Byron S. Small Email: bss13c@my.fsu.edu Florida State University EDP5216: Theories of Learning & Cognition Professor: Dr. Allen Jeong Final Personal Theory Paper Assignment 4
Personal Theory Paper (Final) 2 Final Personal Theory Paper Introduction It is truly amazing that as I made my way through this course, my way of thinking about education, knowledge and learning have all been challenged. I must admit that though I was quite comfortable with my previous mind-set, this course has helped to reshape what I realize was a somewhat myopic view of learning and cognition. This paper will serve to present the main ideas of my revised personal epistemology and in so doing, I intend to: o present my original thoughts on the way we learn and the corresponding concept map depicting my personal learning theory; o use key concepts to highlight the main theories and/or strategies that have shaped my amended ideology; o outline changes in my attitudes and values as they relate to my revised theory of learning; o explain, through an amended concept map, the salient points of my new and improved personal theory of learning and o summarize how I intend to incorporate my revised ideals into practice. Original beliefs Firstly, I accept my original definition (personal learning theory assignment one) of what constitutes learning in my assertion that learning occurs when we can tangibly see a difference in behavior following an induced thought, idea or procedure that we did not observe before the instruction or advice. Additionally, I am also embracing the essence of my initial stance on my personal learning theory in that though I believe first and foremost, that everyone can learn, our ability to do so will be affected by our own physical limitations. Physical disabilities may or may not, depending on the disability of course, have an impact on performance outcomes, whether intellectual or motor functions. Once we have passed this stage, I believe that one s personal or family s financial ability to provide the learner with the best possible education that they can afford, will have an impact on all other variables that follow. My attitudes, beliefs and expectations about learning for example, have all been shaped by my life s experiences which in turn have influenced my ability to fully grasp and comprehend my learning outcomes to date. Though I believe this ideology is relatively well presented, I can see now that it can be further dissected to be more cohesively aligned with preexisting principles and theories that support this position. I understand now that where I am able to effectively make these associations, I should be able to produce a well-grounded personal theory that would be fully supported by research. Thus, after this course, I accept that my initial efforts at developing my personal epistemology
Personal Theory Paper (Final) 3 with an accompanying concept map, as depicted in Figure A, require some revamping to better coordinate my ideas with grounded principles where applicable. Byron Small: Personal Learning Theory (Original) Physical Ability Socioeconomic Status Attitudes and Beliefs Expectations Learning Experiences Learning Outcomes Figure A Influential theories I must admit that I never would have imagined the extent of the theories and strategies that have been explored on this subject. In fact, it is because of the extensive database of ideologies that makes it more challenging when deciding on which principles best represent my beliefs. As I settle on an idea and research a little more, I soon discover that there is yet another amended theory that probably better aligns itself with my beliefs, and so on. Take for instance my earlier view that my personal theory of learning was more aligned with those perspectives emanating from the theory of constructivism. Though to some extent this might still be so, I soon realized that this concept is far too general to specifically address the finer details of constructivism and by extension, my own beliefs. Certainly I accept, as presented by Driscoll (2005), that generally the constructivist expect learners to use critical thinking and self-regulation as major strategies for learning but they also expect learners to employ effective techniques for reasoning while engaging in mindful reflection during the learning experience.
Personal Theory Paper (Final) 4 Undoubtedly this all sounds reasonable and I should be able to apply these concepts without reservation; but what about the many faces of constructivism as articulated by edutechwiki (http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/constructivism#trivial_constructivism) and as with many other research tools. This site, in particular, speaks of trivial, radical, social or socio-constructivism, cultural and critical constructivism and even includes constructionism which is also founded on constructivist principles. As I expected, it was later in the course that again I came across yet another modified theory that appears to be mostly aligned with my beliefs. It is the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and to date I have accepted that this theory is better aligned with the foundations of my personal epistemology. Stemming from his earlier work the Social Learning Theory, Canadian-born psychologist Albert Bandura developed the SCT which looks at learners as active participants in shaping the environment in which they live. Similar to the ideas of the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) theory where information is stored and processed in memory, Bandura suggests that we use this processed information to evaluate life s experiences, plan future pathways and make decisions. SCT s principles are based on several assumptions, the major one being that of triadic reciprocity/reciprocality/determinism. Triadic reciprocity is the view that personal, environmental and behavioral factors influence each other in a reciprocal manner. For example, the classroom setting will be influenced by the academic environment of the school s campus and all of these will be affected by students mentality inclusive of their thoughts and beliefs. Figure B further depicts the essence of the triadic determinism variable of SCT. Figure B Another assumption within SCT is that people are able to influence their own behavior and the environment in a purposeful, goal-directed fashion (Bandura, 2001). A third supposition by
Personal Theory Paper (Final) 5 Bandura is that learning not only involves the acquisition of new behaviors, but also of knowledge, cognitive skills, concepts, abstract rules, values, and other cognitive constructs. Therefore, SCT while embracing some of the ideals of many other theories became a better fit for the foundation of my personal theory of learning. Attitudinal shift Professionally, I have spent the last twenty years of my life being employed in the field of education so as one might expect, I felt that my beliefs about learning and instruction were wellgrounded since they were, as I thought, soundly supported by experience. Well as Robert A. Heinlein once put it, belief gets in the way of learning and during the course of this semester, I realized that if I were to learn about the many philosophical ideas of the way we learn as human beings, I would have to start challenging my beliefs. As a result, I found myself questioning, reshaping and overhauling my original ideas as I became more enlightened about the many theories and strategies in the field. Conceptually this was a significant adjustment for me because I also believe in a notion that was originally advanced by Frederick Frieseke that words are simply printed concepts. One must go through the experiences in order to fully appreciate their value. But I realize that if this way of thinking is ever to be taken at face value, one will underestimate the value and impact of psychological and philosophical doctrines on one s personal paradigms. Furthermore, I would hasten to add that more often than not, doctrines shape, challenge and define our belief systems and thus are essential to our way of thinking. Through this course my views as they relate to learning, have been modified because of the rich learning experiences and challenges to my personal beliefs about cognition. I am more insightful and I am better prepared to articulate and map my ideas as they are shaped by complementing strategies and/or theories. Revising my conceptual outlook In reviewing my first effort at describing my personal theory of learning, I realize that the challenge for me was being able to succinctly articulate my thoughts into rational statements. I suspect, and I am satisfied with the fact, that since this was an initial attempt, perfection was not expected. In fact this course that has helped me to reshape my ideas into a more cohesive approach to understanding learning outcomes. As I became more involved with the intricacies of the various theories, I also accepted that some of the major philosophical inputs are really strategies to enhance the learning experience. Figure C is a concept map that pictorially represents a revised version of my personal learning theory with an effort to show how I believe relevant theories and strategies have impacted my personal epistemology. As an example, the ARCS model as developed by John Keller can be viewed as an effective strategy to improve the presentation of an instructional module. It would be very useful if the instructor is acutely aware of the principles of grabbing the learners attention while ensuring that the content is relevant to them. The hope then would be to make the learner feel satisfied that they will be more competent and confident about the subject matter of the instruction. But
Personal Theory Paper (Final) 6 as I have depicted, I believe that even this is impacted by the expectations of the learners themselves. Expectations, similar to Bruner s thinking causes learners to devise strategies for searching and finding out regularities and relationships in their environments. Bandura expands on the idea of expectations to the extent that he redefines it as outcomes that, not only are impacted by social effects, but also by physical effects that accompany an action and self-evaluative reactions to one s own behavior. Therefore, where learners have internal biases, low self esteem or other social ailments that can influence their views on education, knowledge and learning, their expectations could be diminished. Byron Small: Personal Learning Theory (Revised) ARCS Model Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) Expectations Gagne s Nine Events Innate Abilities Physical Socioeconomic Status (Defines Learning Opportunities) Behavior Learning Experiences Learning Outcomes Triadic Reciprocity Attitudes and Beliefs Bloom s Taxon. Personal Environment Self Efficacy Figure C Similarly, the concept of self-efficacy directly influences one s belief system and invariably controls one s attitudes about learning. Finally, Gagne s nine events of instruction and Bloom s taxonomy factor significantly enough in my personal epistemology that I have included two diagrams in the appendix that succinctly addresses the salient points of these models. In essence, I believe that our innate abilities, physical and cognitive, ultimately affect our capacity to learn thus supporting a view that nature is ultimately more important than nurture since nurture does not explain away disabilities and/or giftedness. I further believe that one s socio-economic status defines one s opportunities in life and the SCT, being a more refined contructivist approach, is at the heart of this concept. Furthermore, the defining social and/or
Personal Theory Paper (Final) 7 economic statuses heavily influence one s attitudes, beliefs and expectations about life and learning inclusive of knowledge acquisition. These variables ultimately influence our learning experiences and thus learning outcomes. Along the way, these experiences can be enhanced, modified, developed, shaped, reviewed and the like, but I have come to accept that all of these factors are again reciprocally influenced by the opportunities that one is exposed to in life. These opportunities are further defined by one s social and economic environments. Professionally practicing ideals To date, I have accepted that the Instructional Systems program is the right fit for my future professional aspirations. With this acceptance, there is obviously a need to comprehend how people think and learn in order to be successful at designing effective instructional interventions. Essentially one should have an appreciation and an understanding of the concepts of learning and cognition in human beings where instruction is used as a tool to improve performance. This course has fulfilled that objective and has caused me to dig even deeper into this subject as can be observed in my revised view of learning. I see too that with time, I will continue to update my views to remain abreast of current thinking so that I can always present a current personal epistemology on the principles of learning and cognition. I have fully embraced the constructivist s and CIP models of discovery learning and the importance of memory when acquiring knowledge but within a more refined framework as with the social cognitive theory. I will also be forever cognizant of Gagne s nine events of instruction while using Keller s ARCS model as a foundation for any future instructional modules.
Personal Theory Paper (Final) 8 Appendix Gagne's Nine Levels of Learning Source: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/gagne.htm
Source: http://metamediausa.com/web/?page_id=2490 Personal Theory Paper (Final) 9
Personal Theory Paper (Final) 10 References Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1 26. Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. (3rd ed.) Pearson Education, Inc.