week 6

learning design poses an effective tool for planning and implementing teaching methods both in and out of the classroom. the plan comprises a mapped network with specific tasks and learning objectives, as well as the establishment of support (affiliated websites, FAQs, forum etc.) and resources (interaction via blogs, chat, worksheets etc.) which would aid in meeting the desired outcomes.

i feel that learning design plans should be drawn up clearly and effectively before the onset of any learning activity because it provides a clear visual for the learning pattern and allows trainers to recognise any possible loopholes or disparities that could arise. this saves much time and effort as mistakes are realised early and not halfway through the learning process.

however, learning design plans are not without their cons. the concise planning of a comprehensive and foolproof learning design which successfully covers all possible areas of learning requires a heavy investment of time, effort and critical thinking. also, learning design are expensive to reproduce and once finalised, pose the problem of inflexibility for future alterations. nevertheless, i feel that it is a good way for trainers, especially novices, to visualise their teaching modes and put it on paper which results in a systematic and transparent approach to learning.

below is an example of a learning design my group and i concepted, on the topic of learning basic photoshop skills.

week 6

the concept of instructional analysis is a relatively new one, i feel. with the advent of the internet and increased focus on multimedia and other forms of electronic learning technology, organisations are forced to adopt a more "hands on" approach to learning and development, instead of leaning towards bureaucratic and hierarchical methods of information dissemination popularised in the past. today's organisations and multi national corporations are becoming more flexible and opening up horizontal in their day to day interactions.

needs assessment, whereby managers evaluate the effectiveness of their learning and organisational tools, are seeking the feedback of employees, stakeholders and shareholders before making any major implementations to the organisational structure. this is indeed a welcome break from traditional methods of strategy development in the past where focus their ideas towards the higher ups for approval.

however, all these represent idealistic outcomes of needs assessment. in reality, few companies take the time and effort to develop viable and feasible implementations during the stage of front end analysis. fearing competition and backlash from other companies, many organisations invest much time and money on advertising, packaging and "state of the art" technology (or so they would like to believe) without properly assessing the actual needs of the company. the result is a substantial loss in revenue and diminished confidence in developing a learning tool, which could very well revolutionise the industry given proper planning, in the future.

needs assessment can be conduct via 3 main ways:

problem based assessments which start of with problem recognition. this leads to the development of a correlation between the problem and learner's knowledge which would lead to the development of a suitable solution.

innovation based models look at the degree to which an innovation is able to facilitate learning, and the need to alter the technology should optimal learning objectives fail to be reached. it also emphasis external conditions such as learning environments and curriculum type as well as other factors relating to society at large, which may impede the learning process.

discrepancy based models are perhaps the most complex of the 3, with needs assessment accomplished through a five step process of 1) a description of the learning goals in an organisational system 2) the evaluation of current goals 3) identify the gaps between desired and ideal outcomes 4) establish priorities for action and 5) determine the instructional needs.

week 6

Behaviourism

behaviorism deals with the system of stimulus response. the response to a particular stimuli can be controlled via the use of positive (rewards, compliments) or negative (punishments) reinforcements which would result in the conditioning of desired behaviour. punishment is sometimes believed to be more effective in eliminating or reducing undesirable behaviour. behaviourism is more concerned whether the correct response is attained compared to the knowledge learned. the subject to be studied in behaviourism is usually placed under experimental conditions and does not require a large amount of processing ability to understand the stimulus. memorization using consistent practice and rote are principle methods of learning through behaviourism. Pavlov's Dog experiment is perhaps the most popular application of behaviourist theory. in his experiment, dogs were conditioned to start salivating in anticipation of food the when exposed to a series of different cues such as a flashing light bulb and the sounding of a bell.

Cognitivism

cognitivism views the learner as in "information processor" whose mind is a "black box" which should be unraveled and studied in order to better understand the learning ability of man. the theory replaced behaviorism in 1960s as a dominant paradigm. mental processes such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving are commonly explored and studied. according to cognitivism, knowledge is seen as a type of schema or mental representation and learning is defined as a change in the symbolic construction of schemata.
contrary to behaviorism, cognitivism argues that people are not passive in their learning but instead rational beings who think and act according to what they have learnt. behavioural changes are not merely a result of stimulus response but rather an outcome of learning and interpretation. cognitivism uses the metaphor of the mind being a computer where information is input, is processed, and results in output. cognitivism would explain why people behave differently despite being in similar situations.

Socioculturalism

socioculturalism emphasises the role of society in learning through social interaction. it not only deals with a teacher-student relationship but rather includes society at large as an effective learning tool through communication and collaboration. socioculturalism eliminates hierarchy where everyone plays the role of both educator and learner in fostering a learning system maintained through effective input and output

overall, i feel that there is no ONE theory which effectively caters to the concept of learning and retention. each of the 3 camps described above portray their viewpoints according to the schools of thought they believe in. however in essence, i feel that learning is a complex multi dimensional aspect of living things and categorizing this phenomenon into either-or situations would fail to do justice to its vast nature. behaviourism, cognitivism and socioculturalism should be interwoven with one another to provide a more comprehensive view of learning.

the 3 blogs i viewed are:

http://murderdoll-nm3204.blogspot.com/

http://e-joanna.blogspot.com/

http://www.leeweiting.blogspot.com/

and the one i commented on:

http://3204muse.blogspot.com/

week 5

well, this posting was actually supposed to be made way back in week 1, but as i (very unfortunately) came down with a bout of chicken pox days after school started, i wasn't able to partake in a posting (strict orders from mum to STAY AWAY from the television/computer lest i "strain" myself and develop more blisters. *shrugs*). a month after, i've more or less settled down and adapted to the full swing of school.

my thoughts on e-learning of course, have been augmented by what i have learnt so far. however, going back to those 2 weeks where i was dreadfully bed-ridden, i remember being somewhat excited about the module as being one which is very "hands on" and interactive - basically the "e" in e-learning gave me the impression of much of the workload occurring online, through online discussions and second life tutorials perhaps, which would be a welcome break from running back and forth class. i pictured asynchronous learning and online assignments.

well, some of these predictions have come through while others have not. nevertheless, i look forward to absorbing as much information as i can and move beyond the stereotypical image of what e-learning is all about.