We have been covering many similar theories for the last month. So, I was interested to see some of the older concepts in our readings. Interesting reading the sociocultural aspect of learning. Authentic learning has been the topic of our discussions for a few weeks in another one of my courses. I thought about the statement presented by the authors in our weekly reading, “If learning is predominantly a sociocultural dialogic, then instruction should provide opportunities for embedding learning in authentic tasks leading to participation in a community of practice.” (Bonk & Cunningham, 1998, pgs. 26) How real should the learning be? How do you cover all scenarios for a group of learners? I think learning in a group is a great way to expand thought about a subject. I enjoy group learning because it exposes me to experiences that I most likely would not have come up otherwise. In this course, how I view a topic is changed not just because of the interaction with instructors but more importantly with fellow students spread out throughout the US and world.
Zones of Proximal Development (ZPD) was another interesting concept that makes sense today as it did in the 1990’s. I translated ZPD to mean that you learn from the things in your environment including distanced sources such as on-line. So, if you went to high school in a region with resources to have the latest educational practices and with plenty of educational resources, your learning experience will be vastly different from that of another person who did not have this environment or tools. This is a difficult one to overcome since children don’t have a choice to where they go to school. This is also the case for adults based on education level, income level, and cognitive abilities. On-line resources provide the opportunity to learn anything a person chooses within cognitive capability and desire. Of course, there was another place back in the day that did the same thing: Library. (Bonk & Cunningham, 1998, pgs. 32-39)
Even with exposure to various environments, learners must choose what interests them. I think the comparison on learning knowledge deeply and traditional classroom practices in our readings summed up some interesting concepts. For deep learning, a person must relate the new information with previous knowledge or experiences. The process also describes how the learner must understand the information, evaluate it and reflect on the understanding (apply). This is in contrast to traditional classroom learning in which information is unrelated to previous knowledge and memorized. (Sawyer, 2006)
References
Bonk, C. J., & Cunningham, D. J. (1998). Chapter 2: Searching for learner-centered, constructivist, and sociocultural components of collaborative educational learning tools. In C. J. Bonk, & K. S. King (Eds.), Electronic collaborators: Learner-centered technologies for literacy, apprenticeship, and discourse (pp. 25-50). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Sawyer, R. K. (2006). The new science of learning. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 1-16). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ed's Reflections for IU courses 
3 replies on “Week 7 Blog – Learning Theory Comparison”
Ed, you provided a lot of insightful reflections regarding learning theories comparison this week. I felt like all of the theories that we have been discussing really came together this week. I am beginning to gain a greater sense of how they all work together. I am particularly interested in this question that you posted in your blog post: “How do you cover all scenarios for a group of learners?” Authentic learning is so important in the classroom, but it can certainly be difficult to create authentic learning experiences for all the material covered in a class that is helpful for all learners. I also appreciated your reflection on our own Community of Practice in the Instructional Systems Technology program. I am impressed by the global nature of our IST Community of Practice! I have been amazed at how much there is to learn from our fellow students from all over the world.
-Shanna Sanders
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I agree, especially in education today, the environment plays a role in how learners learn. The topic of equitable learning opportunities has been something I have been hearing more and more. How can we give learners the same advantages no matter what environment they are learning in? This is challenging. When Dr. Gyabak shared her experience working with students in Bhutan and Papua New Guinea it really brought this into perspective. The “classrooms” these students had would be difficult for any learner to grow in. I think this is an important topic and one that we will increasingly see as a topic in our field.
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Hi Ed,
I also appreciated the thoughts on authentic learning. I mentioned this before, but I am not sure in was on your blog, but my son goes to a charter high school where they focus on authentic learning. I often wish I could go back and relive high school as he is. The knowledge seems to make so much more sense to him, and he can connect one subject with another. I have far more useless facts in my head from school than he will have, as authentic learning takes more time, but what he has will forever be useful to him in his life’s endeavors.
-Kevin
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