In the previous lesson you were introduced to numerous founders of the field of Instructional Design and Technology. You may have noticed that many of them were learning theorists who often worked in the field of educational psychology. In this lesson, you will learn more about the contributions of learning theory to the psychological foundations of Instructional Design and Technology.
Usually, when teachers and instructional designers create instruction, they do so for a particular learner or group of learners. While we could just design our instructional materials the way we think students may like it or the way that is most convenient for us, this does not necessarily mean that learners will learn the materials best that way.
For more than a century, educational psychologists have therefore conducted research to discover how people learn. While, there is still not one single theory that offers answers to all our learning problems, researchers have made a lot of progress and discovered a lot about human learning. For example, cognitive psychologists have found that people have different types of memory, such as long-term memory, short-term memory, and working memory. People’s short-term memory only holds a very limited amount of information. While George Miller argues that the short-term memory holds 7 (+/- 2) items, others contend that it holds even less. When designing instruction, it is important to keep such ideas in mind, so you will not overload your learner with information. While cognitivists are concerned with what is going on in people’s brains as they learn, behaviorists are more concerned with people’s behaviors and observable actions. Over time, researchers with different backgrounds have therefore developed different theories about how people learn.
To learn more about these researchers and some of the theories they developed over time, read Chapter 6: Psychological Foundations of Instructional Design written by Marcy Driscoll of the book Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology. This author provides an overview of the contributions of psychology and learning theories to the field of IDT. As you read the chapter, jot down events that you may want to add to the timeline that you are developing.
In the chapter you just read, you have probably encountered the terms behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. You will probably hear these terms a lot as you will go through the ITMA program. You may therefore want to gain a better understanding of these three main schools of theories of learning. Therefore, please also read the following article:
After reading this, please participate in the following activity to see whether you can differentiate between these three main schools of theories of learning. This is a self-assessment activity and you will therefore not need to submit it.
Description
Now you have become more familiar with theories of learning, pick one of the following five learning goals:
Next, choose two different learning theories. For each of the two learning theories, explain how your chosen objective could best be taught, taking into account the basic principles of the chosen learning theory and how the learner learns according to that theory.
For example, when choosing behaviorism and repairing a flat tire, you may discuss how you can apply principles such as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, shaping, chaining, discrimination learning and fading to teach someone how to repair a flat tire.
Whenever you use any sources to explain the learning theory, make sure you cite them according to APA style. Either APA 6 or APA 7 is acceptable. Your sources should be cited both in the text of your paper and in a separate reference list.
Submitting Your Assignment
At the end of this lesson you will submit your completed assignment. Assignment 5 should be prepared using Microsoft Word. At the top of your document you should have the lesson name, and underneath that should be your name, email address, and the date. When you save the document as a file on your computer, make sure the file is named “Assignment5”. After you have saved your file, go to the student interface and submit your assignment for grading. Click here if you need additional information regarding submission of your assignment.
Grading Criteria
Points: 10