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Diane Gusa

The Application of Learning Style Theory in Higher Education Teaching - 0 views

  • A learning style is: "A complexus of related characteristics in which the whole is greater than its parts. Learning style is a gestalt combining internal and external operations derived from the individual's neurobiology, personality and development, and reflected in learner behaviour" (Keefe & Ferrell 1990, p. 16).
  • general tendency towards a particular learning approach displayed by an individual.
  • Riding & Cheema (1991), from an extensive review of the literature, conclude there are only two principal styles "families", the holist-analytic, and the verbaliser-imager. These two broad groupings relate to the type of cognitive activities normally ascribed to the two hemispheres of the brain. Curry (1983) suggests there are three different perspectives on styles: those relating to a preference for a particular instructional approach, those relating to the individual's intellectual approach to assimilating information independently of the environment, and those relating to the individual's intellectual approach to assimilating information with the environment.
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  • Dunn, Deckinger, Withers & Katzenstein (1990), who found that teaching students based on their diagnosed learning style did significantly increase their achievement level (see also Napolitano 1986).
  • Research indicates learning style is not a stable construct, so one may alter instructional style to meet a learning style that will itself change, requiring a further change in instructional strategy.
  • Researchers have failed to address the question of how it is possible to achieve a tailoring of instructional approaches on anything other than an individual level.
  • What may be possible is to promote an educational environment developed for flexibility at the individual student level.
  • What is required is a stimulus-stimulus approach, where the student and the lecturer are actively involved in both learning and the mechanics of the learning process, the aim being to facilitate learner empowerment by developing in students a critical awareness of material studied and the delivery and structure of the material. Learners can then tailor flexible education strategies to their requirements to optimise the quality of the learning experience.
  • his ability of an individual to actively select from a personal style or skills portfolio, is part of what can be termed self-directed learning
  • In an educational setting, a self-directed learner no longer operates as a passive receiver of information, but takes responsibility for the achievement, and ultimately setting, of learning outcomes. In essence, the traditional lecturer-student divide becomes increasingly blurred, as the learner begins to pro-actively structure the programme to match their own learning attributes.
  • facilitator, and finally to that of a resource to be tapped
  • lecturer's role
  • Under such an approach, higher education ceases to be simply something that is done to people, and becomes a platform from which individuals can go on to, in effect, educate themselves
  • "causer of learning".
  • This approach will tend to create learned helplessness in people
  • Higher education should be concerned with not only enhancing learning in a specific situation, but should also constitute a catalyst for further self-initiated development of the individual, above and beyond the contents and aims of a particular course. T
  • The lecturer must avoid removing traditional barriers to self-direction, such as a rigid programme structure, only to erect new barriers through the use of prescriptive self-direction strategies imposed on the student.
  • allow the individual the freedom to define and devise learning strategies, and to make mistakes. T
  • The role of the lecturer must be essentially non-interventionist, unless the student seeks guidance
  • as people may still not choose to direct their own learning due to: a lack of belief in their own ability, a failure by them to recognise that self-direction is needed or preferable, the setting of an inappropriate learning goal(s) that fails to act as a motivator, and previous learning and education experiences.
  • That educational system primarily tends to concentrate on didactic approaches that often view learning as being of secondary importance to memory, where information acquisition and subsequent information regurgitation predominate.
  • This will require that the lecturer breaks down barriers to learning and self-direction that may be present. This covers: those barriers created by the student during the course (wrong choice of learning approach, poor motivation, lack of confidence), those barriers that the course itself may indirectly create (lack of flexibility, lack of direction and guidance, poor structure), and those barriers that the student brings to the course (reason for attending the course, poor learning skills, previous bad learning experiences).
  • In the initial stages of a programme, the lecturer will need to ensure the existence of an appropriate control structure, as students undergo the transition from being other-directed in their learning by external influences, to being self-directed.
  • caffold structure
  • clearly communicated and understood aims and objectives for the students at regular intervals.
  • allows students to progressively take control of their learning,
  • but that also offers sufficient guidance and direction in the early stages to prevent individuals from becoming lost.
  • The application of learning style theory in higher education teaching
    • Diane Gusa
       
      This would take a very brave instructor to do this. However, I know of colleges (Goddard for one) that does exactly this in their graduate program.
lkryder

Ten Core Principles for Designing Effective Learning Environments: Insights from Brain ... - 0 views

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    brain based learning environments
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    Boettcher outlines design considerations based in Brain Research
mikezelensky

How People Learn - 3 views

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    Full book, available as a free download or online viewing.
Kristen Della

Learning Theory (wikipedia) - 0 views

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    In psychology and education, learning is commonly defined as a process that brings together cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences and experiences for acquiring, enhancing, or making changes in one's knowledge, skills, values, and world views (Illeris, 2000; Ormorod, 1995). Learning as a process focuses on what happens when the learning takes place. Explanations of what happens constitute learning theories. A learning theory is an attempt to describe how people and animals learn, thereby helping us understand the inherently complex process of learning. Learning theories have two chief values according to Hill (2002). One is in providing us with vocabulary and a conceptual framework for interpreting the examples of learning that we observe. The other is in suggesting where to look for solutions to practical problems. The theories do not give us solutions, but they do direct our attention to those variables that are crucial in finding solutions. There are three main categories or philosophical frameworks under which learning theories fall: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Behaviorism focuses only on the objectively observable aspects of learning. Cognitive theories look beyond behavior to explain brain-based learning. And constructivism views learning as a process in which the learner actively constructs or builds new ideas or concepts.
lkryder

Test-Taking Cements Knowledge Better Than Studying, Researchers Say - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods.
  • the illusion that they know material better than they do.
  • “I think that learning is all about retrieving, all about reconstructing our knowledge,” said the lead author, Jeffrey Karpicke, an assistant professor of psychology at Purdue University. “I think that we’re tapping into something fundamental about how the mind works when we talk about retrieval.”
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  • These other methods not only are popular, the researchers reported; they also seem to give students
  • The final group took a “retrieval practice” test. Without the passage in front of them, they wrote what they remembered in a free-form essay for 10 minutes. Then they reread the passage and took another retrieval practice test.
  • But when they were evaluated a week later, the students in the testing group did much better than the concept mappers. They even did better when they were evaluated not with a short-answer test but with a test requiring them to draw a concept map from memory.
  • we are organizing it and creating cues and connections that our brains later recognize.
  • But “when we use our memories by retrieving things, we change our access” to that information, Dr. Bjork said. “What we recall becomes more recallable in the future. In a sense you are practicing what you are going to need to do later.”
  • The Purdue study supports findings of a recent spate of research showing learning benefits from testing, including benefits when students get questions wrong.
  • Howard Gardner, an education professor at Harvard who advocates constructivism — the idea that children should discover their own approach to learning, emphasizing reasoning over memorization — said in an e-mail that the results “throw down the gauntlet to those progressive educators, myself included.” “Educators who embrace seemingly more active approaches, like concept mapping,” he continued, “are challenged to devise outcome measures that can demonstrate the superiority of such constructivist approaches.”
    • lkryder
       
      I am impressed by the constructivist community realizing what a powerful study this is. I think this is an indication of what we will start to see as brain based learning studies increasingly show us what is happening biologically when we learn.
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    This NYTimes article does contain a link to the actual study but you need an account. The excerpts though and the responses by Gardner was very interesting
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    This NYTimes article does contain a link to the actual study but you need an account. The excerpts though and the responses by Gardner was very interesting. I will try to find access to the study in the library database
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    This NYTimes article does contain a link to the actual study but you need an account. The excerpts though and the responses by Gardner was very interesting. I will try to locate the study in the library database
Diane Gusa

Instructional Immediacy and the Seven Principles: Strategies for Facilitating Online Co... - 0 views

  • One approach is research in the area of instructional immediacy.
  • Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) seminal work, Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education and its subsequent applications of instructional strategies used in web-based classe
  • The IHEP (2000) report, a sequel to the widely cited 1999 report that identified “gaps in the literature” of web-based learning, cited 24 benchmarks considered essential for ensuring quality and excellence in web-based courses
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  • Ehrmann (1995) encouraged researchers to focus on (a) which teaching and learning strategies are best (regardless of technology used) for the specific content and audience, and (b) which technologies are best for supporting those strategies (p. 4).
  • he technology media, as Clark (1983) explained, are just “vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes change in our nutrition” (p. 445).
  • While nonverbal immediacy is important, verbal immediacy may be more relevant to web-based instructional settings as the instructor is not physically apparent to provide nonverbal cues.
  • As students move through the different quadrants when learning a lesson, the teacher’s role changes from content expert (quadrants 1, 2) to facilitator and coach (quadrants 3, 4). The 4MAT cycle of learning centers on teaching to the learner where they are by considering their learning styles, left-right brain processing, and multiple intelligences (cf. Gardner 1999). The 4MAT model has been adapted to distance education by offering web-based educator training that mirrors the core principles of the 4MAT model.
  • immediacy training program
  • Faculty participating in such training increased their use of verbal immediacy behaviors by 42 percent and, consequently, experienced a 59 percent increase in student participation in class compared to those in the control group.
  • Immediacy also relates to course design, or how a teacher deliberately arranges a set of external events to support the (learner’s) internal learning process (Gagne? 1992).
  • The authors suggested programming the computer to issue personal greetings when a user logs on
  • students’ perception of increased interaction with the instructor occurred when they interacted with the course (regardless if they had direct contact with the instructor) on a consistent basis.
  • Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, Chickering and Gamson (1986)
alexandra m. pickett

Instruction by Design - 5 views

  • I was a bit surprised
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      why surprised? It is no longer a question of whether is is as good as f2f instruction. There is a now a significant body of evidence that online instruction done well surpasses f2f instruction: http://slneducation.edublogs.org/2010/07/27/more-than-no-significant-difference/
  • I have been pushed to find out and learn about topics relevant to me!
  • I believe that using questions that allow my students to explore areas that are relevant to their unique situations will help them to be successful.
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  • After reading that statement, I felt as though many things clicked for me. The course design and teaching practices are closely linked. The social, cognitive, and teaching presence are related and depend on each other. What does this mean for my course? For me it translates to making sure my course design contains a careful balance to establish the community of inquiry, and that my teaching practices are supported by my course design.
  • First that instructors must give control over the learning to the students, and second that instructors must be skilled at guiding discussions in order to help students learn what is necessary through interactions with others. I especially liked an analogy that Luke used in one of his discussion posts, “Yoda (the teacher) guided Luke (the student) in the ways of the Force, he pointed him where he needed to go but had Luke do the work.” I think this is very relatable for those of us who are star wars fans. Yoda is this incredibly wise mentor, who says very little. The statements he makes are brief but have a lot of meaning. I do see how this relates to effective teaching online. I had to help facilitate a discussion in a past online class, and always felt hesitant to jump in. My sense was that you only want to add something when the thinking stops. You only want to ask enough questions, or statements to get the thinking going again.
  • When I think about my own learning in this course, I realize that even though I may not have direct contact with my classmates or the instructor, I am following those interaction patterns in this course.  I am working with the concepts and ideas introduced in each module, researching, relating, and making connections.  Then I bring my work back to the community to share.  My classmates or the instructor will absorb my contributions and perhaps push it further with suggesting alternate views, or things I have not considered.
  • Now we are discussing how we are using text based environments to create intimacy in learning environments.  Perhaps, it is not all that different
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      BRILLIANT!!!
  • I now believe that a teacher is someone who can create an environment where students are able to gain knowledge through interaction and experience.  This may be through reviewing materials or engaging in activities, but that seems less important to me now.  The crucial part is now designing the interactions. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Eureaka!! it is NOT about content : ) brilliant!
  • my workshop is really about the journey rather than the destination
  • I realized that although you may think you are engaging students in your course, it may be trickier than you expect
  • I really appreciated that the course was able to allow me to reach these conclusions in my own way, rather than just telling me “the line between direct instruction and facilitation of discourse can be blurred”. 
  • I have been able to make the big connections, and form ideas in a way that previously has been difficult for me. 
  • I feel as though the reflection assignments have provided the context for my brain to think in a different way.  This not only gives me confidence for the future, but it also helps me to discover the connections I have made unconsciously!  It seems kind of strange to say that, but it is true!  I am hoping to continue to use blogging as a tool to document my insights and learning after the course ends.
  • I definitely was struggling with motivation when I felt the connection to my classmates and the instructor fading.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      interesting...
  • Through ETAP640, I have really learned how important reflection is for deep learning. It is through my blog posts that I have been able to tie all the ideas together in my head and makes sense out of the information. The course manual suggests that you ask your students why they are taking the course within the ice breaker.
  • Now I understand that asking the students to articulate what they want to get out of the course is an important start to getting them to reflect on their learning and progress throughout the course.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      brilliant!!
  • Maree (4)
Heather Kurto

From music making to speaking: Engaging the mirror neuron system in autism - 0 views

  • mirror neuron system (MNS)
  • The involvement of this multisensory and motor system is particularly evident in experts, such as musicians. Neuroimaging studies using voxel-based morphometry found evidence for structural brain changes such as increased gray matter volume in the inferior frontal gyrus in instrumental musicians compared with non-musicians
  • Social and communication impairments represent some of the key diagnostic characteristics of autism
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  • Theory of mind refers to the ability to understand another person’s mental state, including their beliefs, intents and desires, as separate from one’s own thoughts, experiences and behaviors
  • Research has demonstrated a relationship between joint attention and language development in children with autism.
  • Besides poor joint attention, the communication deficits in autism may be related to imitation difficulties. Imitation involves translating another person’s action into one’s own, and is also considered to be a precursor of language developmen
  • We argue that this engagement could be achieved through forms of music making. Music making with others (e.g., playing instruments or singing) is a multi-modal activity that has been shown to engage brain regions that largely overlap with the human MNS. Furthermore, many children with autism thoroughly enjoy participating in musical activities. Such activities may enhance their ability to focus and interact with others, thereby fostering the development of communication and social skills. Thus, interventions incorporating methods of music making may offer a promising approach for facilitating expressive language in otherwise nonverbal children with autism.
  • Given that the mirror neuron system is believed to involve both sensorimotor integration and speech representation, it is likely to underlie some of the communication deficits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder
  • Music is a unique, multi-modal stimulus that involves the processing of simultaneous visual, auditory, somatosensory, and motoric information; in music making, this information is used to execute and control motor actions
  • It has long been noted that children with autism thoroughly enjoy the process of making and learning music
  • 112. Trevarthen C, Aitken K, Paoudi D, Robarts J. Children with Autism. Jessica Kingsley Publishers; London: 1996.
  • 112. Trevarthen C, Aitken K, Paoudi D, Robarts J. Children with Autism. Jessica Kingsley Publishers; London: 1996.
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    Wigram T. Indications in music therapy: evidence from assessment that can identify the expectations of music therapy as a treatment for autistic spec trum disorder (ASD): meeting the challenge of evidence based practice. Br J Music Ther. 2002;16:11-28.
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