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Blog Post #1: Learning, Motivation, and My Educational Journey

neerajblog

Hello everyone, my name is Neeraj. Currently, I am doing my bachelorā€™s in psychology, and this (Sep-Dec) is going to be my last term. My educational journey has been a mix of experiences from academic and work settings. I have been working in the customer service field for the past 3 years, and through the time, I have learnt practical lessons about patients and communication that help me learn new things as a student. 

What Learning Means to Me

Learning to me has been connecting the new knowledge to what I already know and my past experiences, so that I can apply it in meaningful ways. According to Lin(2010), “A study of Kolb learning style on experiential learning, which explains how experience, reflection, and experimentation reinforce each other. For example, when I started to work in customer service, I had to learn quickly to interact and handle customers from diverse backgrounds. The strategy that we used allowed me to practice my learning in real time, along with weekly reflection on what worked or did not, and adjust my approach accordingly. This practice strategy helped me to learn more effectively than just being told what to do.

There are various theories of learning, such as behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. I apply constructivism mostly because for me, learning works best when I can actively engage while connecting my ideas to my past experiences and relating my knowledge to others. Vygotskyā€™s (1978) work focused on social interaction in learning. When I learn new things in a group or through discussions, I understand the concepts more deeply because I can correlate my thinking with othersā€™ perspectives.

Motivation in Learning (ARCS Model)

According to Keller (1987), in the ARCS model, four factors drive motivation, which are attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. Ā For me, relevance holds more weight. In my psychology courses, the relevance of theories’ applications in real life motivated me to dig deeper into materials outside the lectures, such as journal articles and real-world examples. Without finding any connection with the knowledge, my attention tends to drift apart. Ā In my experience, bringing past experiences shapes new learning, which is suggested by Knowles (1980) in the theory of andragogy. Many concepts in psychology overlap with each other; for example, motivations in learning can be connected to the self-determination theory. By connecting the new learnings with past knowledge, I sped up my understanding of new knowledge.

Resources That Inspire Me

Conclusion

               In short, learning means to me the process of making connections between new information and lived experiences. Itā€™s all about creating meaning and then connecting it to an experience or place that I canā€™t forget. It is an ongoing, active, and personal process. As I continue this course, I am very excited to explore learning more about theories and motivational models that can help me deepen my understanding and also help me become a more effective and reflective learner.

References:

  • Keller, John M. “Development and use of the ARCS model of instructional design.” Journal of instructional development 10.3 (1987): 2-10.
  • Lin, Shu-Chuan, et al. “A study of kolb learning style on experiential learning.” 3th IEEE International Conference on Education Technology and Training, Wuhan, China. 2010.
  • Vygotsky, Lev S. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Vol. 86. Harvard university press, 1978.