Mel Henderson

Learning the different roles students acquire is helpful in identifying counter-productive behaviors that disrupt classes. 

Excellent content in this section! Create a lesson plan that is a working document, not just a checklist, and then sit after content delivery and reflect upon the class. Ensure that syllabi deliver expectation and requirements and that student read them by constructing them in such a way as to highlight important information. Get student buy-in. Lots of good points!

I found the quote by Gagne most interesting and important: “The essential task of the educator is to arrange conditions of the learner’s environment so that processes of learning will be activated, supported, enhanced, and maintained.”

We are activators, supporters, enhancers, and maintainers of learning.

We just need to strive to ensure that all students learn, regardless of learning style dominance.

Each student should be approached, and approach their own learning, from the perspective of a learing style that best fits them. The challenge to educators is including all approaches in the curriculum. Another challenge is the frustration that some students feel when their approach isn't used predominantly. Sometimes I find they need to be reminded that instructors need to cater to many learning styles, not just one. It's difficult!

I find this section most beneficial and meaningful to me as the curricular philosophy and design that I have developed aligns with the theories of Knowles and Rogers. Problem-based, experiential learning not only is student-centered and student-driven, but increases engagement and buy-in. 

It's interesting to view adult developmental stages as I, myself, get older and am forced to deal with changes in my own life. These theorists provide meaning and context, not only for my students, but for myself personally. 

Adult learners return to the learning environment for many different reasons, including job advancement, a new challenge, expectations of an authority figure, etc. However, what stuck out to me was the fact that LTM capacity does not decrease with age. Of course, processing speeds do decrease, but overall capactity does not. Interesting. 

Although somewhat intuitive, I like to analyze the problem solving process beginning with defining the problem, then researching  and coming up iwth possible solutions. Coming up with an action plan becomes easier if we start with the first 3 steps. And, to determine effictiveness, it is alwasy wise to evaluate the results or solutions implemented. 

Knowing and having an appreciation for the many different types of intelligence is important as an instructor because we all come with a different set of tools, skills, and preferences. Some might be stronger in some areas than others but that is what makes the whole a better, more interesting entity. To me, it is the reflective intelligence that ties it all together. The ability to step back and reflect upon a situation, very important. 

Our educational system is not set up to create students who use reason and judgment appropriately. They are fed information and then tested on that information in a standardized format that is easy to grade. It does not gives us real insight into what the student knows. It gives us insight into the fact that the student read and memorized and was successful (or not) with regurgitating the information fed them. To be real world problem solvers, we must approach them differently. We must present them problems as well as the skills needed to solve those problems and the time… >>>