I chose to learn LucidPress (www.lucidpress.com) for this assignment. I wanted to familiarize myself with a Microsoft Publisher equivalent that I would be able to use online and regardless of which operating system I was running.

 

To learn LucidPress, I took a project-based learning approach, knowing that an infographic about andragogy would be my final product, and also knowing that the process of producing the infographic would itself be a learning opportunity.

 

Several learning theories supported me in this process. First and foremost, this process was primarily a behaviorist exercise. With no scaffolding, no expert input, and no how-to guide, I started by just trying things. If it worked, great! The positive reinforcement of successfully placing text, for example, built the stimulus-response link that would allow me to click the right button to put text into my document correctly every time. If something didn’t work, I was back to the drawing board, clicking new buttons, dragging things around, and hoping to find the action that would give me the positive reinforcement of a task successfully completed.

 

The process was also very much guided by andragogy. As an adult who’s interested in learning specific skills that will make me better at my job, and who’s intrinsically motivated, this task was a perfect fit. I also brought some foundational knowledge -- how to use Publisher, which is a pretty similar program -- which gave me something to work with instead of starting from zero.

 

Finally, cognitivism played a role in this exercise, in that the learning process was as important as the outcome. The process itself was what actually taught me how to use the program efficiently; the resulting infographic was a handy thing to get done but the most valuable part was trying, failing, and trying again, which let me build my own knowledge of how to use the program.

 

My biggest “aha” moment about my own approach to learning was to realize that I've largely been using my own preferences for learning as a foundation when I’m designing programming for others. It’s worked out fine so far, but taking the time to acknowledge the many different approaches to learning, recognize that those which are the most beneficial to me aren’t necessarily the most beneficial for everyone, and explore the ways that different learning theories and approaches intersect has been really valuable.