Neary February Monthly Summary

EDAC Monthly Summary

The months of January and February have flown by, but not without numerous assignments. During the first two months in this course, I have been exposed to many new ideas and topics. The readings for EDAC 634 have been quite insightful and educative. I feel much more comfortable with the material discussed in the weekly discussion boards after reading and watching the videos provided by Dr. Chang. The first assignment was Topic Summary & Selection. I was not familiar with many of the topics, but once I completed the summaries I felt much more at ease. While completing assignment 1- a topic selection must be made. Choosing a topic that is of interest is important because you will be dealing with it one way or another for the rest of the semester. Knowing this, I researched intensively when completing my topic summaries. The topic that stood out to me the most was – experiential learning. Experiential learning is similar to my creative project and something that I personally believe is very important in education. Personally, I learn best from ‘doing’ rather than just memorizing a definition. I have to write a term out, and dissect it to fully interpret and understand it. I know some individuals are ‘lucky’ enough to be able to just read a chapter once and feel like they are component with the topic. I have to read, think, highlight, take notes, and then do something active in relation to the topic (Ex. Math problem- actually have to completely resolve on my own). After that just maybe I will be able to comprehend a topic. Since I am a second year graduate student, I have somewhat ‘mastered’ the way I learn and know the process and what is needed to ensure a comprehensive understanding. For the longest time, I was frustrated that I didn’t learn as ‘quickly’ or easily as the other students. Now, months away from completing my masters I have realized that my learning preference provides an advantage to me. Since I use such an extensive learning process, I am able to recall on topics because I created a learning experience when first studying. If I am asked to recall on a topic, my mind goes back to when I was studying and it is easier for me to remember in-depth information relevant because of it. If I didn’t force myself to learn so thoroughly, I would not be as knowledgeable. After less than 2 months in this course, it has shown me that the way I learn is not uncommon for others, especially not adult learners. Having this personal connection to experiential learning helped me narrow down my topic selection. A literature Review was conducted using experiential learning specifically Kolb’s learning cycle which conforms to the experiential learning ‘theory’. The literature review showed how many scholars have passion and believe in ‘learning by doing’ and provided insightful perspectives. Each scholar has their own particular implications for use of the experiential learning theory. This made the Literature Review quite intensive. Overall, they all are centered around the ideal that experiences are a key component to learning. Following the literature review was a program investigation. The program investigation provided insight of two programs that use components of the experiential learning theory in practice. Both the programs were either undergraduate or graduate level course. I choose two programs with varying subjects to show the variety that is applicable for use of the experiential learning theory. The programs both provided great features, many of which will be implemented as applications in the program design. The program design is the next assignment, which will take all the research from the literature review and features identified in the program investigation and put them into an actual program! I’m excited to design a program using the experiential learning theory. Last semester in EDAC 635, this was actually my favorite assignment especially since it is closely related to my creative project- which is designing a case-based reasoning module for a Residential Property Management (RPM) graduate level course. Many of the disciplines used when designing the program design will be used to help me with my creative project! I am not exactly sure what the topic of my program design will be- if it will be focused toward facilitators, students, etc. - but I do know it will be made for ‘adult learners’. In the next few days I will start my program design. I have a few ideas after completing the program investigations. I know that I am going to incorporate features highlighted in the program investigation including: reflection, active learning environment, and use of pre-and-post assessment. I look forward to working with my partner, John. As you may have seen from his monthly summary- he has been quite busy! Moving and starting a new job, so hopefully we will be able to work together on the next few assignment!