Session 4: Learning Theories

There are no technology shortcuts in Good Education - article Kentaro Toyama
- Is this article balanced?
- What are the areas in which technology does not work?


Class notes:

THEORY - Analytical tool - EXPLAINS AND PREDICTS...

Gravity - what goes up must come down!

Theory or style? Leadership style - the theory exlains and predicts a style. Leadership style is how you react in that environment, based on what you know. Often based on a leadership theory. 

The theoretical foundation for teaching and learning applied within any learning environment underpins fundamental values, beliefs and priorities within the educational experience. It is through our own adoption of theoretical elements that we reveal our personal approach to practice.

While it can be debated that most education theories have influence on the new education practices that inform contemporary teaching this course reflects a "collaborative constructivist" view of teaching and learning. This view supports the inseparable relationship between personal contribution and social influence in shaping the education process. More specifically, collaboration and constructivism correspond respectively to teaching and learning responsibilities in the education experience. The learning transaction supported in this course recognises the two interests of collaboration and constructivism, while philosophically the approach belongs to the work of John Dewey's 1938 principle of "interaction" which unifies the subjective (personal) and objective (social) worlds.

The dual purpose of education includes the need to construct meaning (reconstruction of an experience) from a personal perspective and confirmation of understanding within a community of learners as part of a unified education transaction.

With the introduction of technology there is even greater focus on the creation of cognitive and social conditions that allow us to approach learning in a meaningful way that enhances the learning experience and increases ownership of learning outcomes.

Learning theory - a theory about changes in observable behaviour.
 - how do changes become permanent?
 - Is the change immediate?
 - What role does experience play?

10 Theories from the Hat: (Check out the video)
Conditioning: Mind =  black box, can't see in can only see the behaviour. Teaching has influence on the mind and changed behaviour.
(I still need to watch the video and add a summary of each theory.)

Connectionism or Law of effect:

Progressive Education:

Constructivisim: social development thery (a collection of theories)

Constructivisim: Equilibration

Social Cognitive Theory:

Situated Learning / Cognition:

Community of Practice:

Constructivisim:

Connectivism:

We employ a whole range of these in our classroom, even within each lesson.