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Totally agree about the dates/times being planned ahead of time. That's why I made those sessions optional. Next time, though, I will definitely set those well in advance. Thanks so much for the feedback.

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Totally agree about the dates/times being planned ahead of time. That's why I made those sessions optional. Next time, though, I will definitely set those well in advance. Thanks so much for the feedback.

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This is great, Callison. Thank you! Love the graphic, in particular. 

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This is great, Callison. Thank you! Love the graphic, in particular. 

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Merriam, S.B. & Bierema, L.L. (2014). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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6 Models of Blended eLearning Infographic - e-Learning Infographics. (2013, November 07). Retrieved July 1, 2019, from https://elearninginfographics.com/6-models-of-blended-elearning-infographic/

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Business Insider. (2015, July 15). Information overload is killing our ability to make decisions. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/information-overload-is-killing-our-ability-to-make-decisions-2015-7

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The greatest advantage for my learning as an adult in the digital age has been access to online learning.  When deciding to pursue my master's degree, I reviewed several different options.  Most teachers in my district opt to complete a cohort program through Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS).  This program has many benefits, including AACPS paying your tuition upfront, taking courses in county schools (less driving), and completing your courses in sequence with a group of students.  While some aspects of this cohort program are appealing, I desired more flexibility to work with my busy schedule. I ultimately decided to pursue the M.Ed. in Secondary Education at Towson because of the ability to enroll in face-to-face, blended, and online courses.  According to Merriam and Bierema (2014), The U.S. Department of Education reported that blended learning was a more effective instructional model for adults than face-to-face or fully online courses (p. 198).  These findings align closely with my personal experiences.  For example, the hybrid course I took during the spring semester met on campus every other week.  During the face-to-face sessions we engaged in discussions, participated in activities and had several debates based on class readings.  The online weeks were reserved for online activities, reading, writing, and specific tasks related to developing our final project.  This class structure was beneficial because the debates increased my understanding of the course content, and were not very successful when we tried to compete them online (kialo.com).  Additionally, the online work felt meaningful as it was all building toward a final project and could be completed independently. The online component of the course was also well organized as Blackboard was used to house all of the necessary instructional resources. In the blended learning environment, I experienced the most professional growth while feeling as though my time was respected.

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6 Models of Blended eLearning Infographic

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6 Models of Blended eLearning Infographic

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This infographic describes the characteristics and populations best suited for different models of blended learning.

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-Blackboard was very well organized, making assignments and resources easy to find

-Announcements and important course updates were sent via email

-Students were introduced and invited to use a variety of online tools for reading reflections

-Students were introduced to twitter as an academic discussion tool

-Online scholarly article discussions were arranged so students can respond asynchronously

-Instructor provided detailed and prompt feedback on assignments using Blackboard and Google Docs

-Synchronous online video sessions were provided as an optional support

*This course was very engaging and I feel I learned a lot due to the way it was set-up and organized. Thank you so much!

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-The meeting times for synchronous online video sessions were not decided on as a class. Due to prior commitments, I was only able to attend the first session as this was decided on using a poll.  I would have liked to participate as I enjoy the online discussions and getting to talk to other students. If a course is going to have synchronous sessions, I believe a time should be chosen and displayed when registering for the course (I'm not sure if that is possible) or the polling tool should be used for those weeks.

- While I found the social cognition activities valuable, I always find it challenging to complete group assignments in online classes.  I liked that for the first two assignments we worked with the same group. I would have liked working with this group for longer since we had figured out an effective way of communication and had gotten into a good "flow".

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My Greatest Disadvantage: Information Overload

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My Greatest Disadvantage: Information Overload

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Information overload is a natural consequence of adults being connected to the internet 24/7 (Merriam & Bierema, 2004, p. 200).  In the text, the authors describe how we will not allow people to work 20 hour shifts in a factory, but we often expect individuals to respond to emails, texts, and social media communications at all hours of the day.  This lack of disconnection is not healthy for our brain functioning.  I have certainly experienced this phenomenon as an adult in the digital age and I feel it is detrimental to my learning.  For example, often when I am working on course work for my master's, I am distracted by email alerts on my phone from parents or messages from my students on Google Classroom. This is especially prevalent toward the end of the marking period or during science fair when my students are submitting assignments. I actually had to delete my work email and Google Classroom apps from my phone so I am not distracted from other tasks.  I have also decided next year to set virtual "office hours" so my students know when they can actually expect a response via Google Classroom. As this is a great tool for communication, I want to find a way to use it effectively where it does not hinder my academic studies and my teenage students learn to use the technology appropriately.

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Article: Information overload is killing our ability to make decisions

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Article: Information overload is killing our ability to make decisions

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According to the Business Insider (2015), information overload contributes to a phenomenon  known as decision fatigue, where the act of making daily decisions, even small ones, becomes overwhelming. I'm pretty sure I experience this phenomenon any time my husband and I get into an "argument" because we can't decide where to eat for dinner! Contributing to this phenomenon are media companies which use our data to make recommendations (i.e. decisions) for us (think: Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc.).

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We make a huge number of decisions every day. When it comes to eating, for example, we make 200 more decisions than we're consciously aware of every day. How is this possible? Because, as Daniel Kahneman has explained, while we'd like to think our decisions are rational, in fact many are driven by gut feel and intuition. The ability to reach a decision based on what we know and what we expect is an inherently human characteristic.

The problem we face now is that we have too many decisions to make every day, leading to decision fatigue - we find the act of making our own decisions exhausting. Even more so than simply deliberate different options or being told by others what to do.

Why not allow technology to ease the burden of decision making? The latest smart technologies are designed to monitor and learn from our behaviour, physical performance, work productivity levels and energy use. This is what has been called Era Three of Automation - when machine intelligence becomes faster and more reliable than humans at making decisions.

You, me and my algorithm

Intelligent systems use algorithms (formulas for taking in data and outputting other data) to learn patterns and behaviours from how we use them. One industry that has grown rapidly is online dating - in the UK alone, the market is expected to grow from £165m to £225m by 2019. This enormous growth stems from the perception that finding love is hard, so any technology that can help will be popular.

Online dating sites' matching algorithms create a reliance upon, if not a belief in, a scientific approach to finding love. But instant satisfaction sites such as Tinder also encourage developing many weak ties between partners that often lack commitment, emotional intensity and intimacy.

Should we want to relegate our most important human adventure to an algorithm? Might we find ourselves with a generation of people who are willing to trade the current partner for a better model, or who trust big data-generated matches more than their own instincts?

Making decisions visual

The ability to visualise data has accelerated the move of knowledge from our minds and onto the screen. This, tied with our fear of being wrong, presents new opportunities for business.

Sproutling is one of many companies that have tapped into our need for quantification and visualisation. Their product is a wearable baby monitor that records a baby's heart rate, skin temperature, motion and position, data it uses to predict about the baby's mood, comfort, sleep pattern and even when the baby is due to wake up.

Sproutling prides itself on eliminating guesswork, but in fact it feeds a new breed of parents-cum-data-scientists who watch over their children constantly, but once-removed behind the screen. A recent study has shown that technology that conveys or displays emotions makes people uncomfortable. Nevertheless, the Sproutling has already sold out.

Data-driven decision making is becoming the dominant logic, in our private lives and at work. A global study from PwC found executives are comfortable making decisions based on their gut instinct. However, a majority expect the use of data to affect how the company makes decisions in the future.

Data can help an organisation to see the big picture and identify trends and patterns. However there's a danger that we over-rely on data and so lose sight of the context, more often than not acquired through instinctive understanding and the value of conversations.

Subtle manipulation

Many companies such as Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and Tesco use data on our web habits to make recommendations to us. These are small acts where systems' decisions narrow the opportunities we have for natural, organic exploration. The old way of stumbling upon a new artist, film or author is replaced by loops of similarity.

Arizona State University academics Braden R Allenby and Daniel Sarewitz explain how these, and other technologies such like fitness trackers and GPS, create techno-social systems that "impose certain orders of behaviour on our lives about which we have little choice." When our ability to make independent decisions is taken away, we become easier to manipulate and influence. We will become accustomed to not making our own decisions and simply follow the cues in front of us, whether that's directions from our GPS or meal suggestions from our fridge.

Accept the world is uncertain

By outsourcing our decisions to intelligent systems and seeking certainty through data, we objectify ourselves. We are left responding to the computer rather than thinking creatively and autonomously. We are in danger of undermining our human instinct, and have already started the process of de-learning decision making by putting our trust in machines. Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Gerd Gigerenzer, suggests gut feelings are the tools for an uncertain world - data creates only an illusion of certainty.

In a complex world with abundant choice, we need good intuitions and smart shortcuts to make decisions. Even so, ultimately we must accept that uncertainty will always be part of what it is to be human. When we deny ourselves the challenge of thinking critically, evaluating situations and making our own decisions, we are heading towards a future where Homo sapiens will lack the cognitive ability to think for itself, and we will have surrendered to the machines we once built.

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Information overload is killing our ability to make decisions

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We make a huge number of decisions every day. When it comes to eating, for example, we make 200 more decisions than we're consciously aware of every day. How is this possible? Because, as Daniel Kahneman has explained, while we'd like to think our decisions are rational, in fact many are driven by gut feel and intuition.

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Connection to Adult Learning Theory: Embodied Learning

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Connection to Adult Learning Theory: Embodied Learning

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As many adults in the digital age are connected to technology 24/7, they may fail to engage in several important mental processes (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p. 200).  These mental processes include physical time (movement) and time in (reflection), which are both key components of embodied learning.  Information overload may hinder adults from engaging in embodied learning processes which refresh and revive the brain, keeping us healthy.

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Connection to Adult Learning Theory: Knowles' Assumptions of Andragogy

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Connection to Adult Learning Theory: Knowles' Assumptions of Andragogy

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According to Knowles, adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p. 53). Engaging in online learning affords adults the flexibility to work and attend school at the same time, which they may not be able to do otherwise. In attending school and working concurrently, adults can easily apply their learning to solve problems in the professional environment.