Lecture 2: Learning Theories

Wow, what a lecture that was on Tuesday evening! It was definitely an information overload and very overwhelming! 

We were introduced to Learning Theories: Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Social Learning, Constructivism, Inquiry based learning and Process learning. I personally find it very difficult to understand theories because of the way they are written. The language usage is very verbose and the concepts are difficult to understand and internalize. If it could just be written in plain simple English, I would find it easier to understand and internalize. In my undergraduate course, I had failed the module on theories and therefore I need to look at a new strategy to try and understand the theories and to be able to implement the theory in my work. However, I do see the connection between the theories and the Framework. The Framework is a guide to instruction and teaching students. It paves the way for individuals involved in teaching to re-look their teaching methods, activities and assessments with a greater focus on including the students in the process of teaching and learning. This Framework leans on the proponents of Constructivism and Inquiry based learning. The Framework is not static in its approach as the Standards seem to be portrayed. The Standards seem to be rigid and prescriptive and for that reason the ACRL has done away with it and has devised the Framework.

While doing my research I came across an article called "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age" by George Siemens which discusses how technological advances has affected teaching and learning among other things. I thought it made for an interesting read and thought I would share. The article can be found at the following link:  http://www.itdl.org/journal/jan_05/article01.htm 

Another interesting article is "Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical features From an Instructional Design Perspective" by Peggy A. Ertmer and Timothy J. Newby. What I enjoyed about the article is the way it married the theory with practical applications. How to design and structure instruction based on the various models of learning theories. The article can be found at: http://northweststate.edu/wp-content/uploads/files/21143_ftp.pdf 

There was not much class participation this week, due to the fact that there was so much information to get through. I was impressed by Charlene seeing the link between the Inquiry Model and Khulthau’s information searching behaviour model. I liked how after class we were all ready to RUN; to give our brains some space to recoup from that overwhelming lecture, but the universe had other plans for us as we were locked in! In retrospect it was quite hilarious, but in that moment it was a bit stressful. We really did not know how long we were going to be there. It was however a good debriefing session just letting of some steam and stress by open conversation and we had a few good laughs.