Building Knowledge, Creating Scaffolds: Constructivist theory of learning It has been established for some time now that learners are not blank slates ready to be “filled with knowledge,” but are actively engaged in constructing knowledge for themselves, building on existing knowledge. This model of how people learn negates the premises […]
Since our context is Higher Education, we are in the adult education business, so we need to consider whether general “pedagogical” theory which is based on the education and development of the child, is applicable in our context. Malcolm Knowles thought otherwise, and developed a set of assumptions which, he theorised, […]
As you saw in our discussion yesterday, deep and surface learning can imply learning at different levels of cognition. For example, a teacher who relies a lot on quizzes using rote learning, recall and simple conceptual material, could encourage a lower level, surface approach to learning, which will not encourage […]
Before we explore this idea, we need to consider the following questions that were mentioned at the beginning of Day 1: What is learning? How do we know when our students have learned something? How do you know when you have been successful in your teaching approach? Some possible answers […]
Who is familiar with the following comments from colleagues in their teaching area? I have found that busy university academics are often preoccupied by the same questions as many learning theorists and researchers: What is “learning” anyway? When do I […]