The Concepts of Learning - Essay Example

Report of the of the Introduction This report is prepared with the aim of discussing three main concepts of learning which are motivation, communication and reflective practices. The theories and models of these three concepts are discussed in the paper along with a basic discussion regarding the definition, features and the advantages and disadvantages of the motivation, communication and reflective practices, respectively. The report is structured in three parts. Part 1 includes a discussion on motivation and motivational theories. Part 2 includes a discussion on communication and theories of communication. Part 3 includes a discussion on reflective practices, learning, learning styles and models of learning along with a discussion on reflective writing. The report is concluded by summarizing the overall insights from the write up. Part 1: Motivation Answer 1 Definition of motivation Motivation is a well-known and well defined theoretical construct that finds wide application in learning. It is a major construct that is used to define human behaviour. This involves both the internal as well as external factors that stimulate energy and desire among individuals or groups of people to be interested in any subject, role or job and remain committed and interested in the job, subject or role and also, to make suitable efforts to attain a particular goal. Motivation is considered to be a result of the interactions between the conscious and the unconscious factors within an individual. The factors that can create motivation are the expectations and personal objectives of a person of a group, the reward or incentive value of the objective and the intensity of the need or desire to attain the goal. These factors are the key deciders of motivation level within a person or a group because these are the basic reasons that a human being has for behaving in a particular manner. An example may be that a student gives extra time to study a particular subject in which he/she wants to get a good grade. Answer 2 The differences between inherent and extrinsic motivation
 Motivation can be segregated into two major types. These are inherent motivation and extrinsic motivation. Inherent motivation is that type of motivation which is driven by any interest or delight of the person in the assignment itself. Inherent motivation exists within a person and does not depend on the external factors and the desire for recognitions and rewards. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation comes from the influence of the external factors like recognitions, rewards as well as negative factors like punishment and misbehaviour. The factor of competition is an important extrinsic motivator because competition encourages a person to perform better and surpass the work of others instead of finding simple enjoyment from the inherent rewards of the work. Therefore, the basic difference between inherent motivation and extrinsic motivation is that inherent motivations are internal whereas extrinsic motivation is driven by external factors. Also, inherent motivation is a natural tendency and a critical component of social, cognitive and physical development. In contrast, extrinsic motivation is often forced or built through factors like the desire for rewards and recognition or the fear of misbehaviour or punishment. Answer 3 Theories of motivation Three needs Theory Figure 1: McClelland’s three needs theory of motivation (Source: Bratton & Gild, 2003, p.102). The three needs theory was proposed by a psychologist known as David McClelland. The three needs theory of motivation is a model that aims to explain how the different needs for power, achievement and affiliation among human beings affect their actions as evaluated in a managerial perspective. The three needs theory of motivation was developed in 1960. According to this model, there are three types of motivation that can be identified among human beings irrespective of their age, race, sex or culture. The motivation types of every human being are driven by the opinions formed on the basis of their backgrounds and cultures and the experiences that they have had in their lives. The three needs theory is an important motivational theory which is commonly used in management and organizational behaviour. The three needs for motivation as described under the McClelland Needs theory are the need for achievement, the need for affiliation and the need for power. Need for achievement: The people who are motivated through the desire for achievements typically like to master any situation or task. These individuals like to work on jobs that have moderate difficulty levels associated with them. These individuals also like to work in a situation where the results of the work are primarily based on their efforts and are lesser influenced by any other external factor. Also, they prefer to receive feedback for their contributions in the task field. The individuals who are achievement based prefer to work in situations with moderate risk and tend to avoid situations which many have high risk levels or low risk levels associated with them. In case of high risk situations, these people feel that the factors of luck would be more impactful than their personal efforts. On the other hand, in the case of low risk levels in the work, they tend to think that the work is too easy to add to their performances and to be valid. These kinds of personalities are motivated through the accomplishment of goals by the use of their own efforts and are also motivated by external factors like the existence of an employment hierarchy in which there is an appropriate availability of promotional scopes and positions. Need or affiliation: These types of people can be motivated through the factors of community involvement and acceptance and acknowledgment, These individuals who have a need for affiliation and recognition often prefer to maintain social relationships, feel an inherent desire to be accepted and recognized, exercise several efforts for creating and maintaining a social position and enjoys being part of any team or group. These kinds of individuals like to adhere to the established norms and rules related to culture in the workplace and typically are not likely to challenge or modify these norms. This adherence is largely based on the fear of non-acceptance or rejection. These types of people prefer collaboration and cooperation more than competition and prefer situations which do not involve high uncertainty or which are highly risky. These people have a high need for affiliation which means they are much focused on developing social relationships through effective communication, interaction and collaboration. Need for power: The need for power is a motivational need which is built up from the desire of a power to encourage or influence others. These groups of people tend to enjoy work and often attach a high value of work with discipline as a key factor of work. However, these people are often a single player in the field and not good at team work. This results in the wining of one member of the team but often a loss for the other members or for the whole team itself. However, the need for power can be applied in a positive manner in order to attain group objectives and to support other members in the group to feel more skilled and competent. A person motivated by the need for power often likes to influence others, enjoy status recognitions and acceptances, winning in competitions and in arguments as well. These people feel that a continuous urges to improve them because of an inner desire for creating an impressive personal status. Thus, it is much easy to maintain the motivation level of the people who are motivated by the need for power. Equity Theory of motivation Figure 2: Equity theory of motivation (Source: Bratton & Gild, 2003, p.94) The equity theory of motivation is a theory which attempts to explain and establish relational satisfaction among personnel through the development of the perceptions of the fair an unfair distributions of amiable resources among the interpersonal relationships. The equity theory was developed by John Stacey Adams in the year 1963. The model went on to become a significant theory of motivation which is applicable even in the modern evolved management situations. According to this theory of motivation, employees seek to achieve and maintain a balance between the inputs that they give into a work and the results or outcomes that they get out of the job as compared to the perceived and actual results of other employees. The theory is based on the belief that most people give more value to fair treatment which makes them motivated to maintain adequate justified and fair behaviours within the relationships with their colleagues and the organization as a whole unit. The structure of equity within an organization is based on the proportion of inputs with the outputs from a job role or a simple task. Inputs refer to the contributions made by an employee into the organization as a part of their job responsibilities. Outputs, on the other hand, refers to the benefits that the employees receive from the organization. The equity theory of motivation consists of four basic propositions. These are given as follows: Individual workers aim to maximize the outcomes or benefits received from the organization. Outcome here can be defined as the costs deducted from the rewards of the job., Groups of workers aim to maximize the outcomes and collective rewards through the development of fair and acceptable systems for ensuring equitable appropriating costs and rewards among all the members of the group. The equity system is necessary for being evolved within the individual as well as group of individuals. As per the equity theory of motivation, the only possible way in which groups can influence an equitable behaviour within the group members is by making it possible for the members to get more outcomes from the organization by behaving in an equitable manner than by behaving in an inequitable manner. In this way, the groups of people can reward the members who display a suitable level of equitability and increase the cost or punishment for the members who display an inequitable behaviour towards the other members of the group. When the individual members of a group would find themselves displaying inadequate equitable behaviours and participating in relations that are inequitable, they often become more distressed. It is established by the equity theory of motivation that the more inequitable a relationship will be the higher would be the distress associated with each of the members of the group. As per the equity theory of motivation, the individual who gets too less is likely to feel distressed. But surprisingly, the individual who gets too much from the relationship or the organization is also likely to be more distressed. The individual who gets too little often feels humiliated or angry which results in lower motivation levels. On the other hand, the individual who gets too much also suffers from distress caused by shame or guilt. Both these cases can lead to the loss of equitable relations and cause significant negative impacts on the motivation level of the groups in a work place. The individuals of a group who perceive that they exist within inequitable relationships often try to reduce their distress level by trying to restore the factor of equity in their workplace relationships and workplace activities. The higher the inequity would be, the more would be the chances of individuals feeling more distressed and this feeling would push them to restore equity within the group. Expectancy theory of motivation Figure 3: Vrooms expectancy theory of motivation (Source: Bratton & Gild, 2003, p.99). Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation is a common motivational theory which proposes that any individual decides to act or behave in a specific manner because they are driven or motivated to select any specific action or behaviour over the other actions or behaviours corresponding to the situation, due to which these individuals expect that the result of selecting a particular action or behaviour will be beneficial. In short, the desirability of the result is the main decider of the motivation of the section of action or behaviour by an individual. The expectancy theory of motivation is based on the core underlying principle of the cognitive process of any individual in which he/she process a wide number of motivational elements available to him/her. The comparison of the outcome and the behaviour is done in this cognitive process and is usually completed before the individual makes his ultimate choice. The result in this type of job or situation is not the only decider of the behaviour of the individuals involved. A comparison between the benefits versus efforts is done as a part of the cognitive behavioural process of the individual. Part 2: Communication
 Answer 1 Definition of communication Communication refers to the activity of exchanging or conveying information through the two way transfer of ideas, intentions, feelings, expectations, attitudes, commands and perceptions through verbal and non-verbal ways. Communication can be facilitated by verbal gesture or non-verbal channels like writings etc. and is also possible by some other channels involving physical, chemical or electromagnetic phenomena. Communication refers to the meaningful exchange of data and information either between two parties or more than two parties. The process of communication requires one sender, one receiver and a channel of transmission. Communication involves three key steps which are thought in which information is formulated in the mind of the sender, encoding in which the message is sent to the receiver in the form of word or other symbols and decoding in which the receiver or translates the message into words or symbols that can be understood. Answer 2 Difference between non-verbal and verbal communication Though both verbal and non-verbal communication is ways of interaction, yet there are primary differences between the two. Verbal communication is the communication which is done through speech by the use of a system of symbols and grammars. Nonverbal communication refers to the transmission of message through any other channel except speech. The main difference between these two lies in the channel of communication. Verbal communication generally involves the use of words exchanged over a medium, either face to face or over the phone or any other channel. In nonverbal communication, words are not used. This type of communication is based on gestures, pictures and drawings that have visual impact, eye contact, pitch etc. The advantages and disadvantages of each The advantage of verbal communication is that this form of communication is simple and is generally less expensive. This form of communication allows the scope of giving and receiving feedback in real time situations and also creates scopes for immediate correction or rectification in case of any mistakes are identified within the communication. It is also time saving as the messages are delivered instantly. Additionally, the level of contact between the sender and the receiver is much higher than that in non-verbal communication. The disadvantages of verbal communication include scopes of misunderstanding of the actual message that is communicated between the sender and the receiver, the tone of voice and the facial expressions of the communicators may impact the communication level to a certain extent. The advantages of non-verbal communication are that it makes it easy to communicate with a person who has any speech or hearing deficiency, it fosters long distance communication in situations where the receiver can see but not hear the sender, it can make a conversation brief and it is a useful way of communicating with a receiver who does not understand the language of the sender. The disadvantages of non-verbal communication are that long conversations are not possible, the particulars of a message cannot be discussed, and it is less influential and cannot be used as a public technique of communication. Answer 3 Three different theories of Communication Lasswell, Shannon and Weaver’s models Figure 4: Lasswell, Shannon and Weaver’s model of communication (Source: Jarvis, 2003, p.230) Lasswell, Shannon and Weaver’s model of communication is related to communication and the role of communication in the society. As per the initial model developed by Lasswell, there are three main functions of communication. These are given as follows: Surveillance of the environment. Correlation of the elements of a society. Cultural transmission among generations. This model proposes that message flows with a multicultural society among multiple audiences and that the flow is done through various distinct channels. Shannon and Weaver further developed on this model by propagating that a speaker usually selects a suitable message among a number of possible messages. Then this selected message is transferred via channel and is changed into signals. The receiver of the message receives the signals and decodes them to understand them. In this model, the component of communication is called control analysis. There are other factors like content analysis, media analysis, audience analysis and effect analysis as considered in the model. Schramm’s circular model of communication Figure 5: Schramm’s model of circular communication (Source: Jarvis, 2003, p.240) Schramm’s model of communication is a circular model which propagates communication to be a construct of circular nature. This model involves the encoder who is responsible for sending the message by encoding the message, the decoder who is responsible for receiving the message and decoding it and the interpreter who is a person who tries to analyse, understand, perceive and interpret the message. As per this model, a continuous process of interpretation goes on from the beginning to the receipt of the message. This model aims at breaking the sender-receiver theory of communication and says that communication is a practical phenomenon which can have many dimensions. Berlo’s S-M-C-R model Figure 6: Berlo’s SMCR model of communication (Source: Jarvis, 2003, p.244) The Berlo’s model is not specifically tailored for any particular type of communication. It is useful to interpret both verbal and nonverbal communications. Berlo’s model of communication is developed with a number of factors that can exist within each element considered for effective communication in the model. The main factors are source, channel, message and receiver. These elements are discussed as follows: Source: source is the place from where the message has originated. Communication skills: This element refers to the skills of an individual to communicate through the ability to speak, read, write, listen etc. Attitudes: This element refers to the attitude towards the subject and the audience in the process of communication. Knowledge: This element is the knowledge about the message or the subject which is to be communicated. Social system: The social system includes a number of factors of the society like the values, culture, belief, religion etc. that add to the effectiveness of the communication. The message as an element consists of a number of factors like content of messages, treatment of messages, structuring and coding of the messages. The factor of channel may include the five senses that human beings use for communication. These are hearing, touching, seeing, tasting and smelling. The sender and receiver are also significant elements included in this model. This model proposes that for an effective commutation it is necessary to ensure that the sender and the receiver are on the same level of communication. 
Part 3: Reflective practice
 Answer 1 Definition of reflective practice
 Reflective practice is the practice of reflecting on an action with the aim of engaging in a process which supports continues learning. Reflective practice can be defined as the capacity of reflecting on any action to ensure higher level of continuous learning. Also, reflective practice can be defined as the process of paying critical attention to the practically implementable theories and values which inform regular day to day actions through the examination of different practices reflexively and reflectively. The process of reflective learning leads the way to developmental insights and can be considered to be an important tool that is commonly used in practice based professional learning and development. The practice based learning setting fosters an environment in which individuals are enabled to learn from their individual learning experiences which is in contract to a formal learning setting in which the individual learns through formal processes of knowledge transfer and teaching. Purpose of Reflection Refection is an active process through which a professional aims at gaining an understanding of how the social, personal, cultural and historical experiences have impacted as well as contributed to the professional learning, knowledge and practices of the professional. The purpose of reflection is to assimilate the past and present leanings and experiences and derive knowledge from them., Reflection also helps a person to understand how much he has learned in the process and what have been the necessary inputs and outputs from the whole process of learning. Another main purpose of reflection is to create the scope for the use of feelings, judgments, perceptions and beliefs along with the learning from the experiences of a person. Reflection is a process of self-enquiry which when done properly empowers an individual to identify effective and desirable practices that he can use within the reflective spiral involved in personal learning as well as transformation. Reflection helps one to look back on a situation, think over it, analyse it and learn from it in order to create new knowledge that can be beneficial for a person in similar situations that may be faced in the future. The process aims at turning simple experiences and actions into a learning which is meaningful and has some sort of associated experiential value with it. Reflection encourages a person to become aware of his/her intellectual thoughts and affective feelings that can be related to a particular action or experience. In short, reflection is purposeful activity the main aims of which are to gain new ideas, new insights and understanding of a situation through standing back and looking into a situation to evaluate the experience and analyse the outcomes from it. Features of Reflective writing Reflective writing acts as a link between a learner and his course. In a reflective position of writing, the context is considered along with which the personal position of the learner, the philosophies and inbuilt concepts of the learner as well as the personal viewpoints and understandings of the learner are used in some way. Reflective writing helps to create a bond within the learner and his course of learning and adds to the learning outcomes through the integration of the personal viewpoints and the reflective opinion of the learners. Some features are extremely significant on reflective writing. These include what to think about. The learner has to explore the prior experiences of his life while embarking on the reflective writing. The cultural and other experiences are significant in shaping up a person’s views and objectives. Therefore, one of the main features of reflective writing is that it involves the linking of the learning ideas with the personal experiences and knowledge of the writers. Reflective writing also involves discussing how the learning from a course can help the person in his future direction of life and how he plans to apply these earnings in the future. Logic, experience, judgment, personal opinion is important keywords in reflective writing. Pedagogical implications and theoretical constructions are equally significant. Answer 2 Definition of Kolb’s theory of learning Kolb’s theory of learning was devised by Kolb in the year 1984. This theory defines four main learning style or preferences that are displayed by individuals or groups of people. These four learning styles are distinct and are developed on the basis of a learning cycle which involves four different stages. The Kolb’s model of experiential learning is used to understand the learning styles of individuals and also provides and explanation for the established experiential learning cycle that can be applied to all types of individual learning. The four stage learning cycle formulated by Kolb includes an argument that an individual learner goes through a spiral path of immediate experiences and reflections on these experiences in his/her overall learning process. These reflections are subsequently absorbed by the individuals and associated with the existing knowledge and previous experiences in order to translate these experiences into abstract theories or concepts. These abstract theories and concepts then result in the creation of new actions and ways of adjusting to experiences which can be further explored and tested. The four phases in the cycle of experiential earning are given as follows: The stage of Concrete Experience or CE The stage of Reflective Observation or RO The stage of Abstract Conceptualization or AC The stage of Active Experimentation or AE Figure 4: Kolb’s Learning Model (Source: Jarvis, 2003, p.244) Concrete Experience (CE): This stage of the Kolb’s learning model focuses on the personal involvement with individuals in the day to day situations. The concrete experience stage involves more reliance on the part of the learners on feelings and emotions for learning rather than on the formal and systematic approaches to situations and problems. In the concrete experience stage, the learner usually depends on his ability to be flexible and adaptable to change and also be open minded about absorbing new concepts and experiences. Reflective Observation (RO): In the reflective observation stage of the Kolb’s learning model, the learner is expected to understand and assimilate situations and ideas for varied points of view. In this stage, the learning individual has to depend extensively in objectivity, patience and judgment but would not be expected to take any concrete action based on these. This stage mainly involves the formation of ideas with respect to the existing and changing situations. Abstract Conceptualization (AC): The Abstract conceptualization stage involves the use of logic, theories and ideas more than that of feelings and experiences in order to understand situations or problems. In this stage, the learner learns in the basis of systematic planning and the development of ideas and theories is fostered with the aim of solving problems. This stage deals with the formation of strategies and learning. Active Experimentation (AE): The active experimentation stage is based on an active form of conducting experiments with shifting situational factors. The individual who is learning has to take up a practical stance and try to be concerned with the ways of solving a problem. The learner has to get involved in the situation and not simply watch or reflect on the situation. How reflective writing fits in this theory The Kolb’s learning model is a well-designed and functional model of experiential learning. This offers ways to assimilate the different learning styles of individual learners as well as it provides with an explanation of the experiential learning cycle which finds a number of applications in learning among students as well as learning in the work places. Reflective writing is an integral part of the Reflective Observation (RO) stage of the Kolb’s learning model. This stage is specifically based on reflective practices and needs the use of a number of reflective features including reflective writing. Reflecting on the experiences and learning is an important part of this stage of the model. Therefore, reflective writing as a significant part of reflective practices is of much integral importance in the Reflective Observation (RO) stage of the Kolb’s learning model. Conclusion Motivation, communication and reflective practices are interrelated concepts that are of high importance in the domain of learning. All these three concepts are intricately embedded into the processes of imparting and receiving learning. These concepts are not only useful in teaching and learning for the students but they are also equally significant in the learning and development processes of employees in workplaces. In total, these three concepts act as the foundation for building up an effective learning process. References Bratton, J. & Gild, J. (2003). Human resource management: theory and practice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Jarvis, P. (2003). The theory of practice and learning. London: Kogan Page. Read More