Learning Theory and Online Technologies

Linda Harasim

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317508175
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

Learning Theory and Online Technologies offers a powerful overview of the current state of online learning, the foundations of its historical roots and growth, and a framework for distinguishing between the major approaches to online learning. It addresses pedagogy (how to design an effective online environment for learning), evaluation (how to know that students are learning), and history (how past research can guide successful online teaching and learning outcomes).

An ideal textbook for undergraduate Education and Communication programs as well as Educational Technology Masters, Ph.D., and Certificate programs, Learning Theory and Online Technologies provides a synthesis of the key advances in online education learning theory and the key frameworks of research, and clearly links theory and research to successful learning practice. This revised second edition updates data on digital media adoption globally, adds a new chapter on connectivism as a learning theory, and updates the chapter on online collaborative learning, renaming the theory as collaborativism and considering the challenges that arise with the growth of artificial intelligence.

Contents

List of Illustrations

1. Introduction to Learning Theory and Technology

Introduction to Learning Theory in the Knowledge Age

What Is Learning Theory?

Learning Theories of the 20th Century

Learning Theories for the 21st Century

Summary

2. Historical Overview of Learning and Technology

Introduction

Steps in Human Development: Learning and Technology

Arpanet and Internet: Meeting of Minds

The Web

Historical Overview of Online Learning

Summary

3. Behaviorist Learning Theory

Context of Behaviorist Theory

Behaviorist Learning Theory

Behaviorist Learning Pedagogy

Behaviorist Learning Technology

Summary

4. Cognitivist Learning Theory

Context of Cognitivism

Cognitivist Learning Theory

Cognitivist Learning Pedagogy

Cognitivist Learning Technology

Summary

5. Constructivist Learning Theory

Context of Constructivism

Constructivist Learning Theory

Constructivist Learning Pedagogy

Constructivist Learning Technology

Summary

6. Connectivism as an Online Learning Theory

Context of Connectivism and Learning Networks

Connectivism as a Learning Theory and Major Thinkers

Connectivist Learning Pedagogy: The MOOC

Connectivist Learning Technologies: The Role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Summary

7. Collaborativist (aka Online Collaborative Learning) Theory

Introduction

The Challenge and Opportunities for Online Teaching and Learning Today

Context of Collaborativism or Online Collaborative Learning (OCL)

The History and Roots of Collaborativism or Online Collaborative Learning (OCL)

Definitions of Online Learning

Collaborativism aka Online Collaborative Learning Theory

Collaborativist Pedagogy

Collaborativist Technology

Augmented Human Intelligence (AHI) Versus Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Collaborativism and Augmented Human Intelligence (AHI)

A Call to Action for Educators

Summary

8. Collaborativist (aka Online Collaborative Learning or OCL) Pedagogies in Practice

Introduction

Living the Online Student Life

Collaborativist Pedagogical Scenarios: Four Students and Online Study

Summary

9. Collaborativist Scenarios: Online Communities of Practice

Context of Communities of Practice (CoP)

Definitions of Key Terms

What is an Online Community of Practice?

Exemplars: How Do OCoPs Function?

Toward an Analytical Framework for OCoPs

Summary

10. Conclusions: In Retrospect and In Prospect

In Retrospect

In Prospect

References

Index

Illustrations

Figures

1.1 Three Aspects of Theory

1.2 Epistemological Perspectives on Learning Theories

2.1 Four Communication Paradigms

2.2 Technological Milestones Within the Four Communication Paradigms

2.3 Web 2.0: The Collaboration Web

3.1 Behaviorist “Black Box”

3.2 Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s Dog Experiment

3.3 Operant Conditioning: Skinner’s Rat and Cheese Maze

3.4 Examples of Behaviorist Pedagogy: Punishment and Reinforcement

3.5 Pressey’s Testing Machine

3.6 Skinner’s Teaching Machine

3.7 Example of a CAI Chemistry Exam Question

3.8 Students Using CAI

4.1 A General Overview of the Behaviorist and Cognitivist Foci

4.2 ITS Training (Photo Courtesy of the US Army)

4.3 Artificial Intelligence as Conceptualized in Mid-20th Century

5.1 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

5.2 Zone of Proximal Development

7.1 Examples of Online Discourse

7.2 Three Intellectual Phases of Collaborativism

7.3 Example Collaborativist Processes in a Class

7.4 Collaborative Learning Spirals

7.5 Types of Online Discourse

7.6 Learning Theories and Epistemologies

7.7 Learning Theories and Pedagogies

8.1 Aunt Connie’s Cookies

8.2 Online Seminar Presentation

8.3 Asynchronous Learning Environment

8.4 River City Multiuser Virtual Environment

9.1 Knowledge in Communities of Practice

9.2 What is a Community?

9.3 Three Conceptualizations of an OCoP

9.4 Examples of Discourse

Tables

1.1 What is a Theory?

1.2 Historical Views on Knowledge

2.1 Brief History of Online Learning

4.1 Gagne’s Theory of Instruction

4.2 Schema Pedagogies

7.1 Three Types of Online Learning

1

Introduction to Learning Theory and Technology

It is the theory that decides what we can observe.

—Albert Einstein

Chapter 1 covers the following topics:

• Introduction to Learning Theory in the Knowledge Age
• What Is Learning Theory?

• Theory and Epistemology
• Theory and Scientific Method
• Knowledge Communities

• Learning Theories of the 20th Century

• Behaviorist Learning Theory
• Cognitivist Learning Theory
• Constructivist Learning Theory

• Learning Theories for the 21st Century

• Connectivism
• Collaborativism (Online Collaborative Learning Theory)

Introduction to Learning Theory in the Knowledge Age

Our personal, professional, social and cultural lives have been affected and transformed by the computer networking revolution: email, cellphones, text messaging, Twitter, participating in social networks, blogging and accessing powerful search engines using computers and/or mobile devices are common aspects of everyday life. Moreover, as aspiring or current members of the education profession (teachers, instructors, professors, trainers), the world in which we work and teach has been particularly impacted by networking technologies. The 21st century has been referred to as the Knowledge Age, a time in which knowledge has key social and economic value. Today’s youth have largely been raised in the culture of the internet and view it as integral to both socializing and work. There are also strong indications that the role of technology in the 21st century is creating a Compliant Society, in which technology increasingly plays the role of teacher and is replacing the human teacher, instructor and professor. Yet educational theory and practice do not significantly reflect or address this new reality.

In our technology-driven world, it is critical and timely to study the intersection of learning theory and technology. Opportunities for educators to reflect on the implications of how we might shape and apply new communication technologies within our practice have been limited. The field is characterized by training teachers in the use of specific online tools, but a theory-informed approach to transforming our educational practice remains elusive.

In our personal lives, we have embraced new technologies for social communication. New technologies are reshaping the way we function within our communities and how we form them. We use email, Twitter, texting; participate in online forums and social networks (such as Facebook, WeChat); search massive databases; access wikis, blogs and user-generated content sites (YouTube, Instagram); or shop online with Amazon. But in our professional lives, despite our interest or need, there has been little opportunity to consider and explore new learning paradigms.

Rather than transform pedagogy by using opportunities afforded by new technologies and the changing socio-economic context of the 21st century, a common tendency among educators has been to merely add technology onto traditional ways of teaching. Examples of traditional didactic approaches to the internet are common and include the use of email, Skype and blogs for:

• transmission of course information and content to students;
• communication between student and teacher/tutor;
• transmission of lectures (PowerPoint slides, videoconferences, podcasts);
• administering quizzes and posting grades.

Such use of the internet for traditional teaching methods represents the most common educational applications of the internet and, for many educators, the only way of using it. Adopting the new technologies to serve traditional practices may not be a bad thing in itself, but educators who restrict their use of the internet to making traditional didactic teaching easier or more efficient are missing opportunities to introduce better, different or more advanced ways of learning.

While the internet and mobile technologies reshape the potential of both our professional and personal modes of communication, the challenge to transform how we think about learning and how we practice our profession confronts us. The transformative potential of the internet for learning has thus far been largely limited to quantitative change; for example, improvement in educational efficiency both in speed of delivery and in scale to deliver to massive numbers of participants. But qualitative change in how we perceive and practice teaching and learning remains in the early stages of development, largely because it is not yet well understood by educators and researchers and the field lacks a theoretical framework to guide educational design, pedagogies and use of online technologies. There are few theory-based or research-based guidelines to assist educators to develop more effective pedagogies for online learning environments. Hence educators have adopted new technologies largely through trial-and-error methods and by adapting traditional didactic practices to online environments, both within formal (primary, secondary or tertiary) and non-formal (training, certification, professional development) educational settings.

Educators are challenged to respond to the internet. There is a need to reflect on our theory of learning (even if it is implicit), and to rethink and reassess our teaching practices and pedagogical approaches in relation to the opportunities afforded by online technologies. Most professions are faced with this challenge; new technologies are transforming the world of work and the nature of the organizations in which we work. Educators are not alone in confronting the paradigmatic shift. But perhaps as educators we have the greatest responsibility and most powerful opportunity because this shift is, above all, one of learning: learning to function, survive and thrive in new contexts. For educators, learning new ways and new ways of learning are the nature of our profession. Moreover, digital t...