Concepts of Effective Active Learning - Speech or Presentation Example

Instructional Technology 2 Interviewer: Through the years, Instructional Technology has developed, been popularized and involved more and new theories about effectual methods of education and learning. Since the 1920s, people, scientists, psychologists and others have come, gone and contributed to the continuous development of this field. It is now time to have a deeper understanding of and more knowledge about the people behind the progress of instructional technology. John Dewey, author of the School and Society and Experience and Education among others, is one of the key theorists of instructional technology. He established Chicago Laboratory School, one of the first of its kind, to test his educational theories and their social implications. Let us find out more about his contributions and their impact in the society. John Dewey: I have developed several educational theories for the purpose of having better and more efficient teaching methods. Ever since, I have been against authoritarian methods of teaching and I believe that teachers should have a greater role than just teaching or merely educating the students- they should be role models who also inspire the youth who are under their supervision. I also believe that including things that interest children the most is a better motivation than using rewards and punishments in teaching. I have come up with something that I refer to as informal education which promotes the involvement and exposure of students to activities that could help them gain experience, and stimulate their thinking skills and be able to reflect on the significance of the undergone activities. This way, learning will be more than just fun and amusing, but also something that could better prepare the students for the future. The learning theory I have developed came to be known as functionalism and it encouraged mental testing and stressed studies of adaptive behavior (Clark, 1999). Interviewer: John Dewey, indeed has contributed much to the development of instructional technology. The educational theory he has developed is still used in a lot of educational institutions today. And after having understood Mr. Dewey's contribution, it is now time to look at the case in another perspective and learn about another leader in the field. Here is the man who supported Mr. Dewey's theory of functionalism and has strongly advocated educational measurement, Mr. Edward L. Thorndike. What do you think are your most important contributions to instructional technology Edward Thorndike: First of all, I have fought for my belief that instruction should pursue specified and socially useful goals. And in addition to what has already been mentioned, I have supported John Dewey's functionalism theory and have added a stimulus-response component and called it connectionist, which has become an educational requirement. Also, I am one of the pioneers of active learning that flouted the use of lectures in thinking. Like a lot of other theorists, I don't believe that lectures are effective methods as these limit the interaction to trying to make the student understand a lecture without the assurance that he will be able to comprehend and retain what have been discussed. So instead, I have devised some conditions to maximize learning. One is the law of effect which states that recurrence of a response depends on the consequence or effect, in the form of reward or punishment. Another is the law of recency which states that the most recent response is likely to govern the recurrence. Lastly, the law of exercise which states that the stimulus-response associations are strengthened through repetition. One of the well-known theories that I have developed is the "Identical Elements Theory of the Transfer of Training" where the amount of transfer between the familiar and the unfamiliar one is determined by the number of elements that the two situations have in common (Clark, 1999). Interviewer: While Mr. Thorndike focused on maximizing active learning and educational measurement, someone involved with operant conditioning, and individualized and programmed instruction is next to explain his own involvement in the development of the field of instructional technology. Can you please explain the concepts that I've mentioned to give a background of your inputs in this field Burrhus Frederick Skinner: To begin with, operant conditioning is a type of learning that involves rewards and punishments which I believe could explain the most complex of human behaviors. The Behaviorism and Programmed Instruction movement sprang from the theory of reinforcement. Programmed Instruction is characterized by clearly stated behavioral objectives, small frames of instruction, self-pacing, active learner response to inserted questions, and immediate feedback regarding the correctness of a response. Individualized instruction can be print-based, computer-based, or can use other media as long as the instruction is based on the concepts listed. Without going further into details about those two types of instruction, I'd like to discuss one of the major innovations in the history of instructional; technology. In 1958, I built a rote-and-drill teaching machine because I wanted something that could solve my problem regarding students who look at the answers ahead of time since individualized instruction was previously presented in book form. This is a device that houses, displays and presents printed programmed instructions and feedback is given when the program is advanced through actuation of a lever and the correct answer comes to view. I, personally, believe that the teaching machine is a good instructional tool to reinforce learning. I believe the ideas that I have imparted have somehow helped in making programmed instruction more outcome-oriented to promote mental productivity among students (Clark, 1999). Interviewer: The invention of the teaching machine is, definitely, a milestone in the history of instructional technology. This is part of the modernization of the tools used in this field. From discussing about the different instructions and one type of learning, the next to share his works and ideas is the man who wrote the "Conditions of Learning" and co-developed "Instructional Learning Designs", Mr. Robert Gagne. Robert Gagne: As an experimental psychologist and because of my interests in learning and instructions, I have identified some events or guidelines that will help in choosing the design and the media to be used, for learning to occur. These include: gaining attention, telling learners the learning objective, stimulating recall, presenting the stimulus, content, providing guidance, relevance, and organization, eliciting the learning by demonstrating it, providing feedback on performance, assessing performance, give feedback and reinforcement, and enhancing retention and transfer to other contexts. I have also distinguished eight classes of situations in which human beings learn: signal learning, stimulus-response learning, chaining, verbal associations, discrimination learning, concept learning, rule learning and problem solving (Clark, 1999). Interviewer: Those were some of the leaders of instructional technology who have imparted so much of their knowledge by contributing much to the growth of this field through the theories they have developed and machines they have devised. Although there are others who also have major contributions to this field, the previous guests are believe to have some of the most outstanding and remarkable ideas. WORKS CITED Clark, Donald (1999). "Big Dog's HRD Page"". 12 April 2007 Read More