Learning

Learning is any process of acquiring new, or modifying existing, behaviors, preferences, values, understandings, knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA), as well as a result of that process. According to Wikipedia,

The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind of learning in certain plants.

Definition

According to Management by Robbins and Coulter (14th edition),

Learning. Any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience.

According to Marketing Management by Keller and Kotler (15th edition),

Learning. Changes in an individual's behavior arising from experience

Glossary

• 1:1. A description of a learning environment where there is one “screen” for each student (whether an iPad, laptop, etc.)
• Andragogy. The study of teaching adults.
• BYOD. An initialism that stands for “Bring Your Own Device.” BYOD programs allow students to use their own technology (usually smartphone or tablet) in a classroom. BYOD is often seen as a way of solving budget concerns while increasing the authenticity of learning experiences, while critics point to the problems BYOD can cause for district IT, privacy concerns, and more.
• Blended learning. Blended learning is a learning model that combines digital and face-to-face learning experiences. The Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation defines Blended Learning “a formal education program in which a student learns: (1) at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace; (2) at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home; (3) and the modalities along each student’s learning path within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience.” It is generally accepted that there are four models of blended learning: Rotation, Flex, A La Carte, and Enriched Virtual. The Christensen Institute clarifies that “the Rotation model includes four sub-models: Station Rotation, Lab Rotation, Flipped Classroom, and Individual Rotation.” There is some thought that a certain percentage of instruction must be digital to qualify as “blended learning,” but there is no clear industry standard.
• Cognitive apprenticeship. Cognitive apprenticeship focuses on “learning-through-guided-experience on cognitive and metacognitive skills and processes” (Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989, p. 457), instead of the physically concrete craft or trade that is the focus of traditional apprenticeships. “The method is aimed primarily at teaching the problem-solving processes that experts use to handle complex tasks. Cognitive apprenticeships are intended to enable apprentices to learn strategies and skills in the context of their application to realistic problems, within a culture focused on and defined by expert practice.”
• Communal constructivism. A learning theory “in which networked learners not only construct and assimilate their own knowledge from their own learning opportunities, but deliberately contribute their own learning to a community resource base.”(Holmes & Gardner 2006).
• Connected learning. A learning model by Digital Media & Learning that emphasizes the role of social interactions as a catalyst for learning. (See “Connected Learning: The Power Of Social Learning Models”.) Characteristics of Connected Learning include: Interest-Powered, Production Centered, Peer-Supported, Shared Purpose, Academically-Oriented, and Openly-Networked.
• Constructivism. A learning theory that suggests that “people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences” (Christie 2005).
• Curriculum.
• Digital citizenship. Karen Mossberger, Associate Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, defines digital citizenship simply as “the ability to participate in society online.”
• E-learning. Learning expressly through online courses and related digital resources.
• Experiential learning (activity-based learning, learning by doing or learning through play). Any educational method that is based on both direct experience and cognitive reflection on that experience. Those methods may include a wide range of techniques from observations, experiments, and heuristics to public service, fieldwork, community-based research, and apprenticeship, but the following consideration of what was experienced and what can be learned is the key. The Method may also be defined as learning through reflection on doing.
• Flipped classroom. Any educational format that is the opposite of a traditional classroom.
• Game-based learning. Learning through games (from physical to digital).
• Gamification. The application of game-like “encouragement” mechanics to non-game entities. Put another way, it is making a game out of something that’s not.
• Genius hour. The allotment of a specified amount of time in a formal learning environment for the purpose of self-directed learning.
• Individualized curriculum (direct instruction, differentiated instruction, individualized learning, individualized instruction, personalized learning, personal learning environment, tailored education) is any educational program tailored to meet the needs of a particular learner.
• Individualized learning.
• Learning by making (constructionism, challenge-based learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, scenario-based learning). An educational method that is based on experiential working on real-world projects related to the subject of learning.
• Learning sequence.
• Learning simulation. Often (not necessarily) digital, a learning simulation is a recreation of a context which allows a learner to bring strategy, tactics, and skills to experiment, play, or otherwise interact with that context’s manipulatives. Learning Simulation Clark Aldrich defines a learning simulation as “an abstracted interactive environment (or) structure for education in which a learner can take actions and make decisions, and get ongoing feedback and consequences.”
• Learning taxonomy. Any framework such as Bloom's taxonomy for learning objectives. These taxonomies can be used to plan units, lessons, assessments, and other teaching and learning processes.
• Mastery learning. According to Vahid Motamedi of Tarbiat Moallem University, “Mastery learning is a method of instruction where the focus is on the role of feedback in learning. Furthermore, mastery learning refers to a category of instructional methods which establishes a level of performance that all students must “master” before moving on to the next unit (Slavin, 1987). Thus, through one or more trials, students have to achieve a specified level of content knowledge prior to progression on to a next unit of instruction.” “Mastery learning is used in order to advance an individual’s potential for learning. Compared to traditional learning models, sufficient time, attention, and help are afforded to each student.”
• Mental-model development.
• MOOC. The acronym for massive open online course, which represents a kind of computer-aided education aimed at unlimited asynchronous participation and 24/7 access to the learning content via the World Wide Web.
• Mobile learning. The United Nations defines mobile learning as “Mobile learning involves the use of mobile technology, either alone or in combination with other information and communication technology (ICT), to enable learning anytime and anywhere. Learning can unfold in a variety of ways: people can use mobile devices to access educational resources, connect with others, or create content, both inside and outside classrooms. Mobile learning also encompasses efforts to support broad educational goals such as the effective administration of school systems and improved communication between schools and families.”
• Modeling instruction. Modeling Instruction is an evolving, research-based pedagogy for high school and middle school science. It emphasizes constructing and applying conceptual and mathematical models of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena as a central aspect of learning and doing science. It is a robust methodology for developing student abilities to make sense of physical experience, understand scientific claims, articulate coherent opinions of their own and defend them with cogent arguments, and evaluate evidence in support of justified belief. It was developed at Arizona State University. It is sustained and expanded nationwide by the American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA) in approximately 60 multi-week Modeling Workshops each summer. You can read more here. (Source: Jane Jackson at Arizona State University)
• Pedagogy.
• Place-based education. Place-Based Education “immerses students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences, uses these as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum, and emphasizes learning through participation in service projects for the local school and/or community.”
• Project-based learning (challenge-based learning, problem-based learning, case method, scenario-based learning, case-based learning). An educational method that is based on experiential working on real-world projects related to the subject of learning.
• Self-education (autodidacticism, autodidactism, self-learning, self-directed learning, and self-teaching). Education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or educational institutions.
• Situated cognition. A learning theory that emphasizes the absolute and permanent relationship between knowledge and context, or “situation,” situated cognition suggests a taut relationship between what one knows, and what one does with what one knows (i.e., knowledge and behavior). This creates a problematic collision between “the different instructional goals of ‘knowing what’ and ‘know how’ result in different structures and practices of our education system,” and harmfully “decontextualized learning resulted from separation between learning and doing.” (Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989). Clancey offers, “The theory of situated cognition…claims that every human thought is adapted to the environment, that is, situated, because what people perceive, how they conceive of their activity, and what they physically do develop together” (Clancey, 1997).

See also

Related lectures

• What Learning Is.