1.An overview of paradigms and theories
Week 3 Review

2. Educational Technology
From our reading this week, we know that AECT defines Educational technology as the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.
3. Focus on Learning
Learning is the end product
Prior focus on messages, control, and processes (1970s)
1972 definition foreshadows the current one
4. Paradigms and Theories
A paradigm is a belief system or a framework for a set of values or concepts
A theory is a model that attempts to provide an explanation for how something occurs (learning, in this case)
Paradigms: postpositivism/objectivism; interpretivism/constructivism/relativism; and critical theory
5. Critical Theory
Ideology or a position
Draws on the principles and methods of the other two paradigms
Asserts that learning should foster empowerment and promote social justice
6. From Learning Theory to Instructional Theory
Learning theories describe the ways in which people learn (descriptive)
Instructional theories address ways to deliver knowledge (prescriptive)
Difficult to link prescriptive instructional solutions to descriptive learning theory
7. Perspectives Have Consequences
The application of resources is influenced by ones perspective on how people learn
Likewise, policy is affected by ones view on learning
8. Learning Defined and Viewed From Different Perspectives
Learning facilitates change in performance through experiences and interactions (paraphrase of Driscoll, 2005).
Each theory emphasizes different elements of learning and the learners role or process.
9. Behaviorism
10. Behaviorism
Focus on radical behaviorism and operant conditioning
Falls into the postpositivist/objectivist paradigm
11. Behaviorism in Educational Technology
B. F. Skinner applied operant conditioning to learning
Created an interactive device to deliver individual instruction through drill-and-practice lessons
Teaching machines, as they were called, opened the field of programmed instruction
12. Teaching Machines and Programmed Instruction
Programmed instruction is linear (no choices for the user)
Feedback consists of the correct answer
The field became known as educational technology during this time
13. Programmed Tutoring Structured Tutoring
A live tutor leads the student through the material
Provides personal reinforcement for correct answers and prompts for incorrect responses
Allowed students to work out incorrect answers rather than being given the correct response
Students scored significantly higher compared to traditional methods
14. Direct Instruction
Scripted, small group instruction
Characterized by rapid and constant group interaction
Uses continuous learner responses with instructor feedback
15. Personalized System of Instruction (PSI)
The Keller Plan
Structured content of a course or curriculum presented sequentially and offered through self-paced study
Students must demonstrate proficiency to move from one unit to another
A proctor provides coaching to correct any mistakes on the proficiency test
16. Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI)
Followed drill & practice and tutorial formats
Mid-1960s Stanford University
1970s TICCIT project at Brigham Young University
17. 1961, PLATO Project at University of Illinois -
Used networked terminals and simplified programming language, TUTOR
Drill & practice with some branching
Broad coverage of college-level material
Via experience and technology, additional strategies developed including labs and discovery methods
18. Behaviorism and Facilitating Learning
Possible to dramatically improve learning outcomes through careful control of the delivery (using operant conditioning principles)
Led to instructional systems design due to the methods of analyzing tasks, identifying objectives, chunking the content, and engaging in a patter of responses and feedback
Allowed students to work on their own, shifting instruction from the teacher-centered, group-based model; made the student an active participant in the learning process.
Applied across learning domains (cognitive, affective, motor skills)
19. Drawbacks/Roadblocks to Adoption
Behaviorist technologies measured learning in terms of test scores: does this represent real learning/authentic application? will students apply the learning in the real-world or outside the classroom?
Schools, colleges not prepared for the organizational changes necessary
Teachers resist challenges to traditional, teacher-centered methods
Changes are expensive - cost of technology must be offset by cost reductions in labor and infrastructure
20. cognitivism
21. Cognitivism
Set of psychological theories that attempt to describe how students leverage their mental processes
Differs from behaviorism in that it acknowledges the need to understand internal mental processes
22. Cognitivism
Crosses the line between postpositivism and interpretivism: transitional in nature and blends elements of the two paradigms
Addresses how the brain structures and stores information, and adapts those structures to accommodate exceptions
Early influences in the 1920s and 1930s were Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, but did not impact the United States until translations became available in the 1960s
23. Influencing factors in the United States in the 1960s
Translations of Piagets and Vygotskys works
Jerome Bruner (1960) Process of Education, which described children as active problem-solvers
Emergence of information-processing theory in the late 60s
24. Piaget:
Experiments with children developed a theory of classification systems (frameworks) for organizing information
Assimilation (fit experiences into the framework) and accommodation (modification of the mental framework to integrate contradictions)
Each process dominated at different times, and sometimes were equal, thus he concluded there were fixed stages of cognitive development
25. Emerging Theories
26. Information Processing Theory
Learning occurs serially through a transformative process
Focuses on how information is stored in memory
27. Schema Theory
Similar to Piaget in that long-term memory is structured in a way that supports information and adapts to changes
Stores knowledge in an abstract form
Memory integrates new material with relevant and existing knowledge
28. Cognitive Load Theory
Combines elements of information processing and schema theories
Novices become experts as the mental schema expands
Must control the cognitive load intake to process knowledge effectively
29. Neuroscience
Uses physical observation of the brain and nervous system to understand mental processes
Learning occurs by stimulating and stabilizing parts of the brain
Challenge of education is to inspire learners to learn
30. Cognitivism in Educational Technology
31. Audiovisual Media
Stimulates multiple senses; may overcome the limitations of text and lecture.
Dales Cone of Experience (1946) - expanded notion of visual instruction; learning experiences can be arranged from concrete to abstract
During the 1940s Gestalt psychology was an influencing factor - sensory perception, construction of knowledge from auditory & visual input
32. Visual Learning
Compatible with principles of visual perception and message design typical to educational technology
Covers a wide spectrum of theories, including Gestalt paradigms and traditional cognitivism
Seeks to explain how humans perceive and interpret visual information (classification schemes)
Alesandrini (1984): three categories: representational (pictures resemble a thing or idea), analogical (known objects used to imply similarity to an unknown concept), arbitrary (charts or diagrams that organize concepts, but dont represent them)
Other schemes proposed by researchers are based on specific mental functions: decorative, representational, mnemonic, organizational, relational, transformational, interpretive
Influenced principles for use of visuals and text for message layout
33. Auditory Learning
Processing, storing, and retrieving auditory information
Barron (2004) suggests processing of auditory, visual, and verbal information occurs differently
Cognitive load is a concern: the correct balance of multi-channel media used in communication; not clearly defined/difficult to define
34. Digital Multimedia - Focus on the Computer
Cheap, easy to deliver multimedia
Learner controlled
Presentation of multiple sensory modalities closely resembles natural human cognitive system
Transforms information from one input to another output (data into graphs)
Linking of ideas
May facilitate active involvement (immersive environments)
Connects real world with classroom
35. Cognitivism and Facilitating Learning
Limitation: meant to apply to learning in the cognitive domain
Emphasizes careful arrangement of content
Structure of new knowledge (advanced organizers)
Objectives/content chunking
Textual layout for comprehension/visuals
36. Frameworks:
Gagnes events of instruction: specific sequence of events
Foshay, Silber, and Stelnicki - cognitive training model - 17 specific tactics organized around five strategic phases; overlaps with Gagne, but differs somewhat in content and emphasis; special emphasis on organizing and linking information; integrates motivational elements from Kellers ARCS model
37. Constructivism
38. Constructivism
Views of constructivism are diverse
Closely assimilated with Ernst von Glasersfeld (1984), An introduction to radical constructivism: world is perceived and structured according to the learners means, and therefore is subjective
Subjective, knowledge constructed via the learners schema
39. Problem of Defining Constructivism
Lakoffs work in sociolinguistics (1987) - experientialism; theory of language acquisition; cited as the influence for constructivism
Duffey Cunningham, and Jonassen: most visible advocates for constructivism in ed tech; wide range of ideas from recent study of cognitive psychology
Piage and Vygotsky also cited as influences
Vygotky: sociocultural approach--children learn via social interaction with adults; lead to term social constructivism
Terhart (2003): difficult to distinguish moderate constructivist theory from cognitivism; apply moderate constructivist label to those theories that accept the assumptions of cognitivism
Driscoll (2005): common belief among all constructivist theories is that learners construct their own knowledge as they try to make sense of their experience
radical constructivist based on von Glaserfeld (1992): reality is irrevocably subjective
40. Constructivist Prescriptions
41. Principles
Learning in realistic environment
Social negotiation
Multiple perspectives/modes
Ownership by the learner
Self-awareness
42. Strategies
Immersion
Situated cognition
human thoughts conceived within a specific context
academic learning takes place in a classroom and tends not to transfer - inert knowledge
cognitive apprenticeship is a method that uses social principles of constructivism to transfer knowledge: mentoring/coaching, modeling
43. Enduring Strategies
Anchored Instruction
Problem-Based Learning
Collaborative Learning
44. Anchored Instruction (1990s)
Based on situated cognition principles; use of videos that required students to interact with a realistic problem
45. Problem-Based Learning
Immersive learning environments; overlap with anchored instruction, but emphasize involvement in the situation and, often,group collaboration
46. Collaborative Learning (Sociocultural)
Also rooted in social constructivist principles; relies on collaboration techniques supported by computer mediation or facilitation
47. Constructivism in Educational Technology
Supports engaged learning principles of the North Central Regional Education Laboratory
Uses authentic activities and incorporates performance-based assessment
Characterized by construction of knowledge versus repetition of facts
Students and instructors are both recognized and producers and consumers of knowledge, teachers, and co-learners in the process
48. Constructivism and Facilitating Learning
Opened up dialog about the merits and implications of constructivism; introduced new methods for exploration
49. Cautions Emerging from Research
Problem based programs: less effective for novices; may have negative results if students construct knowledge inaccurately
Instructional methods are often best suited for advanced learners who already have foundational knowledge
50. Moving into the 21st Century
51. Additional References:
Clark, D. R. (2010). B. F. Skinner. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/skinner.html
Smith, M.K. (2002). Jerome S. Bruner and the process of education in The Encyclopedia of Informal Education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/bruner.htm