Dan Taylor — IDE621: Principles of Instruction and Learning, FA24
This unit on cognitive learning theory struck a chord with me. In some ways, it was the most tactile — not in the sense of touch — but in the sense of objects that have shape and form. I could mentally picture schemas and scripts. I could see the relationship between conditional and procedural knowledge. As I reflect, this unit felt very intuitive. I’ve always found that I can see patterns pretty quickly, and now I know why: Distinctions. Distinctions matter very much.
In this unit, it hit home just how important distinctions are and why they matter so much. I had realized the importance of knowing what something is, but I hadn’t given the fact that knowing what something isn’t the same consideration. While one could argue that this is especially important during early development of knowledge, I don’t think its usefulness goes away. This revelation changed the way I approach instructional design. I’ve incorporated more ways to encourage learners to seek and discover the distinctions in the content they are learning.
When I reflect on the course activities, I’m really glad I decided to stretch myself with the online discussion activity by creating a concept map. I have usually found concept maps to be tricky and not very useful to me because they feel tricky. But pushing through that experience of making a concept map helped me organize my thoughts in new and fresh ways. Drawing out the concept map activated my prior learning of creating wireframes. The two concepts are not the same, but once I made the connection, the concept map flowed naturally. I could create an outline quickly (a favorite trick for organizing) because I had thought through the concept map.
From a workplace standpoint, this unit felt most at home. I design primarily asynchronous courses for adult learners, and we use many of the instructional design approaches listed in the unit. Making the connections between the cognitive processes of encoding and retrieval brought Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction into much sharper focus. Specifically, there are three things that I valued but didn’t really grapple with until this unit: 1) the importance of activating previous knowledge to link it to new information, 2) the role of activities in building retention, and 3) the ways instructional designers can build in opportunities to enhance retrieval and retention. Having a deeper understanding of the mechanism of cognitive processes has changed how I approach both my own learning and the design of learning for others.
From a learning perspective, I have thought more deeply about how I absorb information and how I can set myself up for success. For instance, I needed to take a break between switching from work to school. Since there was a lot of reading in this unit, and I'm a slower reader, I wanted to use break time to take a walk wisely. I decided to listen to the textbook on my walk. I did that a couple of times, and in every instance, I have retained that information better and noticed different aspects that I wouldn’t have picked up in reading.
From an instructional design perspective, I’ve developed a deeper appreciation for tailoring my design to take advantage of the way people learn — the ways they process information. Can I break this into smaller chunks? Is this a good time to have learners practice? Is this tool useful in organizing their thoughts? In a way, this unit has been like putting a face to a name. My own learning makes more sense.