Good Example Of Essay On Process Of Learning

[Tutor’s Name]
[City, State]
Different people appreciate different methods of learning. The conditions under which an individual learns best are determined by a number of factors, some of which may include an individual’s background and the orientation they have. Although I appreciate all the learning mechanisms, I thrive under active learning (activist learners). In a nutshell, these learners learn best through experience and doing things (Ellis et al. 1993, Waldron, 2013) . Whereas this may never work effectively with many people, it has always proved to be effective to me as I get to integrate all the other mechanisms. By learning through experience, I am also in a position to memorize something that I have done as compared to the things that I hear. Whereas I thrive in activist learning, a number of my peers thrive in other learning methods. In essence, every individual has a way that works best for them. For the purpose of this paper, I will give an analysis on how I employed this type of learning in the activities of the first term.
In the activities that took place in first term, the various mechanisms of learning were employed. Through case studies, active learning was put into test (Johnson et al. 1975). This is despite the fact that there were a number of challenges that presented themselves in the process. In practice, case studies entailed giving a scenario of what happened, giving a deep analysis of such scenarios, and then discussing on the ethical dilemmas that arose. Whereas I did not enjoy much of the group meetings and discussions, the fact that most of the work we did was based on practical aspects ensured I did not fully enjoy such meetings and discussions. There are a number of reasons as to why I did not enjoy such discussions. The first reason is as regards to my appreciation of the English language or lack of it therefore. As a matter of fact, English is not my first language as I am not a native. This means that I found it difficult to contribute much with the rest of the group members who were eloquent. In most cases, I ended up struggling in understanding whatever they were discussions, although I had a grasp of the basics. With this, I always preferred to do my individual work, and then present it to the rest of the group members for analysis. The second reason is as regards to the nature of group work. As indicated above, I prefer active learning to any other mechanism. Group work and discussion do not put much emphasis on this way of learning. Being a passive leaner, I always found it a major challenge coping with the demands of the rest of the group members. Mostly, they preferred theoretical learning and reflective learning. Despite such differences, there were no problems in conducting the group meetings and discussions.
Throughout the group discussions, I faced a lot of challenges which I had to overcome in order to fully benefit from the group. These challenges depended on the type of assignment we were handling at a particular instance
As an activist learner, there were several other challenges that were related to group work that made the process of learning difficult. Although we did manage to get solutions to these challenges, they posed major challenges to the learning process. Coordination costs proved to pose such big challenges. As a matter of fact, it was difficult to schedule time that was convenient for all the members to attend the meeting. Different members proposed different hours of the day as being the most ideal for the group meetings. As it proved to be, it was difficult to find a consensus as to what the ideal time was. This was coupled by the difficulties that arose in making decisions for the group. In most cases, there were dissenting opinions on how certain matters were to be handled. The coordination costs were difficult to handle as other members proved to be unwilling to make the necessary contributions. In essence, these challenges might not be witnessed in cases of individual and active learning. Mostly, active learning entails getting a hands-on experience in whatever one is doing. This means being thrust in the action of things so as to learn through seeing and experimenting. Our group did not take this into account, instead chose to focus on the other mechanisms of learning such as reflective learning.
Going through the case studies was always difficult as each member had their own interpretations. Getting the common perspective for the purpose of compiling proved to be tough, hence jeopardizing the efforts of the group (Marzano et al. 1997). For instance, there were divisions in the group as regards to the second case study about whistle blowing. Whether it improves organizational practice or not was subject to a heated debate. In essence, whistle-blowing entails revealing certain forms o wrong-doing in an organization by an employee. In the past decade, this practice has become common as employees take responsibility to report such forms of ill-doing in the organizations. To this effect, most countries have enacted legislations with the aim of protecting the whistle-blowers when certain circumstances permit. In most cases, whistle-blowing entails situations where there are illegal activities which might be corrupt or illegal. Although it is apparent that such an act was likely to promote fairness in organizations, the divisions that arose in the firm showed that most students rely on the theoretical aspects instead of taking into account the real life problems and trying to understand the impacts they may have.
The intellectual costs also proved to present a big challenge to this method of learning. As a matter of fact, there is a tendency of creativity and productivity being reduced in cases where group-work is promoted. In most cases, groups have the tendency of conforming to the majority view. When this is the case, most of the members tend to rely on the theoretical aspects more than the practical ones. With this in mind, individual creativity levels are severely minimized, with the overall productivity being reduced too. The time taken to arrive at such decisions may prove to be costly. In our group, for instance, we spent most of the time arguing as to whether such a move is necessary or whether it would affect the image of the organization in question. This would not have been the case if the analysis was to be on an individual level. At such a level, an individual dedicates themselves to ensure that they produce high quality work so that they can receive high grades. In essence, with group work, people tend to rely on one individual to do all the research and analysis. Other problems under the same category included lack of transparency and the threat of common information effect.
As shown above, there are a number of learning, methods. Whereas all of them have a similar intention, the process through which they are delivered and the manner of delivery varies from one to the other. Be that as it may be, activist learning works well with me more than any other form. This is down to a number of reasons. The fact that it gives one an opportunity to directly learn through doing cannot be underrated. With it, an individual is in a better position to make mistakes and learn from them. This is not the case with the other forms of learning.

References

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