Learning outcome = either the form or frequency of observable performance

Learning accomplished = when outcome is demonstrated following the presentation of a specific environmental stimulus.

For example, when presented with a Math flashcard showing the equation “2 + 4 = ?” the learner replies with the answer of “6.”

The equation is the stimulus and the proper answer is the associated response.

The key elements are the stimulus, the response, and the association between the two.

Focuses on the importance of the consequences of those performances and difficulties that responses

Followed by reinforcement are more likely to recur in the future.

No attempt is made to determine the structure of a student’s knowledge nor to assess which mental processes

The learner is characterized as being reactive to conditions in the environment as opposed to taking an active role in discovering the environment

Assess the learners to determine at what point to begin instruction as well as to

Determine which reinforcers are most effective for a particular student.

The arrangement of stimuli and consequences within the environment.

not typically addressed by behaviorists.

The acquisition of “habits” is discussed

Little attention is given as to how these habits are stored or recalled for future use.

refers to the application of learned knowledge in new ways or situations

How prior learning affects new learning.

Transfer is a result of generalization.

Situations involving identical or similar features allow behaviors to transfer across common elements.

For example, the student who has learned to recognize and classify a cow demonstrates transfer when (s)he classifies buffalo using the same process.

involves discriminations (recalling facts), generalizations (defining and illustrating concepts), associations (applying explanations), and chaining (automatically performing a specified procedure).

behavioral principles cannot adequately explain the acquisition of higher level skills or those that require a greater depth of processing (e.g., language development, problem solving, inference generating, critical thinking) (Schunk, 1991).

just like how you train a dog

when you ring a bell and put some food on the plate, the dogs will come

the dogs now know that the sound of the bell is to give him foods eventhough you do not put any food

it is call classical conditioning - fenomena psikologi yang belajar daripada tingkah laku

To elicit the desired response from the learner who is presented with a target stimulus.

To accomplish this, the learner must know how to execute the proper response, as well as the conditions under which that response should be made.

Therefore, instruction is structured around the presentation of the target stimulus and the provision of opportunities for the learner to practice making the proper response.

To facilitate the linking of stimulus-response pairs, instruction frequently uses cues (to initially prompt the delivery of the response) and reinforcement (to strengthen correct responding in the presence of the target stimulus).

The job of the teacher/designer is to ;

The acquisition of knowledge and internal mental structures . . . [they] focus on the conceptualization of students’ learning processes and address the issues of how information is received, organized, stored, and retrieved by the mind

Learning is equated with discrete changes between states of knowledge rather than with changes in the probability of response.

Focus on the conceptualization of students’ learning processes and address the issues of how information is received, organized, stored, and retrieved by the mind.

Learning is concerned not so much with what learners do but with what they know and how they come to acquire it (Jonassen, 1991b).

Knowledge acquisition is described as a mental activity that entails internal coding and structuring by the learner.

The learner is viewed as a very active participant in the learning process.

Cognitivism, like behaviorism, emphasizes the role that environmental conditions play in facilitating learning.

Instructional explanations, demonstrations, illustrative examples and matched non-examples are all considered to be instrumental in guiding student learning.

Emphasis is placed on the role of practice with corrective feedback.

The “active” nature of the learner is perceived quite differently.

The cognitive approach focuses on the mental activities of the learner that lead up to a response and acknowledges the processes of mental planning, goal-setting, and organizational strategies (Shuell, 1986).

Additional key elements include the way that learners attend to, code, transform, rehearse, store and retrieve information.

Learners’ thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and values are also considered to be infl uential in the learning process (Winne, 1985).

The real focus of the cognitive approach is on changing the learner by encouraging him/her to use appropriate learning strategies.

Memory is given a prominent role in the learning process.

Learning results when information is stored in memory in an organized, meaningful manner.

Teachers/designers are responsible for assisting learners in organizing that information in some optimal way.

Designers use techniques such as advance organizers, analogies, hierarchical relationships, and matrices to help learners relate new information to prior knowledge.

Forgetting is the inability to retrieve information from memory because of interference, memory loss, or missing or inadequate cues needed to access information.

According to cognitive theories, transfer is a function of how information is stored in memory (Schunk, 1991).

When a learner understands how to apply knowledge in different contexts, then transfer has occurred.

Understanding is seen as being composed of a knowledge base in the form of rules, concepts, and discriminations (Duff y & Jonassen, 1991).

Prior knowledge is used to establish boundary constraints for identifying the similarities and differences of novel information.

Not only must the knowledge itself be stored in memory but the uses of that knowledge as well.

Specific instructional or real-world events will trigger particular responses, but the learner must believe that the knowledge is useful in a given situation before he or she will activate it.

The actual goal of instruction for both of these viewpoints is often the same: to communicate or transfer knowledge to the students in the most efficient, effective manner possible (Bednar et al., 1991).

Two techniques used by both camps in achieving this effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge transfer are simplification and standardization.

That is, knowledge can be analyzed, decomposed, and simplified into basic building blocks. Knowledge transfer is expedited if irrelevant information is eliminated.

For example, trainees attending a workshop on effective management skills would be presented with information that is “sized” and “chunked” in such a way that they can assimilate and/or accommodate the new information as quickly and as easily as possible.

Constructivism is a theory that equates learning with creating meaning from experience (Bednar et al., 1991).

Constructivists believe that the mind filters input from the world to produce its own unique reality (Jonassen, 1991a).

Constructivists do not share with cognitivists and behaviorists the belief that knowledge is mind-independent and can be “mapped” onto a learner.

Constructivists do not deny the existence of the real world but contend that what we know of the world stems from our own interpretations of our experiences.

Humans create meaning as opposed to acquiring it.

Learners do not transfer knowledge from the external world into their memories; rather they build personal interpretations of the world based on individual experiences and interactions.

Internal representation of knowledge is constantly open to change; there is not an objective reality that learners strive to know.

Knowledge emerges in contexts within which it is relevant.

In order to understand the learning which has taken place within an individual, the actual experience must be examined (Bednar et al., 1991).

Both learner and environmental factors are critical to the constructivist, as it is the specific interaction between these two variables that creates knowledge.

Content knowledge be embedded in the situation in which it is used.

Situations actually co-produce knowledge (along with cognition) through activity Brown, Collins, and Duguid (1989) .

Every action is viewed as “an interpretation of the current situation based on an entire history of previous interactions” (Clancey, 1986).

Just as shades of meanings of given words are constantly changing a learner’s “current” understanding of a word, so too will concepts continually evolve with each new use.

Learning occur in realistic settings and that the selected learning tasks be relevant to the students’ lived experiences

The goal of instruction is not to ensure that individuals know particular facts but rather that they elaborate on and interpret information.

The “memory” is always under construction as a cumulative history of interactions.

Representations of experiences are not formalized or structured into a single piece of declarative knowledge and then stored in the head.

For example, the knowledge of “design” activities has to be used by a practitioner in too many different ways for them all to be anticipated in advance.

Constructivists emphasize the flexible use of preexisting knowledge rather than the recall of prepackaged schemas (Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, 1991).

Mental representations developed through task-engagement are likely to increase the efficiency with which subsequent tasks are performed to the extent that parts of the environment remain the same: “Recurring features of the environment may thus afford recurring sequences of actions” (Brown et al., p. 37).

Memory is not a context-independent process.

Clearly the focus of constructivism is on creating cognitive tools which reflect the wisdom of the culture in which they are used as well as the insights and experiences of individuals.

To be successful, meaningful, and lasting, learning must include all three of these crucial factors: activity (practice), concept (knowledge), and culture (context) (Brown et al., 1989)

The constructivist position assumes that transfer can be facilitated by involvement in authentic tasks anchored in meaningful contexts.

Since understanding is “indexed” by experience (just as word meanings are tied to specific instances of use), the authenticity of the experience becomes critical to the individual’s ability to use ideas (Brown et al., 1989).

An essential concept in the constructivist view is that learning always takes place in a context and that the context forms an unstoppable link with the knowledge embedded in it (Bednar et al., 1991).

Therefore, the goal of instruction is to accurately picture the tasks, not to define the structure of learning required to achieve a task.

Appropriate and effective use comes from engaging the learner in the actual use of the tools in real-world situations.

Thus, the ultimate measure of learning is based on how effective the learner’s knowledge structure is in facilitating thinking and performing in the system in which those tools are used.

Constructivists believe that it is impossible to isolate units of information or divide up knowledge domains according to a hierarchical analysis of relationships.

Three stages of knowledge acquisition (introductory, advanced, and expert)

Constructive learning environments are most effective for the stage of advanced knowledge acquisition

Initial misconceptions and biases acquired during the introductory stage can be discovered, negotiated, and if necessary, modified and/or removed.

Learners acquire more knowledge which provides them with the conceptual power needed to deal with complex and ill-structured problems.

The constructivist designer specifies instructional methods and strategies that will assist learners in actively exploring complex topics/environments and that will move them into thinking in a given content area as an expert user of that domain might think.

Knowledge is not abstract but is linked to the context under study and to the experiences that the participants bring to the context.

As such, learners are encouraged to construct their own understandings and then to validate, through social negotiation

Some of the specific strategies utilized by constructivists include situating tasks in real world contexts, use of cognitive apprenticeships (modeling and coaching a student toward expert performance), presentation of multiple perspectives (collaborative learning to develop and share alternative views), social negotiation (debate, discussion, evidence giving), use of examples as real “slices of life,” reflective awareness, and providing considerable guidance on the use of constructive processes.

The following are several specific assumptions or principles from the constructivist position that have direct relevance for the instructional designer :