I was so excited to read the two blog posts by Kerr and Kapp!
I have considered myself to be a "mostly cognitivist" for the majority of my exploration into the schools of educational thought; however, I have found myself making excuses for my comments that may tend to trickle over into a gray area between two of the theories. The blogs of Kerr and Kapp helped me to understand that I am not the only one who can see valid arguments in each of the schools of educational thought. The quote from Kerr is one that I will keep and I decided to share it with you to help you better understand how it impacted my thinking and let me know that I am not as confused as I thought I was.
"It seems to me that each _ism is offering something useful without any of them being complete or stand alone in their own right." (Bill Kerr quoted in Kapp's blog)
This quote says it all and helps me to understand that a theory of learning is not solely one school of thought, but a combination. It may be that one theory is incorporated more, but there are gray areas where the theories of learning blend together to create the best possible learning environment. We are complex beings and our minds and thoughts and processes are not easily traced. No one has everything correct and knows how it all works. It takes many skills to teach individuals with various learning styles. We must keep this in mind when we are designing instruction and think about all the schools of educational thought and which theory would be the best to implement for our students.
Please take a look at Bill Kerr and Karl Kapp's blog post links listed below. I think you will find they are excellent insight into the various schools of educational thought and how we "process" (smile) these theories.
Cynthia
Bill Kerr's Blog
Karl Kapp's Blog
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Cynthia Harrison-Module One-Response Blogs
For EDUC 8845-2-Module One, I responded to the following blogs:
Adam Authier
http://mrauthier.blogspot.com/
April Carpenter
http://april-carpenter.blogspot.com/
Adam Authier
http://mrauthier.blogspot.com/
April Carpenter
http://april-carpenter.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Is This Learning or Just Pressing Buttons? A Look at Learning Theories
Online learning is progressing rapidly here in the 21st Century, but how do we know if our students are learning or just responding to stimuli? Is keyboarding our greatest skill in online learning? How can we approach learning in the online environment to achieve the best possible results?
First of all, let's make ourselves familiar with the different learning theories:
(Summary for each learning theory taken from: http://www.learning-theories.com/paradigms)
Humanism:
Believes that we should have a personal experience with collaboration and support.
The learning is student-centered and the teacher is seen as a facilitator.
I call this: "It's all about me" theory.
Cognitivism:
Believes that we cannot see what is being learned because it is inside the brain and we will eventually see certain outcomes due to what is input. This theory focuses on memory.
I call this: "Using my noodle" theory.
Constructivism:
Believes that learning is constructed all around us. We relate our learning experiences to prior knowledge and all learning is subjective to our perspective.
I call this "Lego" theory.
Behaviorism:
Believes that learning is a response to a stimuli. You see it and you model or respond to it.
I call this the "Go, Fetch!" theory.
Now, that we have an idea of the different types of theories, let's look at some learning experiences that fit into these categories:
Humanism:
Behaviorism:
Constructivism:
Cognitivism:
So, what is the best approach to learning?
For me, it is the cognitive learning theory. Why is it important for us to implement learning theories in the online learning environment? Because we want to achieve the most effective outcome for our students. Before we can begin to design learning, approach learning, or teach content, we must understand how our students learn, so that we can provide them with experiences that will enhance learning and trigger cognitive processes. This will in turn increase recall and help students transition new knowledge to long-term memory; thereby, creating a new learning experience. Without understanding how we learn, we cannot teach!
Behaviorism just requires a reaction to a stimuli. A student might become conditioned to react in a certain way, but that does not mean actual cognitive processes are involved. Constructivism only relates to the surroundings and prior knowledge. It provides a foundation to build on, but only on what is already in memory. The knowledge must be linked to something existent. Humanism focuses on the student and his/her thoughts, feelings, and needs. While this may sound good, we cannot always succeed by concentrating only on ourselves and our needs and desires. It is important to promote self-esteem, but you may not be able to stop and find your inner "chi" each time you need to be reminded.
Cognitivism allows for transition in the environment, ability to adapt, and to rationalize and process new information if conditions change and the world does not focus solely on needs and desires.
More to come....
Cynthia
First of all, let's make ourselves familiar with the different learning theories:
(Summary for each learning theory taken from: http://www.learning-theories.com/paradigms)
Humanism:
Believes that we should have a personal experience with collaboration and support.
The learning is student-centered and the teacher is seen as a facilitator.
I call this: "It's all about me" theory.
Cognitivism:
Believes that we cannot see what is being learned because it is inside the brain and we will eventually see certain outcomes due to what is input. This theory focuses on memory.
I call this: "Using my noodle" theory.
Constructivism:
Believes that learning is constructed all around us. We relate our learning experiences to prior knowledge and all learning is subjective to our perspective.
I call this "Lego" theory.
Behaviorism:
Believes that learning is a response to a stimuli. You see it and you model or respond to it.
I call this the "Go, Fetch!" theory.
Now, that we have an idea of the different types of theories, let's look at some learning experiences that fit into these categories:
Humanism:
Behaviorism:
Constructivism:
Cognitivism:
So, what is the best approach to learning?
For me, it is the cognitive learning theory. Why is it important for us to implement learning theories in the online learning environment? Because we want to achieve the most effective outcome for our students. Before we can begin to design learning, approach learning, or teach content, we must understand how our students learn, so that we can provide them with experiences that will enhance learning and trigger cognitive processes. This will in turn increase recall and help students transition new knowledge to long-term memory; thereby, creating a new learning experience. Without understanding how we learn, we cannot teach!
Behaviorism just requires a reaction to a stimuli. A student might become conditioned to react in a certain way, but that does not mean actual cognitive processes are involved. Constructivism only relates to the surroundings and prior knowledge. It provides a foundation to build on, but only on what is already in memory. The knowledge must be linked to something existent. Humanism focuses on the student and his/her thoughts, feelings, and needs. While this may sound good, we cannot always succeed by concentrating only on ourselves and our needs and desires. It is important to promote self-esteem, but you may not be able to stop and find your inner "chi" each time you need to be reminded.
Cognitivism allows for transition in the environment, ability to adapt, and to rationalize and process new information if conditions change and the world does not focus solely on needs and desires.
More to come....
Cynthia
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
New "Leg" of my Journey!
As you all can see, it has been a while since I updated my blog. This blog will be used for my doctoral coursework and anything relating to Educational Technology. I welcome you to browse through the archives and soon I will have new posts to share with you!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cynthia
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