1st Post

1.What are your beliefs about how people learn best? What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology?

My belief is that people learn best by saying, showing, then doing a particular step. If you tell someone what to do, then show them how to do it, then follow up by allowing them to do the task for theirself, then that person would get a better understanding of the task. Once this concept is put into action, then after about 3 times of doing this task, that person has learn the basic and can add on later to thier knowlede base. This could also be similiar to rote memory but once a person touches the task utilizing their hands-on abilities, they are more interested and they can understand the why and how of doing things.

An example provided by the book (Psychology of Learning for Instruction) states that the learning theory defines 3 components: The results, the means, and the inputs. Once these are defined then you have the reason for the theory.
When you look at this in Educational Technology, you see that you are constantly repeating the process to gain more knowledge and to build more technology that is constantly changing. Once you have established a situation, then another occurs that can make the first better. You have questions and dig for answers to get a simplied answer.

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.