How current theories can inform practice

His view is that learning involves relatively permanent changes in disposition the inclination to perform and capability knowledge or skills required to do something as a result of experience. It is not always possible to directly observe changes in disposition and capability. Therefore to assess whether learning has occurred, some type of performance is required. He argues that a robust learning theory seeks to explain behaviour, to predict it and even to shape or change learner behaviours.

Many theorists contend that all learning theories fall within one of two groups based on epistemology. There are theories based on an objectivist epistemology Behaviourism, Cognitivism and Connectivism or a constructivist epistemology Constructivism and Online Collaborative Learning. Harasim argues that most theories fall into one of two categories: scientific hypothesis-driven or experimental theories and social or critical theories.

This divide is still present in educational discourse, but there are increasing efforts to lessen it. They establish a language and discourse which influence both educational research and practice. However, they have limitations, as learning is a complex phenomenon.

Learning theories cannot provide complete and definitive answers to pedagogic questions, but they can improve our understanding of how people learn. Learning theories have a long history dating back to the Greeks. There are dozens of learning theories which seek to address how children and adults learn.

See learning theorists Clark, and the comprehensive learning-theories. Given this long history and the broad spectrum of learning theories, in this series of posts I will be focussing on what I consider to be the nine most relevant theories for designing blended and online learning for Higher Education:.

Additional research sources were Bates , Bower , the Instructional Design. The reason for this choice is that there is a global CLT research community which has generated significant research which is worth exploring in more detail. Findings from CLT are also very relevant to the design of digital and online learning.

The table below is adapted from a table by Bower , who based his on one devised by Conole et al. I have used a slightly different set of learning theories to Bower, and I have used additional properties.

Comparative table showing the pedagogic properties of nine major learning theories. How can learning theories inform learning design and teaching practice in Higher Education? Harasim also takes the view that learning theories should not exist purely as high-level abstractions; theories are integral to educational practice.

Harasim makes the point that each learning theory is associated with particular pedagogies and learning technologies. Ultimately, teachers use learning theories consciously or not and their related educational approaches and technologies to design, develop and deliver effective learning experiences. However, making use of learning theories is not always straightforward. Schunk notes that historically there has been a disconnect between the domain of educational psychology and the practice of teaching.

Most learning theorists have been psychologists carrying out experimental and lab-based research. Different theories of learning reflect diverse views and beliefs on the origin, nature and limits of knowledge. Therefore teachers may have different views as to how best to teach. In contrast, Hirsch and proponents of direct instruction argue that knowledge and curricula are fundamental to education. Alongside the role of individual beliefs, Bates argues that each academic discipline has an agreed consensus about what constitutes valid knowledge within that subject domain.

Instead, he suggests that they can be assessed mainly by how useful they are to educational practice. Teaching and learning in the clinical context. Cognitive cover, copy, and compare: subvocal responding to increase rates of accurate division responding.

Remedial and Special Education, vol. The criteria of constructive feedback: the feedback that counts. Journal of Health Specialties, vol. Advances in Health Sciences Education, vol. The impact of programmatic assessment on student learning: theory versus practice. Cognitive load theory in health professional education: design principles and strategies. Educational strategies for improving clinical reasoning. Computer-based teaching module design: principles derived from learning theories.

Learning from clinical work: the roles of learning cues and credibility judgements. Expansive learning at work: toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work, vol. Twelve tips for facilitating team-based learning. Case-based learning—a review of the literature: is there scope for this educational paradigm in prehospital education? Emergency Medicine Journal, vol. Interprofessional education: a review of context, learning and the research agenda. Effectiveness of pre-licensure interprofessional education and post-licensure collaborative interventions.

Journal of Interprofessional Care, vol. Resident run journal club: a model based on the adult learning theory. A scaffolded approach to discussion board use for formative assessment of academic writing skills.

Communities of practice fostering peer-to-peer learning and informal knowledge sharing in the work place. We use them to help us anticipate the results of our actions and to make effective decisions. There is a way that these meanings converge when one practices psychotherapy from a spiritual perspective because practice is at once a way of being and the means by which one advances lifelong learning.

Theories can inform practice by providing direction for action and rationale for decision-making. Similarly, practice can inform theory. In this way, the practitioner is also a researcher.

Ideally, then, there should be consistency between theory and practice. We all know this. When someone acts in a way that is consistent with his or her intention we perceive them as having integrity, and the failure to do so is commonly perceived as hypocrisy.

By the way, just as an aside, if you have any doubt about the degree to which you are or are not consistent, a sure way to find out is to ask a teenager. According to Carl Rogers, congruence is one of the necessary conditions of effective helping. If someone is congruent, and we perceive them as sincere, trustworthy, reliable, etc. The therapists were also asked to rate themselves.

However, if the new information does not fit into what people already know, they experience disequilibrium or cognitive conflict, and must adapt by accommodating the new information. For example, once children learn what a dog is, they might call any four-legged creature they see a dog. This is assimilation, as the children are fitting new information into their existing knowledge. However, as children learn the differences between, say, a dog and cat, they can adjust their schema to accommodate this new knowledge Heick, Disequilibrium and accommodation can be uncomfortable.

People might be confused or anxious when they encounter information that does not fit their existing schema, and they might struggle to accommodate that new information, but disequilibrium is crucial to learning Kretchmar, a. During assimilation, people might be adding new bits of information to their knowledge store, but they are not changing their understanding of the world.

During accommodation, as people change their schema, construct new knowledge, and draw new connections among existing areas of knowledge, actual learning occurs, and accommodation requires disequilibrium. Acknowledging the role of disequilibrium is important for both instructors and students. People naturally want to avoid discomfort, but that can also mean avoiding real learning. As instructors, we can facilitate accommodation by acknowledging that the process might be challenging, and by creating conditions that allow students to feel safe exploring new information.

We can reassure learners that feelings of discomfort or anxiety are normal and provide them with low-stakes opportunities to engage with new information. Social constructivists recognize that different people can have different reactions and develop different understandings from the same events and circumstances, and are interested in how factors such as identity, family, community, and culture help shape those understandings Mercadal, Two of the major theorists associated with social constructivism are Pierre Bourdieu and Lev Vygotsky.

Vygotsky built on the work of Piaget and believed knowledge is constructed, but felt that prior theories overemphasized the role of the individual in that construction of knowledge. Vygotsky was also interested in how language and learning are related. He postulated that the ways in which people communicate their thoughts and understandings, even when talking themselves through a concept or problem, are a crucial element of learning Kretchmar, b.

For Vygotsky, interaction and dialogue among students, teachers, and peers are key to how learners develop an understanding of the world and of the socially constructed meanings of their communities. As a result, individuals might not question or challenge those structures, even when they are unfair or oppressive. In addition to examining how community and culture help shape knowledge, Bourdieu was interested in how issues of class impact learning.

He observed that over time, schools developed to reflect the cultures of wealthier families, which enabled their children to succeed because they inherently understood the culture of the classroom and the system of education.

We continue to see such issues today, and as discussed more in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, part of our critical practice is to ensure that our classrooms and instructional strategies are inclusive of and responsive to all students. While learning theories can be interesting on their own, our goal as instructors is to apply them to classroom practice.

Imagine that you are a high school librarian working with a class that has just been assigned a research paper. Your goal for this session is for students to brainstorm keywords and synonyms for their topics, and to learn how to string those words together using the Boolean operators and , or , and not. You want to be sure the students understand the function of the Boolean operators and can remember how to use them for future searches. Choose one of the learning theories outlined in this chapter and design a brief lesson to teach Boolean operators from the perspective of that theory.

Concentrate less on what you would teach but rather on how you would teach it in keeping with the chosen theory:. The learning theories outlined above discuss various cognitive processes involved in learning, as well as some of the motivators and conditions that facilitate learning.

While these theories attempt to describe how people learn, it is important to note that individuals are not born ready to engage in all of these processes at once, nor do they necessarily all engage in the same processes at the same time. Rather, more complex processes develop over time as people experience the world and as their brain matures.

In addition to studying how people learn, some theorists have also proposed theories or frameworks to describe developmental stages, or the various points in human development when different cognitive processes are enabled, and different kinds of learning can occur. Piaget outlined four hierarchical stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational Clouse, , illustrated in Table 3. In the sensorimotor stage, from birth to about two years, infants react to their environment with inherent reflexes such as sucking, swallowing, and crying.

By about age two, they begin problem solving using trial and error. The preoperational stage, also sometimes called the intuitive intelligence stage, lasts from about ages two to seven. During this time, children develop language and mental imagery. They are able to use their imagination, but they view the world only from their own perspective and have trouble understanding other perspectives.

Their understanding of the world during this stage is tied to their perceptions. The final stage, formal operationalism, begins around age At this point, individuals can think abstractly and engage in ideas that move beyond the concrete world around them, and they can use deductive reasoning and think through consequences Clark, ; Clouse, Perry proposed four stages of learning.

In the first stage, dualism, children generally believe that all problems can be solved, and that there are right and wrong answers to each question.

At this stage, children generally look to instructors to provide them with correct answers. The second stage is multiplicity, where learners realize that there are conflicting views and controversies on topics. Learners in the multiplicity stage often have trouble assessing the authority and credibility of arguments. They tend to believe that all perspectives are equally valid and rely on their own experiences to form opinions and decide what information to trust.

In the next stage, referred to as relativism, learners begin to understand that there are different lenses for understanding and evaluating information. They learn that different disciplines have their own methods of research and analysis, and they can begin to apply these perspectives as they evaluate sources and evidence.

At this point, learners can understand that not all answers or perspectives are equal, but that some answers or arguments might be more valid than others. In the final stage, commitment, students integrate selected information into their knowledge base. You might notice connections between Perry and the cognitivists and constructivists described above in the way they each describe people making sense of information by comparing new information to existing knowledge.

However, Perry organizes the processes into developmental stages that outline a progression of learning. Understanding the stages laid out by Piaget and Perry, we can develop lessons that are appropriate to learners at each stage. Instructors could ask these children to describe what they see and reflect on their personal experiences with weather, while older children could be asked to imagine how the changes are impacting other people and organisms, anticipate consequences of the impact of climate change, and perhaps use problem solving to propose steps to improve their environment.

Both models assume a relatively linear chronological development, with children and young adults passing through different stages at roughly the same time. Vygotsky, on the other hand, describes a model that focuses more on the content being mastered rather than the age of the student. The center circle, or first zone, represents tasks that the learner can do on their own. The second zone, or the Zone of Proximal Development, represents an area of knowledge or set of tasks that the learner can accomplish with assistance.

The tasks and knowledge in this zone require students to stretch their abilities somewhat beyond their current skill level but are not so challenging as to be completely frustrating. The outermost circle, or third zone, represents tasks that the learner cannot yet do.

Vygotsky posits that by working within the ZPD, learners can continue to grow their skills and abilities and increase their knowledge Flair, The same individual can experience different ZPDs in different subject areas; they might be advanced in math and able to take on material above their grade level but might find languages more challenging. Like with social constructivism, interaction with others is central to ZPD.

According to Vygotsky, learning takes place when students interact with others who are more knowledgeable, including peers and instructors, who can provide guidance in the ZPD Schaffer, Math can provide a good example of working within the ZPD.

Once students are comfortable with addition, they can probably learn subtraction with some help from a teacher or other peers but are probably not ready to learn long division.

Our challenge as instructors is to identify the ZPD for each student so that we are neither boring learners with material that is too easy nor overwhelming them with material that is too hard.

Most of the educational theories and frameworks outlined in this chapter were developed with a focus on children and young adults. While many of the principles can apply to an adult audience, they do not necessarily account for the specific issues, challenges, and motivations of adult learners.

Yet, many information professionals will work mostly or even exclusively with adults. Academic librarians and archivists largely work with students who are at least 17 years old and, as the numbers of nontraditional students continue to increase, will find themselves increasingly working with older learners.

Likewise, information professionals in corporations and medical and legal settings work almost exclusively with adults. Public librarians see a range of patrons, and many public libraries are increasing educational programming for their adult patrons.

This section presents the educational concept of andragogy, which addresses teaching and learning for adults. Perhaps one of the biggest differences between child and adult learners, according to Knowles , is that adults are interested in the immediate applicability of what they are learning and are often motivated by their social roles as employees, parents, and so on. As Knowles notes, in traditional classrooms, children are usually taught discrete subjects like math, reading, and history, and their learning is focused on building up knowledge for the future.

Young students might not use geometry in their everyday lives, but it forms a foundation for more complex math and for future job or life tasks like measuring materials for home repairs. Adults, on the other hand, are already immersed in the social roles for which younger students are only preparing, and they want to see how their learning applies to those roles. Thus, Knowles suggests that adults will be interested in a competency-based, rather than a subject-based, approach to learning.

Further, as autonomous individuals, adults are likely to be more self-directed in their learning. That is, they will want to, and should be encouraged to, take an active part in the design and planning of lessons, providing input on content and goals.

After all, in most states, school attendance is compulsory up to a certain age, and relatively strict curriculum standards are set by each state, meaning that children have little choice about attending school in some form or about what content they learn. At least in theory, adults have a choice about whether to attend college or engage in other kinds of learning opportunities such as workshops and professional development and continuing education courses.

Presumably, adults are motivated to pursue these opportunities for a specific reason, whether out of personal curiosity, to advance in their careers, or to gain a new skill.

These adult learners will likely have opinions and ideas about what they want to learn and perhaps even how they want to engage with the content, so Knowles suggests we provide adult learners with choices and opportunities for input to help shape the curriculum. Adult learners also have a larger store of knowledge and experience than their younger counterparts. From a cognitivist or constructivist point of view, adults have a larger schema against which to compare new information and make new connections.

As instructors, we should recognize this store of knowledge and find ways to integrate it into the classroom, by providing ample opportunity for reflection and using guiding questions to encourage learners to draw on that knowledge.