Intial Reflection on New Readings

The break between classes has allowed me to spend a tremendous amount of time reading. I have found this break to be very refreshing. I guess the demands of projects, class schedules and adjusting to a new program have been wearing. However, these new readings on learning theory are both fascinating and invigorating. They reminded me of the primary reason I wanted to go to grad school - to study how people learn. Learning about technology is both interesting and challenging, but my primary passion has always been learning theory. And as I see it, the technology is just a powerful tool to stimulate learning. I guess it does all tie together.

After years of learning how to be a objectivist, I find construtivism to be a whole new paradym. After all, my whole corporate environment seems to be built on objectives. I was trained as an instructional designer to design every set of training materials, every evaluation, every activity around objectives. But I do see the limitations this approach, at least as the sole method to training. My learners often view training as a chore forced on them by management. There is little creativity or joy to training, and the training rarely meet the total needs of the trainee. Training is primarily focused on the perceived needs of the company, not on the needs of the learner.

I don't believe that objectivism is entirely wrong. It definitely has a place in a biotech company the has many well defined processes. But there does seem to be room for constructivism, especially in areas of troubleshooting and learning concepts behind the processes. I guess the key is looking for how to fit these new approaches into our curricula. I'm not sure how to do this integration yet, but opportunities are exciting.