Learning theories

1. Learning theories

2. Outline • Behaviorist • Humanist • Cognitivist • Social cognitivist • Constructivist

3. Behaviorist

4. Scholars Ivan Pavlov (classical conditioning) (1849 – 1936) B.F. Skinner (operant conditioning) (1904 – 1990) • John B. Watson (Little Albert) (1878 – 1958) • Edward Thorndike (Law of Effect, Law of Exercise, Law of Readiness) (1874 – 1949) • Edward C. Tolman (Purposive behaviorism) (1886 – 1959)

5. Behaviorist orientation • Observable behavior rather than internal thought process is the focus of the study. In particular (learning is manifested by a change in behavior) • The environment shapes behavior; what one learns is determined by the elements in the environment, not by the individual learner • The principles of contiguity (how close in time two events must be for a bond to be formed) and reinforcement (any means of increasing the likelihood that an event will be repeated) are central to explaining the learning process.

6. Pavlov’s Classical conditioning

7. Skinner (1938, 1953): reinforcement is essential to understanding operant conditioning. If behavior is reinforce or rewarded, the response is more likely to occur again under similar conditions. Behavior that is not reinforced is likely to become less frequent and may even disappear. (Behavior Modification) • Thorndike: • Law of Effect (learners will acquire and remember responses that lead to satisfying aftereffects); • Law of Exercise (the repetition of a meaningful connection results in substantial learning); • Law of Readiness (if the organism is ready for the connection, learning is enhanced, and if it is not, learning is inhibited) (Ormrod, 1995)

8. Skinner’s Box

9. Application behaviorist in learning • Behaviorism is the philosophy that most underlies adult career and technical education and HRD. • The emphasis in vocational education is on identifying the skills needed to perform in an occupation, teaching those skills and requiring a certain standard of performance of those skills. • HRD is most associated with training to enhance on-the-job performance in the workplace. Performance improvement , competency based instruction, and accountability are all part of this behavioral orientation to HRD

10. HRD professionals who rely on behaviorism and cognitivism emphasizes rewards, the stimuli that learners receive from the environment, the systematic observation of behavior, and relating new information to previous learning. (Sleezer, Conti and Nolan, 2003) • It should be noted that there are numerous educators and HRD and technical education professionals who do not ascribe to such a behaviorist orientation.

11. Nevertheless, the behavioral orientation to learning has had a profound effect on our educational system. It has also been challenged by theorist from two radically different perspectives: humanism and cognitivism

12. Humanist

13. Scholars Carl Rogers (1902-1987) • Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

14. Humanist orientation • Learning from the perspective of the human potential for growth • Human beings can control their own destiny; people are inherently good and will strive for a better world; people are free to act, and behavior is the consequence of human choice; people possess unlimited potential for growth and development (Roger, 1983; Maslow, 1970) • Humanism emphasizes that perceptions are centered in experience, and it also emphasizes the freedom and responsibility to become what one is capable of becoming. These tenets underlie much of adult learning theory that stresses the self-directedness of adults and value of experience in the learning process

15. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Maslow (1970): lowest level of his triangle hierarchy must be attended to before one can deal with higher level of needs. The final need can be seen in a person’s desire to become all that he or she is capable of becoming. The motivation to learn is intrinsic; it emanates from the learner. For Maslow self-actualization is goal of learning, and educators should strive to bring this about.

16. Rogers (1983): He believes that each person experiences the world differently and knows his or her experience best • sees as a similar process in both therapy and education. In fact, his “client centered therapy”*** is often equated with student-centered learning. ***focus on the role of the client rather than the therapist as key to healing process

17. Application humanism in learning • Knowles theory of andragogy, with its assumptions about the adult learner, and much of the research and writing on self-directed learning are grounded in humanistic learning theories. • The focus of learning is on the individual and self-development, with learners expected to assume primary responsibility for their own learning. (SDL) • The process of learning, which is centered on learner need, is seen as more important than the content; therefore when educators are involved in the learning process, their most important role is to act as a facilitators, or guides.

18. Cognitivist

19. Scholars • Christian von Ehrenfels(Gestalt) German Psychologist • Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) Swiss Clinical Psychologist • David Paul Ausubel (1918 - 2008) • Robert Mills Gagne (1916 – 2002) • Jerome Seymour Bruner (1915 – 2016)

20. Cognitivist orientation • Key assumptions underlie: 1) the memory system is an active organized processor information 2) the prior knowledge plays an important role in learning • Perception, insight and meaning are key concepts in cognitivism for Gestalt learning theorist • The human mind is not simply a passive exchange terminal system where the stimuli arrive and appropriate response leaves. Rather, the thinking person interprets sensations and gives meaning to the events that impinge upon his consciousness.

21. Gestalt: proposed looking at the whole rather than its parts, at patterns rather than isolated events. • Piaget: one’s internal cognitive structure changes partly as a result of maturational changes in the nervous system and partly as a results of the organism’s interacting with the environment and being exposed to an increasing number of experiences.

22. Cognitive learning theory encompasses a number of perspectives, all of which take as their starting point the mental processes involve in learning (Wilson & Keil, 1999)

23. Ausubel (1967): Learning is meaningful only when it can be related to the concepts that already exist in a person’s cognitive structure. Rote learning, in contrast, does not become linked to a person’s cognitive structure and hence is easily forgotten. • He emphasizes the importance of the learner’s cognitive structure in new learning • He also suggests the use of “advance organizers” to prepare a person for a new learning. • Assimilation theory.

24. Bruner views contrasted with Ausubel’s, emphasizes learning through discovery • Discovery is “in its essence a matter of rearranging or transforming evidence in such a way that one is enabled to go beyond the evidence” and as a results, reconstruct additional new insights. • Bruner’s instructional theory is based on a theory about the act of learning that involves “three almost silmultaneous process: • Acquisition of new information …; • Transformation, or the process of manipulating knowledge to make it fit new tasks; and • Evaluation, or checking whether the way we have manipulated information is adequate to the task

25. Gagne, Briggs & Wager (1992): linking instruction to the acquisition and processing of knowledge. They contend that there are 8 different types of knowledges: 1. Signal learning 2. Stimulus-response 3. Motor training 4. Verbal association 5. Discrimination learning 6. Concept learning 7. Rule learning 8. Problem solving *each with appropriate instructional procedures.

26. In summary, cognitively oriented explanations of learning encompass a wide range of topics with a common focus on internal mental processes that are under the learner’s control. • Essential components of learning are the organization of the information to be learned, the learner’s prior knowledge, and the processes involved in perceiving, comprehending, and storing information (Gredler, 1997, p.143)

27. Social-cognitive

28. Scholars • Albert Bandura (1925) (91 y.o) • Jullian Rotter (1916 – 2014)

29. Highlight the idea that much human learning occurs in a social environment. By observing others, human acquire knowledge, rules, skills, strategies, beliefs and attitudes. • Individuals also learn about the usefulness and appropriateness of behaviors by observing models and the consequences of modeled behaviors, and they act in accordance with their beliefs concerning the expected outcomes of actions.

30. Bandura (1960): Bobo-doll study. Observational learning is characterized by the concept of self-regulation. Persons can regulate their own behavior to some extent by visualizing self-generated consequences. • Observational learning influenced by 4 processes of attention, retention of memory, behavioral rehearsal and motivation. • Conceptual representations often comprise both images and verbal symbols.

31. Bandura’s theory has particular relevance to adult learning in that it accounts for both the learner and environment in which he or she operates • Another connection to adult learning is the importance of context and the learner’s interaction with the environment to explain behavior. • Bandura has advanced a model of “triadic reciprocality” in which behavior, cognitive and other personal factors and environmental events all operate as interacting determinants of each other.

32. Constructivist

33. Constructivist orientation • Basic assumption: Learning is a process of constructing meaning; it is how people make sense of their experience • Constructivist differ as to the nature of reality, the role of experience, what knowledge is of interest, and whether the process of meaning-making is primarily individual or social • All forms of constructivism understand learning to be an active rather than passive endeavor. Consequently, learning occurs through dialogue, collaborative learning, and cooperative learning. • One learn through engaging, incorporating, and critically exploring the views of others, and new possibilities of interpretations are opened through the interaction

34. Aspect of constructivism can be found in self-directed learning, transformational learning, experiential learning, situated cognition and reflective practice.

35. Five orientations of learning

36. Learning

37.       Cyril O. Houle • an innovator in adult education • famously known as Grandfather of Adult Education • a retired University of Chicago education professor • He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Florida at Gainesville (1934) and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1940)

38. The Inquiring Mind • Cyril O. Houle is the author of the book The Inquiring Mind, which gave society its first in-depth view of adults and their motivation to continue to seek education and knowledge after their formal education  years. • Houle undertook one of the first legitimate attempts to develop an understanding of the education of an adult by studying the actual individual involved in the learning rather than focusing on the institution that they attended.  • Houle found that all of the adults he interviewed had three learning orientations is common.  They were goal-oriented, activity-oriented, and learner oriented.

39. Malcolm Shepherd Knowles •  (August 24, 1913 – November 27, 1997) • was a student of Houle • was an American adult educator, Father of Adult education • famous for the adoption of the theory of andragogy— • initially a term coined by the German teacher Alexander Kapp.

40. Knowles’ six assumptions about adult learner characteristics: 1. As a person matures, his or her self-concept moves  from dependent toward self-directed.2. An adult gains experience, which becomes an increasing and important resource for learning.3. An adult's readiness to learn is closely related to the developmental tasks of his or her social role.4. An adult's need for immediacy of application of knowledge increases.5. An adult's strongest motivators are internal rather than external.6. Adults have a need to know why they need to learn something.

41. Four Principles of Andragogy • Based on these assumptions about adult learners, Knowles discussed four principles that educators should consider when teaching adults. • Since adults are self-directed, they should have a say in the content and process of their learning. • Because adults have so much experience to draw from, their learning should focus on adding to what they have already learned in the past. • Since adults are looking for practical learning, content should focus on issues related to their work or personal life. • Additionally, learning should be centered on solving problems instead of memorizing content.

42. Paulo Freire • Brazilian educator • Author of the Pedagogy of Oppressed

43. Pedadogy of oppressed • The book is considered one of the foundational texts of critical pedagogy. • proposes a pedagogy with a new relationship between teacher, student, and society • Dedicated to the oppressed and based on his own experience helping Brazilian adults to read and write, Freire includes a detailed Marxistclass analysis in his exploration of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. • In the book Freire calls traditional pedagogy the "banking model of education" because it treats the student as an empty vessel to be filled with knowledge, like a piggy bank. However, he argues for pedagogy to treat the learner as a co-creator of knowledge. • The book has sold over 750,000 copies worldwide

44. Types of education programmes • Formal education/ learning • Informal education/ learning • Non-formal education/ learning

45. Formal education • ‘…the hierarchically structured, chronologically graded “educational system”, running from primary school through the university and including, in addition to general academic studies, a variety of specialized programmes and institutions for full-time technical and professional training.’ • For example: University, Community College, Primary schools

46. Informal education • ‘…the truly lifelong process whereby every individual acquires attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience and the educative influences and resources in his or her environment-from family and neighbours, from work and play, from the marketplace, the library and the mass media…’ • For example:

47. Non-formal education • ‘…any organized educational activity outside the established formal system-whether operating separately or as an important feature of some broader activity-that is intended to serve identifiable learning clientèle and learning objectives.’ (Coombs et al 1973) • the practice of non-formal education is as old as society itself, and would include religious initiation ceremonies (and the instruction which goes with them) and various kinds of apprenticeship training. • NFE in the modern world embraces a vast range of educative services, such as health education, family planning, agricultural extension, functional literacy or the educational programmes of women’s groups. • For example:

48. Characteristics of non-formal education • relevance to the needs of disadvantaged groups; • concern with specific categories of person; • concern with clearly defined purposes and • flexibility in organization and methods. ***the disadvantaged group mean all those social groups who are either under-represented in formal education or who are considered failures within it. Such educational disadvantage also correlates closely with other kinds of social deprivation, including poverty, unemployment and low social status.

49. Self Directed Learning (SDL) … • was introduced by Allen Tough, student of Houle, Canadian Adult Educator & • Allen Tough: Inventing Self Directed Learning concept in his book ‘The Adult’s Learning Projects’ • SDL is where Individuals take initiative and responsibility for learning. individuals select, manage and assess their own learning activities. Motivation is important. Independence in setting goals and defining what is worthwhile to learn. Teachers provide scaffolding, mentoring and advising. Peers provide collaboration

50. Definition of Self Directed Learning (SDL) • In its broadest meaning, self-directed learning describes a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes. (Knowles, 1975, p. 18)