Malte Winkler

1. what do you consider the main message of the article?
We have come a long way in learning how we learn and this is a very interesting time to lament on the progress. There isn't one method of teaching that is necessarily better than another. However there maybe a time or situation in which one method is better than another. 

2. analyze and describe how you have learnt a complex systems (e.g.,“Microsoft Word” or a similar system incase you have never learnt MS-Word, Photoshop, Java, using the Web effectively, …)? – choose one and describe your experience in some detail!
	Flash. I think this is one of the less intuitive systems to learn. For some reason the visual editing environment does not lend itself to be easily understood. One reason might be because it has quite a few layers of sorts and it is never easy to tell where one is exactly.  
	The way I learned or am learning to use this tool is through the built in tutorial, other peoples suggestions, and primarily by trying to build something in the environment. To get an understanding of the basic fundamentals through which Flash functions I worked through some of the tutorials provided by the program. These let me know at least what tools are available even if it didn't allow me to fully understand how to use them. Then I picked something I wanted to build and tried to build it. At this point it became horribly obvious how little the tutorial really helped. In some cases I would go back to the tutorial and see why I wasn't able to recreate what I thought was possible. Sometimes I would ask my coworkers to help me achieve a certain small subtask of the project I picked. Once these people got sick of me asking questions I would dig through all examples found similar to what I was building. I would see how this similar thing was built by dissecting it and seeing if there where elements that I could use in my project. With every project I build via this process I feel that I am closer to being able to build something on my own without looking at other peoples work or asking them for help. Now it seems that the time between getting stuck on something is becoming at least a little bit longer.

3. describe the most interesting / exciting learning episode of your life!
This might have to be when I was 5 or 6. I remember playing in a very small creek behind my house. It may have started by throwing a stick into the water which then got stuck between two rocks. I notice that the stick had an influence on the flow of the water.  The game then quickly became to see how much I could impede the flow or redirect it. I scoured the woods for sticks and rocks that would help with this process. Putting more and more obstacle in the water became quite addicting. The lessons learned where numerous. I was dismayed to find out that I couldn't stop the flow entirely and that the closer I got to doing so the more impressive the water was at finding a way to get through, sometimes even by breaking parts off my dam.  For quite some time after that whenever I came across a stream I would feel the need to try again to build a dam. I would try things differently but the result was always the same. The water would not stop despite my varied approaches. 

4. write in one short paragraph (a) what the following concepts mean and (b) which role they have played in your personal learning (e.g., where you have encountered them)
4.1. learning by being told
a) Being told a concept or fact and being expected to retain this knowledge.
b) This seems to be the prevailing way to teach most subjects primarily in early education like k-12. I associate this most closely with history class. The teacher will say something and the students are expected to retain it in their mental apparatus.

4.2. self-directed learning 
a) Learning something through an activity started by ones own motivation.
b) This is the most motivating type of learning that I can think off. When you have an idea and want to explore it further. This can also be somewhat fleeting as far as productiveness is concerned. As soon as the idea begins to waverer from diminished motivation the associated learning can quickly come to an end. 

4.3. learning on demand
a) When solving a problem or design a system you may run into a sticking point due to a lack of understanding in the domain. Overcoming this problem involves learning on demand.
b)For me this seems to be the best way to retain information once it has been learned. Learning in this manor leaves a lasting impression since there are many memories tied to that experience. This type of learning seems to happen at work. The lessons learned from over coming a problem see to have staying power.

4.4. discovery learning 
a) In the process of an activity or assignment learning something not necessarily expected or part of the original assignment.
b) This seems to me to involve going off on a tangent from what the original goal of learning was. When working on something and finding something related that interesting along the way can be a great way to get sidetracked and less productive.  

4.5. experiential learning 
a) Learning through a trial and error process. Example might be trying out a function call to an API and seeing the results opposed to reading about it.
b) This occurs to me a bit in programming assignment. Often I don't want to read through some ill-writen documentation on something. A lot of times I will simply try things and see what the results are and then adjust according to the results. 

4.6. informal learning 
a) Learning in an environment where no specific task or concept is on the agenda. 
b) I associate this with learning while playing with something and when one is not really expecting to learn anything. 

4.7. collaborative learning 
a) Learning where you can externalize idea and have feed back from someone or something. 
b) This seems to be the easiest way to learn very complex concepts. When dealing with something that is hard to conceptualize it is very nice to be able to ask a lot of questions to make sure one has the right idea.