Learning Theory in Ed. Tech. - How do people learn best?

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When the concept of learning is discussed, what first come to mind to some people is a structured classroom setting, normally desks or tables organized in rows, and a group of students gathered together listening to what an adult figure has to share with them.

John Dewey (1938) talked about this on his book Experience and Education saying that, in his time, education consisted in passing on information and learned skills from one generation to the other. Later on he proposed the idea of the importance of experience in the learning process, something I completely agree and support.

Learning, in my opinion, is transmitting new and important information in various and creative ways. According to Driscoll (2005), in order for learning to take place several things need to happen. First, an individual’s performance needs to change. Second, this change occurs as a result of the experience any individual had as he/she interaction with others.

The job of an educator is to identify which experiences best fit the needs of its students modifying its job description into a facilitator of instruction. When this happens, students are given the opportunity to transform the new information and convert it into knowledge to make it useful for them. Another way of saying it would be that when the students find the information relevant, meaningful that can be applied through a process of discovery, it is then that it will be learned.

Due to the fact that technology is changing the way we think, Henry Jenkins (as cited in Siemens, 2008) argues that learning needs to take place in a collaborative and network environment. At the same time, Oblinger and Oblinger (as cited in Siemens, 2008) proposed that educators need to adapt to the experiences that the students are exposed to on a daily basis, such as “blogs, wikis, networking, podcasts, online video, and virtual worlds.”

In my opinion, technology can also facilitate ownership, an element that is crucial in the learning process. By having ownership, student’s motivation increases. In other words, if a student is motivated to learn, its process becomes simplified.

  

In Educational Technology, learning theory can provide important guidelines that could assist educators on how to better incorporate technology in their teaching and help students become involved in their own learning. As John Carolus S. J. said, “we think too much about effective methods of teaching and not enough about effective methods of learning.”

While doing research I came across this two video presentations by Sir Ken Robinson that might be of interest to you as well. 

References:

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York, NY: Touchstone.

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from http://itforum.coe.uga.edu/Paper105/Siemens.pdf




This module I visited and commented to the following blogs:

http://kwagoner7105.blogspot.com

I strongly agree with you that students learn best when they are actively involved in their learning. As you mentioned, they should be taught the necessary skills to be successful in the 21st century. My concern is that our young students are allowed to be numbed by many of the technological gadgets, such as phones, tablets or any other media, but they are not taught to be creative or critical thinkers. All they want is for the information to come to them and knowing where to find the right answer. As educators, what are we doing to change that?

On the other hand, I see that you are utilizing a variety of learning theories, as well as giving student choices. In my opinion, choices are crucial for learning to take place. When students are given choices, they become motivated. If motivated, real learning occurs. Sometimes we, adult educators, limit our student’s potential and hinder their creativity. It is time to change that!


http://loridodd.blogspot.com

 

I believe that we all learn in a variety of ways. In my case I consider myself a visual learner than anything else. At the same time, I also believe that there are certain subjects and concepts that are better learned in a specific learning environment; such is the case in your math classes.

What I enjoy creating, as mentioned by your post, which also reflects John Dewey’s (1938) ideals, is real life experiences that allowed my students to grasp the concepts and apply them in their daily lives. When we do that real learning occurs.

In regards to technology, it is amazing to see how many resources we have available that reinforce our teaching. I am glad you are utilizing many of them in a variety of ways. Out teaching methods do not follow the “one size fits all” mentality. We are all unique in our own ways, which makes teaching one of the most challenging professions with life changing results.

Reference:

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York, NY: Touchstone.