Developmental Patterns for learning the Internet
Every learning incident can be viewed in terms of the three ever present
domains of human
behavior. Namely the Affective Domain (feelings), the Cognitive Domain (thinking) and the
Sensory-motor Domain (doing). Here in Cyber-Space and more specifically the Cyber-Community of the Generational Curriculum I have been able to learn about the Internet a little
more quickly because I have been able to see these three domains of others self-witnessing reports
and under stand certain aspects of the learning process in the context of the Internet. Here are a
few examples of each domain from the generational curriculum students
quest to learn about the internet and cyber-tronic communications.
The Affective Domain (feelings phase)
"This Internet stuff can sure be frustrating ", said
Denise Tanaka
"I felt high in anxiety ", said
Cheryl Choe
"When I first got on the Internet, I felt confused and
disoriented.", said Christina Kealoha
"In our first week of class, I felt very lost. ", said Shane
Akagi
Each of these statements reflect the affective domain of the learning
trail that the
person is going through at the time. They "feel"a certain way. These feelings in turn
lead to thoughts and ideas (the Cognitive Domain). This
affective-cognitive connection or A-C connection for short is a vital
part of the learning process because it leads to your respective actions (
senory-motor domain ).
The Cognitive Domain(thinking phase)
"realizing that nothing catastrophic will happen if I push the wrong button was an important
first lesson.",saidLinda Wong
Nitsa
McCarthy said,"My first goal
was to read my classmates weekly reports"
Karla Dias said, "I
knew that I needed to spend more time on the computer."
All of these statements reflect the cognitive domain or thinking phase
of learning
the Internet. The students have had certain feelings that have lead them to these cognitive
standpoints. They're thinking about what's going on. These thoughts
however are dependant on the affective phase and form the rational for
doing things (the sensoy-motor).
The Sensory-Motor Domain (actually doing)
Michelle
Ota writes,"it's there somewhere, you just need to look."
Rahnelle
Ring writes, "I wasn't
very interested in what I said. I did take some notes and also book marked it for future
reference."
Christie
Forsythe writes,"Icould not find anything specifically on
ghosts."
Carol
Alamares writes,"I've tried
again and again to upload my word processing documents and regardless of what I do or whose
directions I follow the end result is the same, no document."
Each of these quotes illustrates an aspect of the sensory-motor domain of
learning the Internet. Students are actually doing something that affects their learning or
commenting on something they did or could do in learning about the
Internet. It is important to note that the sensory-motor phase of
learning is directly a result of the affective and cognative domains.
Positive feelings and thoughts ( positive A-C
connections ) form positive actions because the sensory-motor domain
erupts out of the affective and cognative domains. The opposite is also
true however.
The Process of Learning the Internet
Overall the process of learning about the Internet is made easier by the
Generation Curriculum because you get to have the benefit of other's experience. Hopefully by
reading about other's mistakes and also successes each of us can gain a better understanding for
the Internet in a shorter amount of time and with less frustration along
the way.
I benefited greatly from being able to read others failures and
successes and I learned a lot about what it takes to be successful with
computers. At first I was overwhelmed by the topics and all the different
commands that you need to know. I found out though that the only way to
learn them was to put some time in every day using the computer. I said
to my self that if others could do it I could do it too. This allowed me
to feel good about spending time on the computer ( the affective) which
lead to me thinking that I REALLY COULD get an A in the class ( the
cognative ) which inturn lead to me doing very well and learning a whole
lot (I'm confident I'll get an A too).
Advice From A Witness Who Has Gone Through It
For all of you who are now becomming part of the generational
curriculum I have several bits of advice to you. Never feel like you
don't understand. That only leads to you thinking that you can't be
successful and if you think you can't do it then you won't. What you need
to do is to take pleasure in learning one thing at a time. Start with
little things like E-mail and net surfing. This will allow you to feel
good about yourself and your progress. You can then have happy, positive
thoughts which will lead to productive actions like haveing your own web
page.
You also have to watchout for negative A-C connections and the
negative feelings and thoughts that come with them because the will lead
to negative actions that won't be of any benifit. In fact negative A-C
connections will hinder your progress and keep you from attaining your
full potiential. This is extra important in Dr. James class. I had A
friend that took 459 with me but droped out because he was caught up in
negative A-C-S loops and got really discouraged. He sees me working on my
computer now with my own page and all the E-mail I get ( not to mention
the really cool stuff I've found on the net) and he regrets droping the
class. Don't make the same mistake he did. If you need help don't be
afraid to ask Dr. James. If you need a fellow students perspective root
around in the generational curriculum because the chances are that some
of us who have been through this have experienced what ever it is your
feeling now. Remember we've been there AND survived.
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