eLearning is a complex and unique process that all humans participate in on a daily basis. Many theories exist that try to explain this unique and complex event, and none of them should be discounted, I believe that at one stage or another in our lives we have fit into each of the different theories. I truly believe that how we are taught and nurtured in our early years of life lays the groundwork for how we will learn in our adult lives, the rest is shaped by our other experiences in life as we continue to learn.
First off, I believe that attention and perception play a crucial role in how we see the world, which in turn shapes how we learn. Perception is what shapes how we see and interpret things, “perception is a relative, rather than an absolute, phenomenon. Different people can interpret the same stimulus in more than one way, depending on what they know and the context in which they encounter a stimulus!” (Bruning, Schraw, & Norby, 2011). This can become a teaching hurtle if you have students from different cultures or backgrounds because their perceptions of things are most likely completely different from your own. In my current career field this is a crucial piece of information to remember since we tend to build training materials for foreign countries. When dealing with foreign countries you also have to take into account language barriers so it is very important to remember not to overload the student with information or tasks, you want to be able to maintain their undivided attention. Since our brains are severely limited in the number of things we can pay attention to (Bruning et al., 2011), you need to be cognizant of this fact when building computer-based training; in other words, don’t create unnecessary extraneous processing for the student.
Another concept that builds off of perception and attention is students’ conceptions of learning. It has been found that students’ conceptions of learning do influence how they perceive their learning environment and how much they engage in actual learning (Dart, et al., 2000). In the world of computer-based training you really do not have an ability to gage whether or not the end user has positive or negative conception about that type of learning environment, all you can do is try to build an engaging environment that helps the negative conceptions become positive. Perceptions of the instructor and other students also play a key factor in students’ conceptions about the learning environment. Online learning environments should not remove the instructor from the process of learning, students will be less motivated to pay attention and it will negatively impact their learning capabilities. Learning conceptions lie directly with each student and are usually shaped from their own beliefs about learning, approaches to learning, past experiences/prior knowledge, motivation, and self-efficacy; but as teachers and training facilitators we can help to shape these conceptions by providing the most positive and encouraging environment as possible.
Motivation is another key factor in affective learning, but just because someone is motivated does not mean they will learn, and vise versa. According to Schnuck, “Cognitive theories emphasize that motivation can help to direct attention and influence how information is processed. Although reinforcement can motivate students, its effects on behavior are not automatic but instead depend on how students interpret it.” I feel that a lot of our motivation comes from our peers, and if we aren’t getting the engagement we require we are more likely to shut down and stop learning. Pintrich and Marx focus on the social cognitive perspective of motivational beliefs in their 1993 article “Beyond cold conceptual change: The role of motivational beliefs and classroom contextual factors”, and they state that “social cognitive perspective on motivation assumes that students’ motivational beliefs are more situation or context specific in contrast to older, traditional personality models of motivation that proposed that student motivation was a stable personality trait.” This tells me that we can positively effect our students’ motivation in order to help them be successful as students. So along with not cutting out the instructor we need to find ways to encourage peer involvement. This leads into the social cognitive theory of learning, which truly encompasses all of the aspects of learning that I have been discussing thus far.
The social cognitive theory really emphasizes the role of the social environment in learning. This ties directly into my belief of nurture over nature as well as into self-efficacy. “Socially comparing one’s performances with those of others is an important way to determine the appropriateness of behaviors and self-evaluated performances" (Schunk, 2012, p. 408). In the computer-based training I build it can be very difficult to encourage a social environment and provide the student with that self-comparison. If we could better tie in the social aspects of the classroom into more of the military training we build we could really help boost a learner’s self-efficacy. When you increase your self-efficacy in a task you set yourself up to succeed in that particular task or learning objective. Positive self-efficacy helps maintain motivation which in turn helps the student to become successful in their learning endeavors and is a positive cycle of achievement that can and should continue as the student continues to build upon their knowledge.
All of the items I have touched on, I feel are what really need to be the focus when building computer-based training. Attention, perception, pre-conception, motivation, social cognitive, and promoting self-efficacy are just a small aspect of how we learn, but I feel are some of the main keys to helping students become successful. Learning is a never-ending process and it is constructive, whether we realize it or not, we are always building upon our prior experiences and forever learning something new. As facilitators of learning, we need to keep these main ideas in mind so that we may help the process of learning in a positive manner. If we forget about the learner and what they need in order to effectively learn something, then we are doing a disservice to them. As the experts in our particular field we need to remember how we became experts in the first place and use that to help shape the brains of future generations. Keeping students engaged is more than creating interesting graphics and content on a page, it’s about connecting with that student and letting them know they matter and they are not in this alone.
References
Bruning, R.H., Schraw, G.J., & Norby, M.M. (2011). Cognitive Psychology and Instruction, Fifth Edition. Boston: Pearson.
Dart, B., Burnett, P., Purdie, N., Boulton-Lewis, G., Campbell, J., & Smith, D. (2000). Student’s Conceptions of Learning, the Classroom Environment, and Approaches to Learning. In The Journal of Educational Research, 93 No. 4, 262-270.
Kirschner, P.A., & Merriënboer, J.J. (2013). Do Learners Really Know Best? Urban Legends in Education. Educational Psychologist, 48(3), 169-183. doi: 10.1080/00461520.2013.804395
Moghaddam, A., & Araghi, S. (2013). Brain-Based Aspects of Cognitive Learning Approaches in Second Language Learning. English Language Teaching, 6(5), 55-61. doi:10.5539/elt.v6n5p55
Pintrich, P. R., & Marx, R. W. (1993). Beyond cold conceptual change: The role of motivational beliefs and classroom contextual factors. Review Of Educational Research, 63(2), 167.
Russo, T., & Benson, S. (2005). Learning with Invisible Others: Perceptions of Online Presence and their Relationship to Cognitive and Affective Learning, Educational Technology & Society, 8 (1), 54-62.
Schunk, D.H. (2012). Learning Theories, An Educational Perspective, Sixth Edition. Boston: Pearson.
First off, I believe that attention and perception play a crucial role in how we see the world, which in turn shapes how we learn. Perception is what shapes how we see and interpret things, “perception is a relative, rather than an absolute, phenomenon. Different people can interpret the same stimulus in more than one way, depending on what they know and the context in which they encounter a stimulus!” (Bruning, Schraw, & Norby, 2011). This can become a teaching hurtle if you have students from different cultures or backgrounds because their perceptions of things are most likely completely different from your own. In my current career field this is a crucial piece of information to remember since we tend to build training materials for foreign countries. When dealing with foreign countries you also have to take into account language barriers so it is very important to remember not to overload the student with information or tasks, you want to be able to maintain their undivided attention. Since our brains are severely limited in the number of things we can pay attention to (Bruning et al., 2011), you need to be cognizant of this fact when building computer-based training; in other words, don’t create unnecessary extraneous processing for the student.
Another concept that builds off of perception and attention is students’ conceptions of learning. It has been found that students’ conceptions of learning do influence how they perceive their learning environment and how much they engage in actual learning (Dart, et al., 2000). In the world of computer-based training you really do not have an ability to gage whether or not the end user has positive or negative conception about that type of learning environment, all you can do is try to build an engaging environment that helps the negative conceptions become positive. Perceptions of the instructor and other students also play a key factor in students’ conceptions about the learning environment. Online learning environments should not remove the instructor from the process of learning, students will be less motivated to pay attention and it will negatively impact their learning capabilities. Learning conceptions lie directly with each student and are usually shaped from their own beliefs about learning, approaches to learning, past experiences/prior knowledge, motivation, and self-efficacy; but as teachers and training facilitators we can help to shape these conceptions by providing the most positive and encouraging environment as possible.
Motivation is another key factor in affective learning, but just because someone is motivated does not mean they will learn, and vise versa. According to Schnuck, “Cognitive theories emphasize that motivation can help to direct attention and influence how information is processed. Although reinforcement can motivate students, its effects on behavior are not automatic but instead depend on how students interpret it.” I feel that a lot of our motivation comes from our peers, and if we aren’t getting the engagement we require we are more likely to shut down and stop learning. Pintrich and Marx focus on the social cognitive perspective of motivational beliefs in their 1993 article “Beyond cold conceptual change: The role of motivational beliefs and classroom contextual factors”, and they state that “social cognitive perspective on motivation assumes that students’ motivational beliefs are more situation or context specific in contrast to older, traditional personality models of motivation that proposed that student motivation was a stable personality trait.” This tells me that we can positively effect our students’ motivation in order to help them be successful as students. So along with not cutting out the instructor we need to find ways to encourage peer involvement. This leads into the social cognitive theory of learning, which truly encompasses all of the aspects of learning that I have been discussing thus far.
The social cognitive theory really emphasizes the role of the social environment in learning. This ties directly into my belief of nurture over nature as well as into self-efficacy. “Socially comparing one’s performances with those of others is an important way to determine the appropriateness of behaviors and self-evaluated performances" (Schunk, 2012, p. 408). In the computer-based training I build it can be very difficult to encourage a social environment and provide the student with that self-comparison. If we could better tie in the social aspects of the classroom into more of the military training we build we could really help boost a learner’s self-efficacy. When you increase your self-efficacy in a task you set yourself up to succeed in that particular task or learning objective. Positive self-efficacy helps maintain motivation which in turn helps the student to become successful in their learning endeavors and is a positive cycle of achievement that can and should continue as the student continues to build upon their knowledge.
All of the items I have touched on, I feel are what really need to be the focus when building computer-based training. Attention, perception, pre-conception, motivation, social cognitive, and promoting self-efficacy are just a small aspect of how we learn, but I feel are some of the main keys to helping students become successful. Learning is a never-ending process and it is constructive, whether we realize it or not, we are always building upon our prior experiences and forever learning something new. As facilitators of learning, we need to keep these main ideas in mind so that we may help the process of learning in a positive manner. If we forget about the learner and what they need in order to effectively learn something, then we are doing a disservice to them. As the experts in our particular field we need to remember how we became experts in the first place and use that to help shape the brains of future generations. Keeping students engaged is more than creating interesting graphics and content on a page, it’s about connecting with that student and letting them know they matter and they are not in this alone.
References
Bruning, R.H., Schraw, G.J., & Norby, M.M. (2011). Cognitive Psychology and Instruction, Fifth Edition. Boston: Pearson.
Dart, B., Burnett, P., Purdie, N., Boulton-Lewis, G., Campbell, J., & Smith, D. (2000). Student’s Conceptions of Learning, the Classroom Environment, and Approaches to Learning. In The Journal of Educational Research, 93 No. 4, 262-270.
Kirschner, P.A., & Merriënboer, J.J. (2013). Do Learners Really Know Best? Urban Legends in Education. Educational Psychologist, 48(3), 169-183. doi: 10.1080/00461520.2013.804395
Moghaddam, A., & Araghi, S. (2013). Brain-Based Aspects of Cognitive Learning Approaches in Second Language Learning. English Language Teaching, 6(5), 55-61. doi:10.5539/elt.v6n5p55
Pintrich, P. R., & Marx, R. W. (1993). Beyond cold conceptual change: The role of motivational beliefs and classroom contextual factors. Review Of Educational Research, 63(2), 167.
Russo, T., & Benson, S. (2005). Learning with Invisible Others: Perceptions of Online Presence and their Relationship to Cognitive and Affective Learning, Educational Technology & Society, 8 (1), 54-62.
Schunk, D.H. (2012). Learning Theories, An Educational Perspective, Sixth Edition. Boston: Pearson.