The Bridge
I was so pleased to read the Bergquist research. I saw my on=the-ground students in those learning styles and I had never read that research before. I am going to figure out how to identify and engage those learning types into my ground courses as well as incorporate those reluctant styles in my online courses. I am curious about how Knowles' research on self-directed learning meshes with these Bergquist findings. If a student is self-directed, why would the competitive learner or even the dependent learner be seen as one who needs special attention?
Why would the independent learner ever participate in discussion forums?
Milka,
That might be part of the point. Very few careers today allow you to work completely as an individual. We all have to learn to interact effectively with others and share and critique information and opinions. Discussion forums can provide that avenue for interaction. It can also be used as a formative (or summative) evaluation tool if we ask students to reflect on what they are learning....we can read their posts and ensure they are getting the concepts and if not, redirect them in their learning. They are most likely going to participate because it is required for a grade, but the value of it is very important.
Herbert Brown III
I, too, enjoyed reading the Bergquist research. I thought about how this might fold into Bloom's Taxonomy and those categories of multiple intelligences.
