Saturday, September 18, 2010

Week Two Blog post

Learning is the pathway to doing. If an instructor teaches something and nothing changes, no learning took place. Learning is something you can get better at. "Knowledge is constructed, not transferred. “Skills and knowledge do not exist outside of context. Everything is connected, in mental, physical, or social space," according to Peter Senge, “Schools That Learn”
In the book How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, is the best summary of what it's all about.
"This volume synthesizes the scientific basis of learning. The scientific achievements include a fuller understanding of: (1) memory and the structure of knowledge; (2) problem solving and reasoning; (3) the early foundations of learning; (4) regulatory processes that govern learning, including metacognition; and (5) how symbolic thinking emerges from the culture and community of the learner."
e-Learning was born during the dot-com frenzy. Like many start-up ideas, the first descriptions of eLearning were oversimplified and wildly optimistic. People defined e-Learning as putting all learning on computers, as if it had to be all or nothing. Employees could learn anywhere they could plug into the net, whenever they wanted. Learners would save time by studying only what they needed and  at an optimal pace. The only problem was that this sort of e-Learning rarely worked. Learning is social. In the classroom, lots of learning takes place informally, between students. Workers learn more at the water cooler or coffee room than during classes. Most people drop out of 100% computer-led instructional events. These same people learn well when computer-mediated lessons are combined with virtual classes, study groups, team exercises, and help desks. Computers can make aspects of learning more convenient but they don't eliminate the need for human intervention. Today we realize that learning isn't pouring content into heads. Rather, the real deal is an interaction between what's incoming and what's already there. Learning is rewiring the brain.
Marc Prensky's Digital Game-Based Learning has a great list of theories of how people learn:
  1. Learning happens when one is engaged in hard and challenging activities.
  2. Learning comes from observing people we respect.
  3. Learning comes from doing.
  4. Learning is imitation, which is unique to man and a few animals.
  5. Learning is a developmental process.
  6. You can't learn unless you fail.
  7. Learning is primarily a social activity.
  8. You need multiple senses involved.
  9. We learn automatically, from the company we keep, says another.
  10. People learn in "chunks."

Cognitive learning is demonstrated by knowledge recall and the intellectual skills: comprehending information, organizing ideas, analyzing and synthesizing data, applying knowledge, choosing among alternatives in problem-solving, and evaluating ideas or actions.
Affective learning is demonstrated by behaviors indicating attitudes of awareness, interest, attention, concern, and responsibility, ability to listen and respond in interactions with others, and ability to demonstrate those attitudinal characteristics or values which are appropriate to the test situation and the field of study.
Instructional Designers, Teachers and Education Specialists must know and understand how individuals learn in order to provide learning environments that provide optimal learning.

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