Theories of Online Learning

Description:

After reading “Foundations of Education Theory for Online Learning” students will discover the differences between Behaviorist, Cognitivist, and Constructivist Learning Theories.

Assignment: Please classify the online learning activities described below as Behaviorist, Cognitivist, Constructivist, or a blend of the schools and explain your choice based on the implications for learning. Post your responses in the Discussion Forum entitled Online Learning Theories and respond to at least three of your classmates postings.

Examples of online learning activities:

Activity 1: Students work in collaborative groups to create a Thinking Map or other conceptual model of the properties and classification of minerals using a graphical wiki program such as Kerika.

Activity 2: Students participate in a virtual dissection simulation called Froguts.

Activity 3: Students take a Blackboard online quiz after reading a story on African cultures.

Activity 4: Students work with a partner to create a PowerPoint presentation on the steps in calculating a discount shown in percentage and computing the sales tax.

My Work:

Activity 1: Students work in collaborative groups to create a Thinking Map or other conceptual model of the properties and classification of minerals using a graphical wiki program such as Kerika.

I think this is an example of a blend of both Cognitivist and Constructivist. The Cognitivist theory suggests that learners should be asked to generate information maps, such as the graphical wiki program, during the learning process to facilitate deep processing as they learn the properties and classification of minerals.

The Constructivist theory calls for collaborative and cooperative learning, as in this example, to give learners real-life experience of working in a group, and allows them to use their metacognitive skills. Students also are able to use the strengths of the other learners.

Activity 2: Students participate in a virtual dissection simulation called Froguts.

The virtual dissection simulation is representative of all three schools of learning. The Behaviorist School of learning calls for learning materials and procedures to be sequenced appropriately. When students follow the proper steps, they reach the desired outcome.

Cognitivist learning theory says that learners should be able to perceive and attend to the information so that it can be transferred to working memory. Learners use their sensory systems to register the information—such as in this virtual dissection—in the form of sensations. Then they are able to process the information and transfer it to memory.

This example of situated learning provides context for the learner, and this is Constructivist Theory. Constructivists would also see this exercise as promoting higher-level interactive learning. The student interacts with a non-human resource—the virtual dissection-- at the second level of interactive learning. In this example, the student experiences the information at first-hand, rather than receiving filtered information from an instructor. This gives the student an opportunity to contextualize and personalize the information him or herself.

Activity 3: Students take a Blackboard online quiz after reading a story on African cultures.

Taking a Blackboard online quiz would be predominately from the Behaviorist Learning Theory. In this situation, the student learned facts and took an online quiz to determine if the student achieved the learning outcome. The quiz would provide the learner with feedback so they could monitor their progress. It would be difficult for me to say that this is also Cognitivist Theory related to the memorization of information. In this case, the student could look all the answers up in the book during the online test. There is no mention of a time limit or specific testing conditions that would prevent this.

Activity 4: Students work with a partner to create a PowerPoint presentation on the steps in calculating a discount shown in percentage and computing the sales tax.

The different parts of this scenario contain parts of all three learning theories. The student learned the facts required to calculate percentage. This is a skill that could be tested, which is Behaviorist Theory.

Next the student processed the information and then applied the facts to provide a discount and sales tax amount, which is Cognitivist Theory.

Finally, the students worked in a student-centered learning activity where they controlled the learning process. Students collaborated with a partner to create the PowerPoint presentation depicting a real-world example of the skills that they learned. Higher level thinking that promoted personal meaning and contextual learning was used in this final step, which was Constructivist.

My Scenario:

This activity provided awareness of learning theories to the teacher in the online Literature Circle class. This activity, per se, will not be used with the third or fourth graders in my online scenario. But because the instructor is aware of different learning theories, students will be provided information in a variety of ways and will also have multiple ways to respond to assignments.