Reflections on Wiki activity & the learning theories

Over the last two weeks we have explored the different learning theories, trying to understand the different ways people learn. We have learnt there are three basic theories, which are Behaviourism, Cognitivism and Constructivism.

Behaviourism focuses on behavioural patterns being repeated until they become automatic (Schuman, 1996). It is a learning process of reacting to external stimuli. Theorists such as Thorndike, Pavlov, Watson and Skinner have conducted various experiments to test this theory (Mergel, 1998). Watson believed that most human behaviour is established through stimulus-response associations through conditioning and he was credited with coining the term "behaviourism" (Mergel, 1998). I agree with Watson, in that a lot of our learning is through behaviourism, especially during the early stages of our learning, for example when we are learning how to toilet train our children we are constantly encouraging them to go to the toilet when they feel they need to empty their bladders, and when they do the right thing we reward them with either kisses and hugs or a treat. When they don't do the right thing then we punish them and hence we are shaping their behaviours and they are learning through behaviourism.

Unfortunately this theory alone did not explain certain social behaviours as Mergel (1998) mentions, children did not imitate all behaviour that had been reinforced. It was realised that learning is a process of acquiring and storing knowledge (Edudemic, 2012). It is evident that learning is much more than just understanding and remembering but it also involves evaluating, encoding, storage and retrieval of information (Edudemic, 2012). Cognitivism is about how we process information and how we store it in our brains. There are times when someone will try and teach you something but if you have difficulty understanding it then you will not store it in your long term memory. Information stored in your sensory and short term memories are forgotten and cannot be retrieved unless the information has been stored in your long term memory (Mergel, 1998). When looking at this I realise that as teachers we have to be able to reach our students long term memories by delivery lessons that will keep them interested and engaged in what they are learning and appeal to many parts of their brain. The activities we did in week one to see what kind of learners we are just shows how differently each individual learns, hence the reason why we need to be very creative in our pedagogy design. Using ICT tools will help us reach students through visual and media lessons. Concept and mind maps, like the one I did in week one, we can really get in touch with our brains and explore how much we have stored in our long term memories. It is a great way of organising and storing information.

Social constructivism is the third theory we learnt last week and that we have touched on this week through our wiki activity. Social constructivism is where "learners construct their own reality or at least interpret it based upon their perceptions of experiences, so an individuals knowledge is a function of on's prior experiences, mental structures and beliefs that are used to interpret objects and events." (Good & Brophy, 1990). This week we were required to voice our opinion on the use of mobile phones in the classroom on a wiki space using the de Bono's Think Hats tool. The activity was very socially constructive as everyone made interpretations based on their experiences or perceptions and beliefs on the matter. Everyone was able to build on each others comments and agree or disagree. It created a very engaging learning environment encouraging interactions within a learning community. Wendy modelled  scaffolded various questions on the wiki space to guide us in our discussions. This was very effective as the page was designed in a way to avoid confusion and to organise information so it is easily understood. Scaffolding is very important in teaching especially on online spaces like Wikis. I viewed a TED video by Sugata Mitra, titled 'Build a school in the cloud'. In his video he gives an example of how scaffolding produces better learning outcomes, when he describes how he gave a group of children in a remote Indian village access to a computer and tested whether Tamil speaking 12 year olds could learn the biotechnology of DNA replication in English by themselves from this computer. He found that with having someone ask the children questions like how did you do that? what does this mean? children were able to achieve a pass of 50% in two months compared to a 30% success rate prior to scaffolding. Although learning is possible without teaching, the learning outcomes would not be great. Scaffolding is required to achieve optimum learning outcomes for students, to encourage higher order thinking and to organise students thoughts as was evident in the wiki activity we did on mobile phones.

ICT tools including Blogs and discussion forums are a great way of developing constructivist learning. This activity will be something that I would want to use in my classroom as it gives every student the opportunity to express their views and thoughts in an environment where they may feel more comfortable. I know from my own experiences that I am very shy and find it very difficult to voice my opinions in a room full of people. This wiki activity gives students time to gather their thoughts and ideas and to construct their answers in their own time.

The final theory that completes the learning theory framework is 'Connectivism'. This learning theory has developed in the 'Digital Age' and is a process of connecting specialised nodes or information sources (Edudemic, 2012).  The video titled 'The Networked Student' on the Moodle site posted by Wendy (http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=115326) really helped me understand what is meant by connectivism, and also showed that teachers roles are changing. they are described in the video as the learning architect, modeller, change agent, connected learning incubator, learning concierge, synthesizer and organiser just to name a few. I experienced this learning theory through our mobile phone wiki activity. We were given the opportunity to connect with other learners and to do our own research and share with others on this virtual space. I really enjoyed this activity and can now really understand the power of using ICT and the positive impacts it has on students.

When I first started reading through the course material, it was very confusing and a lot of information to take in. Now at the end of week two I feel confident and can better relate to the material. Working with others online, discussing and evaluating material and creating new ideas, has allowed me to feel connected to other students and not feeling alone. 

In conclusion I believe that the traditional learning theories alone will not allow this generation of students to have a complete learning experience. Behaviourism + Cognitivism + Constructivism + Connectivism = Complete Learning Theory (Edudemic, 2012).

References:

A Simple Guide to 4 Complex Learning Theories. (2012) [On-line]. Available: http://edudemic.com/2012/12/a-simple-guide-to-4-complex-learning-theories/

Good, T. L., Brophy, J. E. (1990). Educational psychology: A realistic approach. (4th ed.).White Plains, NY: Longman

Mergel, Brenda. (1998, 5 Feb 2001). Instructional Design & Learning Theory.   [On-line]. Available: http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm#Behaviorism

Schuman, L. (1996). Perspectives on instruction. [On-line]. Available: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec540/Perspectives/Perspectives.html