This week's class topic involved the brain and learning, information processing theory, and problem solving methods during the learning process. Designing learning that meets the needs of a variety of students is a challenge since everyone learns differently and each may have have unique needs. Additionally learning to design learning that facilitates the storage and retrieval of information in the brain should be the goal of every instructional designer. In my quest to be a better instructional designer I have discovered a couple of resources that resonated with me and further informed my knowledge of instructional design.
The first article that caught my interest was found on the John Hopkins School of Education website. The article was written by David L. Crawford and is titled The Role of Aging in Adult Learning: Implications for Instructors in Higher Education. This article discusses learning and the aging adult learner. Crawford talks about the fact that today adults are continuing to learn throughout their lives and well into their 70’s. The workforce is aging and in order to meet the needs of our aging students it is important to recognize their unique learning needs. Crawford discusses the physiological, psychological, experiential aspects, learning expectations of the aging learner and the implications for instructors. I found this article to be extremely interesting as it reviews the specialized considerations when designing curriculum for aging adult learners. This article is an important read for anyone who is designing learning curriculum. The second resource I would like to discuss is a webpage on the Edutopia website called The Neuroscience Behind Stress and Learning. This webpage is authored by neurologist Judy Willis and discusses how stress can affect our ability to learn and process information. Willis states that “students' comfort level has critical impact on information transmission and storage in the brain.” (Willis, 2015) This article is a starting point to understanding how the chemical process that is a byproduct of stress affects the learning capabilities of our students. It demonstrates that the brain is extremely complex and in order to facilitate learning we must manage stress in the learning environment. This article is just a starting place to understanding the correlation between stress and learning but I highly recommend reviewing it. I hope you enjoy this week’s selection of articles! References Crawford, D. L. (2004) The Role of Aging in Adult Learning: Implications for Instructors in Higher Education. Available at: http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/lifelonglearning/higher-education/implications/ (Accessed: 13 September 2015). Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson. Willis, J. (2015) The Neuroscience Behind Stress and Learning. Available at: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/neuroscience-behind-stress-and-learning-judy-willis (Accessed: 14 September 2015).
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Stacy SpringerWelcome to my blog! I am passionate about great Instructional Design and Educational Technology. Let's start a discussion! Archives
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