Beliefs about Learning
I strongly believe that students have the right to learn the way that they need to in school. Children and students have different ways of learning when it comes to the material and I think that we need to recognize that and help society start adapting to the changes of this digital age. I am a strong believer in students learning things in school. However, I also strongly believe that we need to start adapting to this ever changing world and accept that our kids are changing with it as well. Learning is expected from both sides of the desks. Our students need to be able to follow the material and our teachers need to make sure their students understand the material. Its a give and take scenario and we need to be vigilant to a student’s learning needs.
I am not directly a teacher for a specific group of students so I have not been hands on in the classroom before as most teachers are so what do I know about learning? Well even if I am not a teacher in the classroom, I still interact with students and see the product of how they learned. As an admissions Counselor, it is my job to talk to students and help them with whatever they need. I found that every student is different when they approach me at my table at the college fair. Sometimes they are just looking and don’t want to answer questions and I have to guide them to or they have a lot of questions and know exactly what they want. This to me shows that they all have different ways to learning things and so whenever I encounter a student, based off of what I see, I always change my approach to fit their learning pace. So even though I don’t have a specific group of students, I always am able to see they way that students learn.
Teaching and Learning
In my job as I have mentioned already, I don’t have a specific group of students to teach. Instead I have all of Southwest Houston to cover so often I do not have time to sit down with a classroom of students and start teaching them. When I do get the chance however, I love interacting with the students and guiding them on their college thought process. I teach them how to navigate the college admissions world and what questions they need to ask. Its similar to my Innovation Plan. In my plan, I want to create an online platform that students can utilize an learn about the college process. I want it to be my way to teaching the students things when I cannot be there in person for every single student who needs me.
Teaching and learning are two different things. Dr. Harapnuik says “Therefore a teacher is a person who imparts knowledge or skill through instruction or example while a learning facilitator is one who creates an environment in which someone can come to know something, acquire knowledge, or gain information and experience”(Harapnuik, 2021). What he is saying here is that there are two different ways to teach. One as simply a teacher who follows the lesson plan to the letter and the other as a teacher who goes above and beyond to create an environment for their students. Teaching comes in two ways and I feel like I identify with the teacher who goes above and beyond with her students. I love to think of creative ways for my students to learn. My Innovation plan is a great example of that because I am thinking of new and creative ways to teach my students.
Dr. Harapnuik says in his Learning Philosophy post (Harapnuik, 2021), “Learning is an active and dynamic process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge.”
To me that means we need to start straying away from the same old material that we always teach students. Learning looks different for everyone. Some may benefit more with online material and some prefer the more hands on approach. In my Innovation plan, I am trying to figure out how I can incorporate different learning styles on the platform. I have already established courses for students to take or if they want the hands free experience, I want to have videos on the website from other admissions counselors and be able to see students learning a benefiting from them. Learning keeps changing everyday as our students change the way they think and act. Its like how we change our cars and what everyone’s vision is for their perfect car. We keep changing the cars’ designs with time and its the same with learning. We need to change with the world and focus on how our students learn.
Teaching-Learning-Assessment Framework. (n.d.). AAC&U. https://www.aacu.org/initiatives/tla-framework
As a Learner
Reflecting on myself as a learning is an interesting trip. When I first started out in college I was not very good at doing my work and at one point I failed a class in my very first semester. In general I am not a very good test taker so I am usually able to learn the material but I am not able to memorize it in order to take tests. However now that I am in my masters degree in the ADL program at Lamar, I see that my view on learning is so much different than it used to be. The ADL program is more focused on us as the learners controlling our learning environment instead of getting everything handed to us in every specific detail. Instead we are being asked to do our own research into how we think assignments should be handled and created. Yes it is nice that I don’t have to take any tests in the program but I have realized that tests are not necessary for a student to be able to succeed. I used to think that tests were so hard and if you did not pass you were not smart. But now that is not how I view it at all. I realize that everyone has different learning styles and move at different paces. I used to think I was not smart and always struggled with tests but I know now that tests don’t define who you are and we need to find a way to avoid testing our students because that puts unnecessary pressure on them to learn when everyone has a different learning pace.
My learning theory
In Dr. Harapnuik’s article, Four keys to understanding learning theories(2021), he suggested the existence of the current three primary learning theories. Those three primary learning theories are behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.
Thinking about which ones I identify with is an interesting task. I feel like I am all over the place with which way I learn but If I had to choose one that I identify with the most, I would go with Constructivism. Ertmer and Newby (Ertmer & Newby, 1993) wrote that “Constructivism is a theory that equates learning with creating meaning from experience”. I feel like I identify with that the most because in life I mostly like to live through the experience before I learn what to do and what not to do. I don’t go based off of logic, I go based off of my experience. I like to build on my foundation with my own experiences instead of listening to others about their experience. I like to teach my students about my personal experience and how I benefited or didn’t benefit from my personal experience.
When I go to college fairs as an admissions counselor I am always hoping that more than one students steps up to my table at a time because as a Constructivist, I want them to be able to communicate with each other and talk things over because if they do they will begin to grow more comfortable with asking questions about college and hopefully they will be able to apply what they learned at their next college fair or presentation. How Constructivism relates to my Innovation Plan is so awesome. My online platform that I intend to create will hopefully get the students to collaborate together on what they learned thorough it . They will hopefully be talking to each other in groups on how to navigate the platform and what they can take away from that learning experience.
Philosophy: Learning vs Teaching
The more I do some research and look up teaching and learning philosophy’s, the more I understand it. In the post Four Teaching Maxims That Endure, Weimer says that ” at the beginning of a career, most of us don’t think much about the philosophy that guides our teaching. There are courses to prep and a myriad of instructional details that demand attention. But at some point, most of us do start thinking about what we’re doing and whether it lives with what we believe” (Weimer, 2008).
This teaches us that usually we all start out with a learning philosophy and then move on to the teaching philosophy somewhere in our journey. When I first started in Admissions, I was only focused on what they required me to do and I followed that to the letter when it came to answering students texts, calls and emails. Now that I started the ADL program I found that I am adopting the teaching philosophy a whole lot more. I am making my communication with students more personalized and when I go to college fairs, I am always trying to communicate with the students as much as I can and trying to get them to talk to each other because when they do, I can see their personalities come out and I can better help them understand the college process the way that they learn in school. I am also trying to apply the teaching philosophy to my Innovation Plan as well. It is a hard road I am going down but with all the research and learning that I am doing, I see that it is getting easier to see what kids want in a online platform.
Conclusion
In general, I believe my teaching philosophy and my innovation plan go together nicely. My plan deals with using an online platform to help my students learn and using my teaching philosophy, I am trying to find ways to incorporate different types of learning styles into it so students can all learn at the same pace. My role as a change agent is to help the students navigate the online platform and constantly improve it due to the feedback I get from the students. I want the learners to leave the website with a better understanding of what the college admissions process looks like.
Sources
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features from an Instructional Design Perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1937-8327.1993.tb00605.x
Harapnuik, D. (2021, November 10). Four keys to understanding learning theories. Harapnuik.org. Retrieved April 17, 2022, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=6344
Harapnuik, Dr. D. (2021, November 20). Learning Philosophy. Harapnuik.org. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=95
Teaching-Learning-Assessment Framework. (n.d.). AAC&U. https://www.aacu.org/initiatives/tla-framework
Weimer, M. (2008, August 3). Four Teaching Maxims That Endure. Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/philosophy-of-teaching/does-your-teaching-learning-philosophy-align-with-your-teaching/Philosophy
Annotated Bibliography
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features from an Instructional Design Perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1937-8327.1993.tb00605.x
This journal really helped me learn a lot about the learning philosophy’s. They address the ways we define learning and they provide very detailed views on Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Constructivism. They say the paper is an attempt to familiarize leaders on those three learning philosophy’s
Harapnuik, D. (2021, November 10). Four keys to understanding learning theories. Harapnuik.org. Retrieved April 17, 2022, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=6344
The four keys to understanding learning theories teaches us about the history of learning theories and which ones we identify with. He describes some of his journey thorough learning and how it relates to the post that he released.
Harapnuik, Dr. D. (2021, November 20). Learning Philosophy. Harapnuik.org. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=95
In Dr. Harapnuik Learning Philosophy post he basically illustrates the journey he went through to apply his knowledge to the learning philosophy’s he learned and he put all that he learned in that post. Its a good read and I highly recommend it.
Weimer, M. (2008, August 3). Four Teaching Maxims That Endure. Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/philosophy-of-teaching/does-your-teaching-learning-philosophy-align-with-your-teaching/Philosophy
In this article, Weimer mentions the four themes that have remain stable throughout Bill Mckeachie’s book. She also addresses the three learning philosophy’s and how they differ from each other
It's Not Just About Ideas 
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