What is Learning?

Learning Outcomes

• At the end of this lesson, you should be able to construct your own definition of learning.
• At the end of this lesson, you should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Learner-centered Teaching.

Definitions of Learning

• Learning is generally defined as any change in the behavior of the learner.
• Learning is a process that brings together personal and environmental experiences and influences for acquiring, enriching or modifying one's knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, behavior and world views
• Burns (1995) defined learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior with behavior including both observable activity and internal process such as thinking, attitudes, and emotions.
• Santrock (2012) defined learning as a relatively permanent influence on behavior, knowledge, and thinking skills that comes about through experiences.
• Woolfolk (2016) asserts that learning occurs when experience (including practice) causes a relatively permanent change in an individual's knowledge, behavior or potential for behavior.

Definition Elements

• The definition of learning covers elements:
• It is a long-term change, though it is not necessarily lasting forever.
• The change is brought about by experience.
• It does not include changes that are physiological like maturation, mental illness, fatigue, hunger, etc.
• It involves mental representation or association, presumably, it has its basis in the brain.

Teaching

• Teaching activities are designed and performed to produce change in student behavior.

Facilitator

• A facilitator is a person or thing that makes an action or process easy or easier.

Types of Teaching

• There are two main types of teaching:
  • Teacher-centered
  • Learner-centered

Why The Shift?

• A shift is needed from teacher-centered to student-centered teaching for the following:
• To produce students who are good critical thinkers, problem solvers, and creative thinkers
• Due to the explosion of information, making sense of it is necessary, not just memorization
• To improve student engagement and ownership of learning

Research on Learner-Centered Methods

• Research shows that learner-centered methods lead to increased student engagement, deep learning, and long-term retention.
• Learner-centered methods lead to the acquisition of critical thinking or creative problem-solving skills, a positive attitude towards the subject being taught, and confidence in knowledge or skills.

Learner-Centered Teaching

• Learner-centered teaching focuses attention on what the student is learning, how the student is learning, the conditions under which the student is learning.
• Learner-centered teaching considers whether the student is retaining and applying learning and how current learning positions the students for future learning.
• Learner-centered approaches shift the focus of activity from the teacher to the learners.
• Learner-centered approaches emphasize what the learners do as opposed to what the teacher does.
• Learner-centered approaches focus on skills and practices in lifelong learning, creative thinking, and independent problem-solving.
• It insists that learners actively construct their own knowledge.

Teacher-Centered vs Student-Centered Learning

• Knowledge:
  • Teacher-centered learning involves knowledge transmitted from instruction.
  • Student-centered learning involves knowledge constructed by students.
• Student Participation:
  • Teacher-centered learning is passive.
  • Student-centered learning is active.
• Role of Lecturer:
  • The role of the lecturer or teacher in teacher-centered learning is Leader/Authority.
  • In student-centered learning, the role of the teacher is facilitator/partner in learning.
• Role of Assessment:
  • In teacher-centered learning, assessment involves few tests, mainly for grading.
  • In student-centered learning, assessment involves many tests for ongoing feedback.
• Emphasis:
  • Teacher-centered learning emphasizes learning correct answers.
  • Student-centered learning emphasizes developing deeper understanding.
• Assessment Method:
  • Teacher-centered learning uses one-dimensional testing.
  • Student-centered learning uses multidimensional testing.
• Academic Culture:
  • Teacher-centered learning has a competitive, individualistic academic culture.
  • Student-centered learning has a collaborative, supportive academic culture.

Learner-Centered Teaching Actions

• Learner-centered teaching:
  • Motivates students by knowing them
  • Engages students in the process of learning
  • Includes explicit skill instruction
  • Reflects on what they are learning
  • Encourages collaboration
  • Evaluates student's hypothesis

Learner-Centered Teaching Characteristics

• Teaching and learning are personalized, giving interest and aspirations to individual students.
• Teachers have options for structuring learning environments that suit them and their students.
• Teachers make optimal use of available facilities.
• Students have learned the knowledge and skills, and students have the flexibility to learn.
• Learners learn anytime and anywhere and students are given opportunities to learn in their own way.
• Students need to have a clear idea, instructions must be easy to understand and comprehensive.
• When students evaluate their own work, it helps them master the subjects.
• Students working in groups are more involved in activities because there are opportunities for discussion and assisting peer students.
• Students can work on various activities based on their own needs and interests.
• Learning-centered is an adaptable instructional tool.

Benefits of Student-Centered Learning

• Student-centered learning permits opportunities to connect the content to real life.
• Student-centered learning provides chances for higher-order thinking as opposed to passive listening.
• Student-centered learning promotes greater student-faculty and student-student interaction, and increases student retention.
• Student-centered learning can improve student's self-esteem and provides for improvement of social interaction skills, greater acceptance of others, and a greater sense of "community" in the class.
• Student-centered learning encourages alternative forms of assessment.
• Student-centered learning encourages innovation in both teaching and student involvement.

Group Learning Activities

• Group activity through creating a metaphor/simile for learning, explaining why it represents learning.
• Group activity through creating a Frozen scene (Tableau) that represent your definition of Learning in a physical, visual way. A student reaching for a book while others help (collaborative learning). A teacher guiding a student toward light (Learning as enlightenment).

Group Learning Rubrics

• Creativity and Originality (25 pts) - The metaphor/Tableau is highly creative, original, and deeply insightful.
• Clarity & Explanation (25 pts) - The metaphor/Tableau is clearly explained with a strong, well-developed connection to learning.
• Relevance to Learning (25 pts) - The metaphor/Tableau strongly reflects a deep understanding of learning.
• Presentation & Engagement (25 pts) - The student presents confidently, engaging the audience with enthusiasm.

Learning Outcomes For Metacognition

• At the end of this lesson, students should be able to explain metacognition in their own words.
• At the end of this lesson, students should be able to apply metacognitive strategies in their own quest for learning as a novice or an expert learner.

Metacognition

• Metacognition is the awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.
• It involves thinking about how you think, learn, and solve problems.
• John Flavell coined the term “metacognition”.
• According to Flavell (1979, 1987), metacognition consists of both "metacognitive knowledge” and "metacognitive experiences" or regulation.
• Metacognition is simply put as thinking about thinking or learning how to learn.

Metacognitive Knowledge

• Metacognitive knowledge refers to acquired knowledge about cognitive processes.
• Metacognitive knowledge is knowledge that can be used to control cognitive processes.
• Metacognitive knowledge is understanding what you know and how you learn.

Categories of Metacognitive Knowledge

• Person variables include how one views themself as a learner and thinker and how human beings learn and process information.
• Task variables include knowledge about the nature of the task as well as the type of processing demands that it will place upon the individual. It knows what exactly needs to be accomplished.
• Strategy variables involve awareness of the strategy you are using to learn a topic and evaluating whether this strategy is effective.

Meta-Attention

• Meta-attention refers to the awareness of specific strategies so that you can keep your attention focused on the topic or task at hand.
• Eliminating distractions and taking breaks are examples of meta-attention.

Meta-Memory

• Meta-memory is awareness of memory strategies that work best for you.
• Mnemonic devices, self-testing, and chunking information are examples of meta-memory.

Metacognition Practice

• Metacognition practice involves knowing the limits of one's own learning and memory capacities.
• Metacognition practice knowing what learning tasks one can realistically accomplish within a certain amount of time.
• Metacognition practice involves knowing which learning strategies are effective and which are not.
• Metacognition practice involves planning an approach to a learning task that is likely to be successful.
• Metacognition practice involves using effective learning strategies to process and learn new material, and monitoring one's own knowledge and comprehension.
• Metacognition practice also involves knowing when information has been successfully learned and when it's not, and using effective strategies for retrieval of previously stored information.

Huit on Metacognition.

• Huitt believes that metacognition includes the ability to ask and answer the following types of questions:
  • What do I know about this subject, topic, issue?
  • Do I know what I need to know?
  • Do I know where I can go to get some information, knowledge?
  • How much time will I need to learn this?
  • What are some strategies and tactics that I can use to learn this?
  • Did I understand what I just heard, read or saw?
  • How will I know if am learning at an appropriate rate?
  • How can I spot an error if I make one?
  • How should I revise my plan if it is not working to my expectations/satisfactions?

Metacognitive Strategies

• Metacognitive awareness was evident in preschoolers and in students as young as eight years old, according to researchers like Fang and Cox.
• The challenge for future teachers is to integrate activities that build a student's capacity to reflect on their characteristics as learners (self-knowledge), the task they are to do (task knowledge) and the strategies that they can use to learn (strategic knowledge).

Teaching Strategies

• Teaching strategies to develop metacognition:
  • Have students monitor their own learning and thinking; have a student monitor a peer's learning/thinking/behaving in dyad.
  • Teach students study or learning strategies.

TQLR Learning Strategy

• TQLR is a metacognitive strategy that can be taught to youngsters before listening to a story or presentation.
  • T is for TUNE IN – It is first important for the learner themselves to be aware that they are paying attention, and that they are ready to learn.
  • Q is for QUESTION – The learner is given questions, or they think of questions about what they will soon learn.
  • L is for LISTEN – The learner then intentionally exerts effort to listen. They become aware if they are momentarily detracted and goes back to listen again.
  • R is for REMEMBER – The learner uses ways or strategies to remember what was learned.

PQ4R Learning Strategy

• PQ4R is a learning strategy usually for older students (Intermediate levels and onward)
  • P is for PREVIEW – Scan the whole chapter before delving on each paragraph. Check out objectives, look for outlines, or advance organizer that will give you an idea about the important topics in the chapter. Read the summary(Read the whole chapter).
  • Q is for QUESTION – Read the guide questions provided or think of your own questions about the topic.
  • R is for READ – Check out subheadings as you read. Pay attention to words that are printed in bold or italicized. Find out meaning of words that are not clear to you. Use a marker to highlight important words or phrases, but do not highlight the whole paragraph.
  • R is for RECITE – Work on answering the questions you created earlier.
  • R is for REVIEW – Pinpoint topics you may need to go back to and read to understand better.
  • R is for REFLECT – Think about what you read: Is it clear? What are the key points, How is it relevant or useful?

Additional Teaching Strategies

• Have students make predictions about information to be presented next based on what they have read.
• Have students relate ideas to existing knowledge structures; it is important to have relevant, well-learned knowledge structures.
• Encourage students to develop and ask questions of themselves about their environment, such as "Have you asked a good question today?"
• Help students recognize when to ask for help, requiring them to self-monitor and demonstrate their attempts to address the problem independently.
• Show students how to transfer knowledge, attitudes, values, and skills to other situations or tasks.

Self Reflection Questions

• Consider these points as you reflect:
  • How do I learn best?
  • Do I prefer studying alone or in groups? Why?
  • What subjects or topics do I excel in? Why?
  • What study techniques have worked well for me in the past?
  • What challenges do I face in learning, and how do I usually deal with them?
  • What type of learner am I?

Novice and Expert Learners

• Aspect: Knowledge in different subjects
  • Novice Learners = have limited knowledge in different subject areas.
  • Expert Learners = have deeper knowledge as they look for inter-relationships in the subjects they learn.
• Aspect: Problem solving
  • Novice Learners = are satisfied at just scratching the surface, hurriedly giving a solution to the problem.
  • Expert Learners = first try to understand the problem, look for boundaries, and create a mental picture of the problem.
• Aspect: Learning/thinking strategies
  • Novice Learners = employ rigid strategies that may be appropriate to the task at hand.
  • Expert Learners = design new strategies that would be appropriate to the task at hand.
• Aspect: Selectivity in processing
  • Novice Learners = attempt to process all the information they receive.
  • Expert Learners = select important information to process, able to breakdown information to manageable chunks.
• Aspect: Production of output
  • Novice Learners = do not examine the quality of their work or stop to make revisions.
  • Expert Learners = check their errors and redirect their efforts to maintain a quality output.