2. LEARNING PREFERENCE TESTING
At the start of the semester when I took the preference test I received for
active-1,sensing-0,visual-5,global-1,verbal-5,intuitive-3,reflective-0. The scores I
got
were very surprising to me because I felt like I was also a very reflective learner
but
scored a 0 in that category. I feel that when I’m learning with a group I like to
discuss and reflect on what I know so I can gain a better understanding. At the
end
of the class I felt like I thought I was a really good reflective learner when
working in
groups. I noticed when I studied by myself first then talked about it with
classmates
I was able to see everything from a different angle. When I talked about quizzes
that
I did poorly on and went over the questions I missed I found that during the final
when the questions came back up I didn’t miss them the second time. In the
beginning I wasn’t very familiar with learning preferences so I would force
myself to
learn information by reading and re-reading but after I learned about learning
preferences I had a better understanding. After I realized I was better at learning
with visual aids I was able to study in a way that would allow me to do better in
Dalia Marin-
3. LEARNING PATHWAYS
In the beginning of class the learning style I selected was a learning sage. I
picked this because a lot of my friends are really advanced when it comes
to
electronics and online technology so I wanted to learn so I can be at the
same level
as them. I choose the learning sage because it was learning through
connecting with
people online. It was a great pathway to use for learning social technologys
because
it requires regular interactions online. I was able to use sites like facebook
to ask my
friends for tips and ideas on good studying strategies. I would also use it to
quiz my
friends then they would quiz me back. After some great success with the
learning
sage I decided to try the learning guide just to see how I would do. When I
changed
my learning pathway I noticed that with social technology’s it worked better
for me.
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4. ACTIVITIES
The activity that helped me expand my understanding of social technologies
for learning was social bookmarking. Though at first I didn’t really understand
how
to operate the delicious technology after I used it for a few hours I caught on.
When I
started to add social bookmarks about things such as fitness and health it
would
show me a link about how to be healthier and fit. It also allowed me to see
other
articles related to fitness and health. This helped me learn because I had to
write a
paper about how to live a healthy lifestyle for my class and when I would
finish one
article another one would come up through social bookmarking. I was able to
gain a
lot of knowledge that I needed to write my paper so I felt that social
bookmarking
helped me in great way because it was quick and the articles that would come
up
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5. EXPLORING
Through exploring different quests I found that social networking surprised
me the most because for most of the time I have had a facebook I though it was only
for keeping in touch with friends and other people. Once I started exploring the
social network I discovered that you can share pdfs and attachments through the
messaging function. I then used it to send my rough draft of an essay to one of my
friends in who is studying abroad in Spain what was so great about it is that we
could also chat while she was reviewing my paper. I also learned that facebook had
a function for creating groups. Groups on facebook were very beneficial for me
because it allowed me to create a group discussion and have certain people (whover
I add to the group) give me comments and ideas about different ways to study for
exams or share notes through the group. I found it to be a very useful technology to
better my learning because most of the people I talk to are always constantly on
facebook and often times rarely check their email. This technology didn’t really help
me verbally because there is no audio involved but it did help me visually because I
was able to see each individual comment, the time it was posted, and by whom it
was posted. It also showed me the person who posted it’s name and profile picture
right next to the comment. As a visual learner it helps me to see who comments
what so I can really absorb several different aspects of a topic.For whoever leaves a
comment it also provides a link to click on their profile incase I have any additional
private questions or comments. I also received notifications whenever someone
responded to my group discussion. The notifications helped my active learning
preference because I was able to review comments and feedback as soon as they
were posted on the wall, which saved me a lot of time.
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6. EXPLORING PT.2
Ipods and mp3 players quest was another technology that I explored for the
purpose of learning. With my learning preference being a visual and active
learner I
felt that it would be a good help for me to learn new information. I learned
that you
can record your voice on the ipod and play it back as many times as you
want to
help learn new information. When I recorded myself on the ipod I would
listen to it
on the go as well as when I was at home. This helped me memorize key
terms for my
course in learning to speak Spanish. The ipod technology really helped me
learn
because it was a way to use technology that I would normally use to listen
to music
and browse the internet to improve my learning and practice for my test.
This
helped my preference of hearing things because since im always going
from class to
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7. EXPLORING PT.3
The last technology that I explored to help me learn was the ipad.I
bought the
Ipad thinking it was only for entertainment and leisure activities. When I
first
explored the ipad it caught my attention when I noticed how clear the
resolution
was and how it has the capability to do video calls through skype. The
ipad
surprised me when I started to use it for learning because it really helped
me share
content with my friends through video chatting. Since my learning
preference is
visual and auditory it really helped me study with video calls because I
could see my
group partners as well as talk to them and exchange ideas. It also helped
me
because it had several free apps available to help me practice speaking
Spanish for
my Spanish course. The ipad was my favorite out of all the technologies
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8. SYNTHESIZING MY EXPERIENCE
The social technology that interested me the most was social
bookmarking.
The reason I was so interested is because more often then not, when
people add
social bookmarks there are pictures attached. Since my preference for
learning is
primarily visual I really enjoy using social bookmarks to expand my
learning
because they are easy to look at. Social bookmarks are a great way to
learn because
you can get a lot of insight as to what several people think about a
certain topic. I
think all the social technology’s we learned in this class can help
learning one way
or another but I feel that the one that surprised me the most was social
networking.
I thought that it was only to socialize but I found out its a great way to
work in
groups and share ideas. I would like to explore more screencasting for
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9. SYNTHESIZING MY EXPERIENCE
The technology that helped my learning preference as a visual and
reflective
learner was micro blogging. I felt that this was the best way for me to learn
because
it helped me really connect with my peers with hash tags. If I ever had a
question
about a topic I would hash tag it on my twitter account and in a few minutes
I had
replies to my questions. This really allows me to learn something with the
input of
others to expand my knowledge of a certain topic. I feel that this was my
best
learning technology because while I was reading and learning I could also
share my
ideas with other people by using hash tags and allowing them read what I
have to
say about any given topic.
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10. HOW I WILL USE WHAT I LEARNED TO MOVE
FORWARD
The learning strategies that I will continue to use in my future classes
would
be microblogging and my Ipad. I think I really improved my learning and
study
habits using these two technologies because so far I noticed
improvement even just
using them a little bit when studying for finals at the end of this
semester. I feel that
social networking I will continue to use for staying connected with my
friends and
family all around the world. If in the future I hold a job where there will be
collaboration of employees I think I will resort to social networks
because they are
so popular and common while at the dame time they can be very good
for private
group conversations.
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11. HOW I WILL USE WHAT I LEARNED TO MOVE
FORWARD PT.2
My goals for after this class would be to keep using all these beneficial
learning technologies but I feel that there were some that only helped in
certain
classes. The one that I might stop using for learning would be games. The
reason is
because I feel that playing games to learn was fun and productive for
learning stuff
to do with money or physiology but for my major I feel like I could be
easily
distracted. Games often times take my focus away from important
things, which
might not help me learn. If I worked in a business where I had to teach
people how
to do things online I would definitely use screencast to show people how
to do
something while adding audio so they can listen along while they are
learning. for
non learning purposes I think will still use my facebook account and
twitter to
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socialize most of the time but every no and then I will use it for learning