Learning Theory Infographics by Ali Preissinger

I came across these brilliant Learning Theory Infographics by Ali Preissinger that I just had to share! The entire set is very well done so do click through to the link above to see them all.

 

“Recent trends in adult education and training in Canada”

“Recent trends in adult education and training in Canada”

www.statcan.gc.ca 

(Click on above link for full article)

According to this article, self-directed learning was included for the first time in the 2003 AETS (Adult Education and Training Survey).

In 2002, 33% of working adults engaged in self-directed job-related learning activities in the four weeks prior to the survey. Participation in self-directed learning was higher among women than men (35% versus 30%) and among younger workers than older workers (38% for 25 to 34-year-olds versus 23% for 55 to 64-year-olds).

While researching for my 2nd reflective writing paper, I read numerous articles on how Adults learning differs from child and youth. This made me think that perhaps one of the reasons that a higher number of younger workers were seeking out training versus the adults is because the trainings are tailored more for the learning styles of younger students?

What also stood out to me was the fact that:

participation rates in self-directed learning were lowest for workers with the least formal education (16%) and rose with education, reaching 50% for workers with a university degree.

Within the conclusion of the article, the researcher states: “the evidence suggests that formal education and the acquisition of new skills through further education and training are mutually reinforcing, further widening the gulf between the education haves and have-nots.”

However, the reasons for not receiving further training were “cost, being too busy at work, a conflict between training and work schedules, and family responsibilities.” This shows the disparity between those with higher education and those who have not had a chance or opportunity for further education.

It also reinforces the fact that life and career experiences should to be taken in to consideration and also acknowledged and valued when encouraging adults to participate in further education and training programs. I believe many adults may not apply to programs out of fear that by not having the formal education they may either be rejected, or be unable to complete the program successfully.

 

Self-Directed Learning Fundamentals

Dr. Peter Gray is an evolutionary psychologist that studies how people learn and a huge advocate of play. Learn more about his work at
http://alternativestoschool.com

Podcast: STORYTELLING AS TEACHING

Here is the link to a great podcast on storytelling as teaching with Aaron Daniel Annas, assistant professor of cinema arts and Faculty Director of the Vanguard Sundance Program from the Teaching in Higher Ed Website.

Click HERE for podcast!

Storytelling

• Who are stories for?
• How do you distinguish between entertaining our students and educating them?
• What makes for a good story?
• What do we do if we aren’t good at telling stories?
• How do we know if we are good at telling stories?
• Importance of the relevance to a course
• Bringing in story in to a class without us necessarily having to be the storyteller

RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms

This RSA Animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin award.

The RSA is a 258 year-old charity devoted to driving social progress and spreading world-changing ideas.

Follow the RSA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RSAEvents
Like the RSA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rsaeventsoff…
Listen to RSA podcasts: https://soundcloud.com/the_rsa
See RSA Events behind the scenes: https://instagram.com/rsa_events/

Source: YouTube

The Revolution of Self-Directed Learning – Sean Bengry

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Sean speaks on how technology can be used to improve typical lecture style education, and how business can take advantage of this to support the professional development of their employees.

Sean Bengry is a learning strategist within Accenture’s Talent & Organization development group. He helps organizations understand and develop the best experience possible to improve workforce performance though learning.

Bengry is passionate about leveraging technology to help people find the right information they need to do their job successfully. As an active speaker and leader, his work has taken him all over the world as he continues to assist other learning professionals in developing corporate learning strategy, but more importantly, changing the overall culture of learning within companies.

He holds a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Roberts Wesleyan.

Source: YouTube

Cognitive Science Podcast

Understanding the Role of Negative Emotions in Adult Learning and Achievement: A Social Functional Perspective

(Above title linked to paper)

Authors: Anna D. Rowe and Julie Fitness

This paper was published by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information in the Journals of Behavioural Sciences in February 2018.

 

Online Learning (Trends in Adult Education)

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/future-online-learning-higher-education/

This article highlights the increasing trend for online learning in higher education. With technology growing at a fast pace, and the increase in research and support for self-directed learning, it seems that Online Learning is developing into a widely accepted mode of learning.

Mobile learning has had rapidly increasing interest with the development of technology. Of the many phone applications being used as learning tools Duolingo stands out as a popular one. Duolingo is a language learning platform with 170 million users worldwide (2017).  Their goal is to  give everyone access to a private tutor experience through technology and they have been successfully been able to do so using a gaming mobile (and website) experience.

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One of the other points discussed is Redesigned Classrooms. A great example of a “smart” classroom would be a course on Coursera. Courses on Coursera include recorded video lectures, auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments, and community discussion forums. 25 million learners have access to 2000+ courses with interactive presentations, videos, podcasts, images and multiple avenues and modes of learning.

With the growing trend of online learning and the increasing growth of self-directed learning in Canada, it is important as an adult educator to familiarize myself with online teaching methods and learn how to develop interesting and interactive ways of teaching in ‘smart’ classrooms.

By researching and using these methods of learning myself, I am better equipped to provide similar learning experiences for the groups I facilitate. For example, introducing Duolingo and interactive game-style learning to the participants of the english conversation groups I facilitate would help not only by providing more self-directed and technologically advanced learning, but also increase tech literacy amongst the users.

Podcast: Igniting Online Learning

Professor Shelley Kinash talks about the joy, pedagogy and heightened student experience of online learning. What is online learning? How is online learning different from distance education? What does online education enable and enhance learning? What innovations are universities unleashing? What is The Community of Inquiry Theoretical Framework? (Garrison)

Click on the following to hear the entire podcast:

Spotify: Igniting Online Learning

 

Heritage Language Maintenance in Family Literacy Programs

Lessons from parents, and with parents in early literacy learning for migrant and refugee students

What I found most interesting and relevant in this paper is the importance for using and retaining one’s “home language”. Working with newcomer refugee families, I have often noticed how much importance is given to English and less of an emphasis on literacy as a whole. Especially when children begin going to school, caregivers feel an immense pressure to ensure academic excellence by concentrating on their children acquiring English as soon as possible, versus realizing (pg. 4, 5) that there are “cognitive advantages and benefits across the lifespan of knowing and using more than one language” (Bialystok, 2011; Bialystok, Abutalebi, Bak, Burke, & Kroll, 2016 as cited in the above link).

There is definitely a shift in trend in this regard; for example, our program has recently developed a family literacy program keeping in mind the importance of retaining and maintaining one’s first language. We now encourage parallel translation, as well as caregivers and children teaching the group facilitators words and daily use phrases in their first languages so that we can show how important it is for us, as facilitators, to learn their languages too.

The authors Anderson, Kim, McTavish also discuss the importance of maintaining one’s home language as a necessary tool for intergenerational communication, which I find is the most useful reasoning to use with families when discussing first language retention. The fact that most children will eventually self acquire English as they begin going to school but will lose their first language quickly if it is not used at home is also something that the caregivers resonate with.

Cummins’ theory of Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) suggests that adequately developed skills in one’s first language (L1) facilitate the development of subsequent languages. In other words, the cognitive skills and abilities that learners acquire in their L1 (e.g., literacy learning) will transfer to their L2 or additional languages (Arnett, 2013 as cited in Lessons from parents, and with parents in early literacy learning for migrant and refugee students. Retrieved from www.literacyworldwide.org

 

“Languages connect us”