2.1 Behaviourism

Skinner (1968) and Thorndike (1928) were two of the main proponents of behaviourism. Their work examined how behaviour is linked to experience and reward. So in the online teaching context, teachers should be aware to ‘reward’ their learners for positive behaviour. This need not be solely via the domain of the assessed parts of the course, but also in giving encouragement and positive feedback for engaging in discussion activities or reaching certain milestones on schedule, for example.