Philosophy

I believe that learning, particularly at university level, is an active process and one of active discovery, and that teaching practice should aim to encourage this. This view aligns best with cognitive constructivism. I also believe that sustained learning is best achieved through intrinsic motivation. Compared to traditional behaviourist approaches, a constructivist approach will better produce environments whereby individual inquiry, curiosity and confidence is nurtured. As put forward by Malone (1981), I believe that intrinsic motivation comes from activities that have hidden variables and uncertain outcomes (challenge) and where activities highlight incomplete or inconsistent knowledge (curiosity).

My philosophy of learning aligns with Rumelhart & D. Norman's (1978) three modes of learning: the addition of new knowledge to existing memory (accretion); the formation of new conceptual structures (structuring) and adjusting knowledge to a specific task (tuning). Accretion is the most common form of learning, structuring requires considerable effort and reflection and tuning relates to small, maybe even automatic, adjustments when someone has mastered a topic.

In the disciplines that I teach, accretion is common with each learning experience incrementally building on the previous. However, students ideally embrace conceptual structuring (and re-restructuring) as topics are also often entirely new and abstract. Structuring and tuning are increasingly important when teaching more advanced students later in their university training. My views here align with Reigeluth's Elaboration Theory (Reigeluth et al. 1980) - continual emphasis of core concepts and learning outcomes and continuity between sessions.

I believe there are a variety of individual cognitive styles, meaning that different students will have difference modes of thinking, remembering and problem solving. Kolb (1984) describes 4 categories of learner - divergers, assimilators, convergers, and accommodators - based on where an individual sits on a spectrum of preferring active experimentation and reflective observation or concrete experiences and abstract conceptualization. It is my belief that recognition of cognitive styles of learning leads to a teaching approach that is student-led and embraces concepts like Universal Design for Learning. For example, I subscribe to Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory, when it comes to learning and memory, whereby information is presented in both visual and verbal form (Clark and Paivio 1991).

My philosophy around assessment is also student-led in that I believe in formative assessment and designing courses that meet student-centred learning outcomes. I embrace the concept of reflective practice, through regular critical reflection - each teaching session and each teaching course I have run will not be perfect and there will always be aspects to improve.

References

Clark, J. M. & Paivio, A. (1991). Dual coding theory and education. Educational Psychology Review, 3(3), 149-170.

Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential Learning. Englewood< Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Malone, T. (1981). Towards a theory of instrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science, 4, 333-369.

Rumelhart, D. & Norman, D. (1978). Accretion, tuning and restructuring: Three modes of learning. In. J.W. Cotton & R. Klatzky (eds.), Semantic Factors in Cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.