Learning Theories
My beliefs of how people learn follow the constructivist learning principles. Basically, constructivism sets forth the tenet that learning is the search for meaning. This meaning is both of the wholes and the parts. Concepts are emphasized to the learner. Learners also have pre-constructed schema and mental models. For learning to occur, the mental models or schema may need to be modified or new structures need to be made.
The process by which learners construct meaning is an active process. Learners are given authentic content in which they have interactions (hands on, verbal, or written) that brings learners to negotiate the meaning of the concept. This active/interactive process has intrigued me for my entire teaching career. As I have gone back to further my eduction, I have studied instructional design theories that link constructivist learning theory to the instruction that has taken place in my classroom.
My Master's degree is in the field of science education. The major instructional strategy I studied was the learning cycle. The learning cycle has many formats. One of the better known formats is from the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS). This format, otherwise known as the 5 E model, has five phases. The first phase, engagement, has the teacher both developing the curiosity of the learner in the concept and accesses the learner's prior knowledge. The second phase, exploration, has teachers provide learners with a common set of experiences that are designed to build the skills, processes, and knowledge the learner needs to attain the concept. The third phase, explanation, has the teacher focus the learner on the aspects of the concept the learner should have attained through the engagement and elaboration phases. In addition, learners are given opportunities to explain their knowledge of the concept in order for teachers to ascertain how well learners have attained the concept. The fourth phase, elaboration, has the teacher push the learner to extend and deepen their knowledge of the concept. The fifth and final phase, evaluation, has teachers use a summative evaluation to see how well learners have the concept.
I expanded my use of learning theories to include the social constructivist theory. In a nutshell, it is through the interactions of learners with each other to collaboratively build artifacts do learners construct conceptual understanding. Collaboration, as Stahl suggested (2002), seeks to have groups construct new knowledge from existing knowledge through discourse activities. This is a slight shift from cooperation. Cooperation, defined by Johnson and Johnson (1994) "interaction is characterized by positive goal interdependence with individual accountability." In both cooperation and collaboration, learners work together to achieve a classroom goal. The distinction is that in cooperation, it is possible to see the individual contributions of each learner. In collaboration, the final artifact is constructed by all learners in a manner that the individual contributions cannot be distinguished. Dillenbourg (1999) supports this claim, “In cooperation, partners split the work, solve subtasks individually and then assemble the partial results into the final output. In collaboration, partners do the work together".
As a teacher, I have tried to follow the constructivist learning theory as I design and develop lessons for my students. The course work of the Learning Systems Design and Development program has shown me that I needed to incorporate more student interactions with each other into my lessons. In addition, it is not a case where I can say, "Okay, collaborate." Students need to be taught the skills behind collaboration and cooperation in order to be successful in using the social constructivist theory to enhance student learning.
Learning Technologies and Design
Technology has afforded many changes in education. This combined with research into how people learn; brought me to further my education with a Specialist's degree in Educational Technology-Learning Systems Design and Development.
The ADDIE model is a generic model used for instructional design. The ADDIE model has five phases. Phase one, analysis allows the problem to be identified and the learning environment, constraints, and objectives identified. Phase two is design. Phase three, development is the creation of the actual product. Phase four, implementation is where materials are sent, students and teachers are trained and the effectiveness of training is evaluated. The last phase, evaluation is actually conducted at each phase of the model, at least formative evaluation.
Focusing on collaboration in the design and development of learning technologies, Dillenbourg (2002) suggests that the effectiveness of collaborative learning is dependent on several factors: group size, heterogeneous or not, age, etc. The factors create a complexity to the interactions that is difficult to control in order to improve learning. To account for this, Dillenbourg (2002) suggests the use of scripts which define how learner are to interact and solve the problem. As I stated before, if I just say to students, "Go collaborate," the results of the collaboration, meaning the product the students produce, is usually not of the quality I want. The addition of scripts which define how the students interact and go about solving the problem has increased the frequency of successful collaboration in my classroom and improved the products produced from the collaboration.
How People Use Learning Technologies
I came to the LSDD program for Educational Technology thinking that I knew a great deal about learning. The classes in instructional design proved to me that I only knew a small portion. In addition, I was shown that I did not fully understand how to use learning technologies to advance learning nor know of many of the possibilities that were out there.
The main technologies of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) are for individual use. While latest versions of each of these technologies have the ability for others to add comments and to track changes made in documents, they are not really built for collaborative or cooperative work. Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, a space where users can contribute ideas and edit each other's work, or Google docs where users can create and edit web based documents, spreadsheets, and presentations plus control who has access to the files. These technologies are free to anyone who has access to the Internet and support cooperation and collaboration among users at great distances.
Education has made in-roads using Web 2.0 tools to increase collaboration and cooperation among learners. Moodle, an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, is designed to support a social constructivist framework of education. Moodle has several features that support collaborative learning such as wikis, forums, discussion boards, and chat. It is an open source classroom management software which is why I currently use it in my classroom to bring a blended experience to my students. I fully intend to keep working on applying what I have learned about cooperation and collaboration in this setting to improve the learning that occurs in and out of my classroom.
Other course management systems that I have experienced through the LSDD program are Sakai and Blackboard. Each of these systems is similar to Moodle in terms of capabilities. Sakai and Moodle are similar in terms of using an avatar in which learners can post a picture of themselves or create their own avatar. Blackboard and Moodle are similar in their ability to show threaded discussions on a discussion board. Each system, Sakai or Blackboard, support collaborative and cooperative learning.
Social affordances, according to Kreijns (2002), the properties in a learning environment that "intiate and sustain learner's social interactions." Collaborative and cooperative work occur in places outside of educational systems. As technologies increase in sophistication and create better social affordances, distances between users and learners will no longer matter. An example of a technology that can be used in different learning environments would be Adobe ConnectNow. This environment, allows users to video chat, type chat, post documents, share screens, use a whiteboard, and send messages. Other similar technologies include, Twiddla, Team Space, Web Office, and BSCW.
The Future
Networked technologies have brought a new dimension to work. 21st Century skills indicate that students should be exposed to collaborative opportunities in order to have the skills to be able to collaborate effectively in the work place. My goal is to take the knowledge gained from the Learning Systems Design and Development emphasis to create a blended class environment in which students can collaborate during and after school hours.
References
Bybee, R., Taylor, J., Gardner, A., Van Scotter, P., Powell, J., Westbrook, A., & Landes, N., (n.d.). The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: Origin, Effectiveness, and Applications. Retrieved from http://www.bscs.org/pdf/bscs5eexecsummary.pdf
Dillenbourg, P. (2002). Over-scripting CSCL: The risks of blending collaborative learning with instructional design. Three worlds of CSCL. Can we support CSCL? pp.61-91. Open Universiteit Nederland.
Johnson, R. & Johnson, T. (2007). An Overview of Cooperative Learning. Brookes Press.
Kreijns, K. (2002) The Sociability of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Environments. Educational Technology & Society. pp. 8-22.
Lehlinen, E., Hakkarainen, K., Lipponen, L., Rahikainen, M., & Muukkonen, H., (n.d.). Computer Supported Collaborative Learning: A Review. Retrieved from http://etu.utu.fi/papers/clnet/clnetreport.html
Stahl, G. (2002) Contributions to a Theoretical Framework for CSCL. Conference paper.