Comparison of Learning Theories
Behaviorism
Concept
- Learning is a relatively permanent change in
observable behavior as a result of experience
- Cognitive processes can’t be observed (black
box)
- Learner acquires knowledge in form of new
behavior
How learning & transfer occurs
- through the process of conditioning which
involves stimulus, response & reinforcers
- transfer occurs by response
Role of the Learner
- is a passive participant & extrinsically
motivated
- responds to stimuli
Role of the Instructor
- dominates the learning setting & presents
knowledge
- creates measurable learning outcomes
- uses tangible rewards & informative feedback
- guides students in mastering a set of
predictable skills or behaviors
Examples of Learning Activities
Tasked-oriented
- Instructional cues to elicit correct response
- Classroom lectures
- Multiple trials (Drill & practice)
- Rote learning
- Reinforcement for correct response
- Establishing rules
Cognitivism
- Learning is a relatively permanent change in non-
observable cognitive representations or
associations due to experience
- Cognitive development is the growth of logical
thinking from infancy to adulthood
- Learner acquires & assimilates knowledge by
interacting with the environment
- through building connections (internal knowledge
processing) in mental structures, called schema, which
involves sensory reception, working memory, long
term memory & recall
- through chunking information to avoid cognitive
overload
- transfer occurs by duplicating knowledge
constructs of “knowers”
- is an active participant
- process, store & retrieve information for later use
- connects information & creates associations for
building understanding & comprehension
- practices to recall information
- uses different methods for better memorization
- encourages students to learn
- arranges conditions to facilitate learning
- uses expository instruction
- signals important information
- builds on prior knowledge
- helps to organize knowledge
- applies a variety of learning strategies
Reasoning & problem-solving
- Structured lectures
- Classifying & chunking information
- Imagery e.g. mind maps, charts etc.
- Discussions
- Mnemonics
- Corrective feedback
- Summaries, analogies, exercises, explanations,
presentations, demonstrations, comparisons…
Constructivism
- Learning as a self-directed construction of an own
perspective of the world based upon current/past
knowledge & social interactions
- Learners construct knowledge & new behavioral
patterns on how they interpret the meaning of their
experiences
- Learning doesn’t necessarily require a change of
behavior
- through social interactions
- through discovery & observation of behaviors & its
outcomes of others
- through making meaning out of observations, leading
the learner to reject or adopt that behavior (modeling)
- through mimicking actions of models (imitation)
- through consequences & expectations of reinforcement
& punishment
- through self-efficacy & self-regulation
- through applying the Zone of Proximal Development
- through scaffolding
- transfer occurs by socialization
- is an active participant & intrinsically motivated
- participates in standards & activity goal setting
- engages in self-reflection & self-assessment
- is encouraged to work in structured groups & to
exchange ideas
- is curious & observes & imitate the behavior of others
- creates an own idea of appropriate & inappropriate
behavior & chooses actions accordingly
- coach, guide, tutor & facilitator
- facilitates an active learning environment conductive
to reflection & groupwork
- guides the process of knowledge construction
- provides clear expected outcomes of groupwork
- provides background learning prior to groupwork
- creates group learning activities
- reinforces open discussion through positive
reinforcement & doesn’t discourage risk-taking
Social & vague
- Case studies & simulations
- Research projects
- Anchored instruction
- Problem-based learning
- Discovery / experimental learning
- Collaborative learning / groupwork
- Scaffolding, Modelling & Coaching
- Peer grading
- Self-observation & self-evaluation
Connectivism
- Learning in a digital world: learners build
knowledge by connecting information &
nodes from a variety of different sources
- Cognitive information processing can be off-
loaded to technology -> Learning resides
outside of individuals
- Learning as continual life-long process
- Knowledge is a network & learning a
process of pattern recognition
- within & across (digital) peer networks
- through connecting specialized info sets
- connections enabling to learn more are more
important than the current state of knowing
- through exchanging experiences with others
& meaning-making
- through maintaining connections to facilitate
continual learning
- transfer occurs by knowing-where instead
of knowing-what/how
- is an active participant & intrinsically
motivated
- is responsible for his/her own learning (self-
organized)
- is encouraged to seek out information on
his/her own online & expresses the results
- co-creates learning content
- is tech-savvy & online connected
- guides students to information
- answers key questions as needed, in order to
support self-organized learning & sharing
- facilitates student’s learning & sharing
- creates & utilizes information flow
Self-organized & online
- Distributed learning
- Knowledge sharing
- Massive open online course (MOOC)
- Nodes
- Open educational resources (OER)
- Social networks
- Online Communities
- Informal learning
- LMS & platform learning
Andragogy
- Education of adults differs from childhood
learning (pedagogy)
- Mature learners have unique learning needs
& traits to be considered
- through problem solving & doing
- through immediate use of knowledge
- through delivering content in variety of ways
to match the variety of learner’s backgrounds
- through relevant & authentic exercises
- by being clear about the “why”
- transfer occurs by applying knowledge in
work & life situations
- is an active participant & intrinsically
motivated
- controls his/her own learning
- uses past experiences to build new knowledge
- applies new knowledge directly to real-life
situations
- addresses the learner as an equal in the
journey of life
- explains why the skills are being taught
- creates task-oriented training
- recognizes different levels of experience
- allows adults to learn from their mistakes
- focuses on making autonomous learning
environments
- considers different backgrounds
- facilitates collaboration
Complex task-oriented & authentic
- Self-directed lectures
- Workplace learning & training on the job
- Authentic learning
- Case studies with real-world examples
- Simulations
- Project-based learning
- Network learning
- Competence-based learning