About Learning: Theories, Styles, Preferences, and Technology
Connectivism and Adult Learning Theory both have elements that explain many people’s learning preference. In formal studies, the factor of “motivation” is often key. Specifically, when students undertake learning activities because of personal interest it provides motivation to persist and finish the course of study. Unlike many learners’ early education and training experiences that were prompted more by cultural or familial expectation, learning experiences in later adult years are often undertaken because of necessity or interest in the subjects.
Connectivism’s emphasis on access to technology, instructor guidance, and willingness to share results also helps explain many students’ learning preferences. For strongly self-directed learners that are comfortable technology, they may prefer learning environments where the instructor serves as a guide and “navigation assistant.” This contrasts with some students’ earlier learning experiences where the instructor served as essentially the sole source of information. When learning activities flow from the learner’s personal interest and motivation they are more likely to enjoy the interactions that provide opportunities to share what they have learned and, in turn, learn from others.
Considering again the role of Connectivism to learning preferences, technology plays a significant and indispensable role in the role of many student’s learning. Online courses, well-designed LMS-based classes, Google, digital libraries, YouTube and other Web 2.0 technologies – each of these individually, and in concert, are the framework upon which many online learning activities are built. When learners study a mind map of their own learning, these connections and reliance on technology become more apparent because that technology facilitates many of those connections. For example, learners may be more likely to do a Google search to get information than to call upon anyone in particular in their social network. As an example, learners may use Google to find YouTube videos that explained something in their course. When the learner needs to reach out to someone in their network they are more likely to do that through a text, Facebook or Linkedin message, or email than to call them or meet them in person, at least initially.