“Don’t let your learning lead to knowledge, let your learning lead to action.”
While attending this week’s EL6052 (eLearning Theory and Practices) lecture, I was reminded of a quote I had previously read by the late author, entrepreneur and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn. While much of Rohn’s work centered around personal development and business acumen, the above quote merits its standing within the realms of education, and particularly in relation to this week’s lecture topic, the Depth Education model (Weigel 2002), and Deep Learning.
I found the content of the lecture extremely interesting and thought-provoking for several reasons. From a personal perspective, I hope to transition into the Instructional Design space upon completion of the MA Technical Communication & eLearning, and so have naturally been doing a lot of reading and research on the area, particularly in relation to eLearning. The one question I find myself often returning to is: to what extent are the skills and strengths I currently possess transferrable to the role of Instructional Designer?
This week’s lecture, and in particular the sections on Conditionalized Knowledge and Metacognitive Knowledge, evoked a welcome sense of reassurance that I was on the correct path. In my role as an English Teacher and Assessment Specialist, I have found the most successful lessons and tasks I have delivered, in terms of student engagement, are those based on content explicitly applicable and relevant to learners’ everyday lives. In my experience, using realia in the classroom and ensuring learners understand the contexts in which to use the content being taught, greatly increases engagement levels. It also increases the likelihood of successfully achieving learning objectives. In an EFL context this can be something as simple as using an authentic restaurant menu to teach students food vocabulary. Not only will they learn about different foods and dishes, but they will also learn how to order food in a restaurant. While I have been adhering to this practice for several years, I found it interesting to learn more about the theory behind it. In particular, the importance of developing educational and instructional content in alignment with the WIIFM acronym (What’s In It For Me), and how this can be incorporated into eLearning.
Returning to the quote that inspired this post, I feel it is appropriate to put a new spin on it and to remember to "not let my instruction lead to knowledge, but to ensure it leads to action”. Moving forward, this ability to apply context to course content will be key, especially in the design of my end of semester development project. Upon entering the industry, my goal is to use the theoretical and practical knowledge I have acquired from the MA to strike a balance between incorporating aspects of learning theory like the one just discussed, and maintaining an appreciation of what motivates learners, in the hope of building effective, interactive, and engaging eLearning courses.
Image Source: Dreamstime Royalty Free stock Images
Reference: Weigel, Van B. (2002) Deep Learning for a Digital Age. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
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