Human Learning

John Penn

Learning Theory

A learning theory is a theory that explains how people learn and acquire information. A learning theory gives us the terminology and frame work

for understanding how people learn. Our thoughts, feelings and past experiences all play into how we assimilate information and the way in which we

utilize that information.

Learning Theory Categories

List Three Learning Theory Categories:

1. Behaviorism2. Cognitivism

3. Constructivism

Learning Styles

There is controversy about the concept of learning styles.

A learning style is a theory that states that each person has their own way in which they learn. There are four different types of

styles, feeling, watching, thinking and doing. The controversy is that there is not solid evidence that using learning style exists or

helps people to learn faster or better the material that is being presented.

Learning Styles

Learning Styles and Instructional Design Learning styles could be helpful for instructional designers because they could

create material that could focus on the different types of learning styles if they were to get a feel for their target audience’s learning preferences. An example would be if an instructional designer that they had a large group of hands on

learners they could create a training/ educational experience that would allow for learners to practice with the material. They could also create exercises that would mimic some of the though process of the subject matter and allow the learners to

work with the material in a hands on manner.

Motivation

Motivation is the reason or reasons why people act in certain way. It causes us to act. It is a process that starts, guides and maintains goal-

oriented behaviors. Motivation includes the biological, emotional, social and cognitive behaviors that activate behavior. Three areas of motivation are activation, persistence and intensity. Activation means

the person wants to activate an activity, persistence means staying vigilant about any activity that they are taking on and intensity is

how engaged with the activity that they have initiated.

Motivation

One model for motivation is the ARCS model for motivational design. This model can be used by instructional designers because they can incorporate this model to

keep their target audience motivated. The ARCS model stands for Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction. An example from each step is; .1) Attention- active participation, 2.) Relevance- experience, 3.) Confidence-

feedback, 4.) Satisfaction- provide feedback and reinforcement. Utilizing these elements and others an instructional designer could create a product that allows for these different elements to be presented to learners and could coincide with some

type of training whether it be in a classroom environment or online.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

http://www.psia-nw.org/oms-taxonomy-levels-of-understanding/

Bloom’s TaxonomyBloom’s taxonomy is a way in which to classify the different objectives of the

educator. There are three domains which are cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Educators should try to incorporate all three types of domains to offer a complete teaching experience. With in these domains there are subsets

relevant to that specific domain. An instructional designer could use the different elements of Bloom’s Taxonomy to structure how they create, analyze and transmit their end product. Knowledge of Bloom’s Taxonomy would allow for the instructional designer to better understand the material that they were trying create and to allow for a creation of a product that touched on each of

the domains to be a more effective educational tool.

Conclusion. The role of learning theory, learning style, motivation and Bloom’s Taxonomy all can

work together to help an instructional designer create an effective educational tool. Learning theory gives the large over arching theory as to how a person learns and these

theories can inform the instructional designers approaches to creating education material. An instructional designer can apply different methods that are applicable to a certain learning theory such as behaviorism to try and teach a specific subject matter

that would for an effective behaviorist approach, an example would be teaching math. An instructional designer could use learning style by handing out a survey and finding out

what the learners perceive to be as their type of learning style. With that information the instructional designer can incorporate those different methods into their educational product. Motivation would be used by the instructional designer to ensure that the

material was engaging and that the students accepted the material being presented such as in ARCS motivational model. Lastly, Bloom’s Taxonomy helps to clarify what the aims of what is trying to be taught to the learners and the most effective way to present

the material.