Connectivism

           Connectivism is a new theory of learning which emphasizes the role of the social and cultural context opposed to a more essentialist notion which foregrounds the individual. Connectivism is  most similar to constructivism and often associated with and proposes a perspective similar to Vygotsky's 'zone of proximal development' (ZPD, an idea later transposed into Engeström's (2001) and also known as Activity theory. Central to connectivism is the relationship between work experience, learning and knowledge, as expressed in the concept of ‘connectivity, thus the root of the theory's name. Also it bears some similarity with Bandura's Social Learning Theory that proposes that people learn through contact. The add-on "a learning theory for the digital age", that appears in Siemens' paper indicates the emphasis it gives to how technology affects how people live, how they communicate and how they learn and experience from past knowledge and experience and connect things with  current experience and situation.

Principles of connectivisim.

• Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
• Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
• Learning is more critical than knowing.
• Maintaining and nurturing connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.

• Perceiving connections between fields, ideas and concepts is a core skill.
• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of learning activities.
• Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

 Refrencing:

                    1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism 

                    2) http://www.ehow.com/about_5278299_new-             learning-theories.html

What is Learning Theory?

During the early part of the twentieth-century, a number of psychologists became increasingly interested in turning psychology into a more scientific endeavor. To be more scientific, they argued, psychology needed to study only those things that could be measured and quantified.

What are Theories?

• What is a theory?  ((Dorin, Demmin & Gabel, 1990)
• A theory provides a general explanation for observations made over time.
• A theory explains and predicts behavior.
• A theory can never be established beyond all doubt.
• A theory may be modified.
• Theories seldom have to be thrown out completely if thoroughly tested but sometimes a theory may be widely accepted for a long time and later disproved.

There are three major learning theories, Cognitive, behavior and constructivism; here I would like to point out about Cognitive learning theory.

What is Cognitive?

"Cognitive theorists recognize that much learning involves associations established through contiguity and repetition. They also acknowledge the importance of reinforcement, although they stress its role in providing feedback about the correctness of responses over its role as a motivator. However, even while accepting such behaviorist concepts, cognitive theorists view learning as involving the acquisition or reorganization of the cognitive structures through which humans process and store information." (Good and Brophy, 1990, pp. 187).

Key Concepts of Cognitive Theory

Ø  Schema - An internal knowledge structure. New information is compared to existing cognitive structures called "schema". Schema may be combined, extended or altered to accommodate new information.
 

Ø  Three-Stage Information Processing Model - input first enters a sensory register, then is processed in short-term memory, and then is transferred to long-term memory for storage and retrieval.
 

Ø  Sensory Register - receives input from senses which lasts from less than a second to four seconds and then disappears through decay or replacement. Much of the information never reaches short term memory but all information is monitored at some level and acted upon if necessary.
 

Ø  Short-Term Memory (STM) - sensory input that is important or interesting is transferred from the sensory register to the STM. Memory can be retained here for up to 20 seconds or more if rehearsed repeatedly. Short-term memory can hold up to 7 plus or minus 2 items. STM capacity can be increased if material is chunked into meaningful parts.
 

Ø  Long-Term Memory and Storage (LTM) - stores information from STM for long term use. Long-term memory has unlimited capacity. Some materials are "forced" into LTM by rote memorization and over learning. Deeper levels of processing such as generating linkages between old and new information are much better for successful retention of material.
 

Ø  Meaningful Effects - Meaningful information is easier to learn and remember. (Cofer, 1971, in Good and Brophy, 1990) If a learner links relatively meaningless information with prior schema it will be easier to retain. (Wittrock, Marks, & Doctorow, 1975, in Good and Brophy, 1990)
 

Ø  Serial Position Effects - It is easier to remember items from the beginning or end of a list rather than those in the middle of the list, unless that item is distinctly different.
 

Ø  Practice Effects - Practicing or rehearsing improves retention especially when it is distributed practice. By distributing practices the learner associates the material with many different contexts rather than the one context afforded by mass practice.
 

Ø  Transfer Effects- The effects of prior learning on learning new tasks or material.
 

Ø  Interference Effects - Occurs when prior learning interferes with the learning of new material.
 

Ø  Organization Effects - When a learner categorizes input such as a grocery list, it is easier to remember.
 

Ø  Levels of Processing Effects - Words may be processed at a low-level sensory analysis of their physical characteristics to high-level semantic analysis of their meaning. (Craik and Lockhart, 1972, in Good and Brophy, 1990) The more deeply a word is process the easier it will be to remember.
 

Ø  State Dependent Effects - If learning takes place within a certain context it will be easier to remember within that context rather than in a new context.
 

Ø  Mnemonic Effects - Mnemonics are strategies used by learners to organize relatively meaningless input into more meaningful images or semantic contexts. For example, the notes of a musical scale can be remembered by the rhyme: Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit.
 

Ø  Schema Effects - If information does not fit a person's schema it may be more difficult for them to remember and what they remember or how they conceive of it may also be affected by their prior schema.
 

Ø  Advance Organizers - Ausebels advance organizers prepare the learner for the material they are about to learn. They are not simply outlines of the material, but are material that will enable the student to make sense out of the lesson.

Referencing:

§  http://www.meadowfields.ednet.ns.ca/sutherland/Projectfolder/BCC.htm

§  http://www.bgu.ac.il/~aflaloc/tealea/LearTheo.html

§  http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentecourse/a/dev_learning.htm

Why consider learning theories?

                         Major learning theories.

§  Cognitive learning theory

§  Behavioral learning theory

§  Constructive learning theory

§  Social cognitive theory

§  Social learning  theory

            Every learning theory is unique and gives different benefit for the learners, some time one is best from other theories as well other good quality may not be there in particular theory. So a single theory is it alone perfect, as a teacher; teacher should consider the classroom environment and students behavior and chose the best theory which is most suitable for the situation and time to time, most of the time a teacher should apply the combined learning theories according to the learners mind, psychology, and learner’s style. There for understating the learning theory is very important for a teacher to successfully complete his task of teaching. Otherwise the teaching and learning process will be getting worsted. In order to determine the learner’s behavior, and their learning style; learning theories are very important measurement. While the education is a systematic approach of human being to acquire the knowledge; in order to make easy and comfort the learning process, understanding about learning theories is very important matter.  

            Also, it is interesting to think about individual differences among learners and to work towards including activities that have variety and interest for all the learners in educational programs.
Refrencing:

§  http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentecourse/a/dev_learning.htm

§  http://www.meadowfields.ednet.ns.ca/sutherland/Projectfolder/BCC.htm

Reinforcement theory

            Reinforcement divided in to two part : 1) Positive reinforcement 2) negative reinforcement. Normally all the teachers are widely uses this theory in their teaching environment.This theory was developed by the behaviourist school of psychology, notably by B.F. Skinner earlier this century (Laird 1985, Burns 1995). Skinner believed that behaviour is a function of its consequences. The learner will repeat the desired behaviour if positive reinforcement (a pleasant consequence) follows the behaviour.

            Psoitive reinforcement is giving reward by verbal or certificates after completions of particular coursework or task, awards for higher positions. By reinforcement student will be motivated and encouraged to continue the particular habit of learning, for an example a student who is very punctual in completing his home work on time, teacher should appreciate, praise, giving some prize. The student will be more effective on his particular task as it is punctual here punctual can be motivated by reinforcement this is called positive reinforcement.

            Negative reinforcement also strengthen a behaviour and refers to a situation when a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the bahaviour. Punishment, on the other hand, weakens a behaviour because a negative condition is introduced or experienced as a consequence of the behaviour and teaches the individual not to repeat the behaviour which was negatively reinforced. A set of conditions is created which are designed to eliminate behaviour (Burns, 1995, p.108). Laird considers this aspect of behaviourism has little or no relevance to education. However, Burns says that punishment is widely used in everyday life although it only works for a short time and often only when the punishing agency is present.

            Burns notes that much Competency Based Training is based on this theory, and although it is useful in learning repetitive tasks like multiplication tables and those work skills that require a great deal of practice, higher order learning is not involved. There is criticism of this approach that it is rigid and mechanical.

Refrecncing:

1)  http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/archive/theories.html#reinforcement

2) www.learning-theories.com/‎

Constructivism

       Constructivism is a theory  learning by doing “it is a theory to explain how knowledge is constructed in the human being when new information comes into contact with existing knowledge that had been developed by experiences. Now the prior knowledge, information and experience, which was stored in the human brain,” and with new knowledge and information through that the new experience both experience and the new knowledge and information will be updated with old knowledge and information, and will  be constructed as a new learning process is called constructivism.  It is a learning theory by learning and doing.  It has its roots in cognitive psychology and biology and an approach to education that lays emphasis on the ways knowledge is created in order to adapt to the world. Constructs are the different types of filters we choose to place over our realities to change our reality from chaos to order.

                 Von Ernst von Glasersfeld (March 8, 1917) describes constructivism as “a theory of knowledge with roots in philosophy, psychology, and cybernetics”. Constructivism has implications for the theory of instruction. Discovery learning, hands-on, experiential, collaborate, project-based, tasked-based are a number of applications that base teaching and learning on constructivism.

                It is very different from other learning theories, because the learner learn  the knowledge through the  mental, cognitive  process of old information and experience and connect with new knowledge with new information and experience therefore the knowledge acquired by this method never forgotten from the human brain because the final process of knowledge was acquired by experience. And the Knowledge is constructed based on personal experiences and hypotheses of the environment.  “Learners continuously test these hypotheses through social negotiation. Each person has a different interpretation and construction of knowledge process". for example a student who read a article or hear the under water diving experience of his friends and now he got real chance of diving and experiences; so the prior knowledge of diving and new experience of diving both together construct in cognitive as a update of  prior knowledge will be stored as long lasting memory in human brain. The learner is not a blank slate but brings past experiences and cultural factors to a situation.

Referencing:       

1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_%28learning_theory%29

 2)  http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html