Application of Observational Learning
TOPIC: Go to www.funderstanding.com. This web site has about learning in both company and school (k-12) environments. Click on the “About Learning” icon. Click on the “How Learning Should be Designed” hyperlink. Several learning theories are listed. A definition and basic elements of each theory are provided. Choose any one of the learning theories shown. Be prepared in class to define the theory, describe its elements, and discuss how it could be used in the design of a training program.
Introduction: Higher animals especially humans learn through observing and imitating others.Monkey reared in captivity with wild parents. Neuroscientists have discovered (mirror)neurons in the brain of animals and humans that activate during learning.
Learning theory: Learning theories make general statements about how people learn (at least for a given class of learning types). Therefore learning theories are mostly descriptive. In order to learn a concept in a useful way it must be learned in the culture in which is has been developed and is used. Activity and perception are prior to conceptualization. The teaching and learning situation is characterized as cognitive apprenticeship. From that follows that the activity of learning must take place in an authentic situation. Learning theories also can be prescriptive (tell how people should learn), but prescription is rather the role of pedagogical theory. DSchneider believes that it mostly a bad idea to blend learning and teaching theory. E.g. If one believes that knowledge is constructed one does not necessarily have to adopt a "constructivist" instructional design model. Different teaching strategies may have to combine.
In any case, learning theories play explicitly or implicitly a major role in instructional design models and the educational technology field. Conversely, we may argue that no instructional model and no technology is "innocent". They all view learning in certain way, i.e. from a very practical point of
Introduction: Higher animals especially humans learn through observing and imitating others.Monkey reared in captivity with wild parents. Neuroscientists have discovered (mirror)neurons in the brain of animals and humans that activate during learning.
Learning theory: Learning theories make general statements about how people learn (at least for a given class of learning types). Therefore learning theories are mostly descriptive. In order to learn a concept in a useful way it must be learned in the culture in which is has been developed and is used. Activity and perception are prior to conceptualization. The teaching and learning situation is characterized as cognitive apprenticeship. From that follows that the activity of learning must take place in an authentic situation. Learning theories also can be prescriptive (tell how people should learn), but prescription is rather the role of pedagogical theory. DSchneider believes that it mostly a bad idea to blend learning and teaching theory. E.g. If one believes that knowledge is constructed one does not necessarily have to adopt a "constructivist" instructional design model. Different teaching strategies may have to combine.
In any case, learning theories play explicitly or implicitly a major role in instructional design models and the educational technology field. Conversely, we may argue that no instructional model and no technology is "innocent". They all view learning in certain way, i.e. from a very practical point of