Researching Relevant Professional Development Learning Task #4 By Todd Mehrkens

My area of interest is in the area of computers, so I decided to interview people who I consider to be proficient in the area of computers. Because the area of computers is a relatively new field, I made the assumption that their knowledge did not come from their high school or college education. In other words, there had to be some sort of Professional Development involved.

I started by asking, "how did you gain the computer knowledge that you currently have?". I then asked "how have you continued your learning, in order to keep up with the changes in the computer field?".

By far, the most common answer I got was that they "picked it up" along the way. This is probably not surprising for two reasons. First of all, it is only in the last 5-10 years that high schools and colleges have taught computer user skills to all students. Prior to that time, computer classes were more focused on the student who was learning to be computer programmer or needed the computer to complete an assignment. Secondly, computer knowledge is advancing so fast that any knowledge needed today was probably not being taught at the time these people were in school.

When talking with people who are proficient with computers, they all mentioned about the same methods of learning. Probably at the top of the list was reading on their own. This was either books or magazines, and to a lesser degree, on the Internet. This type of learning probably offers the highest degree of control. The learner is able to not only pick out the books or magazines that they will learn from, but also what portions they will read. Books and magazines also serve as a resource as questions come up later.

Another significant method of learning for the people I talked to was simply spending time on the computer themselves. Again, this is a highly individualized way to learn. The learner can focus on the areas in which they perceive a need and skip over the areas they already know or have no need for. It is probably no coincidence that the people I talked to enjoy spending time on the computer. One person even mentioned the importance of computer games and their role in computer learning.

I have to say that I was impressed at how well this self-directed learning works. For example, the person who is in charge of the computer network for the corporate offices of the Red Wing Shoe Company said that he has had no formal computer training. He simply purchased books and read articles when he had to accomplish something that he did not know how to do.

Not all learning methods were a solo experience. Two people saw a lot of their learning coming from talking with and asking questions of other people who were knowledgeable. An Extension Educator that I talked with made a point to say how much he learns from helping others. When you try to explain something to another person, it really seems to point out what you do and do not know. Students also ask questions that can stretch a teacher's knowledge, which then prompts learning on the part of the teacher.

One distinctly different response, which came from a college professor, was that "I gave up trying to learn about educational computing and technology on my own. . . the issue of exploratory learning. . . I vote against that!!". In many ways, I agree that in order to have an excellent working knowledge of computers, some sort of systematic and planned approach is necessary. I have personally picked up a good working knowledge of computers. However, I also know that there are big holes in my knowledge, and it is going to take a systematic approach to find and fill those holes in an efficient manner.

A good analogy might be mowing a lawn. Sometimes a kid who really loves driving a lawnmower will get on a riding lawnmower and simply start mowing. They may wander over here and over there, and because they love it so much, they keep wandering all over the yard. If they are traveling over a patch of lawn that has already been mowed, they can just raise the blade and go faster; and all the while they are enjoying the ride. If they like it well enough, they will likely get most or all of the lawn mowed, but may not be too bothered if a small patch or is left unmowed here or there.

The other approach is to carefully make each round with the lawnmower, making sure that the lawnmower is taking a full swath on each pass. The person who dislikes mowing lawn and only wants to get the job done will take this approach in order to minimize the time they have to spend on the lawnmower. The other kind of person who will mow lawn this way may enjoy mowing lawn, but does it this way in order to be sure that no part of the lawn is missed.

For this assignment, I focused on those individuals who have been personally motivated to learn more about computers, and have enjoyed the process. Self-directed learning has served most of them well. Whether or not it is the best or most efficient way to learn is still open for debate. I hope to learn more about how different people learn to become skilled computer users and what is the most efficient way to encourage and facilitate that, both for others and for myself.

-- Anonymous, February 05, 1999

Answers

As I read this, I'm inspired to investigate some more on the web about learning. I found these that look interesting:

http://www.irl.org/

http://www.irl.org/pubs/publist.html

http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/ And then from some past work I've done: (I realize there are lots of citations related to child development here, just ignore...the reason I didn't erase them is that maybe a few folks who read this may be interested in those too.)

Distance Education Sources

Sources Information and Resources on Distance Education

A comprehensive listing from the University of Bridgeport that includes associations conferences, distance education services and software general information and resources journals and newsgroups.

http://www.bridgeport.edu/Indexhtml/Centers/Disted/ode_links.html

Distance Education and Self-Directed Learning Web Sites Annotated Bibliography[Online]

http://www.webcbt.com/debiblio.htm

Technology and Teacher Education Annual, 1997

Proceedings of SITE 97, Seventh International Conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE).

http://www.coe.uh.edu/insite/elec_pub/HTML1997/

Tapped In

http://www.tappedin.sri.com/

Helpful MOO Commands

http://moolano.berkeley.edu/

CWRL MUSH & MOO Page

http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/moo/index.html

Writing Seminar Syllabus - MOO

http://www.du.org/places/du/cc/en1008sl.html

Teaching and Learning on the Web

http://www.d.umn.edu/~dfalk/tlweb.html Global Issues

http://cpd.d.umn.edu/topclass/

Student Web Contest Winners>

http://english.cla.umn.edu/courseweb/3113/home Theories of Culture

http://cla-net.cla.umn.edu/cscl/classes/cscl3321/cscl3321.htm 1001 Course Page

http://www.umn.edu/arthist/arth3014/india.htm Earth System Science from the Perspective of Minnesota Geology

http://www.geo.umn.edu/courses/1031/

On-Line Journal

http://www.du.org/places/du/cc/journal.html

References

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Alward, K. R. (1976). The flexible learning system: A program for early childhood staff development. A user's guide. San Francisco, California: Far West Lab for Educational Research and Development. (ERIC Reproductive Service No. ED 143 413).

Anderson, J.R. (1985). Cognitive psychology and its implications. New York: Freeman.

Bilotta, Eleonora; Fiorito, Mariano; Iovane, Dario; & Pantano, Pietro. An educational environment using WWW. [Online].

Brigham, J. (1974). Assessing CDA Competencies through videotape recording. Boise, Idaho: Idaho State University. (ERIC Reproductive Service No. ED 178 210).

Cornelius, G. (1987). Critical skills for the early childhood educator. Omaha, Nebraska: Association for Childhood Education International. (ERIC Reproductive Service No. 287 593).

Division for Early Childhood (1992). Compilation of professional compet encies for early intervention personnel. Pittsburgh, PA: Council for Exceptional Children.

Falk, Dennnis. University of Minnesota Duluth: Teaching and Learning on the World Wide Web. [Online] Available http://www.d.umn.edu/~dfalk/tlweb.html, July 17, 1997.

Galambos, R. P. & Black, J. B. (1986). Knowledge structures. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.

Gonzalez, G. (1974). The identification of competencies for Child Development Associate Working with Chicano children. Washington, D. C. : Child Development Associates. (ERIC Reproductive Service No. 168 231).

Gorelick, M. C. (1974). Developmental teacher competency checklist. Careers in early childhood integrated programs. San Francisco, California: California State University Northridege Preschool Lab. (ERIC Reproductive Service No. ED 097 714)

Hamby, T. M. (1977). A descriptive guide to CDA training materials. Washington, D. C.: University Research Corporation. (ERIC Reproductive Service No. ED 162 717).

Isenberg, J. (1979). Requisite competencies for the early childhood educator: Suggested guidelines for use in pre-service and in-service training. Atlanta, Georgia: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. (ERIC Reproductive Service No. ED 182 009)

Katz, L. (1982). The education of preprimary teachers. Urbana, Illinois: Early Childhood and Elementary Clearinghouse. (ERIC Reproductive Service No. ED 224 598).

Katz, L. (1996). Child development knowledge and teacher preparation: Confronting assumptions. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 11, 2, 135-146.

Langer, J. A. (1995). Relation between levels of prior knowledge and the organization of recall. In M. L. Kamil & A. J. Moe (Eds.) Perspectives on reading research and instruction. Washington, D. C., 103-122.

Lubeck, S. (1996). Deconstructing child development knowledge and teacher preparation. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 11, 2, 147-168.

Schank, R. C. & Abelson, P. (1977). Scripts, goals, and understanding: An inquiry into human knowledge structures. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.

Sherry, L. (1996). Issues in distance learning. International Journal of Distance Education, 1 (4), 337-365. [Online] Available http://www.cudenver.edu/~lsherry/pubs/issues.html, March, 24, 1998.

Soloway, Elliot; Jackson, Shari L.; Klein, Johathan; Quintana, Chris; Reed, James; Spitulnik, Jeff; Stratford, Steven Studer. Learning theory in practice: Case studies of learner-centered design.

Tobey, T. (1974). Teacher education: Early childhood and competency based. Contemporary Education, 45, 4, 266-269.

Have fun!

-- Anonymous, February 19, 1999