Author: linaworden

After typing in “addictive nature of social media” into my YouTube search bar I began watching a video titled “Why scrolling on social media is addictive” by Washington Post. If this video was used in our learning resource learners would be able to respond to the video on their own by making notes on how addiction starts and why it happens. This will help them understand the concept and understand terms and definitions. While watching the short video, learners can also take notes on these concepts. By taking notes they can then apply the information to the learning objectives and interactive activities. 

After watching the video I would suggest to the learners that they complete the multiple choice quiz. This will allow concepts and terms to be fresh and then after the quiz is completed it will be a measure of how much they learned from the video. The video would help learners be able to recognize when social media is being used as a drug for themselves as well as others. It will also let them gain a sense of the concept of social media’s addictive features such as scrolling which is a widely used activity. It can be a relatable video which can help learners use their own experience to understand concepts. 

Students would receive feedback by submitting their quiz on whichever learning resource they are using (e.g., Brightspace). Once completed, the learner will get automatic feedback, or if it is an assignment rather than a quiz, the instructor will privately post the feedback that only the learner can see. Additional feedback options could include Zoom meetings with the instructor or communication through email. Allowing learners to submit their activities online would potentially decrease the workload, as you can have the websites automatically grade quizzes. The work would be manageable and an efficient way for learners to receive feedback. This approach can definitely be scaled for a larger number of students because of automatic grading and the efficient communication of the feedback.

Due to being in high school and university at times when we had to do school from home or even write our finals online from home, I know the stress that comes with it. What if we can’t access learning resources? What if we don’t understand the concepts from home? This can be stressful for learners as many learn best in person or hands on experience. Since many schools and universities have made switches to online learning, I believe it is necessary to elaborate on strategies to make sure all learners’ needs can be met. 

With the learning activities we created they can be easily adjusted to make sure they still get the best education while being online if an unexpected event were to occur. For the first learning objective we want learners to get familiar with definitions and concepts. This is followed by a short infographic such as slides that can be accessed online. It is then followed by a quiz which is also done online already so it is easily accessible for learners to do from home. The second learning objective comes with an activity where learners will learn about how to build a habit. After reading these steps they will then create a pamphlet with an intervention on how to reduce the use of social media. This can be an online assignment as you can create posters and pamphlets on websites such as Canva. This can then be submitted online for the educator to assess. The third learning objective is an interactive one which may cause barriers for online learners. Learner’s are asked to respond to other learners’ experiences with social media and come up with strategies on how to solve their bad habits. By allowing zoom calls or discussion boards, learners can interact with eachother while learning online from home. 

I believe it is extremely helpful that many learning resources already come from online which make it an easier transition if an unexpected event occurred and a learner had to continue online. Since most of the resources and material that educators provide is offered online I feel as if the delivery of the information will still be successful. The learner’s can also have a more successful experience if the educator is able to communicate with them through email, collaborative chat, or zoom office calls.

Since I have been a student in school since kindergarten I have engaged, learned, and watched many different types of learning. While I think learning can be subjective for each individual, I am going to touch on inquiry-based learning and how I think it is a positive and strong way to learn. One of the best features of inquiry-based learning is that it is student-centered. This way students can pull from past experiences they can use the three inter-related memory-forming processes and can result in stronger plasticity for the learners. Although this learning form fosters exploration rather than memorization, it doesn’t mean that the learners can’t use memory from past experiences to support their outcomes of the education (ex., using past experience to solve an issue or scenario).

During inquiry-based learning, there is an educator or teacher who I think is a helpful resource/tool when learning. Their role can be to deliver information in a way where the information is provided in steps or chunks rather than as a whole. They can also encourage learners to relate their own lives to the concepts and create relevant topics. Personally, being able to relate my own experiences to concepts has made my understanding deepen and allows me to apply the concepts in real life.

This learning approach aligns with our topic of “The Addictive Nature of Social Media” as we allow learners to begin their own planning and strategies. We also encourage the learner to create their own adaptive responses to scenarios which they can decide to form from their own lives or past experiences with the topic. This topic is also relevant to the directed audience and is easy to connect with as social media has become a large part of our everyday lives. As learners explore this topic they can discover new things about themselves aswell as this topic that they may not have been aware of before. 

Some of the best learning experiences I have had were at University. I feel that cognitivism has played a big part in why my learning experiences have been so positive during my time at University. Much like behaviourism, cognitivism shows that the environment plays a big factor in learning experiences. During my third year of psychology, I took a psychology course and it was successful for me and my learning because we got to engage in a lot of group work and class disucssions. The first part of the class would be small group work then that would be followed with a big class discussion on what we had talked about.

Being surrounded by like minded people helped satisfy my relatedness because I felt a sense of belonging knowing that the people in my group shared the same interests and goals as I did. The professor allowed us to share our opinions and experiences, making it a safe environment to learn. Since I had already learned a lot of key concepts for psychology it helped that I could apply them in a practical way to group work. This form of active engagement really supported my ability to retain information while also helping me stay engaged and motivated. It also encouraged me to think critically rather than just passively absorbing information.

I thoroughly enjoyed this course because it specialized in a topic that I am intrinsically motivated to learn and care about. With the group work being a part of the class, it helped me build relationships with other classmates while also giving us space to share opinions, ask questions, and analyze ideas together. I enjoyed hearing everyone’s stories and opinions, and it made me open my eyes more to the world. These discussions allowed for deeper cognitive processing and helped me understand different perspectives, and reminded me how meaningful social and cognitive interactions are in enhancing learning processes.