U-Blog 6

Last week my group had our training session at The Heritage at Lowman. The topic we trained them on was "Picture Management and Printing," although it ended up being just "Picture Management" due to the time constraints.

We began by me telling the group what we would be doing, then we dived right in to the hands on exercise. Because there was a small number of people we were training, there was not much of a point in lecturing so we just divided up and helped 1 or 2 people individually. The results were very good in my opinion - having a one on one (or one on two) session like this really helped the students learn and also gave them the opportunity to steer the learning into something they were more interested in. For example, the two ladies I was helping were interested in emailing photos, so I showed them how Picasa had built in photo support using the Gmail accounts they had created in a previous session. They absolutely loved this

Overall I think the session went really well. The students seemed very interested in learning about photo management and were amazed at things we take for granted all the time (such as Picasa's red eye removal tool - which is pretty amazing). Doing this really gave me a new perspective on teaching.

U-Blog 5

While doing research for assignment 7.3, I came across an article discussing 'Social Development Theory'. http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html

The article talks about the social learning theory, which was theorized by Lev Vygotsky. It has its basis in constructivism, and the article discusses three major themes

"1. Social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. In contrast to Jean Piaget’s understanding of child development (in which development necessarily precedes learning), Vygotsky felt social learning precedes development. He states: “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological).” (Vygotsky, 1978)."

I may be reading this incorrectly, but this seems like the idea of monkey see monkey do. Before a child (or any learner, really) can have an internal dialogue about what they have seen, they have to see an external interaction about it first.

"2. The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO). The MKO refers to anyone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept. The MKO is normally thought of as being a teacher, coach, or older adult, but the MKO could also be peers, a younger person, or even computers."

In this case, the MKO is the website I got the information off of. The MKO is generally who the learner will learn from - I was the learner in this case, and the website was the MKO

"3. The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is the distance between a student’s ability to perform a task under adult guidance and/or with peer collaboration and the student’s ability solving the problem independently. According to Vygotsky, learning occurred in this zone."

This is reflective of a hand on approach. There is a certain period of time that working with something under supervision gives you the most learning because you have something to fall back on if you can't figure it out.

U-Blog 4

For my Wiki assignment I was assigned to research cognitivism. This brought back some memories of one of my favorite freshman classes, Psychology. I really enjoy the study of the brain and the way people react in any given situation, and cognitivism is, in my opinion, particularly interesting. Cognitive psychology focuses on the internal processes used in decision making by a person. I'm not going to rehash what my Wiki article already says, but I do want to talk about the assignment in general. This is the first time I've done a wiki, and I can really see the potential for this in business.

One use for a wiki in the business world would be as listed here, for training. A knowledge base built around wikis would be very useful because multiple people can work on it and contribute to the wiki and write about whatever their particular strength is. I've done things like this similar in the past - putting a word document on a file server and letting several people edit it. The problem with this is the inability to easily access revisions to the file and to find out who made these revisions. A wiki fixes this by letting you easily go back and forward through different revisions. You can also see who made any edit with just a few clicks.

I can think of several other reasons: work logs, document creation, etc. The primary problem I would see with implementing a wiki into a work environment would be people would not treat it like a wiki and use it like a more traditional document. For instance, deleting a section of text that has been recently added and saving a new revision rather than going back to a revision before the edit was made. If an administrator can find a way to convince people to use the wiki correctly though, then this could be an efficient way to share information in a team

U-Blog 3

Late again! Really late this time! Its ok though - I've figured out a way to keep everything organized, and I'm going to talk about that in this blog. However, I first wanted to talk about a chart that was posted at the beginning of module 5.

The chart is surprisingly similar to my own learning style, which surprises me because I always thought of myself having a unique learning style. The method with the highest retention rate is teaching others or immediate use of the learning. This is definitely how I am, and I would assume it is how most people learn best. Next is practice by doing, which I think partially overlaps with the top one. When your teaching others or using it you're obviously practicing by doing.

The next one is the one that surprises me most - discussion group. I've never learned well in discussion groups, and I'm honestly surprised many people have. Most of the time discussion groups (college anyway) end up being these contrived affairs used in order to get a grade. I don't learn well that way. The next one, demonstration, is also one I learn well by but only if the demonstrations are short; otherwise it loses my attention. I would switch audio/visual and reading under my own personal learning style - however, I don't learn well by either. Finally, lectures, I probably retain the least as the chart indicates for most people. I try my hardest to pay attention but I usually end up losing focus.

Now, as for the way I'm planning on keeping track of my assignments. The problem I had with the current way assignments were posted was there were overlapping due dates between the modules. This required a lot of back and forward in the browser in order to find out what assignments were due. What I've done is created an excel table that will keep track of all my assignments. I can assort them by date or module. I've used conditional formatting to highlight the assignment in yellow if its due within 5 days, or in red if its overdue. This should make keeping track of this stuff easier for me

U-Blog 2:Workshop Brainstorming

I wanted to discuss our brainstorming topic. This is for the benefit of anyone reading who was not able to see my group's discussion. 

One suggestion was to teach the users how to use basic photo editing software. Obviously we would not be teaching them how to use something like Photoshop. However, a simple manager like Picassa would be able something easy to teach and useful for the users. 

Another suggestion, probably my favorite, is teaching the users how to email and to print documents. One part of the workshop would be to walk users through creating a free email account (Gmail, Yahoo, etc). 

Internet navigation and basic security is another great idea. Getting around the web can be confusing for first time users - its completely different from anything most people are used to. They can be taught not to click on popups or give out information on 'bad' sites. Also, basic online shopping can be demonstrated as well.

Finally, basic computer usage is a good idea. The students couldn't do any of the above if they don't know where to find the browser, or how to install a program. Navigation of the Windows desktop and where to find and open programs would be a great workshop

U-Blog 1: Quick Tips for a Senior Friendly Classroom

Note: Realize this is late now - Didn't realize that I had written it and never posted it

In the article "Quick Tips for a Senior Friendly Classroom," the writer goes through many tips useful for teaching an older audience. Many of these tips can be applied to anyone though, so in my opinion its important that everyone in the class read this article as it can affect future training projects (that, and its been assigned to us).

The writer breaks down the learning process into 5 steps, 4 of which are useful when teaching anyone and the last step is useful for teaching anyone with disabilities. There are some specific guidelines under these steps that are useful for teaching older adults.

The writer describes step 1 as creating an environment for learning.  One way to do this is to put students at ease about the technology they are using. I have seen this on a first hand basis: often times adults lament at how easily their children or grandchildren (or great grandchildren) learn new technologies. They say that "an old dog can't learn new tricks." This is absolutely incorrect though, the reason younger people are so adept with technology is because they are willing to try new things without worrying of the consequences. Adults are generally afraid to break something and therefore take precautions that interfere with learning.

Step 2 is to present the information clearly. The most valuable thing I gathered out of that was to avoid using indefinite referents (this, that, it). This is something I do all the time and by the time I am finished speaking its no longer clear what this, that, or it is. 

Step 3 is to keep the students focused. One of the most important things to take out of this is the idea of passing handouts out before the lesson they are relevant to. This is one thing I have admittedly never thought of. It really is a great idea and keeps people from reading ahead and not paying attention to what you are talking about.

Step 4 covers one area that I'm I strongly believe in - retaining information and specifically hands on practice. I've never been a good learner listening to someone lecture about a technical idea but not being able to put those ideas in practice. The article reiterates my belief that hands on practice helps an older adult retain information.

The final step has to do with accommodating physical changes.  I pretty much knew most of this, but I had never thought about the fact that seniors often get colder than younger people and that we should recommend they bring a sweater. 

The article was very useful in explaining ways to train older adults. Despite the focus on seniors though, this article can also be applied to any sort of training with some adjustments

Workplace Learning

  According to http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_9_46/ai_78437868, only 27% of the workforce in the US has a four year college degree. The skills required for today's jobs cannot taught in high school, so continuing education is a requirement for to teach these necessary skills.  In our current economic condition, it is necessary that companies spend the resources needed to train rather than cutting these programs in order to save money. There is almost always going to be a return on investment in a training program, but only if the correct people are chosen to participate. Managers should generally select people most likely to influence others and help spread their training rather than attempting to train the entire staff.  The other benefit of training is that it can help improve the mood of the staff by making them feel appreciated. So in the end training is going to get you a double return: a more skilled staff and a more productive staff.