Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to the lifespan, second edition. New York, NY: Worth
Publishers.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
This is my discussion about the theories that I believe are important in the online learning environment and why I hold those views. Behaviorism and cognitivism are the two theories that are most influential in learning through an online venue. Behaviorism involves practice, modeling, reinforcement, and active learning, and these components, when combined, are a powerful learning strategy. Constructivism, on the other hand, involves bringing our previous knowledge base to the learning environment, and then building upon it with the new information we learn. We come into a situation with the knowledge we have constructed through our experiences and learning opportunities throughout our lives, and we then add our new knowledge to it. We can either assimilate the information, or view the new information from our old lens, or create a new paradigm, known as accommodation (Berger, 2014).
Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to the lifespan, second edition. New York, NY: Worth
Publishers.
Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to the lifespan, second edition. New York, NY: Worth
Publishers.
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To Christi and All:
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful posting. With the exception of taking psychology classes, I have not had the privilege of working side-by-side with one.
Considering all the theories of how “we” interact to stimuli, these two learning theories are definitely the most foundational. When I think of behaviorism though, I am taken back to the social science class of sociology. It is striking how individual societies have different mannerisms and customs – even though we are all human. The word norm pops out at me, and how societies will shape individual’s character by how they react to others, e.g. shunning or disciplinary factors. Noticeably, some of these instances are not laws, so to speak, but more of expectations on members of the culture. With that statement – how is it we have students with behavioral disorders?
Constructivism is my favorite learning theory. I lean more toward the social constructivism approach, e.g. Vygotsky’s. As a mathematician of sorts, all higher mathematical processes have lower level foundations. We really cannot proceed to the next level until these primary calculations are resolved. So we scaffold instruction and leave some blank areas in the instructions sets, so that students can try to reason them out. Yes, this approach, where prior knowledge and newer knowledge lead to solutions, is quite entertaining. That is what we call the “Ah-ha” moment.
Now I am stuck! How do we, as instructors, provide for these scaffolding moments in an online asynchronous environment? I would almost think that there would need to be some sort of daily regiment of Q’s an A’s, plus the open possibility of a synchronous meeting when elements become unmanageable. Any thoughts?
Kindest regards - Senior Chief
Hi Earl or Senior Chief, Thanks so much for your response. My experience has been that cooperative learning provides an avenue for scaffolding. When my students interact with one another, they are able to add more personalized information in layers and enhance their understanding. Currently, some of the students in my classes consist of a Chinese immigrant, a man from Colorado City, where polygamy is practiced, and many Native American students, as well as many other cultural backgrounds. I personally have learned so much about the Native American culture that I have never seen in any textbooks, including the one I use for my course. Even when the asynchronous activities are going on, they are still focused on a particular topic.
DeleteIt is good to hear your comments. I believe constructivists' theories are the best way to develop good online and distance education techniques opposed to memorization and just behavioral studies that stimulate the senses but do not offer real experience and past experience to meet. I believe only experiential education becomes a reality in the learner's mind and is embedded into permanent memory more often to be used as needed. All asnychronous activities need to have thinking, exploration, and deduction, so that they become real to the learner. In ESL classes we call this learning "realia"
ReplyDeleteHi Verne, Thanks so much for your response. I work with many students who are kinesthetic learners and for them, experiential learning is critical. The teachers in juvenile detention, for instance, allow those students to do projects that encourage them to learn concepts through building things and creating models of the lesson. It works well for them. Often these students do not have strong auditory or visual learning modalities, so they must use a hands-on approach. Because of this dilemma, they have also been marginalized in the educational setting, so they sometimes engage in activities outside of mainstream society and they end up in trouble.
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