“Design collaborative/individual learning experiences based on learning principles and theories.“
Introduction
Information professionals safeguard and share information. In order to share information with our intended audiences, we need to do it in a way that will help them absorb it. In order to do this, we need to understand how people learn and what the best methods are to teach them. Research in the field of education shows that there are many ways to teach and many ways to learn. Grassian & Kaplowitz (2009) state that “There are probably as many different theories of learning as there are researchers and writers in the field.” They point out that many of these theories have things in common and that each theory has something to teach us. They group these theories into three categories: doing, thinking, and feeling. I will now discuss some prevalent learning theories that fit into each of these three categories.
Doing – Behaviorism
Behaviorism is based on the idea of reinforcing or rewarding desired behaviors and ignoring or not reinforcing behaviors that are not wanted. This kind of teaching has been used successfully for training dogs and other animals and has shown good results in humans as well. Behaviorism as applied in human education is more complex than training animals (Grassian & Kaplowitz, 2009). It involves having the learner repeatedly do the desired task or breaking down a complex skill into smaller tasks. It also often involves not advancing to the next task until the learner has shown mastery of the previous one. Modeling can also be a part of a behaviorist approach to education. This is where the teacher demonstrates how to do the task and the learner imitates the behavior. Behaviorist techniques are especially useful when teaching hands-on skills or subjects with concrete objectives like basic math and reading. It is also useful for teaching appropriate classroom behavior and hygiene skills like handwashing. Although a behaviorist approach seems like something that would only apply to young children, adults can also benefit from doing a hands-on task and being reinforced by the feeling of accomplishment they get from mastering that task. In information literacy training, this can be used to help a student learn to do research. An instructor can help the student break down the large task of research for a paper into smaller objectives, such as learning to use a specific database, analyzing a specific article, narrowing down a thesis, etc. Acknowledging when each task is accomplished and getting feedback for each task helps the student feel a sense of progress and makes them want to continue moving forward.
Thinking – Constructivism
Constructivism is one of several cognitive psychology theories of how people learn. Cognitive psychology focuses on how people recognize patterns and see how things are connected in order to learn and construct knowledge in their minds. This is more than the behaviorist approach of imitating or repeating tasks. It requires processing and connecting information to see the big picture and grasp abstract concepts. The constructivist theory is a counter to the Piaget theory, which claims that children go through different stages of intellectual development and cannot move on to the next stage unless they have mastered the previous one. Constructivists believe that learners “actively construct and reconstruct knowledge out of their experiences in the world” (Grassian & Kaplowitz, 2009). Personally, I think most children go through the stages of development in the order that Piaget outlines, but that they do so by constructing knowledge in the ways described by constructivists. I would not be surprised to find that some children may construct knowledge outside of the order that Piaget describes, because there is so much diversity in human minds and experiences.
When teaching information literacy using a constructivist approach, a teacher will want to evaluate each student’s readiness to learn the desired concepts. This could be in the form of a pretest or questionnaire, or an interview with each student. The teacher will want to make sure the student can build on what they already know to learn the new concept. The teacher acts as a guide, creating activities that will support the students in building new knowledge (Saunders & Wong, 2020).
Feeling – Humanism
Humanists believe that people learn best when they take an active interest in their own learning. Humanism is a holistic, or “whole-person” approach, meaning humanists recognize that other parts of a student’s life and well-being are interconnected with their learning. Humanists believe a person’s basic needs must be met before they are ready to learn (Grassian & Kaplowitz, 2009). They focus on what motivates a student to want to learn. An instructor taking a humanist approach will want to make sure the students feel good about the learning process and can integrate it into their own values. They will focus on giving the students choices and opportunities to explore the topics they desire in the ways that they desire. They will focus on helping the students want to learn because they value the knowledge and put less emphasis on rewards and grades. They will also have the students reflect on the learning process, why they chose what they did, and what worked and what didn’t.
Humanists may also find ways to make sure students have their basic needs met (Buckler, 2015). How to do this will depend on the situation the students are in, but it could include things like providing food or allowing them to eat in class, having fun activities that allow them to socialize and build friendships, or providing students with information about community services that can help them.
Items of Evidence
Evidence Item 1: Instructional Design Plan
This item is an instructional design plan I made for the course INFO 250: Instructional Design for Information Professionals. I made the plan for an instructor at a university, who wanted help designing online tutorials for using PowerNotes, a software for taking notes and saving research materials and citations. The plan includes instructional goals, characteristics of the learner and teacher, and a lesson plan, including how concepts will be taught and how learning will be assessed.
This item shows that I can plan out a lesson while considering the types of students and teachers involved, the context, and the subject material. It also shows that I can research existing learning materials and tools to aid the learning process.
Evidence Item 2: LibGuide and Instructional Video
This item is a pdf printout of a LibGuide website and a video I recorded to be part of that site. I created this as part of the lesson plan described in Item 1, for the course INFO 250: Instructional Design for Information Professionals. The LibGuide software, which I used to create the site, is commonly used in academic libraries to create guides and other helpful content for students, and I am glad I was able to experience using it. It is straightforward, and similar to other website creation software.
The video tutorial I created demonstrates how to use the PowerNotes software. This shows my ability to teach individuals how to use new software that is unfamiliar to them.
Evidence Item 3: Learning Theories: Humanism
This item is a discussion post I wrote for the course INFO 250: Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals. Here I describe the humanist approach to education and how it relates to my past learning and teaching experiences. Although other learning theories are also applicable to the learning process as I described above, I especially identify with the humanist approach, and am excited about giving learners an open-ended, self-directed learning experience.
Evidence Item 4: Hands-on Historical Learning
This item is a blog post I wrote for the course INFO 200: Information Communities. In it, I describe different ways that historical museums have developed to make historical learning more interactive and memorable to visitors. This shows the way that the humanist learning theory can be applied in a unique environment, and how learning experiences can be adapted for different learners. The museum environment is uniquely conducive to the humanist approach, because each visitor comes to a museum with a different goal in mind and different interests based on their own life experiences. When designing exhibits, museums must take this into account and design experiences that help visitors learn the concepts they are trying to teach.
Conclusion
I enjoy helping people learn new things that enhance their understanding of the world and build new skills that allow them to do their daily work more efficiently and effectively. Whether I am teaching a class, presenting at a conference, helping one-on-one with a research project, designing exhibits, or any other instructional materials, I will keep in mind the ideas I have learned from studying different learning theories and the experiences I have had as a learner myself. Staying up to date on learning theories means keeping track of new research in education and new methods and technology tools that people have come up with to educate learners, especially in the fields of information literacy and history. Some publications that will help me stay up to date include The Journal of Information Literacy and History Education Research Journal. The American Library Association and the Society of American Archivists also publish content on education topics.
References
Buckler, S. (2015). Humanist theories of education [Video]. Sage Knowledge. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473931923
Grassian, E. S. & Kaplowitz, J. R. (2009). The Psychology of Learning: The Theory Behind the Practice. In Information Literacy Instruction: Theory and Practice (2nd ed.). New York: Neal Schuman.
Saunders, L. & Wong, M. A. (2020). Learning Theories: Understanding How People Learn. In Instruction in Libraries and Information Centers: An Introduction. Windsor & Downs. https://doi.org/10.21900/wd.12