2.9 Further reflection on the usefulness of learning theories
In this section you will consolidate your study of the learning theories covered in the course and further consider those theories’ relevance in the context of your own life and experiences.
Activity 19: Learning theories and their relevance
You have encountered four main theories/sets of theories in this course. These are:
- Learning theories developed by psychology (Sections 2.2 and 2.4)
- Ideas about the different contexts of learning; for example, the difference between informal and formal learning (Section 2.6)
- Communities of practice theory (Section 2.7)
- Entwistle’s theory of student approaches to learning (Section 2.8).
You also learned about the Johari Window, which is closely grounded in learning theory, in Section 1.4.
Identify the main features of the learning theories you have studied and to consider each theory’s possible relevance in the context of your own learning in the Learning theories and their relevance quiz.
You should return to this section when you have completed this activity.
Activity 20: Reflecting on the theory activity
Whether or not you completed the last activity, now would be a good time to further reflect on your feelings about the activities in Learning to learn.
Make an entry in your Learning Journal with the title ‘Reflecting on activities’. Then, make some notes in response to some/all of the following questions:
- If you completed the activities, how did you feel before and after you completed it? For example, were you anxious about completing the activities or did you feel you could take it in your stride?
- If you did not complete the activities, why was this? Do you think you will return to the activities later?
- How do you now feel about the remaining activities in the Learning to learn course?
Comment
Again, it would be difficult to guess your responses to the questions above. If you decided not to complete the activities, at the moment you will have your own reasons for this and may have recorded them in your Learning Journal. If you completed them you may have said something about how you felt afterwards, or whether it was easier or more difficult than any other activities you have already completed. Whether or not you completed the activities, it is a great achievement that you have reached this part of the course.
It is impossible to guess what you think about the theories and ideas you have met so far in Learning to learn. It is possible to argue that the psychological learning theories are useful. This springs from the fact that they adopt a basic stance toward learning that suggests we all learn because we all interact with our environment.
This means that learning is not just something that ‘smart’ people do. This can help place our past learning in context. It can also highlight that some past learning may not have been very useful. So it could underline the need for our plans to include learning that supports our development rather than getting in the way of it.
With the ideas about different contexts of learning, we are getting much closer to the situations in which learning happens. Thinking about the detail of these contexts highlights some important issues. There is the issue of other people being involved in your learning. Sometimes who these other people are and the role they have help to establish whether the learning is formal or informal.
An awareness of the range of learning contexts seems to be useful in similar ways to the psychological theories. It helps to emphasise that learning goes on in many different contexts and that we are able to respond to many of these contexts. This is really another reminder that we have a tendency to learn in whatever social situation we find ourselves. This raises an interesting question. If we are able to learn freely in some situations, what stops us from learning in others?
You have already begun considering the role of others in the learning process, for example in exploring the communities of practice theory. If you go on to study Planning for personal change you will have the opportunity to extend your learning on this topic to include the study of online learning communities. Social learning online is also be the focus of activities in that course.
In the final sections of this course you will extend your study of learning theories by exploring the ways in which studying these theories has developed your academic and ‘real-world’ skills.