© 2013 Boise State University 1

MOOCs, (e)learning & Institutional Learning

Norm Friesen, PhD

December 2, 2013

Outline:

•Quick history of “learning theory:” 100 years old

• Learning theory now: monolithic, biologistic (genetic), mechanistic

• “Thought experiment” (Gedankenexperiment): What if learning were fundamentally different?•Multiple kinds• Culturally contingent, not a constant species characteristic, but with a history

•What does this mean for MOOCs & institutional learning?

“perhaps the greatest learning theorist of all time”  (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005, p. 54).

•Thorndike mentions for the first time a “method of learning” that humans share with “many animals besides man”

•“the brain plays a big part in making human nature what it is”

Education: A First Book (1912)

This method of learning...is the most funda-mental method of learning... [and] may be called the method of trial and error, or of trial and success, or (from its importance in animal life), the animal method of learning. (1901, p. 38; emphasis added)

“Any problem of education may be put in the form: ‘Given a certain desired change in a man, what situation shall we create to produce it, either directly or by the response which it provokes from him?’” (1912, pp. 55-56).

Psychology & Education: 1900-2000

See: http://learningspaces.org/papers/langoflearning.pdf

A succession of “learning theories;” learning = X

• Behaviourism: learning as modification of behaviour through conditioning

• Cognitivism: learning as information processing, storage in long-term memory

• Constructivism: learning as the construction and testing of representations (mental models)

• Eclecticism - “Learning science;” connectivism; embodied/ situated cognition; neuroscience, etc.

Characteristics of learning theories

•Monolithic: There is one paradigm or metaphor

for learning: correct stimulus and response; deep

processing; development of network, etc.

•Mechanistic or biologistic: the self is either a

machine, a computer, a network, a brain, genetic

programming, etc.

• Identify causal underpinnings: environmental

conditions cause learning effects

• This “underlies” other factors; is a kind of

underpinning that can be manipulated

Bransford et al on “learning sciences”

“mature science of learning” will soon “discover its neural underpinnings

and identify the internal mechanisms that govern learning across ages

and settings” (Bransford et al, 2006 pp. 210, 212).

“The learning sciences of the future will embody both neural and

behavioral aspects of learning, and must account for implicit, informal,

and formal learning activities and outcomes. We do not mean that the

research strands will merge into one grand theory that eliminates the

unique perspectives each offers, but we do believe that these strands

can

inform one another and, in the process, create more coherent and

useful theories that better illuminate why, how, when, where, and

what people learn.” (p. 28)

What if we were instead to say…

“We depend for survival on the inheritance of acquired characteristics from the culture pool rather than from a gene pool.

“Culture [would] then become the chief instrument for guaranteeing survival, with its techniques of transmission being of the highest order of importance.”

If this were true…

•Learning would be culturally contingent

• Learning ≠ X (processing information; constructing representations)• Learning multiple forms changing with cultures

•Techniques of transmission would be of ‘the highest order of importance:”• E.g., for noting, storing, & demonstrating

Bruner (1966) On Cognitive Growth IIStudies in Cognitive Growth

• We depend for survival on the inheritance of acquired characteristics from the culture pool rather than from a gene pool.

• Culture then becomes the chief instrument for guaranteeing survival, with its techniques of transmission being of the highest order of importance.

• Culture and its techniques: when a society grows more

complex in

its technology and division of labor, there are two deep

changes that must necessarily occur.

• First, the knowledge and skill within the culture…

exceed[s] the amount that any one individual can

know.

• [Next] there develops a sharp disjunction between

the worlds of the child and of the adult.

• “Increasingly, then, there develops a new and

moderately effective technique of instructing the

young based heavily on telling out of context rather

than on showing in context. The school, of course,

becomes the prime instrument of this new

technique but by no means the exclusive one.”

• “the social sphere of adult and child [was earlier]

unitary and undivided. In our own society, the

child's feeling and thinking and acting takes place

largely in relation to a reality – to aims, responsi-

bilities, compulsions, material objects & persons,

and so forth – which differs completely from that

of the adult, though sometimes overlapping it.”

What emerges in the child’s “way of life”?

“the ground rules according to which reality is constructed for children are not simply changed; instead, a whole new system … emerges. Culture is no longer presented to the child as a seamless whole, but only in part. The part that is … [available] is offered through a kind of pedagogical rehearsal or practice, as it would be for someone from a foreign land.”

“These illustrations show how internal cultural barriers gradually walled off adults’ ‘work’ from children’s ‘learning.’ And ever since these developments, we do not simply present other ways of life to children but we provide them to children in a different manner – we represent them.”

…the realm of schooling consists of a huge montage of images and representations which are not “the things themselves” but that instead “point out” things and phenomena. Our educational system would descend into chaos if our schools were suddenly emptied of all …“visual material” …all “academic subjects” and textbooks – including forms of representation such as this book – were to be banished.

This massive arsenal of educational contents, methods and aims, through which modern educational practice has evolved, started with Comenius – or at least began during his lifetime.

Knowledge of Science& of the Classroom -D. Tröhler

“Pedagogical knowledge is derived from scientific knowledge through such actions as selection, condensation, composition, didactical structuring and streamlining for classroom instruction. Pedagogical knowledge is meant to be obvious, unambiguous, precise, ordered and interesting, and it is not supposed to take a lot of time to learn. It assumes a "dogmatic" character because it is primarily viewed as an object of teaching.”

Knowledge of Science“Knowledge is not a given, but is constantly reconstructed, questioned and examined to uncover its underlying premises. In contrast to pedagogical knowledge, advances are not logically structured, but more dependent on fundamental convictions as to how objects are to be handled.”

Knowledge of the Classroom

“Exhibits a number of characteristics distinguishing it from scientific knowledge. As a rule it ...• only looks at a part of the whole• (radically) simplifies this knowledge• integrates it into a logical-seeming context• avoids contradictions and exceptions• makes knowledge appealing by means of

various tools (slides, films, experiments, murals)

• is taught with maximum efficiency.”

MOOCs, Knowledge and Learning

•Massive Open Online Course (x & c)

•A MOOC is a model of educational delivery that is, to varying degrees, massive, open, online, and a course. Most MOOCs are structured similar to traditional online higher education courses in which students watch lectures, read assigned material, participate in online discussions and forums, and complete quizzes and tests on the course material.

•“Most MOOCs are structured similar to traditional online higher education courses. A MOOC has a syllabus, and course content typically consists of readings, assignments, and lectures, which are often short (6–12 minutes) ‘microlectures.’”

(educause)

•Offers possibilities for recognition and accreditation of “classroom learning”

•Prior Learning Assessment Recognition: PLAR

Connections between MOOCs and PLAR

• Two possibilities: 1) Use PLAR to assess and offer credentials for

open educational activities through the use of exam banks such as CLEP (College Level Examination Program);

2) Learning occurring in xMOOCs (MOOCs based on pre-existing courses) and in other open contexts resembling “courses” may be assessed in PLAR through course-based portfolios.

Portfolios typically summarize the learning gained from a range of non-formal and informal learning experiences. Similar to e-portfolios, but with a significant reflective emphasis.•A portfolio may be assessed with an interview with

the learner• the results of an examination may be used together

with other data. • “PLAR methodologies are presently very labour

intensive and unlikely to scale well for large numbers of learners” (TEKRI, 2011, p. 9).

OER self-study

Psych 101

MOOC6.002x

Credited Courses

OER self-

study

Exam Bank

OER self-study in

AI

OPEN EDUCATION PLAR ProcessesUniversity

OER self-study1st Aid

OER self-study

OER self-study

“gap training”

MOOCPSY101

Friesen & Wihak, 2013

Conclusion: MOOCs as adapting a particular way of learning.

•MOOCs as “knowledge of the classroom;” a form of institutional learning• The significance of pedagogical forms and formats• Is a significant extension of the pedagogical realm• Involves a new cultural technique of transmission• The knowledge of the classroom separate from the other structures of classroom and institutional learning•Not the first to do this - Comenius’ pansophism: via printing and didactic “technologies,” teach everything to everyone.

Sources

• Bruner, J.S. (1966). On cognitive growth: II. In: JS Bruner, RR Oliver and PM Greensfield (Eds.), Studies in Cognitive Growth. Pp. 30-67. New York: Wiley.

• Friesen, N. & Wihak, C. (2013). From OER to PLAR: Credentialing for Open Education. Open Praxis 5(1), 41-57.

• Mollenhauer, K. (2014). Forgotten Connections: On Culture and Upbringing. London: Routledge.

• Thorndike , E. (1901). The Human nature club: An introduction to the study of mental life. New York: Longmans Green and Co.

• Thorndike, E. (1912). Education: A first book. New York: MacMillan.

• Tröhler, D. (2009). The knowledge of science and the knowledge of the classroom Using the Heidelberg Catechism. In E. Campi (Ed.) Scholarly knowledge: Textbooks in early modern Europe. Geneva: Droz.

© 2013 Boise State University 32

THANK YOU

Norm Friesen, Boise State University

Email normfriesen@boisestate.edu