Week 5 - Information Processing Model (if memory serves...)

Muddle, er, Moodle has struck me again... I kept visiting the ilearn site all week so I could make sure I knew what was due this week, but there was an Assignment due this week that either was mentioned in class (which is the most likely answer) or I just did not understand where to look for it. Well, we had a graphical representation of the Information Processing Model due...yeah, I missed that...or MAYBE, I failed to retrieve learned information because of a failure to encode, retrieve, or through interference.

To start the class, we had a discussion about the Research topic and the Glossary in Moodle. By the end of the term, each student is supposed to have researched a topic related to learning. Mine, obviously, is Blogging. Through the research, we are supposed to add a one page into the glossary about our research topics. In our summary of the concept, we are supposed to formulate how specific learning theories are applied. This, of course, all leads to our final project and our personalized learning theory.

I am still grappling with my own theory. Right now, I think my learning theory is one of personalized learning. I think there are so many factors into learning, there is no Silver Bullet (as they say in software development). Each person learns differently...it is figuring out their learning modality that provides the real challenge.

Mental note: Comment on 2 other people’s forum entries.

Dr. Foreman also highlighted the BLOG and how I am going to attach the blog posts to Muddle (darn I did it again...Moodle) each week...in fact I am typing this blog entry while she is talking about it... I wonder if people will find this useful...

Pop Quiz...not graded...this was a review of Behaviorism (through Information Processing, BTW). The quiz asked specifics about what we learned last week, not the spirit of what was learned. We had to even recall the inventors of certain theories...was this to illustrate a point of the IPM? Then we had to verify our answers...I won’t repeat the words I used when I realized how many I had gotten wrong...
- For me, I did not learn anything from the quiz itself...but after our group discussion I saw strong value in the test. Is that not constructivism?

Another Pop quiz, of sorts...this time we were separated into two groups...I have no idea what the other group did, but we were shown 20 items for 60 secs then sat down and wrote down what we remembered. I think I made up some of my responses...we’ll see.
OK, I thought we were the control group...we were not. We received instruction and hints, the other group was on their own. I got 18...I missed the Post-Its and the Screwdriver (tho I will say I thought there were post-its and wrote it down, but put a question mark down)
- The control group did really well. They should have averaged 7, but they averaged 15. We actually had someone get 20 and someone get 19.

The short term memory should only be able to hold 7 +/- 2 items, but we learn how strategies and techniques to encode that information so it doesn’t just die there. I think mine are all sub-conscious...I just remember, but others have mnemonic devices and story telling to keep that information around. How can we use this with students?

Knowledge is broken down into facts, concepts, procedures, and principles. With knowledge we can 1. remember (recollect info), 2. use (apply information), and 3. find (discover deeper meaning).

From the video, I remember the following the most: SCHEMA – Frameworks of pre-conception, physical alteration associated with memory, PEG WORD MNEMONIC associating using related concepts, Chunking – rehearse to make the info stay longer, Memory is networked, memory is encoded – stored – retrieved.


Highlight of the week: I think that Information processing is a misnomer...there is little processing here, which is to say there is little evaluation or thought. I think it would be more aptly named Information Retention and Regurgitation Model.

Note: Quiz on Chapter 3 is probably coming next week. Look at page 76 for further information.

Thoughts?


Visit the ITEC 800 website at:
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/index.htm

Visit moodle at:
https://ilearn.sfsu.edu

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Matt Harris
Director of Technology
Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School