Mayes and Freitas “Learning and e-learning: the role of theory”
Mayes and Freitas: “Learning and e-learning, the role of theory”
Mayes, Terry and Freitas, Sara de: Learning and e-learning The role of theory. In (2007) Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Designing and Delivering E-learning, Beetham, H. (Author), Sharpe, R. (eds) London and New York: Routlege.
overview
The authors outline three main theoretical perspectives on learning – associative, constructive, situative- that can inform educational design decisions and be added as three distinct viewpoints to the learning process, or as stages in a cycle, each one addressing a different aspect of the learning process. The associative approaches emphasise the skills base of the learning tasks, the cognitive approaches focus on the active role of understanding and reflecting and the situative approaches address the social aspect of the learner’s motivation. Each one can be enhanced through e-learning.
Associative:
Key theorists: Skinner (behavioural psychology), Gagne (instructional psychology); Learning: build concepts/ competencies through step-by-step associations and feedback; Theory: learning happens by association, through a gradual building of patterns of associations and skill components
Cognitive:
Key theorists: [individual constructive: Piaget (constructivist theory of knowledge), Biggs]/ [social constructive: Vygotsky (social development), Laurillard and Pask (conversation theory)]; Learning: understanding occurs through active discovery, active and personal experimentation (Piaget) // social interaction (Vygotsky), dialogue and collaboration; Theory: learning occurs by individual active discovery and is heavily scaffolded by the social environment
Situative:
Key theorists: Lave and Wenger (communities of practice), Cole, Engestrom and Wertsch (activity theory); Learning: as situated and a developing practice in a particular community; Theory: learning by participating in communities of practice, progressing through observation, reflection, mentorship, participation in community activities and learning relationships
The application of these three theoretical perspectives to e-learning allow us to problematise the virtual learning environments (VLEs) from the point of view of control, in a scale from the most standardized, ie the ones provided and controlled by the teaching institution, to the most personalised ones, found amongst the web 2.0 social software applications, and controlled by the learners. These empower the e-learner with greater flexibility and tools for dialogue and relationships within a community of practice.
The authors suggest seeing the three perspectives as stages in a cycle that starts with
1-the social (situative approach) when the motivation to start and develop a learning practice is derived and supported by the community and peers, and is supported through technologies that allows the identification and communication with others that contribute to the learning experience;
2- the active engagement with the learning activities (cognitive perspective) when the personal involvement is necessary for the production of meaning and the creation of outputs
3- the training of specific skills (associative perspective) for the mastery of a particular task.
As the learning progresses the learner benefits from the sustained sharing and dialogue with the social setting of peers and community regarding the knowledge and understanding as well as the acquisition of specific skills, so the cycle continues along these three axes. In peer-to-peer social networks, through social software tools such as blogs, wikis, social bookmarking and folksonomies, learning can be socially situated not only amongst the classroom peers but also amongst the global community of practice.
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