I am intrigued by the breadth of instructional technology and the work that lies ahead for me as a human performance technologist. I love the human aspect to all of this - it is what makes it complicated and rewarding. Rarely are we solving the problem if we just focus on training; it is only if we embrace the whole person and the whole system that we make an impact.
This is really an interdisciplinary field. We all add different dimensions to the puzzle and our multiple skills and viewpoints enrich the problem-solving in which we are engaged.
LDS church is trying to figure out how to avoid duplicity of ordinances - Pres Hinckley believes it will be the Human Performance Technologists that make the adjustments to usher in change.
Fast food industry has performance helps.
Behaviorists = we can's see what someone is learning apart from how they behave. We can only measure success in this arena by observable performance.
Downside of HPT - you can't make a causal connection of learning and performance. The bottom line is performance.
Molenda
Ancient Education
-Learning in the home and community
-Apprenticeships but literacy wasn't the focus.
Industrial Revolution
- Industrial revolution called for more educated populace - need to serve large groups of students. (e.g. 20 long rows, first student was required to mentor the students behind them). Undergrads go to a large lecture and then to a lab session and have the student mentors help them.
- The sand board (invention of a technologist - this is an instructional technology)
- Resources were expensive (no chalk, slate, pencils)
Contract by Dr. Graham with army (counter-insurgency training)
- videos captured by people on the groud, edited, annotated,
- Cognitive apprenticeship - video modeling
How much of our education is about social networks? We meet people and they hook us up or we hook them up or we get the passport to participate in the future.
HPT as the Plan of Happiness
Human Performance Technology (Rosenburg) - a metaphor of salvation, of all humanity
1- Performance will never improve by itself (we are reliant on a Savior, someone greater)
2- Once deteriorated, performance becomes increasingly resistant to improvement (repent)
3- Performance will only improve if continually sustained (weekly baptism = sacrament)
Ways to improve
1- The work
2- The workplace
3- The worker
HPT includes: Systems, Behavioral psychology & design, analaytical systems
Gentry:
Term technology is different than what people perceive as technology (which is more "hard")
Hard technology: software, hardware, devices computers, books
Soft technology: ideas (e.g. irrigation, problem-based learning, cognitive apprenticeships, design theories, methods)
Reiser:
Defining technology: audio/visual devices
Systems approach process
Behaviorists influenced the field a lot in the beginning
Now, cognitive psychologists have influenced it greatly & break it down into constituent parts
Homework:
While watching conference, look for references to technology, teaching and learning
Read main readings for next time.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
28 Sept 2009: Human Performance Development
How can a Human Performance Technologists really improve the outcomes of an organization or situation?
Human Performance Technologists
Seeking to improve some human performance problem.
This issue may not be due to a lack of knowledge/skills.
HPT is contracted to create the instruction; it goes out to employees and the problem is not solved.
Performance may increase marginally because of training, but not solve the whole problem.
How do we help develop the skills or expand their inherent ability?
"I have a hard time convincing people that it's not a training issue."
People usually think it's a training problem and not an organizational issue.
E.G. Increasing number of widgets produced
- Option 1: we can improve training
- Option 2: we can improve process
Human Resources (HR) usually deals with #7 Inherent Ability
See Figure 7, A new HPT Model (Wile)
Human Performance Technologists have to be good evaluators
Stephanie Allen
Allen Communications - working with Union Pacific RR
Computers in train cars - although intended to improve effectiveness, the training didn't work because it was more of an HPT orientation issue (upper management vs. union workers) - bringing white collar workers together with blue collar workers (we have to band together)
Human Performance Technologists
Seeking to improve some human performance problem.
This issue may not be due to a lack of knowledge/skills.
HPT is contracted to create the instruction; it goes out to employees and the problem is not solved.
Performance may increase marginally because of training, but not solve the whole problem.
How do we help develop the skills or expand their inherent ability?
"I have a hard time convincing people that it's not a training issue."
People usually think it's a training problem and not an organizational issue.
E.G. Increasing number of widgets produced
- Option 1: we can improve training
- Option 2: we can improve process
Human Resources (HR) usually deals with #7 Inherent Ability
See Figure 7, A new HPT Model (Wile)
Human Performance Technologists have to be good evaluators
Stephanie Allen
Allen Communications - working with Union Pacific RR
Computers in train cars - although intended to improve effectiveness, the training didn't work because it was more of an HPT orientation issue (upper management vs. union workers) - bringing white collar workers together with blue collar workers (we have to band together)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
23 Sept 2009: Agency and Learning
In the end, the only unique gift we can give on the altar.
Diving into APA Formatting
What is Learning?
Diving into APA Formatting
What is Learning?
Monday, September 21, 2009
21 Sept 2009: Is Learning Science really a "science"?
Design Theory
(Prescription for matching a situation with a specific method for those circumstances.)
Figure 1.1 on page 9
1) Situation
2) Method
Q: What are differences in outcomes from instructional theories & scientific outcomes
- theory could still be true if you don't get predicted outcomes from an instructional theory
- theory in science is not true if you don't get predicted outcomes (science is about reproduction)
- humans present so many different contexts and baselines, so the theories are only probabalistic
- there are no guarantees with an instructional theory (could be barriers of entry for students)
- what are the variables that can't be controlled? (social sciences maybe have 20% effectiveness)
Social Sciences vs. Hard Sciences
- why do social scientists embrace the term "science"? prestige? even the term "soft" science is beriddled with scorn by scientists
- think about how a behaviorist thinks about human nature vs. how constructivists think about it
- they both create knowledge, but science gets such concrete, firm/fixed domain knowledge and the learning sciences are more fuzzy
- Computer Science departments are sometimes in engineering, sometimes in math, sometimes in science building. Who are they? Schitzophrenia?
Q: What is the role of human agency in this?
- atoms are acted upon
- humans act
Traditional Research
- control
- experiment group
- observe different outcomes by the one intervention (variable) that was changed
* With humans, we can't control for a lot of variables *
Statisticians say, maybe we can do traditional research with human subjects if...
- large enough sample
- randomized sample
- control is very rigorous (for other factors that may influence it - e.g. age, gender etc)
- but, often we control for factors so much, that we alter the real situation so that it is no longer a predictable arena for understanding true human experiences and their potential behavior
Design-Based Research
- several different iterations of a design
- parallels of this educational design to software design (and all the design fields)
- just because you can't oversee the results of the research immediately does not mean that, overtime, you wouldn't see the trend emerge (smoking and lung cancer) - not cause and effect directly, but an overall pattern - need a longitudinal study, not evidence that is a direct cause and effect, but a relationship that reveals a trend (effectiveness, appeal, efficiency)
- effectiveness is about tradeoffs for different outcomes (e.g. cheap, fast, good triangle)
- iterate toward a design that will work
- sometimes the design-based approach informs that strict traditional research models
- "figures don't like but liars can figure" - there are rules to the game (stats have sway!)
- stats as a language - we often have a hard time interpreting numbers - and if someone doesn't have integrity, they will interpret findings to tell the story they wish to tell
(Prescription for matching a situation with a specific method for those circumstances.)
Figure 1.1 on page 9
1) Situation
2) Method
Q: What are differences in outcomes from instructional theories & scientific outcomes
- theory could still be true if you don't get predicted outcomes from an instructional theory
- theory in science is not true if you don't get predicted outcomes (science is about reproduction)
- humans present so many different contexts and baselines, so the theories are only probabalistic
- there are no guarantees with an instructional theory (could be barriers of entry for students)
- what are the variables that can't be controlled? (social sciences maybe have 20% effectiveness)
Social Sciences vs. Hard Sciences
- why do social scientists embrace the term "science"? prestige? even the term "soft" science is beriddled with scorn by scientists
- think about how a behaviorist thinks about human nature vs. how constructivists think about it
- they both create knowledge, but science gets such concrete, firm/fixed domain knowledge and the learning sciences are more fuzzy
- Computer Science departments are sometimes in engineering, sometimes in math, sometimes in science building. Who are they? Schitzophrenia?
Q: What is the role of human agency in this?
- atoms are acted upon
- humans act
Traditional Research
- control
- experiment group
- observe different outcomes by the one intervention (variable) that was changed
* With humans, we can't control for a lot of variables *
Statisticians say, maybe we can do traditional research with human subjects if...
- large enough sample
- randomized sample
- control is very rigorous (for other factors that may influence it - e.g. age, gender etc)
- but, often we control for factors so much, that we alter the real situation so that it is no longer a predictable arena for understanding true human experiences and their potential behavior
Design-Based Research
- several different iterations of a design
- parallels of this educational design to software design (and all the design fields)
- just because you can't oversee the results of the research immediately does not mean that, overtime, you wouldn't see the trend emerge (smoking and lung cancer) - not cause and effect directly, but an overall pattern - need a longitudinal study, not evidence that is a direct cause and effect, but a relationship that reveals a trend (effectiveness, appeal, efficiency)
- effectiveness is about tradeoffs for different outcomes (e.g. cheap, fast, good triangle)
- iterate toward a design that will work
- sometimes the design-based approach informs that strict traditional research models
- "figures don't like but liars can figure" - there are rules to the game (stats have sway!)
- stats as a language - we often have a hard time interpreting numbers - and if someone doesn't have integrity, they will interpret findings to tell the story they wish to tell
21 Sept 2009: My Own Learning Theory
I believe that learning is not easily divided into one theory only. Instead, I feel connected to certain aspects of several theories:
Behaviorism:
- I know positive reinforcement works (win-win) - where the good outcomes are achieved in tandem with good feelings (personal example: "If you practice the piano for one hour, Tiffany, you can go play with Andrea.")
- I know that tailored environments help achieve desired outcomes (personal example: "I ran faster than I ever had when I was chasing a soccer ball to score a goal for our team.")
Cognitivism:
- I know that repeated practice helps me with recall later (personal example: "I memorized Sheherazade and played it successully without sheet music because I worked at memorizing it for 3 straight months before my recital."
- Structuring (timing) and sequencing (time) matter for me to learn more: (personal example: "As an American female going for 3 weeks to Pakistan in Post-9/11 2004 allowed me great insight to the anti-American sentiment in that country.")
Constructivisim:
- I know that focusing on real-world problems makes learning more exciting to me (personal example: "I learned through my literacy internship in South Africa that women who learn to read and write gain confidence to interact with their broader community."
- I know that drawing from prior experiences help learners gain more knowledge (personal example: "Women in Nepal gather at one another's homes to talk about water issues - irrigation, fertilization, weather - and I know they can discuss the bigger issue of environmental conservation because they know a lot through their daily observations/interactions in their rice fields.")
- I resonate with the idea of the learner as a free agent because it respects the most unique aspect of each soul - and the most common connecting point of all humanity: free agency!
- I know that social negotiation brings meaning because it fosters context and works through meaningful relationships
Learning by the Spirit:
- I also know that there is particular internal motivation, clarity, resonance and understanding I have gained when influenced by the Spirit of God (personal experience: "I prayed in Nauvoo for a testimony that Joseph Smith is and was a prophet of God. I felt a burning and happiness that I can't deny that he is, indeed, a prophet of God.")
- I know that I have taught with the Spirit and had extrinsic motivation, influence spoken fluent Tagalog (when in other instances I couldn't get my sentences out) and I know that those whom I've met have understood (and learned) in a powerful way ("alam ko na alam mo na totoo ito!")
- I know that agency is a big factor which levels the playing ground (in a sense, because we all have it), but also affords differences (because we all have different degrees of confidence to exercise our agency as we would like)
Other ideas:
- motivation
- desire
- curiosity
- discovery learning is an approach/method - what is the underlying factor that guides that (curiosity, choice, agency)
- learner's personalities
- structure of the materials
- relationship between teacher and student (communication) - what specifically? element of trust? the love? the perceived competency?
- prior experience (education in Mexico is not as natural as it is in USA - these implications affect learning)
- desire (nais) - ganas (desire + humph) --> people who don't want to learn so they resist learning vs. those who want to learn and find an opportunity no matter where they are
- what about the cultural background (the imporance of learning in that culture) influences how much people learn? (is it hierarchical relationships)
- processing (time on task)
==========
How do people learn?
(in a specific context)
Women in Nepalese Literacy Classes
What are the two most important factors that influence learning (learning theory)?
- focus on real-world situations (constructivism)
- self-efficacy - esteem, confidence, awareness amplify learning
possibly avoid:
- positive reinforcement (behaviorism)- but, what baggage applies with this word?
How can instruction best influence learning (how to best create instruction on those ideas)?
- teaching by the spirit (tailoring the environment to learner's needs & honoring agency)
- scaffolding (enough support)
* It is okay to cite scripture
* It is okay to share personal experiences
* You can use hypotheticals from the things we have read
* Show several kinds of evidence
* Include relevant references
* This is a chance to use APA style
==========
Sept 28 Due: Personal Beliefs About Learning
1 page theory about how I think people learn
Limit the scope
* What are the two most important factors that influence learning?
* How can instruction be structured to best facilitate learning?
* What examples can you cite?
Behaviorism:
- I know positive reinforcement works (win-win) - where the good outcomes are achieved in tandem with good feelings (personal example: "If you practice the piano for one hour, Tiffany, you can go play with Andrea.")
- I know that tailored environments help achieve desired outcomes (personal example: "I ran faster than I ever had when I was chasing a soccer ball to score a goal for our team.")
Cognitivism:
- I know that repeated practice helps me with recall later (personal example: "I memorized Sheherazade and played it successully without sheet music because I worked at memorizing it for 3 straight months before my recital."
- Structuring (timing) and sequencing (time) matter for me to learn more: (personal example: "As an American female going for 3 weeks to Pakistan in Post-9/11 2004 allowed me great insight to the anti-American sentiment in that country.")
Constructivisim:
- I know that focusing on real-world problems makes learning more exciting to me (personal example: "I learned through my literacy internship in South Africa that women who learn to read and write gain confidence to interact with their broader community."
- I know that drawing from prior experiences help learners gain more knowledge (personal example: "Women in Nepal gather at one another's homes to talk about water issues - irrigation, fertilization, weather - and I know they can discuss the bigger issue of environmental conservation because they know a lot through their daily observations/interactions in their rice fields.")
- I resonate with the idea of the learner as a free agent because it respects the most unique aspect of each soul - and the most common connecting point of all humanity: free agency!
- I know that social negotiation brings meaning because it fosters context and works through meaningful relationships
Learning by the Spirit:
- I also know that there is particular internal motivation, clarity, resonance and understanding I have gained when influenced by the Spirit of God (personal experience: "I prayed in Nauvoo for a testimony that Joseph Smith is and was a prophet of God. I felt a burning and happiness that I can't deny that he is, indeed, a prophet of God.")
- I know that I have taught with the Spirit and had extrinsic motivation, influence spoken fluent Tagalog (when in other instances I couldn't get my sentences out) and I know that those whom I've met have understood (and learned) in a powerful way ("alam ko na alam mo na totoo ito!")
- I know that agency is a big factor which levels the playing ground (in a sense, because we all have it), but also affords differences (because we all have different degrees of confidence to exercise our agency as we would like)
Other ideas:
- motivation
- desire
- curiosity
- discovery learning is an approach/method - what is the underlying factor that guides that (curiosity, choice, agency)
- learner's personalities
- structure of the materials
- relationship between teacher and student (communication) - what specifically? element of trust? the love? the perceived competency?
- prior experience (education in Mexico is not as natural as it is in USA - these implications affect learning)
- desire (nais) - ganas (desire + humph) --> people who don't want to learn so they resist learning vs. those who want to learn and find an opportunity no matter where they are
- what about the cultural background (the imporance of learning in that culture) influences how much people learn? (is it hierarchical relationships)
- processing (time on task)
==========
How do people learn?
(in a specific context)
Women in Nepalese Literacy Classes
What are the two most important factors that influence learning (learning theory)?
- focus on real-world situations (constructivism)
- self-efficacy - esteem, confidence, awareness amplify learning
possibly avoid:
- positive reinforcement (behaviorism)- but, what baggage applies with this word?
How can instruction best influence learning (how to best create instruction on those ideas)?
- teaching by the spirit (tailoring the environment to learner's needs & honoring agency)
- scaffolding (enough support)
* It is okay to cite scripture
* It is okay to share personal experiences
* You can use hypotheticals from the things we have read
* Show several kinds of evidence
* Include relevant references
* This is a chance to use APA style
==========
Sept 28 Due: Personal Beliefs About Learning
1 page theory about how I think people learn
Limit the scope
* What are the two most important factors that influence learning?
* How can instruction be structured to best facilitate learning?
* What examples can you cite?
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
16 Sept 2009: Theories of Learning
Outlining the factors that are most important to learning:
- Modeling
- Scaffolding
- Reinforcement
- Mentoring
Ertmer article
1) Behaviorism
- Arrangement of Stimuli
- Conseqences of Stimuli
- Positive Reinforcement (donut if you come to class)
- Negative Reinforcement (quiz if you don't come to class)
- intervals of reinforcement (what point to begin the intervention)
- learner as agent to be acted upon
- tailoring the environment
2) Cognitivism (Cognitive Information Processing)
- building a building with bits (bricks, wood, mortar)
- structuring (positioning/timing/context) & sequencing (time) of information
- encoding (mental schema), packaging smaller bits of information
- repeated practice & tapping into memory
- learning how to store knowledge better
3) Constructivism
- focus on the building in its total complexity (e.g real world problems & solutions)
- learner's prior experience/ metacognition
- social negotiation & interaction with others
- collaboration
- scaffolding (mentoring)
- learner as free agent to decide what to learn
Theories: (EXPLAINS) descriptive for what impacts/inputs will lead to learning; takes a broad look at how people learn (but doesn't necessarily include the approach/mechanism for helping people learn), prescriptive aspect
"theory" comes out of scientific paradigm, laden with prestige, "eureka!" - science/technology debate - identifying enduring principles/relationships that you can put in a simple explanation (heat applied to atoms makes them move faster). Technology is different because it involves prescription.
What are the different nuances of:
Instructional Theory: explanation of how to instruct best
Learning Theory: explanation of how people learn best
Methods: (HOW) what a teacher does in a classroom (small group discussion), what you do to get a certain outcome drill & practice/ (These are not owned by one theory) - shared by different camps, but one may be more dominant in one camp than the other
Factors: (APPROACHES) social negotiation, collaboration, stimulus/response/memory, implementation of the social negotiation is a method
Charles' Classic Quote: "The lady salt must flavor the whole group!"
New Trends:
* Researcher as instrument (instead of using third person, speak in first person), especially in qualitative research
* Avoid colloquial language (writing like we talk)
* Write to your audience (dissertation oriented)
* Come into your community of practice (writing papers & publishing, not writing a dissertation)
* Consider what journals you'd like to submit papers to & conferences
* Keep a record of where I've published and presented
Next time:
* Difference of science and technology
* Come ready to discuss primary factors of our own personal theories (integrating all 3 kinds of theories)
- Modeling
- Scaffolding
- Reinforcement
- Mentoring
Ertmer article
1) Behaviorism
- Arrangement of Stimuli
- Conseqences of Stimuli
- Positive Reinforcement (donut if you come to class)
- Negative Reinforcement (quiz if you don't come to class)
- intervals of reinforcement (what point to begin the intervention)
- learner as agent to be acted upon
- tailoring the environment
2) Cognitivism (Cognitive Information Processing)
- building a building with bits (bricks, wood, mortar)
- structuring (positioning/timing/context) & sequencing (time) of information
- encoding (mental schema), packaging smaller bits of information
- repeated practice & tapping into memory
- learning how to store knowledge better
3) Constructivism
- focus on the building in its total complexity (e.g real world problems & solutions)
- learner's prior experience/ metacognition
- social negotiation & interaction with others
- collaboration
- scaffolding (mentoring)
- learner as free agent to decide what to learn
Theories: (EXPLAINS) descriptive for what impacts/inputs will lead to learning; takes a broad look at how people learn (but doesn't necessarily include the approach/mechanism for helping people learn), prescriptive aspect
"theory" comes out of scientific paradigm, laden with prestige, "eureka!" - science/technology debate - identifying enduring principles/relationships that you can put in a simple explanation (heat applied to atoms makes them move faster). Technology is different because it involves prescription.
What are the different nuances of:
Instructional Theory: explanation of how to instruct best
Learning Theory: explanation of how people learn best
Methods: (HOW) what a teacher does in a classroom (small group discussion), what you do to get a certain outcome drill & practice/ (These are not owned by one theory) - shared by different camps, but one may be more dominant in one camp than the other
Factors: (APPROACHES) social negotiation, collaboration, stimulus/response/memory, implementation of the social negotiation is a method
Charles' Classic Quote: "The lady salt must flavor the whole group!"
New Trends:
* Researcher as instrument (instead of using third person, speak in first person), especially in qualitative research
* Avoid colloquial language (writing like we talk)
* Write to your audience (dissertation oriented)
* Come into your community of practice (writing papers & publishing, not writing a dissertation)
* Consider what journals you'd like to submit papers to & conferences
* Keep a record of where I've published and presented
Next time:
* Difference of science and technology
* Come ready to discuss primary factors of our own personal theories (integrating all 3 kinds of theories)
Monday, September 14, 2009
14 Sept 2009: Unit 1 Psychological Fdns of Learning
I am intrigued by the ways that new knowledge must be constructed from existing knowledge is that teachers need to pay attention to the incomplete understandings, the false beliefs, and the naive renditions of concepts that learners bring with them to a given subject. Teachers then need to build on these ideas in ways that help each student achieve a more mature understanding.
Learning is enhanced when teachers pay attention to the knowledge and beliefs that learners bring to a learning task, use this knowledge as a starting point for new instruction, and monitor students' changing conceptions as instruction proceeds.
HOW DO WE BECOME?
A Private Universe
- misconceptions that block learning
- misconceptions can originate in the classroom
- everytime we communicate, new theories compete with preconceived ideas of our students
- we must make them aware and only then can we free them from their private universe
- design languages (terms mean different things in different contexts)
Natalie Merchant:
"I'm not saying I'm replacing love for some other word. I'm just saying we've mistaken love for thousands of words and for that mistake I've caused you such pain that I damn that word."
Cognitive Information Processing
- like downloading computer memory - copying files brings sameness - e.b. stuffing sausages in the mouth and pounding harder if they don't fit
- but, we have no knowledge of what the memory baseline is
- in participatory dialogue literacy classes, we try to find out baseline and springboard from what they know - but all learners may start at different places and they may still be holding on to false conceptions of reality
- the operating system, and if one disk is written one way, the other system can't read it - e.g. mac vs. pc
- we need to view people as all different operating systems and that any transferrance of knowledge will require translation or localization
- abstract learning is often too hard to grasp - we need to DO something, hear/see/feel
- all metaphors have their own limitations
How different are these theories from one another? Cognitive-Behavioral-Constructivist
These are all different lenses for looking at the same thing. We have different paradigms, different foci. We can apply our own expertise to explain/understand a paradigm. If we all join our different ideas, we may understand the whole picture better.
How can we help these lenses bring focus without living in the blur that comes from the lenses that don't work for certain arenas? (Theories focus on different dilemmas or different parts of the same universe.)
How do we avoid tribalism, territorialism, ethnocentricities?
Situated Cognition (models for understanding longterm memory)
What is Constructivism?
Meaning of the world is constructed by the learner according to experience and the tethering of experiences with new knowledge.
social negotiation, protocol, semantics influence what the terms mean (e.g. BLUE, "every fiber of my being") - red as scarlet being white as snow (transcribing this for Africans who don't know snow and for Eskimos who have 14 different words for snow).
Learning Theories focus on epistemologies.
EPISTEMOLOGY: the way we learn
ONTOLOGY: what there is to know
Cognitive Constructivists (Piaget): experiments with little children (squatty cups vs. tall skinny cups)
CH 1 Bransford, Brown & Cocking
* Today, cognitive researchers are spending more time working with teachers, testing and refining their theories in real classrooms where they can see how different settings and classroom interactions influence applications of their theories.
* Research on learning and transfer has uncovered important principles for structuring learning experiences that enable people to use what they have learned in new settings.
* Work in social psychology, cognitive psychology, and anthropology is making clear that all learning takes place in settings that have particular sets of cultural and social norms and expectations and that these settings influence learning and transfer in powerful ways.
* The goal of education is better conceived as helping students develop the intellectual tools and learning strategies needed to acquire the knowledge that allows people to think productively about history, science and technology, social phenomena, mathematics, and the arts.
* Fundamental understanding about subjects, including how to frame and ask meaningful questions about various subject areas, contributes to individuals' more basic understanding of principles of learning that can assist them in becoming self-sustaining, lifelong learners.
* Reaction to the subjectivity inherent in introspection, behaviorists held that the scientific study of psychology must restrict itself to the study of observable behaviors and the stimulus conditions that control them. (e.g. Skinner Box)
* The cat that is clawing all over the box in her impulsive struggle will probably claw the string or loop or button so as to open the door. And gradually all the other unsuccessful impulses will be stamped out and the particular impulse leading to the successful act will be stamped in by the resulting pleasure, until, after many trials, the cat will, when put in the box, immediately claw the button or loop in a definite way" (Thorndike, 1913:13)
* Explanation of what appeared to be complex problem-solving phenomena as escaping from a complicated puzzle box could thus be explained without recourse to unobservable mental events, such as thinking. A limitation of early behaviorism stemmed from its focus on observable stimulus conditions and the behaviors associated with those conditions.
* Teaching practices congruent with a metacognitive approach to learning include those that focus on sensemaking, self-assessment, and reflection on what worked and what needs improving. These practices have been shown to increase the degree to which students transfer their learning to new settings and events (e.g., Palincsar and Brown, 1984; Scardamalia et al., 1984; Schoenfeld, 1983, 1985, 19911.
* As scientists continue to study learning, new research procedures and methodologies are emerging that are likely to alter current theoretical conceptions of learning, such as computational modeling research. The scientific work encompasses a broad range of cognitive and neuroscience issues in learning, memory, language, and cognitive development.
* What is known about experts is important not because all students are expected to become experts, but because the knowledge of expertise provides valuable insights into what the results of effective learning look like.
Other Chapter: 6
* Explores general principles for the design of effective learning environments suggested by the science of learning. It explores the degree to which environments are learner centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, and community centered.
NEXT TIME:
1 page theory about how I think people learn
Limit the scope
* What are the two most important factors that influence learning?
* How can instruction be structured to best facilitate learning?
* What examples can you cite?
Learning is enhanced when teachers pay attention to the knowledge and beliefs that learners bring to a learning task, use this knowledge as a starting point for new instruction, and monitor students' changing conceptions as instruction proceeds.
HOW DO WE BECOME?
- Truth vs. truth (Christ in NT says, "I am the truth.")
- Triangle: Knowing---> Doing--> Becoming (how much focus do we have on becoming)
- We need our focus to become as God's is - that is what truth is God's viewpoint on Truth
- Pharisees were good at doing but their becoming was corrupt and limited their knowing
- Blended learning environments (we become as we interact with other people) - online offers some benefit (mostly efficiency), but we learn more as we process it through relationships (e.g. serving in a ward)
- Challenge in the USA (Science) --> how do we teach it so that it's IN you
- Is it possible to focus too much on knowing and doing that we lose focus on becoming?
- How do we really assess knowing and doing, if it's not through what someone is?
- Randy Davies - the question of intent (his PhD here at BYU)
- What about international development? Getting people to be change agents, not paper pushers?
- Agency: the ability to choose is fundamentally tied to these theories (behavioralism doesn't honor agency b/c it emphasize the right stimulus only - concentration camps vs. Frankl)
- TIMSHEL (choose out, choose up!)
- Behavioralism may honor some aspects of the human experience, but it doesn't create the becoming (to want the change and be the change you wish to see in the world)
- What kind of theory do we call transferance of focus on becoming (incentivizing becoming)
- The best teacher is one who IS the lesson, not one who knows or does the lesson
- Fish is Fish (children's book)
- Idea of a lens: we see things through our own perspective
- 7 Blind men feeling the elephant
- When your only tool is a hammer, all your problems start to look like nails
- But, the temple as an arena where learning is totally tied to previous knowledge and conception - there is no clarification except for that which the student brings to the table - yet, it is the Lord's university and greatest arena for instructional design
- Yet, "we would know more of the mysteries of Godliness if we talked about them less" - this is to take away the room for error (problems of human explication instead of relying on the Holy Ghost
- What about the role of the Holy Ghost as the greatest theory for instruction?
- Hugh Nibley talked about knowledge as exponential and accelerated. When our baseline is enriched, our springboard can launch us higher.
- Relevance of learning - how do we get away from didactic instruction into discovery learning? (e.g. active learning in science classes e.g. Dr. Bell and group problem-solving)
- Critical Thinking - in what ways can we get students to consider deeper
- When do we need to intervene to clarify when something is wrong?
A Private Universe
- misconceptions that block learning
- misconceptions can originate in the classroom
- everytime we communicate, new theories compete with preconceived ideas of our students
- we must make them aware and only then can we free them from their private universe
- design languages (terms mean different things in different contexts)
Natalie Merchant:
"I'm not saying I'm replacing love for some other word. I'm just saying we've mistaken love for thousands of words and for that mistake I've caused you such pain that I damn that word."
Cognitive Information Processing
- like downloading computer memory - copying files brings sameness - e.b. stuffing sausages in the mouth and pounding harder if they don't fit
- but, we have no knowledge of what the memory baseline is
- in participatory dialogue literacy classes, we try to find out baseline and springboard from what they know - but all learners may start at different places and they may still be holding on to false conceptions of reality
- the operating system, and if one disk is written one way, the other system can't read it - e.g. mac vs. pc
- we need to view people as all different operating systems and that any transferrance of knowledge will require translation or localization
- abstract learning is often too hard to grasp - we need to DO something, hear/see/feel
- all metaphors have their own limitations
How different are these theories from one another? Cognitive-Behavioral-Constructivist
These are all different lenses for looking at the same thing. We have different paradigms, different foci. We can apply our own expertise to explain/understand a paradigm. If we all join our different ideas, we may understand the whole picture better.
How can we help these lenses bring focus without living in the blur that comes from the lenses that don't work for certain arenas? (Theories focus on different dilemmas or different parts of the same universe.)
How do we avoid tribalism, territorialism, ethnocentricities?
Situated Cognition (models for understanding longterm memory)
What is Constructivism?
Meaning of the world is constructed by the learner according to experience and the tethering of experiences with new knowledge.
social negotiation, protocol, semantics influence what the terms mean (e.g. BLUE, "every fiber of my being") - red as scarlet being white as snow (transcribing this for Africans who don't know snow and for Eskimos who have 14 different words for snow).
Learning Theories focus on epistemologies.
EPISTEMOLOGY: the way we learn
- What is knowledge?
- How is knowledge acquired?
- What do people know?
- How do we know what we know?
ONTOLOGY: what there is to know
- What is true? What is real?
- Philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality
- What exists?
- Relativists have an extreme view of what is real, what exists (very skeptical)
Cognitive Constructivists (Piaget): experiments with little children (squatty cups vs. tall skinny cups)
CH 1 Bransford, Brown & Cocking
* Today, cognitive researchers are spending more time working with teachers, testing and refining their theories in real classrooms where they can see how different settings and classroom interactions influence applications of their theories.
* Research on learning and transfer has uncovered important principles for structuring learning experiences that enable people to use what they have learned in new settings.
* Work in social psychology, cognitive psychology, and anthropology is making clear that all learning takes place in settings that have particular sets of cultural and social norms and expectations and that these settings influence learning and transfer in powerful ways.
* The goal of education is better conceived as helping students develop the intellectual tools and learning strategies needed to acquire the knowledge that allows people to think productively about history, science and technology, social phenomena, mathematics, and the arts.
* Fundamental understanding about subjects, including how to frame and ask meaningful questions about various subject areas, contributes to individuals' more basic understanding of principles of learning that can assist them in becoming self-sustaining, lifelong learners.
* Reaction to the subjectivity inherent in introspection, behaviorists held that the scientific study of psychology must restrict itself to the study of observable behaviors and the stimulus conditions that control them. (e.g. Skinner Box)
* The cat that is clawing all over the box in her impulsive struggle will probably claw the string or loop or button so as to open the door. And gradually all the other unsuccessful impulses will be stamped out and the particular impulse leading to the successful act will be stamped in by the resulting pleasure, until, after many trials, the cat will, when put in the box, immediately claw the button or loop in a definite way" (Thorndike, 1913:13)
* Explanation of what appeared to be complex problem-solving phenomena as escaping from a complicated puzzle box could thus be explained without recourse to unobservable mental events, such as thinking. A limitation of early behaviorism stemmed from its focus on observable stimulus conditions and the behaviors associated with those conditions.
* Teaching practices congruent with a metacognitive approach to learning include those that focus on sensemaking, self-assessment, and reflection on what worked and what needs improving. These practices have been shown to increase the degree to which students transfer their learning to new settings and events (e.g., Palincsar and Brown, 1984; Scardamalia et al., 1984; Schoenfeld, 1983, 1985, 19911.
* As scientists continue to study learning, new research procedures and methodologies are emerging that are likely to alter current theoretical conceptions of learning, such as computational modeling research. The scientific work encompasses a broad range of cognitive and neuroscience issues in learning, memory, language, and cognitive development.
* What is known about experts is important not because all students are expected to become experts, but because the knowledge of expertise provides valuable insights into what the results of effective learning look like.
Other Chapter: 6
* Explores general principles for the design of effective learning environments suggested by the science of learning. It explores the degree to which environments are learner centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, and community centered.
NEXT TIME:
1 page theory about how I think people learn
Limit the scope
* What are the two most important factors that influence learning?
* How can instruction be structured to best facilitate learning?
* What examples can you cite?
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
9 Sep 2009 What does learning mean to me?
WHAT IS LEARNING?
I believe that learning is dialogue. At the core of my education and schooling is the opportunity I’ve sought for a conversation with a text, with a teacher, with another student. Learning takes place for me when I have the opportunity to articulate what I believe or what I don’t understand but would like to know better. Learning is a springboard for discovering new ideas and fresh frontiers.
As a the fourth child of eight, my birthright afforded strategic placement to be both a consumer and a contributor to our family culture. Although no single sibling was explicitly chosen as the favorite child (“FC”) by our parents, it was well-known among the eight us that we could greatly gain favor in the eyes of my father (known as “FC-status” for the day) by asking critical, thought-provoking questions. Especially questions related to irrigation.
Last month, we went on a family adventure to Yellowstone National Park. We crossed the Great Divide three times while in the Park. Although I’m in my mid-thirties and all of us children are now well into adulthood, we still sought for opportunities to ask questions to Dad.
We pointed out interesting facts regarding Yellowstone’s history, we cited conversations held with park rangers, we rattled off informative tidbits read on signs or pamphlets around us. We amplified our opportunities to dialogue and ask questions with portable walkie-talkies that were in each of our eight vehicles.
Dad smiled as we triggered conversation with questions like “Why do you think that …” “What is the reason that …” “Why is the world …” “How is it possible that …”? We stopped occasionally to duke it out with face-to-face questioning and deep-diving dialogue. We had lengthy conversations at picnic tables and rest-stops for three straight days and nights. It was like a return to my youth. It was a bit of heaven.
Even today, we all vie for the opportunity to ask good questions to Dad. We are more aware of our surroundings. We are more conscious during road trips. We are constantly searching for opportunities to learn. All of this, because Dad, himself is a lover of learning; and, because he nurtured the value that learning gives to each of our lives.
Because of Dad, I love to learn. Learning, for me, is discovery. Learning is an opportunity to dialogue with those I love. Learning is an opportunity for me to create meaning of the world around me. Learning is the way I connect to others. Learning is the way I connect to God. Learning is the primary way I create my identity and my destiny. It is the way I pursue godliness and sense a greater purpose in the world around me.
A great deal of my professional life has been spent in facilitating, evaluating, monitoring and supporting adult literacy programs. I have confronted this question, “How do people learn best?” as well as the deeper question, “How do facilitators best help others to learn?” I have wrestled with these questions and have answered them differently at various periods of my life.
The biggest lesson I have personally learned from educational field experiences in the USA, in the UK, in the Philippines, in Nepal, in Pakistan, in India, in South Africa and Zimbabwe is this”: people learn more when they build from what they already know. And people already know a lot.
Learning takes place in many ways. Living life leads to learning. We teach and are taught by one another in daily life. To amplify the opportunities to learn, we can create forums (safe place for people to dialogue) whereby learners may gather to tether new knowledge to ideas and understandings that they already possess.
As we learn more things, we start to do things differently. We try out our ideas and we learn fundamental concepts in deeper, more meaningful ways. We learn and we do. And then we learn some more. The more we get opportunities to tether our ideas with what we’ve already proven, the more we increase our capacity to tether more knowledge. Light cleaveth unto light. Progress is accelerated and exponential.
I am grateful for the opportunities I had as a child to explore the world through dialogue. I am thankful that my father cultivated curiosity by asking me questions and by expecting me to ask them too. Although questioning alone does not translate into learning, it is the entry-point whereby I have had the whole world opened to me.
Now that I am a parent, I find myself asking my children, “Why do you think the water runs down hill?” My two sons have a natural curiosity to understand the flow of water, just like their grandfather.
Although my two-year old is still learning how to form sentences and to speak articulately, he has also mastered the art of asking “Why?”
If nothing else I teach him holds, I take comfort in the idea that he will become a good question-asker. I believe this is may be the best gift I can cultivate as he seeks learning on his own.
I believe that learning is dialogue. At the core of my education and schooling is the opportunity I’ve sought for a conversation with a text, with a teacher, with another student. Learning takes place for me when I have the opportunity to articulate what I believe or what I don’t understand but would like to know better. Learning is a springboard for discovering new ideas and fresh frontiers.
As a the fourth child of eight, my birthright afforded strategic placement to be both a consumer and a contributor to our family culture. Although no single sibling was explicitly chosen as the favorite child (“FC”) by our parents, it was well-known among the eight us that we could greatly gain favor in the eyes of my father (known as “FC-status” for the day) by asking critical, thought-provoking questions. Especially questions related to irrigation.
Last month, we went on a family adventure to Yellowstone National Park. We crossed the Great Divide three times while in the Park. Although I’m in my mid-thirties and all of us children are now well into adulthood, we still sought for opportunities to ask questions to Dad.
We pointed out interesting facts regarding Yellowstone’s history, we cited conversations held with park rangers, we rattled off informative tidbits read on signs or pamphlets around us. We amplified our opportunities to dialogue and ask questions with portable walkie-talkies that were in each of our eight vehicles.
Dad smiled as we triggered conversation with questions like “Why do you think that …” “What is the reason that …” “Why is the world …” “How is it possible that …”? We stopped occasionally to duke it out with face-to-face questioning and deep-diving dialogue. We had lengthy conversations at picnic tables and rest-stops for three straight days and nights. It was like a return to my youth. It was a bit of heaven.
Even today, we all vie for the opportunity to ask good questions to Dad. We are more aware of our surroundings. We are more conscious during road trips. We are constantly searching for opportunities to learn. All of this, because Dad, himself is a lover of learning; and, because he nurtured the value that learning gives to each of our lives.
Because of Dad, I love to learn. Learning, for me, is discovery. Learning is an opportunity to dialogue with those I love. Learning is an opportunity for me to create meaning of the world around me. Learning is the way I connect to others. Learning is the way I connect to God. Learning is the primary way I create my identity and my destiny. It is the way I pursue godliness and sense a greater purpose in the world around me.
A great deal of my professional life has been spent in facilitating, evaluating, monitoring and supporting adult literacy programs. I have confronted this question, “How do people learn best?” as well as the deeper question, “How do facilitators best help others to learn?” I have wrestled with these questions and have answered them differently at various periods of my life.
The biggest lesson I have personally learned from educational field experiences in the USA, in the UK, in the Philippines, in Nepal, in Pakistan, in India, in South Africa and Zimbabwe is this”: people learn more when they build from what they already know. And people already know a lot.
Learning takes place in many ways. Living life leads to learning. We teach and are taught by one another in daily life. To amplify the opportunities to learn, we can create forums (safe place for people to dialogue) whereby learners may gather to tether new knowledge to ideas and understandings that they already possess.
As we learn more things, we start to do things differently. We try out our ideas and we learn fundamental concepts in deeper, more meaningful ways. We learn and we do. And then we learn some more. The more we get opportunities to tether our ideas with what we’ve already proven, the more we increase our capacity to tether more knowledge. Light cleaveth unto light. Progress is accelerated and exponential.
I am grateful for the opportunities I had as a child to explore the world through dialogue. I am thankful that my father cultivated curiosity by asking me questions and by expecting me to ask them too. Although questioning alone does not translate into learning, it is the entry-point whereby I have had the whole world opened to me.
Now that I am a parent, I find myself asking my children, “Why do you think the water runs down hill?” My two sons have a natural curiosity to understand the flow of water, just like their grandfather.
Although my two-year old is still learning how to form sentences and to speak articulately, he has also mastered the art of asking “Why?”
If nothing else I teach him holds, I take comfort in the idea that he will become a good question-asker. I believe this is may be the best gift I can cultivate as he seeks learning on his own.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
9 Sep 2009 Theories of Learning
Theories are the lens by which we view the world.
Consider: What parts of various theories do I agree with? What is my personal learning theory?
- Be able to describe Fig 2.1 and 2.2 and importance to behaviorism (Pavlov)
-can you observe it? if you can't observe it, it doesn't matter
-stimuli in to a black box and what comes out (consequences) that impact behavior next time
- we learn by experience
- What does it mean "to learn" in behaviorism? (positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, reinforcement removal)
* probably the longest standing approach for parenting and teaching
- What are some limitations to the behaviorist perspective?
Cognitive Information Processing:
- Be able to describe the elements in Figure 3.1
the mind is a computer, sensory input -> sensory memory (visual, auditory) -> short term memory (rehearsal/chunking - for a few seconds) -> encoding/retrieval -> long-term memory
(associations to a personal experience)
- being able to hear your name
- Be able to share some of the different ideas about how LTM is organized
- What does it mean "to learn" in cognitivism?
Constructivism:
- Be able to describe assumptions and goals for learning for constructivism. (see Table 11.1)
- learning is constructed, limitless, context
- What are the important conditions for learning in a constructivist paradigm?
- What does it mean "to learn" in constructivism?
Constructivism assumes knowledge is constructed not acquired. Knowledge is inside us. (Contrasting viewpoint is Objectivism - knowledge exists outside of us, independent of learners.)
Cunningham (1998) "rhizome metaphor: - tangle of tubers with no apparent beginning or end, constantly changes shape - no limits for knowledge construction
Knowledge constructions do not necessarily bear any correspondence to external reality. They do not have to reflect the world as it really is to be useful and viable.
Vygotsky's notions about the social negotiation of meaning (Ch 7), learners test their own understandings against those of others, notably those of teachers or more advanced peers.
Learning goals include: reasoning, critical thinking, understanding and use of knowledge, self-regulation, mindful reflection
Methods of Instruction: scaffolding, collaborative learning, problem-based learning, open software, course mgmt toolsWednesday, September 2, 2009
2 Sep 2009: Creating my own PLE
Creating my own Personal Learning Environment
This has been an intense introduction to the class during this first week. I am excited to use this blog as my own personal learning environment (PLE).
I have always been particular about how to create my own personal learning environment. Typically, I enjoy a quiet space which is well-lit and is clean. I feel this blog allows me to create my own environment and to light it as I choose and to keep it tidy.
The benefit of using this format for my PLE is that I can link it with other students. It's been fun to connect with other folks and learn from them. When I was an undergrad student at BYU ten years ago, this kind of activity generally took place in hallways or studyrooms at the library.
Today, I am a commuting student from Salt Lake City and I have less time to connect with other students and to broaden my PLE to the world and professors around me (both at BYU and beyond). However, I am daily texting/blogging/emailing folks from around the world - particularly those here at BYU, others at universities and organizations related to my field of research (international development and ICT4D) and people in the field (in Nepal, particularly).
It makes sense that our personal learning environments evolve with changes that afford better opportunities to us. It also makes sense that we preserve our own tailored aspects and personal preferences which facilitate learning in a way that works best for us. I look forward to this PLE as my new springboard for exploring the foundations of Instructional Psychology and Technology while purusing my doctoral studies here at BYU.
This has been an intense introduction to the class during this first week. I am excited to use this blog as my own personal learning environment (PLE).
I have always been particular about how to create my own personal learning environment. Typically, I enjoy a quiet space which is well-lit and is clean. I feel this blog allows me to create my own environment and to light it as I choose and to keep it tidy.
The benefit of using this format for my PLE is that I can link it with other students. It's been fun to connect with other folks and learn from them. When I was an undergrad student at BYU ten years ago, this kind of activity generally took place in hallways or studyrooms at the library.
Today, I am a commuting student from Salt Lake City and I have less time to connect with other students and to broaden my PLE to the world and professors around me (both at BYU and beyond). However, I am daily texting/blogging/emailing folks from around the world - particularly those here at BYU, others at universities and organizations related to my field of research (international development and ICT4D) and people in the field (in Nepal, particularly).
It makes sense that our personal learning environments evolve with changes that afford better opportunities to us. It also makes sense that we preserve our own tailored aspects and personal preferences which facilitate learning in a way that works best for us. I look forward to this PLE as my new springboard for exploring the foundations of Instructional Psychology and Technology while purusing my doctoral studies here at BYU.
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