

Malcolm Knowles said, “Adults should acquire the skills necessary to achieve the potentials of their personalities. Every person has capacities that, if realized, will contribute to the well-being of himself and of society.” 

I have been teaching higher ed for a little over 20 years and have gone through many iterations of digital learning/ curriculum support. From Zip disks that were passed around the class, to HTML, to WordPress, to LMS, having a way to provide a “home base” for course content has been an important part of my teaching practice. In terms of my own learning, I began taking asynchronous online courses (before we even used that word) through Teachers College as a young teacher myself in California, and am still doing that today (this is making me feel both old and that I can’t finish things!). Through these changes, I have found that online as a support for synchronous learning (even if it’s just a small portion of the time) seems to work better at things like creating community and accountability than fully asynchronous, and I’m hoping to delve into solutions to that in this course.

While this prompt is about my personal online learning, most of my experience has been teaching, and most of that has been synchronously and in the last two years. This (as many of us know) has its own engagement issues, with some students in-person and some in Zoom, but that is more towards classroom management than quality of instruction. Anyway, I look forward to talking about all these things and more!