The story of 3 buckets. "Bucket One" refers to things we have control over (actions, activity, attitude). Bucket 2 = things we can influence (other people). Bucket 3 = things we have no, or very little, control over (the weather). Many people spend a great deal of time rattling around in Bucket 3. I try to stay in Bucket 1 with occasional visits to Bucket 2. Here is my journey.
This week, I spent some time browsing for efficient, useful, and informative web resources dealing with one of my favorite topics: the study of how people learn. After scouring the web, I have narrowed it down to my 2 favorite sites. I personally value efficiency, so, you will notice that my sites include what I consider to be efficient ways of linking to additional resources for further research.
First is the Theory into Practice Database. This is a website with "50 major theories of learning and instruction." It provides summaries of the theories and within a summary, it includes links to related theories. Each summary also includes applications, examples, a reference list, and often has links to the original work of the theorist being discussed. Another aspect of this site that makes it very efficient is that you can browse theories by their name, by learning domain, or by learning concept. If, for example, I was trying to plan instruction and I knew I wanted to differentiate according to learning styles, I could go to the learning concepts and choose Cognitive/Learning Styles. Here, I would find not only summaries of the different theories but links to multiple sites dealing with learning styles. This seems like a great reference site for me to refresh my memory on different theories as I am designing instruction.
I am very excited about the second site, Science Daily. Although I find much of this site to be intriguing, I plan to focus on the educational psychology subsection within the mind and brain section. Science Daily is a science news site that covers breaking news in science as well as research articles, videos, book reviews, etc. According to the site, "Science daily is best known for showcasing the top news stories form the world's leading universities and research organizations." Under the educational psychology topic, one can find the latest news, articles, videos, images, books, and an RSS link. Personally, I could spend hours on a site like this. Each article contains links to related articles on the site. This resource will help keep me abreast of the very latest in educational psychology research. Did I mention that I'm really excited about this site?
After reviewing numerous blogs on the topics of instructional design and educational leadership I have narrowed the pool down to my 3 favorites. Well, my 3 favorites as of today as I tend to be fickle. If/When I find new favorite blogs I will be sure to post those as well. I am new to the study of Instructional Design and Technology and I am excited and optimistic about my new field. I am also always working to improve my teaching skills as that is my current profession and one of my passions, thus two of my favorites focus on ID in K-12 education which is where I see myself in the future.
Patrick Higgins, Jr. trains teachers and this is exactly what I am working towards (at this point).He writes about his thoughts around training teachers and the things he experiences as a trainer.He also discusses the need for change in education and his philosophies tend to be in alignment with my own.While it is nice to read things I agree with, I will be interested in reading the comments to his posts so that I can stretch my thinking and open my mind a bit more. Patrick has his finger on the pulse of the needs of the students as well as the needs of the teachers.He speaks from experience and from what I have read thus far there are many tomes of wisdom that are applicable to me now as a teacher and will be applicable to me as an instructional design professional.
Jay Cross blogs about instructional design, a profession he has been a part of for over 30 years. He discusses how people learn, informal learning, technology (including social media), and motivation.According to one of his entries, he also has started a new blog specifically for informal learning.This blog seems to have a wealth of useful information to the ID professional.I get the feeling when I visit his blog that I could learn or be connected to a multitude of topics in ID.I can see myself using this blog as a resource whenever I'm tackling a new problem.What I have learned thus far in the Instructional Design and Technology program at Walden University is reinforced in Jay's posts.This carries a certain level of comfort for me as this venture into the field of ID is essentially new to me.
Former K-12 music teacher, Nancy Flanagan talks about teaching, training, and educational policy.If I am to work in the instructional design field focusing on working with k-12 educators, I need to be abreast of the current education policy.I also would like to be aware of the teacher's perspective on these policies.Nancy will give me one perspective and those who comment on her blog will give me other perspectives.Nancy also discusses training and her conducting of professional development opportunities for teachers which is useful to me both as a teacher and as a future instructional design professional.
