Learning Theory – Blog #1

I enrolled in a free, self-paced online marketing course through LinkedIn to help strengthen my digital and communication skills. I felt as though this would be beneficial to teach me some basic skills and it aligned with my future career path in Marketing and Business Administration. Initially, I was motivated by the idea of earning a certificate and working towards a goal on my own schedule. My motivation started to decline after the first three modules, as I started to realize how the course was extremely text-heavy, it did not include any engaging activities, and had limited visuals. There was also very limited feedback, which made it feel like I was just coasting by rather than progressing towards my goal. Since I had no communication with anyone else doing the course, I felt a bit isolated and like I could not relate to anyone. After reflecting my needs as a learner were not supported well in all areas, but especially autonomy, competence, and relatedness. I felt as though I did not have much autonomy, my sense of competence declined, and there was no relatedness because I  was not in contact with anyone in the course. The content of the course was relavenet but since there were no specific real-life examples, it was hard to stay engaged. If the course had been designed better with more interaction with others, feedback along the way, and more collaboration, I definitely would have been way more likely to complete the certificate.