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LDT100x

Instructional Design and Technology

Learning Theories

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Although we should not focus on extrinsic motivation, I believe it is still useful for learning. I also think rewarding can act as catalyst at the beginning of the learning journey. I think teachers should genuinely compliment students' achievement to motivate students.

My undergraduate study

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I majored in chemistry which means I did a lot of lab work. I worked in 2-4 peers for most of lab works. We were suppose to engage in collaborative learning. However, the tasks were not equally distributed.

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The best and moderate performers would conduct the experiments. Our friends who were not do well academically, would record the experiment results and cleaned up the equipment. That was how we mostly allocated the tasks.

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We rarely discussed the results together when writing the reports. Mostly, the highest performer would write the reports for the groups.

Learning theories behind this

I think the learning theory which describe my learning is cogtivism and constructivism. We learned science by doing experiment and explaining the experiment using scientific knowledge mimiced what scientist do science. We actively engaged in the experiments whilst trying to find explanations to describe it. We constructed our understanding of science in that way.

Learning theories behind this

It is no doubt that laboratory is essential to learning science. However, in my future classroom, I would encourage students to collaborative process more meaningfully when they conduct experiments together. I would engage them in argumentation process to allow them to develop critical thinking skills.

My postgraduate study

     Later, when I studied in America, I was always expected to participate in class discussion. This causes a major paradigm shift in my perception about learning through sharing. I came to realize that active class participation could broaden my worldview, while enabling me to learn quicker and at a deeper level.

 

But because of my English limitations as well as my old habits I was still more passive than most.  However, I tried my best to speak up in class. I felt really proud and I felt like I belonged to the classes when I could contribute to classroom discussions. I didn’t feel I was invisible anymore.  

 

Class participation forced me to think more deeply about what I was learning and to begin to question the subject matter at a much deeper level than just memorizing or accepting it as fact.

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Learning theories behind this

I think social constrivist views would explain my learning experience here. Sense of belonging in the classroom seems to play a crucial part of my learning here too. Not to forget that my previous experience also played a role on my class participation as well. At this point, I realise that explaining the learning is complicated and can't be done with single theory to be honest.

Learning theories behind this

In my future class, I would provide students with opportunities to engage in dialogic discourse as I can see how valuable classroom talk affect my learning. Importantly, it seems to be more challenge to provide such opportunities when offering the learning online. In saying that, it is still possible to have students socialise with other students when learning remotely. Several tools (e.g. forums, discussions board and blogs) can be used to enhance collaborative learning.

Following are links to discussion on relevant learning theories (click 'read more').

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Behaviourism

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Behaviourist views believe that students learn through reinforcement. The teachers would provide students with constant feedback about what they are doing right and wrong. The feedback can be in different forms such as test scores, homework marks and instant responses during learning process.

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Constructivism

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Constructivists believe that people actively construct their own knowledge based upon their experience. The learners come to understand something by meaningfully integrating their new with previous experiences. The key constructivist theorists include Dewey, Piaget and Vygotsky.

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Cognitivism &
connectivism

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Cognitivism focuses on human cognition involving how people think and gain knowledge. Connectivism is a framework for describing learning in digital age. This framework considers interplays of technology, people, information, actions and social relationships in constructing and distributing knowledge.

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Andragogy

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Andragogy refers to the approach and practice of teaching adult learners or adult education. It allows an understanding of lifelong education of adults which emphasise on self-directed and autonomous learning as well as how teachers could facilitate such learning.

Comparing learning theories

A range of learning theories have been constructed to explain how people learn. The table below compares different aspects of four majors of learning theories (see reference items 1-3).

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Click to download pdf file on comparing learning theories

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Learning approaches
& authentic assessment

Learning theories can be used to inform pedagogical and assessment approaches. In this section, I have picked one of the learning approach models to develop a project entitled, "Learning together through SEAMEO- AUS EDULINK: Practices and Principles for Collaborative Pedagogy and Assessment using ePortfolios.

I will address the following topics whilst connecting to learning theories where applicable:

  • A brief description of the learning scenario to be taught. In this case, I use my research proposal as

  • Description of the authentic assessment that could be used to assess the learning scenario. 

Learning scenario

In this proposed project, I will design and develop two interrelated innovations—an interactive eLearning course entitled "Practices and principles for collaborative pedagogy and assessment using e-Portfolios" and a community of practice (CoP) named " SEAMEO- AUS EDULINK." While an online course proposes enhancing participants' knowledge and skills in using portfolios for authentic learning, the SEAMEO- AUS EDULINK CoP aims at building trust and form a bond among participants to create a friendly environment where they will continuously engage in exchanging ideas and practices throughout the project implementation.

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The two foci are at the heart of the program development, involving e-portfolios as collaborative pedagogy and authentic assessment and community of practices to teaching and learning. 


Investigate and analyse: The participating teachers will learn the principles of using e-portfolios to assess students' learning through interactive eLearning. They will also critically discuss how ePortfolio might allow them to develop their professional identity and engage with reflective practice.


Practice: The participating teachers will create portfolios to introduce themselves and their hometown and showcase their teaching as they like. 


Share: The participating teachers will share their stories with other teachers using their portfolios through the SEAMEO- AUS EDULINK CoP. They will actively engage in giving and receiving feedback throughout the process. At the end of the project, the participants will have an opportunity to work together with other teachers or work individually to create a 2-5-minute promo video to pitch how they have used and/or will use e-portfolios to enhance students' learning.


Reflect and revise: The participants will be encouraged to write reflective journals to reflect on their experience throughout this experiment. 


In essence, the participating teachers, educators and research team will continuously exchange resources and give constructive feedback to the participants' portfolios throughout the project implementation in a trust and friendly environment.

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The learning theories behind this design are constructivism, connectivism and andragogy. As participating teachers are adults who are willing to learn about using ePortfolios to enhance their teaching and learning activities as well as engage in reflective practices, their learning will be driven by their intrinsic motivation. They are able to direct their learning whilst exchanging ideas and practices with other participating teachers. By engaging with other teachers in this online CoP, each teacher develops professional self-identity. At the same time, their engagement would shape the collective identity of their CoP (Weinberg et al., 2021). 

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A video clip below summarises this learning scenario. 

Authentic assessment

The learning outcomes will be evaluated by looking at two components: the quality of learners' portfolios and their nature of engagement in the online community of practice. Quality of portfolio will be assessed through marking rubric where learners would have opportunities have self-evaluation and peer-evaluation as well as evaluation from the instructor where constructive feedback will be put at the heart of the evaluation.

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Microlearning project

The ways in which online learning was designed and implemented are based on instructional designers and stakeholders' belief in how people learn digitally. I describe my plan for the design of an online environment, identify the tools I wanted to learn to help me achieve my goal. I share with you the final product I created below. Finally, I explained how learning theories the learning theory or theories that supported you in learning to use the new tool and why those approaches were effective.

Identify the tool

Drawn from constructivism and connectivism views of learning, I want to develop an online environment that facilitates students to actively construct their knowledge whilst having opportunities to interact with teachers and their peers. While this environment enables students to develop self-directed learning, it allows them to build relationships with their teachers and fellows and develop self of belonging. As I want to provide a system that allows students to engage and build a strong community of practice, I am looking for the tool that helps me to develop an online community to which the online courses can be embedded. I happen to know that WordPress with LearnDash integration can help me develop the community of practice I want. This is my learning journey:

  1. I read many reviews and YouTube tutorials about several plugins that help to build social learning community on the WordPress site.

  2. I chose the one that I felt best suited my need and purchased the software (i.e. LearnDash LMS and BuddyBoss theme.

  3. I started building an online community of practice and online courses followed YouTube Tutorials. I tried, observed the results, revised the content until I was happy with the results. 

The final product I created with the new tool 

Below is a video summarising the final product that I created and here is the link to this product.

Learning theories that supported me in learning to use the new tool

Learning theories that explain my learning are andragogy and constructivism. As I am motivated to do this task my learning was driven by my intrinsic motivation which allows me to direct my own learning. I learned new tools by watching the MKOs (experts on YouTube) demonstrating using these tools and practices on my own. The feedback I received was the results of applying the concepts in the video. These outcomes then reinforced me to keep learning and improving my performance. I think these approaches were effective because I can apply what I have learned immediately to my work which enables me to develop my self-directed learning skills.

Reference

  1. O'Donnell, A. M. (2019). Educational psychology (Third Australian edition). John Wiley & Sons.

  2. Hoy, A. W., & Margetts, K. (2016). Educational psychology (4th edition.). Pearson Australia.

  3. McDevitt, T. M., Ormrod, J. E., Cupit, G., Chandler, M., & Aloa, V. (2012). Child development and education (2nd edition). Pearson Higher Education Australia.

  4. Weinberg, A. E, Balgopal, M. M, & Sample M., Laura B. (2021). Professional Growth and Identity Development of STEM Teacher Educators in a Community of Practice. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-020-10148-9

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