Demonstrate_and_Explain_the_Application_of_Theories_and_Principles_of_Learning_and_Communication_to_Inclusive_Practice

Task 1 ALO1 – demonstrate and explain the application of theories and principles of learning and communication to inclusive practice ALO2 – demonstrate understanding of how to apply theories and principles of learning and communication in planning and enabling inclusive learning Essay 1500 words Word count: 1650 Additional words (quotes, titles and appendices) 861 By Mark Porter 1. Introduction 3 1.1 Memory 3 1.2 Motivation for learners 4 1.3 Communication 5 1.3.1 Transactional analysis 5 1.3.2 Transmission models 6 2. Theories of Learning: An Overview 7 2.1 Behavioral Theories 7 2.1.1 Classic Conditioning 8 2.1.2 Operant Conditioning 9 2.2 Cognitive Theories 11 2.3 Constructivism 12 3. Conclusion 13 1. Introduction Although there is no acceptable definition of learning, a generally accepted definition of learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience (Robbins, 1998) and that an external observer may recognize that learning has taken place (e.g., acquiring a vocabulary, learning to drive a car). Smith (1982) views learning as a product (the acquisition of a particular set of knowledge), process (how learners seek to meet needs and reach goals), and a function (how learners are motivated, what brings about change). Learning is a personal act. We each place our own personal stamp on how we learn, what we learn and when we learn and how we can learn is a question that begs the answer which may be found in some learning theories but what part does memory, motivation and communication play in this process' 1.1 Memory Memory can play an important part in our learning by its a) retention and b) loss of information. Information can be retained if we find the teaching interesting or we have the confidence to learn new issues because of interest in the subject. However other reasons may play a part in making it harder to retain information for example being defensive (fear of losing status with new ‘IT’ software) or the disuse of a subject. I have ensured that where I teach learners new ‘IT’ skills, that lesson must occur within three weeks of delivery of the software and they must have access to a ‘beta’ training product to refresh their skills and learning, if not the skill fade will render the teaching ineffective. In the cognitive psychology, memory is usually divided into three storage systems; • Sensory • Short-Term Memory • Long Term Memory The below diagram shows what is known as the Information Process Model (www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/memory.html), which shows how information can be stored and loss for example if we can make learning more relevant and meaningful, some STM may be transferred across to the LTM. [pic] 1.2 Motivation for learners Motivation is the force that draws you to move toward something. It can come from a desire or a curiosity within you or can be from an external force urging you on. Cyril O Houle catergorised motivation styles into three subgroups; 1. Goal-oriented learners use education to accomplish clear-cut objectives. 2. Activity-oriented (social) learners take part mainly because of the social contact. 3. Learning-oriented learners seek knowledge for its own sake. I am aware of the motivational needs of the individual learners and thus prepare a variety of motivational factors within my lessons to ensure that no learners is disadvantaged or excluded for example setting goals and providing group discussions . This ensures greater inclusion for learners during the lesson. 3. Communication There are various commendation models and I am going to look at the impact the that Transactional analysis and the transmission model has on education 1.3.1 Transactional analysis Transactional Analysis in its educational application offers a model for understanding personality, human development, communication and personal life patterns. It provides ways to describe and explain both internal and interpersonal behaviour, in an innovative and accessible manner. Because of its emphasis on the interactional aspects of communication, it is invaluable in all branches of education. Three philosophical concepts underpin TA in education: • Respect for the dignity of all human beings and empathic acceptance of them is central to successful relationships between teachers and learners. This is the 'I'm OK - You're OK' position. • People at all ages and stages of development are capable of learning to take responsibility for their decisions and actions. • Educational difficulties can be addressed effectively with co-operative goodwill and a coherent theoretical framework which clarifies the human dynamics involved. I use this model in my teaching environment to monitor my own state by the impact the learners may have on me for example am I becoming a controlling parent due to my learners reacting in a adapted child state and thus adapt my state to become adult, which should change the learners state back to adult. This helps me to ensure that no learner is excluded due to their TA state 1.3.2 Transmission models Shannon and Weaver (1949) developed a communication style which consists of six elements; 1. An information source, which produces a message. 2. A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals 3. A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission 4. A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal. 5. A destination, where the message arrives. 6. Noise is a dysfunctional factor: any interference with the message travelling along the channel may lead to the signal received being different from that sent. [pic] I have noticed the noise source as described in the transmission model, impacting upon my own teaching environment for example the sound of the police helicopter taking off near our teaching room You could argue that the noise may not only be a sound but concerns of the learners for example what time will this lesson finish because I need a comfort break'; Thus by ensuring that any noise sources are minimised, I will ensure that all learners are included. 2. Theories of Learning: An Overview We can classify learning theories into four paradigms. These are (a) behaviorism, (b) cognitivsm, c) Gestalt and (d) Humanism. I am going to focus on only two theories a) Behaviorism and b) Cognitivsm. 2.1 Behavioral Theories J.B. Watson studied animal’s response to conditioning based on the experiments of Ivan Pavlov. Watson (1913) concluded learning as a sequence of stimulus and response actions in observable cause and effect relationships. Behaviorism focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts mental activities. Behaviorists focus on eliminating maladaptive, conditional reflexes, and developing more adaptive ones, often working with people suffering from irrational fears or phobias (Alberto & Troutman : 2003). They view learning as the acquisition of new behavior and identify two different types of conditioning as a universal learning process: These are (a) classic conditioning and (b) operant conditioning. 2.1.1 Classic Conditioning This is a process of learning by temporal association in which two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become fused in a person’s mind and produce the same response (Comer, 2004). That means learning occurs when a natural reflex responds to a stimulus. Pavlov's theory of classical conditioning is considered a major cornerstone of behaviorist theories of learning and his experiment led to the formation of Pavlov's classical conditioning in which an individual responds to some stimulus that would ordinarily produce such a response. Application & Inclusion Classic conditioning has been applied in education for example classroom management. I observe the needs of my learners and where a person may show anxiety in presenting material to the class, I will ensure that they take part in a group presentation and thus reduce that anxiety and therefore will be included within the learning. Example This can be seen in the educational environment in situations where learners exhibit phobias and anxieties, like "math anxiety," fear of failure, and general school phobia. Another example of classical conditioning in education is the rewarding of candy for right answers or good behavior. Skinner outlines this (Skinner, B.F. (1968) and I have included examples where this has occurred within my teaching. 1. Social reinforcer: I have provided positive feedback, approval, praise, and appreciation to my students. 2. Activity reinforcer: I have let my learners have the opportunity to engage in a favorite activity for example, learners can't watch the football unless they have successfully completed certain tasks. 3. Intrinsic reinforcers: I have noticed by high energy levels and non verbal communication (smiling) when learners have engaged in certain tasks and also that they felt proud after successfully completing it. 2.1.2 Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning occurs when a response to a stimulus is reinforced. If a behavior is rewarded, that behavior is repeated. B.F. Skinner theory is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment. According to Skinner, voluntary or automatic behavior is either strengthened or weakened by the immediate presence of a reward or punishment (Skinner: 1968). Skinner sees the teacher’s role to ensure the right behavior is reinforced thus, they should have a clear idea about the terminal behavior of the learners, and they should closely follow the learners to appropriately reinforce correct responses. Application and Inclusion As part of my classroom management, I used the example below to ensure that my learners who had confidence issues in answering questions were put at ease due to the format of the question and answer session. Example I present my learners with challenges for example providing them with questions to answer initially on their own then working with their peers to assess and discuss the answers give and finally to bring that the whole group by discussion and this has proven that honest positive praise and assessment improves performance. Learners who had a confidence issue were able to par take in this discussion on a peer to peer bases which allowed them to feel more comfortable rather than provide the answers to the whole group. Positive reinforcement was given by me to the learners for example “that was a good idea”, “well done” etc. This was supported by Markle and Skinner who quoted suggested the development of programmed instruction for example: “1. Practice should take the form of question (stimulus)-answer (response) frames which expose the learner to the subject in gradual steps; 2. Ensure the learner makes a response for every frame and also receives immediate feedback; 3. Arrange the difficulty of the questions so the response is always correct and hence a positive reinforcement; 4. Ensure that good performance in the lesson is paired with secondary reinforcers such as verbal praise, rewards (prizes) and good grades.” (Markle, 1969; Skinner, 1968) 2.2 Cognitive Theories Cognitive theories view learning as involving the acquisition or reorganization of the cognitive structures through which human process and store information." (Good and Brophy, 1990). The goal of instruction remained the communication and transfer of knowledge to learners in the most efficient and effective manner possible. (Bender et al, 1995) Classical Gestalt Theory and Tolman’s Sign Learning Theory are the most important cognitive theories relevant to teaching. The gestalt psychologists view learning as a purposive, exploitative, imaginative and creative process of developing new insights or modifying old ones (Biggie, 1964; Hill, 1963). Hill (2002) treats motivation as a crucial aspect of learning process. It is closely related to arousal, attention, anxiety, and feedback/reinforcement. Weiner (1990) points out that behavioral theories tend to focus on extrinsic motivation (rewards) while cognitive theories deal with intrinsic motivation (i.e., goals) Tolman (1932) states that what an individual learns serves as "the lay of the land," which gradually develops a picture of the environment known as the "cognitive map". Once he is given a problem, he uses the map to solve it by selecting alternative ways and means. For example in the context of education outlined by Rogers and Freiberg (Rogers, C.R. & Freiberg, H.J. (1994)) who state; (a) Individual behavior is goal directed so education should take into account the learner’s goal; (b) Learning is a meaningful process so education should evolve a process where the learner can understand what they learn; (c) Each learner learns through their own cognitive map. The teacher should take this into account and organize a program on the basis of the cognitive maps of the learners. 2.3 Constructivism Constructivsm promotes a more open-ended learning experience where the methods and results of learning are not easily measured and may not be the same for each learner, where as behaviorism and cognitivsm support the practice of analyzing a task and breaking it down into manageable chunks, establishing objectives, and measuring performance based on those objectives. Constructivsts believe that all humans have the ability to construct knowledge in their own minds through a process of discovery and problem solving. Learning is a search for meaning. Therefore, learning must start with the issues around which learners are actively trying to construct meaning. Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts. And parts must be understood in the context of wholes. Therefore, the learning process focuses on primary concepts, not isolated facts. In order to teach well, we must understand the mental models that learners use to perceive the world and the assumptions they make to support those models. Application and Inclusion I used within my airwave lesson to focus the learners in making connections between facts and fostering new understanding and in a way that was not biases to one organisation and thus allowed the three main interagency (Police, Fire & Ambulance) to have an equal part to play in that exercise. Example I provided a comprehensive exercise which built upon learning and facts that had been achieved and used this exercise to focus on making the learners making connections between facts (current Airwave knowledge) and fostering new understanding in themselves in how they could adapt the current knowledge for new scenarios. I tailored this teaching to learner responses and encourage them to analyze, interpret, and predict information within that exercise. 3. Conclusion A theory of learning provides a summary of vast amounts of knowledge relevant to the laws of learning in a concise manner. Learning theories not only explain how learning takes place but also why learning occurs. These theories provide us with a relevant conceptual framework for interpreting the learning processes and direct our attention to those variables that are crucial in achieving the desired goals. Therefore, the teacher gets the underlying structures of the learners' way of learning through this theoretical knowledge and can identify what particular behavior is involved in the proposed teaching program. Using knowledge about how learning is produced (function) and about what happens when people learn (process), develops new knowledge and skills for teachers. Learning theories provide learning organization necessary skills at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. That is, learning theories trigger the organizational improvement. Different learning theories overlap (the same strategy for a different reason), and learning theory strategies are concentrated along different points of a continuum, depending on the focus of learning theory and the level of cognitive process required. A behavioral approach can effectively facilitate mastery of the content of a profession (knowing what); cognitive strategies are useful in solving tactics where defined facts and rules are applied in unfamiliar situations (knowing how); and constructivist strategies are suited to dealing with ill-defined problems through reflection-in- action (Ertner and Newby, 1993) This situation is analogous to building a house, where sometimes a hammer is a most effective tool, sometimes a screwdriver, and still at other times, a saw. The teacher is just like the house builders who select different tools as different problems arise (Hergenhahn, 1976). Therefore, the instructional designer must understand the strengths and weaknesses of each learning theory to optimize their use in appropriate instructional design strategy. So it seems appropriate to state that learning theories are the guidance in the design, development and implementation of an effective teaching program designed to increase competence, capacity for change, and competitiveness. BIBLIOGRAPHY Alberto, P. and Troutman, A.C. (2003) Applied behavioral Analysis for Teachers (6th ed) Upper Saddler River, NJ: Merrill, Prentice Hall Bender, A.K., Cunningham, D, Duffy, T.M. and Perry, J.P. (1995) Theory into practice: How do we link' In G. J. Anglin (Ed), Instructional technology: past, present and future (2nd Ed.) Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. Bigge, M.L. (1964) Learning Theories of Teachers: New York, Harper and Row Bruner, J. (1986) Actual minds, possible worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Comer, R. J. 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