My beliefs about how people learn best come from the years of teaching in elementary and middle school classrooms. Everyone learn in different ways. There are no two people who learn skills and concepts the exact same way. There’s no child or adult who has a better learning style than anyone else. During our years of growing and developing, we all go through different experiences in life. When going to school, everyone comes with their own set of background knowledge and experiences. There are many people who have experienced all types of things while some people may not have experienced as much. When thinking about problems or situations that may arise, we all think in different ways. We all view the problem or solution in different ways.
When talking about learning theory, there are many things that we must take into consideration when it pertains to educational technology. In today’s digital age, technology is used for a variety of reasons. Cell phones are like mini computers and can do just about anything as well as some of these hand-held games for kids.
Under learning theories, we have behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. These learning theories all play a role in education today. They come into play when students interact with these different types of technology and their ways of thinking. Each learning theory can be described as listed below:
Behaviorism, which asserts that learning is a “black box” activity, in that we do not know what occurs inside the learner, focuses its efforts on managing external, observable behaviors, and finds much of its existence in objectivism (Siemens, 2008).
Cognitivism, which spans a continuum from learning as information processing (a computer model) at one end, to learning as reasoning and thinking on the other, finds much of its identity in pragmatism (Siemens, 2008).
Constructivism, which covers a broad spectrum of research overlapping with cognitivism, contends that learning involves each individual learner making sense and constructing knowledge within his or her own context; it finds its foundation in interpretivism (Siemens, 2008).
According to Driscoll (2005), the critical elements of learning theories include: observation, interaction, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, understanding/cognitivism, as well as problem solving and solutions. All of these things take place within learning theories.
Unlike Driscoll, Siemens (2008) provides a more in-depth approach to the critical elements of learning theories. Siemens provides his critical elements in the form of questions: How does learning occur? What factors influence learning? What is the role of memory? How does transfer occur? What types of learning are best explained by this theory?
“Metaphors as educators” is described as educators in set roles that promote learning through different strategies and techniques of understanding. Educators are portrayed as different people, such as: master artists, network administrators, concierge guides, etc. When we think about, educators do have more than one role when guiding students. When dealing with students and their different ability levels and learning styles, we often play the role of a variety of occupation. Educators wear many hats and work through all learning theories within a day’s time.
References:
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from http://it.coe.uga.edu/
Additional Resources:
Innovative Learning This site includes three main categories into which learning theories fall. In addition to these main theories, there are also other theories that address how people learn.
http://www.innovativelearning.com/teaching/teaching_methods.html
Connectivism - A Learning Theory for the Digital Age This site offers information on connectivism.
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
