Lesson 00: Course and Program Orientation

Adult Learning Models

Many of you have been out of school for awhile and many of you have never gone to school online. You are now "Adult Learners" and the research shows that adults learn differently especially in an online environment. You do not all learn in the same ways either. What I want to do in this section is prepare you for success by helping you understand different learning styles, and what style best suits you. I also want you to understand the different levels of cognitive learning so that you will be successful in the course.

Review the information on the following website so that you understand the characteristics of adult learners, and what motivates adult learners. After you review the website, ask yourself, "How does all of this apply to me as a student?"

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm
(Last accessed May 24, 2007)

The Ageless Learner website http://agelesslearner.com/ (Last accessed May 24, 2007) has all sorts of useful references and tools. If you want to assess your own learning style and motivation style then try these two assessments.

Required Levels of Cognitive Learning

You are now doing graduate level work which demands higher levels of cognitive learning. Benjamin Bloom created his famous Bloom's Taxonomy where he categorized levels of cognitive understanding. Basic competencies at the knowledge level such as memorizing and recalling facts are inadequate for the geospatial intelligence practioner and for graduate students. You will be called upon to engage in critical thinking requiring you to demonstrate higher order thinking skills.

Review Bloom's Taxonomy to ensure you understand the terminology and what higher order thinking skills will be expected in your coursework.

  • Knowledge - is the lowest level of learning outcomes. Memorizing and recalling a wide range of facts, data, or even complete theories falls into this category. Being able to remember and regurgitate facts from reading assignments is an example of this category. This is NOT an acceptable level of scholarship for graduate studies.
     
  • Comprehension - occurs when you understand the meaning of the material. You can demonstrate comprehension by interpreting the material through explanation or summation, by showing effects or consequences, or by translating the material from one form to another. While comprehension is critically important, it is still NOT an acceptable level of scholarship in graduate study.
     
  • Application - is the ability to take knowledge that you comprehend and apply it to new situations. This could include applying new methods, principles, concepts, theories, or laws to new situations. Application demonstrates higher order thinking than simple memorization and comprehension and will often be required in follow-on technically oriented courses.
     
  • Analysis - is essentially taking something and breaking it apart to see how it works. Deconstructing something to see its component parts and how they relate to the organizational structure are good examples of analysis. Analysis is higher order thinking because it requires an understanding of both the content and structure of the material in question. Graduate level coursework will often ask you to analyze something as part an assignment.
     
  • Synthesis - is essentially taking several different ideas and putting them together to form a new whole. This might mean taking numerous research sources, analyzing them, and then taking select components to build a new idea presented as a paper or presentation. Synthesis stresses being creative in formulating new patterns, ideas, or structures. Your reflection papers, case studies, and research papers will often demand that you synthesize various inputs.
     
  • Evaluation - is the ability to make judgments about the usefulness, value, or veracity of given material for a specific purpose. The judgment must be based on definite criteria rather than instinct, faith, or feeling. These criteria may be external (relevance to purpose) or internal (organizational criteria). Evaluation is the highest in the cognitive hierarchy as it includes the other elements plus a conscious value judgment based on defined criteria.

This course will focus on analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Ensure you apply these concepts when asked to do so in assignment instructions. The following website serves as a quick reference with examples of Bloom's Taxonomy. It is worth a moment of your time to review and perhaps print them out.

Learning Habits and Environment

By now you realize the learning is different for each individual. However, I as an instructor must standardize the course material to fit the ANGEL environment. I try to cater to different learning styles but ultimately you have to take the course as it is. Learning comes easier for some then others. To help you study "smarter" rather than "harder" the following websites are resources to help you.

  • The University of Saint Thomas "Study Guides and Strategies" website below is designed to help you develop good study habits and skills. This website can help you with: Preparing to learn; Studying; Learning with others; Reading skills; and Writing Basics.
    http://www.stthomas.edu/academicsupport/helpful_study_skills_links.htm
    (Last accessed May 24, 2007)
     
  • You can evaluate your learning habits by answering the questions on the website below (don't cheat and look at the suggestions until you are done). You can then examine and evaluate their suggestions to see how they will work for you.
    http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/checklis.html
    (Last accessed May 24, 2007)
     
  • Sometimes knowing about bad study habits helps to highlight the good ones. Check out the "Ten Traps" on the website below and see if you might fall into one or more. Look over the corrective actions to see how to avoid these traps.
    http://campushealth.unc.edu/content/view/470/65/
    (Last accessed May 24, 2007)

Set yourself up for success by developing a study plan. Consider where, when, and how you will study and then make a plan that will work for you. Students who fail to make such a plan often have unnecessary difficulty with what should be a great educational experience.

Time Management

I do not know about you, but my life is in constant overdrive. Between my civilian job, my military job, family obligations, and all the other little extras it seems like I am always on the go. As adult online learners you do not have the discipline or support of scheduled classes in a brick and mortar classroom. It gets so easy to just push studying farther back on your list of priorities. You must be self-disciplined to schedule time (about 8 hours a week) for study and assignment completion. I recommend you set aside several standardized blocks of time in your schedule (put it in Outlook and on your Blackberry/PDA then you will have to study). You might think about making a weekly calendar listing all of your activities and then identify the blocks of study time to which you can commit. This class has assignments due every week. Some of them are group discussions where it will be evident if you are unprepared. Some of the assignments are collaborative group work where you will rely on each other. Do not let yourself get behind so that you do not let yourself and your classmates down.

The website below from Virginia Tech is an interactive tool to help you figure out how much time there is for study.
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/TMInteractive.html
(Last accessed August 24, 2007)