DR. ADAM MATTHEWS

How do we learn? How long is a piece of string?

The holy grail of people who deliver or create learning is a formula that can be followed and everyone will learn!

n2(kj+67p)= learning achievement

What do you think of that? I know my stuff now you know and that is how people learn. For every person that has revealed a PowerPoint slide with a very simple diagram with learning styles or a single quotation, they might as well have put n2(kj+67p)= learning achievement which of course I have totally made up.

I plan to write some blog articles that touch on some of the aspects of the academic social sciences and how these theories and findings can help to make learning better. Hopefully these will be useful for people who design and deliver learning, people who want to be good, effective learners – there’s a life skill we all need. Maybe you’re a multipotentialite and want to find new stuff to learn?  All the blog posts will be on the homepage and I will also link to them at the bottom of this article as I go.

There will be loads more that will be both anecdotal and academic. Of course I am only scratching the surface of some of the theory out there that I have stumbled upon. These are things that have resonated with me because they have interacted or clashed with my past experience and knowledge of learning and I have thought ahhhhh, that makes sense.

The learner and content… The relationship of the learner with media content is a fractious one.

Connectivism – the knowledge of the connected individual… Knowledge is everywhere. In a mobile phone, a fitness tracker and our brains. Not a science fiction film but the learning theory of connectivism.

Face to face and online learning… Online is just another medium which should be treated equally alongside it’s grandiose, moral high ground taking, well to do, face to face cousin.

Divide and conquer – grouping individuals… Dividing individuals into groups based on a multiple choice questionnaire is dangerous. The grouping of experts and novices may however be a good way to differentiate learning ‘styles’.

Cognitive load… It’s very easy to overload learners with information.We can reduce cognitive load.

Interactivity… Often learning is described as interactive. This has become an adjective for good learning. It’s interactive, it must be good. It’s not very interactive means that it’s not very good seems to be the discourse in the world of learning. So, what do we mean by interactive and what is interactivity?

Assessment… Words that strike fear into people – assessments, exams, appraisal, evaluation, tests! What is assessment and what is its purpose?