1. Carmen Sanchez took a class on social learning and explored different learning preferences and technologies. 2. She found that active learning in groups and hands-on work best fits her preferences. She prefers visual and sequential learning styles. 3. Carmen utilized Facebook to create study groups and collaborate with classmates, finding social networks can support her education when used appropriately.

1. 1. Synthesis for Social Learning
Carmen Sanchez
Learning Preferences
At the beginning of the class my learning preferences between
active and reflective were mainly at a 1. This was saying that I preferred
studying in groups, in which the members take turns in explaining
different areasof the assignment to each other. This also meant that I
should not over study the material too much and to try to think about a
whole picture. For the sensitive and intuitive learners, the test showed
that I have a strong preference as a sensing learner. As for visual and
verbal, I tested to be at a moderate preference for visual. And lastly for
sequential and global, I showed to be between the two. At the end of this
class, I feel that my learning preferences have not changed much, which
shows that I truly do prefer these preferences in studying and learning. In
the beginning of the class, I scored a score of 2 on the Active learner side. I
like to work in groups so we could share our knowledge. I learn a lot better
doing hands-on work than sitting in a lecture room listening to the
instructor teach. I like to learn through a straightforward process where
it’s organized and simple. Hands-on work is how I learn. I scored a 9 on
visual. I definitely remember pictures, diagrams, and charts more than
through text. I scored a 3 on the Sequential side. I love learning
sequentially, but at the same time, I dont always understand it right from
the start. My thinking hasn’t really been changed that much by the end of
the class so my learning preferences arestill the same. Carmen Sanchez
3. Thoughts On Learning Preferences
My thoughts on learning preferences haven’t really changed much. I have my
styles of learning and studying, but usually i learn and study through the
materials handed to me by all my instructors. I don’t usually go out of my
way to find extra ways to learn the current curriculum. It’ll be more helpful
if our instructors could incorporate more learning preferences into their
teaching, but many teachers stick with the old-fashioned teaching style of
lecture and textbooks. Knowing about learning preferences does make a
difference in a personal learning success, because if you really like it you
can put it to use. Most people as myselfare used to a certain way, but if
there is an easy tablet out there in which you can learn that’s

2. wonderful.Carmen Sanchez
4. Learning Pathway
At the beginning of this class I chose to become a learning warrior because my
primary goal was to go into deeper investigation into fewer technologies.
In choosing this pathway, I hoped to apply what I learned in this class to
the other classes I am taking for Spring 2012 as well. I feel that I had
success in getting a broader knowledge of mobile, social, and multimedia
technologies. I did not change my pathway because I felt that I did not
need to and I did learn more in depth about ipods, ipads, mp3 players, and
microblogs to help me in this semester. I chose to be a Learning Warrior
for this class throughout the semester because I wanted to utilize specific
technologies to enhance my learning for the classes I was taking. I didn’t
feel like this class really helped me to learn how to use these technologies,
because I could not even figure out the class itself. Yet, it did teach me a
couple things I didn’t know these tablets could do. It was interesting to
portray a gaming scenario where I’d be able to play a game and learn
materials for a test I was going to take, all in the process. I used social
networking to share and collaborate with classmates about lecture
material. I did not change my pathway because I really needed all the help
I can get to help me memorize and review information I was learning for
my Political Science class.Carmen Sanchez
5. Learning Activities
I felt that learning activities level 1 helped me get a broaderunderstanding of
how to use certain social technologies. Level onedescribes what the
technology is, what it does and how it can beused for learning. This helps
us better understand the big picture ofthings first in order to get more
detailed into the technology. Thequiz also helps because it was testing me
from what I learned from the power points or screencasts. I feel that level
3 activities did not help me at all. The fact that we had to physically use
them and try to integrate them into oureveryday lives to see if it works for
our preferences was not working for me. Everything was new and I had
only a certain amount of time to get my work done. Activity level 1 did
work the best in my learning preferences becauseknowing the general,
broader idea of the technologies already givesus an idea if it would work
out in our daily lives. I loved the power point and screencasts.Carmen
Sanchez

3. 6. Exploration of Technologies for Learning
One social technology quest I used for my own interest as a learning tool
wasFacebook, which is a social networking media. I feel that this
accommodates for morethan one of my learning preferences because not
only does it help me visually, it is alsovery convenient, because so many
other people use it including family and friends. Facebook’s mission is to
help connect peoplewith one another and making groups is easy for
communication. This also helps mebeing active and reflective because I
am able to do both with the same site. I am activein communicating and
sharing information with people while being reflective on otherpeople’s
comment and input on situations. I quite often find myself on Facebook,
out of boredom. Im glad the class had a section on utilizing social
networks for learning, such as facebook. Creating study groups on
Facebook has allowed me to communicate with my friends from class
more easily. I normally don’t see Facebook as an educational tool, but by
switching upmy perspective, I was able to accommodate social
networking into somewhat of asupport on top of what I was learning in
class. It sure made collaborating with peoplein class a lot easier. Carmen
Sanchez
7. Synthesizing Your Experience
In the beginning, social networking sites, instant messaging, chat, games, and
MMOGs looked like an interesting learning tools. The technology that
surprised me the most that can be used as a learningtool is discussion
forums and games. The social technologies that donot seem to work very
well as learning tools are games becausealthough they can be fun it is
difficult to find a game that actually teaches and that you can understand
too. Some social technologies that i want to explore further to improve
my learning are virtual worlds,because I have not had much experience
with it. I noticed that instant messaging and chatting has worked best for
my learning preferences because it is active and can be reflective.
Theresponses on instant messaging are quick and very easy to use. This
makes communication easy and convenient to use.Carmen Sanchez
8. What We’ll Do Next
After this class, I am going to continue using socialnetworking strategies to
help me in life. I have foundsocial networking to be very helpful because it
helps me to meet other people that may help me inthe future. This is an

4. important skill to have in futurejobs or outside of school, because it brings
us in contactwith other people who have the right resources, that we may
not be able to have. As far as for non-learning purposes, I will continue to
usegames, because they are fun. The technologies that we will be
avoidingare social bookmarking for learning because did notfind much
use from them in our learning. Carmen Sanchez