SMART Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the following reading and video sequence, you will be able to:
|
Content Summary
Chapter 5 summary, Avoid Illusions of Knowing
How we think and acquire knowledge with understanding through thought, experience, and sensory input are often influenced by personal illusion meant to overcome memory gaps when reciting a story, recalling information when asked to interpret a theory or subject on paper or verbatim, or to simply recall a personal event when speaking on a subject to another person. We go about our cognitive process consciously and unconsciously with concrete examples and how we interpret them to create memory, and often commit false memory recollection dues to gaps in subject knowledge (Brown et al., 2014).
When a subject is not inherently recalled, whether due to time, trauma, or whatever which causes memory failure, we fill in the gaps based upon our interpretive memory. This leads to Perceptual Illusions, or the perception of knowledge on a subject objectively existing, but influenced by memory misinterpretation of its actual nature. We use our perceived memory, or interpretation of our memory to fill in memory gaps which may not be exact detail of an event or subject. Our personal, Cognitive Bias and Memory Distortion fills in knowledge gaps based on personal assumptions (Brown et al., 2014). Ways to overcome illusions of knowing focus on testing in all forms:
|
Chapter 6 summary, Get Beyond Learning Styles
Personal influence often leads to learning methods and styles which are based in complacency and convenience. Individuals trend towards learning based on strengths and often to a method which comes naturally or easily, thus leading to illusions of knowing where knowledge gaps occur due to weak-areas in memory recollection (Brown et al., 2014).
Goals for learning should be structured based:
Steps to compliment Structure Building are:
|
Jeffrey Karpicke: Student Assessment Part 1
Jeffrey Karpicke: Student Assessment Part 1, discusses what we know from cognitive psychology and how to integrate it with today's education goals based upon research on the process of retrieval during evaluation (FFMS, 2013).
Karpicke deduces that when we study, the goal is to encode it as knowledge, and then ultimately imprint it towards memory. The act of retrieval is considered neutral, meaning it does not itself produce actual learning (FFMS, 2013). Retrieval practice is a process for understanding and promoting learning, and students to not use it enough. The challenge is to design tools and activities to guide students towards retrieval methods during study (FFMS, 2013). Retrieval creates learning
Activities for retrieval practice
|
Do Learning Styles Really Exist?
Do Learning Styles Really Exist?, defines current learning styles theory, concluding that the VAP method is erroneous when tested. VAK is an acronym for three main styles of learning based upon:
|
Connections to Field and/or Discipline
Own your subject. It's easy to fill in memory gaps with cognitive bias and other illusions of knowledge ownership; we all do it, but in a professional writing environment, you must know your subject intimately prior to and during the actual writing practice. The best way to learn a subject prior to writing is effective study and practicing the subject itself before sitting down and putting it to paper or whatever medium you wish to use to convey your subject.
|
Suggestions for Implementation
Own the subject. Use different learning methods which fall outside the comfortable to establish a sound knowledge base prior to writing. Studying and simply regurgitating source material is not true mastery of a writing subject. Practice using what you are going to write about, study it, and create key outlined clues which will work as function points an end-user can embrace as tool usage tips.
|
Formative Assessment
References
Brown, Peter., Roediger III, Henry L., & McDaniel, Mark A. (2014) Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA : The Belknap Press of Harvard University
[FFMS]. (2013, May 15). Conference "student assessment" (part 1). [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CioabgMyFlA
[McMaster University]. (2014, November 18). Do learning styles really exist?. [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYyVWBJn59g
[FFMS]. (2013, May 15). Conference "student assessment" (part 1). [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CioabgMyFlA
[McMaster University]. (2014, November 18). Do learning styles really exist?. [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYyVWBJn59g