LEARNING THEORY AND INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN REFRESHER

In this paper, it is critical to review the following concepts:

In the 1950’s, theorists began categorizing the different types of learning into three domains: cognitive (thinking), affective (feeling) and psychomotor (tactile coordination). Developing understanding, intellect and skills falls within the cognitive domain. Included in this domain is metacognition, the ability to contemplate one’s own thought processes or learning behavior. This classification schema became the basis for modern learning taxonomies.

In 1956, Bloom and his colleagues developed a hierarchical chart or taxonomy indicating six main types of learning. He identified six levels within the cognitive domain. At the lowest level, there is simple recall or recognition of facts. The mental levels become increasingly more complex and at the highest level we find evaluation. Although many taxonomies have been developed, Bloom’s has become a standard for identifying and creating educational objectives and activities to facilitate better learning.

The chart above represents the full range of learning activities within the cognitive domain. Incorporating learning at the lower levels ensures understanding and progression to higher order or critical thinking found at the higher levels.

In addition to the cognitive domain, there are two more to consider. Affective domain learning is characterized by attitudes in awareness, attention, concern, and responsibility. These attitudes are essential in interacting with others, and although nurturing these is typically targeted at younger learners, they must be considered in any group environment. Psychomotor learning is usually associated with physical skills. Aside from developing fine or gross motor skills, activities such as creating graphics or even writing can appeal to this domain.

Objectivism is an instructional theory best described as the process involved in traditional teaching and some training programs. When a series of predetermined steps and/or information are repeated they are memorized. This strategy does not promote the development of higher order skills, but is still very useful in that it can provide certain founding instruction, or specific procedural training.

Constructivism is a theory derived from cognitive psychology in which learners incorporate critical (higher order) thinking skills and become more actively involved in their learning. Contrary to the memorization approaches associated with objectivism, learners retrieve old knowledge relevant to a particular situation, and add on or ‘construct’ to it to create new and meaningful knowledge. Initiative, autonomy and collaboration are encouraged, and students learn whole concepts that have personal meaning to them. Constructivism approaches work well in most domains, however, with areas of knowledge that are considered to be ill-structured, such as history and medicine, there may not be any clear-cut right or wrong answers, and quite often, simultaneous understanding of conflicting viewpoints is difficult to obtain. From a learner’s point of view, there may be a tendency to oversimplify concepts, which may lead to the cognitive restructuring of knowledge that is based in error.

When advanced ill-structured domains are present, so much knowledge cannot possibly be stored and retrieved on demand. This has lead to a relatively new theory based on constructivism known as cognitive flexibility theory (CFT), (Spiro, et al., 1992). By presenting knowledge in a variety of ways, learners acquire the ability to develop cognitively flexible processing skills. Prior knowledge goes through a situation specific assembly to form new knowledge. In other words, new understanding is constructed from prior knowledge, and the prior knowledge itself may be constructed to suit the situation. It would be like looking at the same problem from many different angles, and there may be a different solution posed from each. 

Once again, we see the need for multiple representations of subject matter, this time not in different modes for different learners, but from different viewpoints in order to develop critical thinking and cognitive flexibility in advanced learning situations. Computerized learning networks and in particular the WWW and the Internet, are clearly positioned to support this type of learning.
 

BUILDING COMMUNITIES OF KNOWLEDGE THROUGH NETWORKED COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Due to the nature of the evolving workforce, learners must prepare for participation in a networked, knowledge-based economy. Networked virtual communities of knowledge provide access to a variety of expertise from around the globe. Working as a group is becoming the norm, and fostering interaction and collaborative problem solving is the key for creating the educational experiences which will prepare learners for this new reality.

Instead of learners being passive recipients of knowledge, collaborative learning is based on a learner-centered model in which the learners are active participants. Sharing one’s ideas in a community setting can deepen understanding, but may not appeal to everyone, and some individuals may require more monitoring and teacher intervention to ensure participation. With this model, we also assume that learners are either willing to take or to learn how to take responsibility for their own learning. We are not only concerned with creating cognitive activities online, but also addressing the socio-affective issues. In addition to academic benefits, collaborative learning promotes the spirit of learning and increases competence in working with others, self-assurance and personal insight (McConnell, 1994).

Cooperative learning is also associated with collaborative learning, but differs in that it provides guidelines on how to organize group learning and related, specific activities. Cooperative learning is not always situated. Problem based learning environments are also related, but they are not always collaborative. 

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is generally applied to online courses with several participants collaborating over an extended period of time. There are many uses of the term collaborative learning, and most assume that people are working together in a certain context to solve a problem or learn something. Dillenbourg’s (1999) findings suggest that in an educational setting, the term should be ‘collaborative learners’. It can also refer to the lifelong acquisition of knowledge within a certain community, or a developmental process that occurs over years. Dillenbourg further asks if collaborative learning is a pedagogical method or a psychological process. He notes that activities, which trigger learning mechanisms, are evident in both individuals and groups, but that the interaction in groups triggers extra cognitive mechanisms. Collaborative learning relates to the activities and mechanisms. There is no guarantee that that the mechanisms will occur, but designing situations with appropriate activities will increase the likelihood of success. This is not an easy task, as there are many variables to contend with in any group. 

Collaboration basically has 3 components, which we can apply to asynchronous online environments:

• Conversation – verbalizing through written responses and/or audio/video
• Multiple perspective – reading, reflecting, cognitive restructuring
• Argument – conceptual conflict resolution, establishing internalized concepts

There are a variety of ways to communicate and construct and share artifacts within a networked community. Online communication incorporates the semantics of conversation and writing. Since most of this communication is written instead of spoken, nonverbal and articulatory cues are not present. The use of symbolism such as emoticons (using keyboard symbols to portray feelings) can help to express these missing gestures. Are we developing a new linguistic model with these signs? In fact, typing the colons and brackets required in order to create typical ‘happy or sad faces’ on this word processor, automatically produces these symbols: JL . This to me is a good indication that software developers are responding to real-world requirements for online communication, and that new linguistic models (no matter how subtle) are emerging. This may in fact be short lived as broadband technology is increasing the use of video and audio online. With this, in addition to asynchronous textual dialogue, participants can engage in learning conversations using asynchronous multimedia components. For example, video files can include people, objects or artifacts. These modes will become more common over the next year or so, as indicated by the inclusion of small video cameras and microphones on most new personal computer purchases. Increased hard drive storage space and inexpensive programs have made non-linear video editing a viable reality. This means that video may be recorded or captured (in situ, live, rehearsed or from a prepared script) and edited. Graphics or other artifacts can be 'insert' edited in as well. Programs such as Microsoft's NetMeeting are also becoming popular. With this, users can engage in synchronous audio video communication and share computer applications and presentations online.

The gap between the learner’s actual developmental level and potential developmental level is narrowed through interaction with peers of greater capability. This is referred to as the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978). Real world communities of practice reflect this theory, as in apprenticeship training, where those that are less-skilled work alongside a peer or mentor and learn through authentic practice. 

The asynchronous nature of networking also solves many problems associated with time and distance in online learning. Learners do not have to be online at the same time to participate, and time away is not considered a detriment, but affords opportunities for reflection and processing. Learners not only become engaged in thinking about what they are learning, but also why they are learning. Here most of the requirements for creating an environment that fosters critical thinking are met. Moving towards a more cognitively flexible one though, requires strategies to produce more contextual, situated learning experiences.

Instructional theories applied to CSCL should integrate and emphasize real world activities, in order to create a more situated learning environment. Learning and cognition may be fundamentally situated, and involves making sense of experience, thought, or phenomenon in context (Brown, et al., 1989). They theorize that our understanding of a concept is not abstract and self-sufficient, but rather constructed from the social and physical contexts in which the concept is found and used. There is a distinction between authentic and educational activities. If we are to foster a society of collaborative workers, then the instruction should fit within a context that closely resembles professional or authentic practice, being the ordinary practices of the culture. This is an important factor in continuing education where there may be skepticism in the practitioner community concerning the value and relevance of academic knowledge and ignorance in the academic community concerning modern best practices (Goodyear and Steeples, 1998). 

I think it is important to note here that cognitive apprenticeships alone do not always address all of the different types of knowledge and related skills that may be required to understand and perform a task or job, or to work in a particular domain. Truly authentic perception and consequential activities may be difficult to carry out in a wholly online learning environment. 

The potential exists not only for learners to engage and collaborate with each other online, but also with other learners and professionals on a global scale. Peer to industry and tutor to industry relationships can be established, which model the new industry to industry paradigm. Through these types of associations, learners will be able to develop the skills required to judiciously integrate apparently disparate pieces of knowledge along their own in order to develop new insights and deeper understanding. 

In the present and near future, virtual communities of knowledge will continue to become more interdisciplinary in nature. There are many professional communities of knowledge to interact with on the Internet. At my workplace, most of us habitually log on to discussion areas in search of answers to a variety of technology related subjects. In addition, I occasionally receive email from international students looking for information and opinions for various projects they are involved in. Many people from different backgrounds may respond online, and as expertise from different domains are collected or brought into a particular discussion area, it may prove difficult to distinguish whether or not information is empirically true. There may not always be a facilitator or moderator on hand to guide the discussion, and considering the complexity of ill-structured domains, there is the potential for many false concepts to take root. I believe that it is critical to teach the principles of discernment in the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge to life-long learners. There is a myriad of competing sources of information available on the Internet today. Tutors will have to help learners to develop the skills of navigating knowledge sources and in processing and analyzing information. In my searches for valid information online, I have noticed that many institutions have begun to share 'established' digital resources to address this problem. 

So then, instead of knowledge simply being presented and reproduced, collaborative strategies encourage the active building of knowledge within a community. Learners actually reflect more on their thoughts in an asynchronous environment than they do when engaged in traditional face-to-face or even telephone conversations (Harasim, 1990 [97]). Self-reflection and revision in thinking are metacognitive skills that are enhanced through collaborative, asynchronous learning networks. 

In collaborative networked settings, careful monitoring is required by tutors to ensure that too much empirical knowledge does not create falsehoods. I believe that the use of scaffolding may provide a solution to this dilemma. By providing learners with proven or reliable real world references for comparison, learners can apply new knowledge and information based on references or skills that they themselves may not possess. 
 

INCORPORATING COLLABORATIVE ROLE-PLAY IN ONLINE COMMUNITES

Providing more situated learning may prove difficult in some collaborative settings, and after reflecting thus far, I personally feel that properly designed and structured role-play scenarios may give participants an opportunity to experience a more multidimensional perspective within an educational context. Role-play has been used extensively in education over the years, and even though it is quite often discussed in instructional design theories such as goal based scenarios, I wonder why there isn’t a proliferation of research readily available for its use in collaborative online environments. I did however, find a variety of case examples on the Internet, including everything from management, politics and cultural awareness to nuclear proliferation and intergalactic travel.

Although role-play is typically associated with educating children and the affective domain, I see no reason why adults cannot participate as well to nurture more cognitive flexibility (after all, role reversal is one of the first things any marriage counselor does so that alternate perspectives can be understood). I taught a role play class to college freshmen in 1995, and I have to admit that not only was it fun, I learned as much about the students’ perspectives on situations as they learned about mine. 

Providing an opportunity for learners to become someone or something else certainly creates a wealth of opportunities. By assuming different roles, they can become engaged in dramatized case study either based in the real world or in fiction. The roles themselves can be fictional or perhaps a dramatized version of a real living or historical person. With carefully structured scenarios, students can learn how to ‘wear different hats’, and develop flexible cognition - perhaps by being a patient one day and a surgeon the next. Rather than relating and solving problems on a student-to-student basis, assuming a variety of roles and responsibilities creates a situated learner to situated learner environment. Incorporating real world resources and involving real world contacts could promote even more realistic and stimulating experiences. 

The party game metaphor I believe is a good one to apply to role-play scenarios. It’s always been a great way to ‘break the ice’ at social gatherings, and there is no reason why it cannot accomplish the same end in an online gathering. In less structured or spontaneous role plays, participants that feel left out may have a renewed opportunity to participate and feel more comfortable by portraying a fictional role or persona, until such time that their confidence is high enough to participate more on a more peer-to-peer basis. Beyond basic dyadic conversation, the nature of asynchronous role-play can allow participants time to reflect on the submissions of others and craft thoughtful responses. Tutors or industry associates can set predefined roles that are pertinent to the domain or situation. They may also take into account any specific social or cultural needs. I suggest that strategies which keep the identities of learners, tutors and professional participants secret might lead to some very interesting dialogue and interaction.

Online learners’ active participation in role-play takes good advantage of the attributes of CMC and CSCL, including debate, simulation, brainstorming, forums, discussion groups and the production of transcripts. As with all networked learning, if the teacher does not facilitate the online activities skillfully, many problems may occur, including meaningless, ambiguous dialogue. The instructor’s challenge is to create the conditions that foster a sense of community, and to make the interactions feel and function like a classroom (via a new paradigm) where students feel and behave as if they are working together with a group of peers (Harasim, 1995 [97]).