Thank you for your post, Zhihao! I really enjoyed how you described each learning theory using your own personal examples of witnessing different teachers who have used them and what they looked like. I definitely agree with your overarching message that there is not a learning theory that is more effective than others but rather that it is dependent on what is being taught and which strategy makes the most sense. I am wondering if you felt that your teachers chose a suitable learning theory when teaching you a specific course or topic. For example, do you think that your middle and higher level courses using a cognitivist approach as you mentioned is the most effective or could another learning theory be equally as suitable? Thank you again for your insights and reflective post!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your post, Ruth. I appreciate the level of depth and detail that you used to explain direct instruction. I particularly thought that your specific example of outlining how a computer science professor would employ this method was very well done. It seems as though direct instruction seems to fit seamlessly with your plans within your interactive resource. I am wondering if this remained the case or if an additional learning design was also used/ could be argued to be effective? Thank you for your post, Ruth!
Identify components of the Interactive Learning Resource that might be missing (e.g., appropriate outcomes, alignment, interactivity, inclusivity, technology use and rationale, presentation, grammar, spelling, citations, etc.).
Within the description and rationale section of your document, I noted some potential citation errors.
For example, with the first citation (Good, 2011) the connection between the first portion of the sentence and the connection to the direct quote at the end of the sentence seems to be missing a word or two to join these thoughts and make them cohesive.
Regarding the second citation, (Gkonous et al.) it seems to be that the year is missing here. To fit your current sentence it would look likely look like “Gknonous et al. (2018)”. I did also notice that there may be an inconsistency with the spelling of this reference as the in-text citation includes “Gkonous” but in the references section it is put down as “Gkonou”.
To touch on the 3rd citation in this section, it seems that the source MIT is missing a date and is also not included in the final reference section.
Within both the Canva presentation and document, I noted some potential spelling errors/ sections that would excel with more clarity.
For example, on the Canva slide titled “singing activity” it is stated: “have as conversation in breakout rooms…”. I believe this is a typo and “as” should be replaced with “a”.
I also noted that the Canva slide titled “official knowledge about language acquisition” did not have a citation. I am wondering if a citation is missing here.
Additionally, I loved the use of the introduction questions within the Canva presentation but I was not able to locate those questions in the document. Perhaps I was looking in the wrong areas, but I would recommend adding them to the document if they are not already.
Finally, on the document under “singing activity” the sentence reads “We will listen to the song a 2-3 and then sing along….”. I am wondering if “a” should be removed in this sentence and “times” should be added so the sentence reads instead as, “We will listen to the song 2-3 times and then sing along…”.
Provide a summary of The Interactive Learning Resource’s strengths and weaknesses. Draw out specific examples from your peers’ work to justify your feedback.
Strengths
I love how engaging your Canva presentation looks! The use of colour and creative design on each slide was aesthetically pleasing to view and really grabbed my attention and engagement.
A lot of creativity is evident within this learning design. I really enjoyed that one of your main activities was to have the students sing! I think this is a great way to engage students and strongly relates to your learning topic.
It is clear that you thought critically about what the students will need to engage with your topic. I specifically like the education on the “2 G’s and the 3 C’s” prior to having the students engage with the French song. This addition demonstrates that you have anticipated and identified a potential barrier within the students, for example, not being in the right mindset before learning, and sought to be proactive and address it.
Weaknesses
I think a stronger emphasis could potentially be given to the inclusion of diverse learners within your learning resource. While you did mention the technology adaptations such as that Zoom and Canva are both free and accessible through wifi and data, I would have loved to see a deeper analysis of the specific UDL accommodations that you are implementing within each of your activities. Additionally, you mention that you are addressing a single parent that has 2 children, but that your target audience is an elementary curriculum. I am wondering if it is realistic that an adult would find the same benefit of the lesson if it is anchored towards an elementary education or if this should perhaps be modified.
While I appreciate that a discussion of the learning resource is included in the Canva presentation, I feel that it may be too long as it covered over 2 slides. Given your elementary audience, I think a brief and concise discussion that can be expressed through a single slide may be more suitable.
Provide general, specific, and practical recommendations to your peers on how to improve their Interactive Learning Resource.
Learning pod 3 has put forward a great amount of effort and detail within their Interactive Learning Resources. Some specific recommendations would be:
To reduce the use of direct quotations. To ensure that the resource highlights your voice and your insights, I would advise to paraphrase when possible and if you do decide to use a direct quotation to keep them very brief and as a rarity within your resource. Additionally, ensure that if you do use a direct quotation that it fits cohesively within your sentence and does not stand completely on its own.
To go through the presentation and document and read it out loud to yourself. Often times spelling or grammar mistakes are super easy to miss when we are the ones that wrote it! Using the strategy of reading each section to yourself should help with catching any minor errors.
To ensure that everything is consistent within the document. I would recommend that you double check all your references and verify that they are used correctly (ex. inclusion of dates) and spelled correctly in all areas. Further, to aid with consistency I would recommend verifying that every aspect within the Canva presentation is included in the document and vice versa (ex. introduction questions on the presentation).
To ensure all references are cited in APA. I noted that the references section on the document was titled as “Bibliography”. To remain consistent with APA I would recommend that you change the title to “References” in bold. Additionally, a double check on your references may be helpful to ensure there are no extra periods placed in there by accident. For example, instead of “… Daubney, M.. (2018).”, there needs to be only one period after “M” instead of two.
In this week’s blog post I explored the extent to which a medium enables interaction. In fact, there are three different ways learners can interact (William, 2019):
Interaction with learning materials: when students work with a medium independently and without direct intervention from a teacher or other students (ex. multiple-choice tests, textbooks, podcasts)
Interaction between students and teacher: when students are directed by their teacher to develop higher-order learning outcomes such as critical thinking (ex. online discussion forms, face-to-face lectures, e-portfolios)
Student-Student interaction: when students engage with one another to facilitate learning. The quality of this interaction will depend on a well-thought-out design from the instructor (ex. group work, self-directed discussions)
Technology can be a great tool for enabling all 3 of these learning interactions! Below I will discuss various prompts that pertain to my technology medium of choice which is a video on growth mindset.
Video about Growth Mindset
What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)?
This video will likely require interaction with learning materials from my students. However, the video itself does not force students to respond in some way such as through a built-in checkpoint activity.
In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own, e.g. make notes,do an activity, or think about the topic (learner-generated)?
Learners are likely to respond to this video through self-reflection. The video takes a scientific approach and educates students about their brain neurons and what happens to them when they face challenges. Thus, students are likely to covertly compare their new learning and understanding of their brain to their current views and ideas. Through reflection, learners will likely have a greater understanding of how understanding how their brain operates can better equip them to accept challenges through a growth mindset.
What activity could you suggest that they do, after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?
After watching the video, students will engage in a written self-reflection where they will reflect on 1) one thing they found the most interesting, 2) one question they have or their biggest takeaway from the video, and 3) why understanding their brain could be beneficial for overcoming challenges. This activity will develop evaluation skills (deciding which concept they found the most interesting), analysis skills (questioning or forming a takeaway message), and critical thinking skills (thinking about how their new knowledge has an effect on their life). Students will post their responses on Padlet so all learners can benefit from each other’s answers.
How much work for you would that activity cause? Would the work be bothmanageable and worthwhile? Could the activity be scaled for larger numbers of students?
This activity is likely not to add much extra work for the teacher rather only extra time will be necessary to provide students with a chance to respond. The work will be manageable and worthwhile as it will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their learning from a video (not passively absorb it) as well as demonstrate the learner’s understanding of the content to the teacher. This activity could absolutely be scaled for a larger number of students, in fact, having more students would likely create an even greater discussion allowing more students to collaborate.
References
William, A. (2019). 9.6 interaction. Teaching in a Digital Age Second Edition. Bates. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/pedagogical-roles-for-text-audio-and-video/Â
“What is essential for some is likely good for all” (Meyer et al., 2014)
The 3 pillars of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the material regarding creating an inclusive design. Specifically the article, I love the perspective of not looking at barriers as something that some individuals will need additional support to overcome, but rather eliminating possible barriers within a learning design so that all students can be of benefit. This approach is referred to as the Universal Design for Learning or UDL. The three pillars of this framework are multiple means of representation, multiple means of action or expression, and multiple means of engagement (Meyer et al., 2014).
Below I will discuss the impact UDL will have on designing my learning resource.
What is one of my planned learning activities and what are the barriers to student success?
Activity: Students will work in pairs in the breakout room to generate 1 question each about the characteristics of a growth mindset and participate in a game of Kahoot, involving the created questions. The teacher will pop into the breakout room to confirm their question.
Above is a current planned activity within my learning resource. After learning about UDL, I notice that there are potential barriers to the student’s success through this current model. Some including:
Difficulty using multiple forms of technology. While different forms of technology can provide engaging benefits, asking fourth graders to navigate from Zoom to the Kahoot website could likely create additional time barriers or technological difficulties.
Assistance may not be readily accessible. When students are placed into breakout rooms they may not have the opportunity to ask the teacher for further assistance or to repeat the instruction. This may mean that unless the students are able to peer support, they will be sitting in the breakout room until the teacher enters to check for their question, in which case it may not be completed.
Lack of appropriate examples. Without any examples or explanation for the type or quality of question that is being asked of them, students may struggle to come up with a question that will work in a Kahoot form. This may result in questions that will not work in a “quiz” style format.
Limited choice of expression. Students are asked to create a question regarding characteristics of a growth mindset, but they may be interested in creating a question that is still on the topic but sparks their creativity and independent thought. Narrowing how they can express their ideas, may not allow them the full opportunity to demonstrate their learning.
How can I adjust my plan to reduce barriers?
Using the framework of the UDL, I will modify my plan as follows…
Engagement:
The activity will remain on Zoom and not require students to move to multiple platforms. This will reduce the potential difficulty of website navigation for the students.
Even though each student will be asked to make a creation, they are encouraged to remain engaged by brainstorming or clarifying ideas with their classmates during this process.
Students will be reminded that accepting and valuing feedback is very characteristic of a growth mindset because it provides us with an opportunity to learn and improve our abilities. This is expected to motivate students to look forward to their peer’s feedback as it provides an opportunity to make an even stronger creation.
Representation:
Students will be provided with verbal instructions as well as visual examples of the possible types of creations they may choose to demonstrate their learning.
To assist with providing feedback, students will be given some possible sentence structures such as “I really like_____ have you thought about_____”, “When you said_____ I was wondering if_____”, and “I love_____ don’t forget to_____”.
Students will be given the opportunity to receive feedback from a peer on their creation and to refine it.
Action and expression:
The teacher will be readily available during creation time for all students. They will have the option to ask their teacher a question in the main session or send a message via the chat option to clarify a question or to ask to communicate in a private breakout room.
Students will have open freedom for how they will choose to demonstrate the characteristics of a growth mindset through their creation (ex. picture, a multiple choice question, a comic, etc.).
The student will be provided with immediate feedback on their creation by both their peer and the teacher.
The teacher will provide feedback to the whole group and correct any discrepancies within the topic so all students can benefit from the answers.
My modified planned activity
Before: Students will work in pairs in the breakout room to generate 1 question each about the characteristics of a growth mindset and participate in a game of Kahoot, involving the created questions. The teacher will pop into the breakout room to confirm their question.
After: In a zoom session, students will be asked to independently create something that demonstrates the characteristics of a growth mindset (ex. picture, a multiple choice question, a comic, etc.). The teacher will be available for questions or support during this creation time. Afterwards, students will be placed in pairs in breakout rooms where they will share what they have created and accept/give feedback from their peers. Once feedback has been given, while still in breakout rooms, students will be given additional time to refine their creations using their peer’s feedback. The teacher will be popping into the breakout room for support during this time. After the breakout rooms, back in the main zoom session, each student will share their creation and how they incorporated their partner’s feedback. They will receive immediate feedback from the teacher and all students will have an opportunity to learn from each other.
Final thoughts
After comparing my original plan to my modified plan, I am quite impressed at the improvement adding UDL can provide. Not only is my new plan arguably more engaging and interactive, but it also removes barriers for all learners in the process. Further, through the added use of peer feedback and later refinement, students are actively engaging in a growth mindset while they are working through their creations rather than just assessing what one is. As my group and I work through our interactive resource, I am excited about the possibility of how we can add engagement, representation, and action and expressions to all of our learning activities.
References
Meyer, A., Rose, D.H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice. CAST Professional Publishing udltheorypractice.cast.org/
Experiential learning was coined by psychologist and learning theorist, David Kolb in 1984. According to Kolb, knowledge is formed through active participation from the learner and their environment through real-life experiences and through the reflection of those experiences (Kolb, 1984).
What are the characteristics?
Kolb (1984) described the characteristics of experimental learning as…
Learning is not an outcome: Instead of viewing learning as the meeting of a learning outcome, we should recognize that learning can be formed through development.
Learning is continuous: As we learn through experience, our knowledge is constantly changing to form new ideas in replacement of old ones.
Learning involves balancing opposed abilities: Learners must choose which set of learning abilities they will show in a given learning situation (There are four abilities in this case: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstraction conceptualization, and active experimentation).
Learning involves transactions between the learner and the environment: Learners will obtain knowledge when they are interacting with the activity in a real-life situation.
Learning is the process of creating knowledge: To understand learning, we must also understand that knowledge is a transaction between social knowledge and personal knowledge.
How can we implement this in classrooms?
Field trips
Role-playing
Reflection activities
Peer-tutoring
Student-run class discussions
Here is an example of what experiential learning can look like within a classroom.
What are the benefits of this learning?
According to the website, Experiential Learning Depot, experiential learning…
Links theory to practice
Promotes creativity in students
Increases students’ engagement
Accelerates the speed of learning
Promotes life-long learning
Experiential learning and growth mindset
Experiential learning aligns seamlessly with a growth mindset because a growth mindset involves the active transaction between the learner and the environment in order to shift their mindset from a stagnant, negative place to a continuous, positive one. Additionally, a characteristic of experiential learning is that it does not view learning as an outcome which is also true of the growth mindset which views learning as a way to grow and develop new skills.
This learning strategy will be utlilized within my Interactive Learning Resource because in order for children to utilize a growth mindset in their own lives, they must engage in real-life practice and scenarios. This will be obtained through activities such as…
In pairs, students will be provided with a story where a child is met with a challenge. Students will brainstorm ideas of different thoughts and behaviours the child could have in a fixed/growth mindset and how that would change the subsequent behaviour. Pairs will then present their ideas to another group via breakout rooms.
 Students will display their learning in a medium of their choice (write/draw a picture/make a video etc.). Share a time when you were met with a challenge and did not use a growth mindset. Modify the scenario using a growth mindset. What actions were involved and what was the result?
References
Kolb, David. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience As The Source Of Learning And Development.
Segar, S. (2021, August 31). The benefits of experiential learning. Experiential Learning Depot. https://www.experientiallearningdepot.com/experiential-learning-blog/the-benefits-of-experiential-learningÂ
Describe an example from your life of when you were taught using each method described in this article: behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism.
A couple of years ago, I decided that I wanted to become a lifeguard. The course ran over 5 days that were 8-hours long, with most of the time consisting of completing physical requirements in the pool. It was unlike anything I had ever done before. However, after reading about three learning theories known as behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism (Ertmer & Newby, 2018), I realized that all 3 of these theories benefitted my learning and lead to me to becoming a lifeguard.
To start, utilizing behaviourism as a learning strategy involves reinforcement and feedback to develop necessary habits within the learners so an association between a stimulus and a response can be created. Within this strategy, students are passive participants in their learning and an instructor demonstrates how the student should respond and react to specific stimuli Behaviour learning theory involves immediate feedback and repetition and can be used to teach chaining. Chaining, for example, is when a participant completes a task in a specific step-by-step way (Ertmer & Newby, 2018). In my lifeguarding course, chaining was used when we were taught specific instructions in a step-by-step nature for removing a swimmer who has had a spinal injury from the pool. When learning skills, an emphasis was placed on repetition and continuous feedback at each step. This meant that we did not move on to the next step or new task until mastery was achieved. For example, the first step of a successful removal would be to calmly slip into the water to not create major waves because our goal with a spinal injury is to stabilize the swimmer and not create further harm. If for instance, one of the students in my class forgot about this procedure and jumped or dove into the water, they would immediately be given feedback and asked to start over and repeat the same step until mastery.
Secondly, cognitive learning is when the learner is actively engaged in the learning process. This strategy involves making the information meaningful and helping the learner organize new learning alongside their original understandings (Ertmer & Newby, 2018). In the lifeguarding course, we were asked to reflect on our experiences and were often challenged to explore how specific first aid and lifesaving practices could be connected by justifying and explaining our thinking. These exercises allowed me and my peers the ability to combine the new knowledge being taught with our existing knowledge. For example, when we were taught CPR, we were told to perform our compressions to the beat of Staying Alive by Bee Gees, because doing this will maintain the correct tempo of beats per minute, roughly 100-120. This is an example of using cognitive learning because it combined existing knowledge (a well-known song) with new knowledge (performing CPR) which allowed us to have a new understanding (how to properly perform CPR compressions).
Finally, constructivist learning is based upon the idea that knowledge is open to change therefore learners are tasked to create meaning based on their personal experiences and interactions. In this practice, students build understandings and then use social negotiation to validate them (Ertmer & Newby, 2018). An example used in my course was the use of experimentation to problem solve. The group was tasked with building a formation to ensure that all pools in the facility were appropriately covered and watched over by lifeguards. To complete this task, we had to each individually reflect on our personal experiences of how we have seen lifeguard formations in the past when swimming at a pool or any previous knowledge about how to effectively watch a large group of people. After this, through social negotiation, we discussed our thoughts with one another and practiced our suggested formations to test their effectiveness before the instructor debriefed common formations with us. This practice was very characteristic of constructivism because it allowed my class to be active participants in our learning and problem-solve with our peers using our previous experience.
References
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. (2018). Behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism. Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivismÂ
I am so excited to be a part of this class and to work and learn from everyone. I am in my 4th and final year of my Psychology degree and I have decided to pursue a minor in Education! I am looking forward to creating future blog posts throughout the semester… all of which will be fueled by caffeine.
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