EDUC 633 Blog 2

EDUC 633 Blog 2

Here we are again in the heart of the wonderful Texas Hill Country to discuss my second blog of the Principles of Design and Management in Distance Education course from Liberty University. The subject this week involves the question what is learning and what theory of learning best fits my education course development with distance education and e-learning.

First of all the best definition I have heard that is short and to the point is borrowed from ( Mayer 2011a). It says learning is “The change in the learner’s knowledge due to experience.” It has three elements, change, knowing, and experience. Mayer also defines instruction as “a set of research-based principles for how to design, identify, and deliver instruction.” Instruction knowledge is thus based on research and science. Learning is dependent upon the demands of core material that is integrated, organized, and edited by the initiation of the learner to make sense. Relevant and real material are necessary for the learner to be motivated to learn. That is why the integration of hearing, seeing, and feeling need to be transferred into knowledge and skills for the human memory says (Clark and Meyer2011) These are all by the process of select, manage, integrate, and retrieve.

My favorite learning theory is constructionist as it shifts learning from the teacher as lecturer, knowledge imparter, to one of facilitator, collaborator, guide, and co-learner. He is a catalyst for active learning and fits best in the e-learning scheme. He encourages dialogue between himself and his students to summarize, question, generate, identify and predict in solving different inputs and outcomes.(Palinscar1984). His students learn to draw conclusions and to collaborate their knowledge into a workable whole outcome. Case studies and strategies like Web-Quest are very usable as is online and virtual teaching by web and closed circuit.  The outcomes are all student centered as they are the activity generators of this learning theory.  A student’s prior knowledge can best be integrated into this system as he performs authentic tasks with authentic outcomes. His learning is truly experiential. Constructionism fits the definition best of learning and allows knowledge construction rather than just the communication of knowledge. It involves all the senses integrating together, drawing conclusions and inferences. Sensory overload is one of its problems as we have to keep the input simple and uncluttered. This is a typical problem with audio/visuals. Organization can become a problem if teacher direction is not included. Reality is the key to this theory of learning. Scientific method lends itself greatly to this theory.

References

Clark, R. & Mayer, R. (2011). E-Learning and the Science of Instruction, San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer

Hall, D. (2008). The Technology director’s guide to leadership, Washington, DC: ISTE

Palincsar, A. & Brown, A. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and  

    comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition & Instruction, 1(2), 117-175.