To theorize or not to theorize...

Theories play an important role as they help us summarize research findings and provide the reasons for the way things happen (Harasim, 2017; Ormrod, 1999).  Additionally, theories serve as an aid in designing better learning environments “that facilitate human learning to the greatest possible degree” (Ormrod, 1999, p. 5).  For these reasons and in view of the advent of digital technologies, the way these impacted the traditional classroom context and the shifts such technologies brought about, the consideration of existing learning theories as well as novel ones was to be expected.  I would think this to be a necessity so as to, and I borrow Harasim’s (2017, p. 2) words here yet again, “significantly reflect or address this new reality”.

Photo by Kier... in Sight on Unsplash

Let me here briefly delineate some of the major learning theories that inform teaching practice.  Behaviourism focuses on a stimulus-response connection as started off by Pavlov’s classical conditioning, followed by Skinner’s operant conditioning which brought to the fore the power of positive and negative reinforcement.  In the latter we therefore “learn behaviours that are followed by certain consequences” (Ormrod, 1999, p. 16).  Cognitivism addresses the mental processes involved in learning, leading to the consideration of “how people perceive, interpret, remember, and otherwise think about the environmental events they experience” (ibid, p. 145) or as per Harasim’s (2017, p. 12) synthesis, “[c]ognitivism sought to understand what was inside the black box of the mind”.  Constructivism is explained by Harasim (ibid, p. 12), as providing an explanation of “how learners construct meaning” and as per Ormrod’s (1999, p. 171) definition, learning is portrayed “more as constructing knowledge from the information one receives rather than directly receiving that information from the outside world”.  Collaborativism (Online Collaborative Learning Theory) considers the internet as facilitating and encouraging collaboration and knowledge building (Picciano, 2017), taking into consideration learning as being “a process of connecting with nodes of information and that learning resides not only in the human learner but also in non-human appliances”(Harasim, 2017, p. 14). 

It is evident that different learning theories presuppose different epistemologies, different ways of knowing, respectively foregrounding truth as either objective or subjective.  Depending on the kind of epistemology, this will bear on the pedagogies adopted.  Harasim (ibid, p. 14) clearly illustrates behaviourism and cognitivism as presupposing an objective reality, giving way to didactic approaches, and constructivism and collaborativism as presupposing a subjective reality.  In the latter the role of the teacher is decentred, a figure that is not traditionally imparting knowledge but facilitating and inducting knowledge-building in a community of learners, enabling networked learning.   Since digital technologies have enhanced the possibilities of networked learning, it becomes clear that a consideration of the diverse learning theories gains utmost relevance in an attempt to understand how learning occurs in networked learning and possibly to improve the design of such a learning environment.  Picciano (2017, p. 186) for instance seeks to depict an integrated model for online learning which takes on board the various learning theories but does admit that “[t]he multimodal model…is essentially a pedagogical model and, therefore, may have greater appeal to instructional designers, faculty, and others who focus on learning objectives.”  On the other hand, let us not assume that digital technologies inherently propagate a collaborativist approach to learning.  At the end of the day, it all boils down to the way such digital technologies are used in an educational context.  We are reminded here of Bayne et al.’s (2020, p. 9) description of “the flat [my emphasis] spaces of videoconferencing environments, [as replicating] classroom practice in their foregrounding of content and teacher over student participation”. 

With such an idea in mind and despite the move from a teacher-centred approach to a learner-centred approach, it would be inappropriate to belittle, demote or completely strike off the figure of the educator in such educational contexts.  Dr. Cutajar (2019) makes reference to such discourse in her paper about teaching using digital technologies, highlighting the importance that both transmissive and participative approaches play in pedagogy.  Delineating 5 categories of academics in their usage of digital technologies for teaching, it becomes evident that such technologies are utilised to different degrees and for diverse purposes, whether it is for the dissemination of material or for creating a collaborative learning environment which aims at promoting critical thinking and higher order skills on the part of learners.  The latter is reminiscent of a deeper approach to learning as described by Trigwell and Prosser (2020) whereby the students seek for a better comprehension of the material at hand.  I believe the role of the lecturer remains key in an educational context, endorsing Bayne et. al’s (2020, p. 28) statement that:

“[d]igital education should not be complicit in replacing teaching – understood as a rich set of practices, often emergent with new technologies, but always highly professionalised – with reductionist notions of facilitation that place teacher subject experience and critical professional judgement in the background of educational practice”

In a digital age, the teacher might have moved down from the podium, and as Bates (2019) suggests, there may be other better ways of doing education than via the traditional lecture mode.  Biesta (2013) calls for a redefinition of teaching and with reference to “the gift of teaching”, conveys the idea that such a gift is what an educator is apt to do when their “teachings…provide insights about ourselves and our ways of doing and being” (p. 457).

Learning theories with their related epistemologies can thus come together as best deemed by the educator to tackle the subject at hand alongside the cohort of learners involved.  Just as no one theory is exhaustive - as Ormrod (1999, p. 7) states, “[i]t is probably more helpful to think of theories in terms of their usefulness than in terms of their correctness” and in agreement with Harasim’s (2017, p. 9) words that “[t]heories change and improve over time” – so are transmissive and participative approaches to teaching complementary to each other, rather than exclusive.  As Cutajar (2019) aptly states, "[o]ne does not exclude the other, and one is not in contrast to the other”.

With the speed at which technological advances take place and considering how these have already greatly impacted teaching and learning contexts, theories may well be a work in progress but nonetheless significant in throwing light on the ways we could best do education.  The role of the educator remains paramount in parallel and in connection with that of the learner if the aim of education is to be that of a more socially just and inclusive world.  As Biesta (2013) states, we need teachers who “do not shy away from difficult questions and inconvenient truths” (p. 459) and learners who are “open to the gift of teaching…who can welcome the unwelcome” (p. 460).  Perhaps networked learning can attempt to achieve that.

Block 4: Learning theories and learning approaches

References:

Bates, A.W. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age.  Second Edition. Tony Bates Associates Ltd.  https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/

Bayne, S., Evans, P., Ewins, R., Knox, J., Lamb, J., Macleod, H., O’Shea, C., Ross, J., Sheail, P. & Sinclair, C. (2020). The Manifesto for Teaching Online. The MIT Press.

Biesta, G. (2013). Receiving the Gift of Teaching: From ‘Learning From’ to ‘Being Taught By’. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 32(5), 449-461.

Cutajar, M. (2019). Teaching Using Digital Technologies: Transmission or Participation? Education Science, 9(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9030226

Harasim, L. (2017). Learning Theory and Online Technologies. Second Edition. Routledge.

Ormrod, J. E. (1999). Human Learning. Third Edition. Merrill Prentice Hall.

Picciano, A. G. (2017). Theories and frameworks for online education: Seeking an integrated model. Online Learning, 21(3), 166-190. doi: 10.24059/olj.v21i3.1225

Trigwell, K. and Prosser, M. (2020). Exploring University Teaching and Learning: Experience and Context. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50830-2_1