Perspectives on Learning Paradigms

1. Perspectives on Learning Paradigms Mary Risner EME5054

2. Goals of Educational Technology

3. Facilitating Learning Roles • Learner Emphasis on interests and abilities, managing own learning, controlling mental processes. • Facilitator Influences learning process, does not control it.

4. Learning vs. Instructional Theories • Learning Theory- Describes how humans learn. • Instructional Theory- Prescribes teaching methods and best conditions to acquire new knowledge and skills.

5. Why is Understanding and Awareness of These Theories Important?

6. Major Learning Theories

7. Behaviorism

8. Within Behaviorism

9. Cognitivism

10. Within Cognitivism

11. Constructivism

12. Other Learning Theories

13. Readings • Before the readings I never thought about which learning theories I believed in or how I was affected by them in my teaching over the years. I only had a basic background and found it very valuable to learn more on the aspects of the theories as they have developed through time and how they have contributed to understanding learning processes.

14. Readings (cont.)

15. My Personal Views • For whatever reason I think this way, I would definitely say I am very much a cognitivist as a learner and a teacher. On a personal and professional level, I see the benefits of organizing thoughts and concepts and making associations by building on prior knowledge and experience. Humankind by nature is driven to organize and classify the world around us and most people are comforted by the familiar. So it would only make sense that the cognitivist assertions hold some substance for how people define and shape their knowledge base. • I was enlightened by the detailed explanation of the significance of behaviorism and where it has made strong contributions in the realm of “soft technology” since I had mainly associated it with tedious drill for skills techniques that can be pretty boring as a methodology , but may have a value in specific contexts.

16. My Views (cont.)

17. Evidence of My View of Learning Paradigms In the Foreign Language Classroom

18. Behaviorist Perspective

19. Cognitivist Perspective

20. Constructivist (cont.)

21. Constructivist (cont.)

22. First Step in Reflection as an Educator

23. How Can We Make Sure OurParadigms Guide Us Well As Educators? • How do we asteachers keep reflectingon our views of learning so that it has a positive and influence on learning environments and implement best practices in the classroom? • Is how we teach a product of our own past learning experience, training, or a matter of personality? Is it Nature or Nurture?

24. How Much is the Way We Teach Due to Our Present Circumstances?

25. Further Research Needed Minimal Guidance Question • As much as I agree with the many virtues of constructivism, I have wondered about the question of what level a learner has to be at to benefit from minimal guidance and will be interesting research to follow. • Kirschnerhypothesis: “Minimally guided learning environments subject learners to a heavy cognitive load that interferes with use of their cognitive processing abilities. “ p. 37 *Kirschner, Sweller, Clark (2006)

26. Further Research Needed Media vs. Methods • The Kozma (1991) argument of learning interactively with media instead of from media (Clark, 1983)is another interesting area that should continue to be examined to confirm how learning best occurs as more online learning modules are developed.

27. References • Clark, R. E. (1983). Reconsidering research on learning from media. Review of Educational Research, 53(4), 445–459. • Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction des not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. EducationalPsychologist, 41(2), 75–86. • Kozma, R. B. (1991, Summer). Learning with media. Review of Educational Research, 61(2), 179–211.