Learning Theories In The Digital Age

Importance of Learning Theories in the Digital Age:

Our personal beliefs about professional, social and cultural lives have been affected and transformed by the networking revolution. The world in which we work and teach has been particularly impacted by networking technologies. This 21st century is referred to as the knowledge age, a time in which knowledge has key social and economic value and today learners’ described as ‘net generation learners’ raised in the culture of the internet and web browsing as integral to socializing and work. Yet educational practices does not signify and reflect or address this new reality (Linda Harasim, 2012).

A. Learning theories:

Theory is an explanation for why something occurs or how it occurs. Typically

The behaviourists sees the mind as black box and largely irrelevant it means that learners sees as a passive than active in learning process. The behaviourist school of thought, influenced by Thorndike (1913), Pavlov (1927), and Skinner (1974).

Behaviourist Pedagogy:

Behaviourist pedagogy aims to promote and modify observable behaviour in people. Learning is considered as behaviour that demonstrates acquisition of knowledge or skills. Behaviourist theory evolve two major types of conditioning, i.e., Classical Conditioning which sees learning is associated with stimulus and response and Operant Conditioning which sees learning as elicit of response. To understand behaviourist pedagogy, we look at the following three techniques and models (Linda Harasim, 2012).

• Reward and Punishment: emphasis on reinforcement (positive and negative)

• Behavioral Instructional Design: emphasis on systematic planning and sequences

• Taxonomies of Learning: emphasis on the ability to analyses and deconstruct element by breaking down a task into smaller or chunks.

Behaviourist

According to constructivists view people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing and knowledge of the world and reflecting on those experiences, involve asking questions, exploring, engaging in dialogue with others and reassessing what we know. Learning is an active process of constructing rather than acquiring knowledge. The major perspectives associated with constructivists are: (i) cognitive constructivism (Piaget): how the individual learner understands the world in terms of biological developmental stages, (ii) Social constructivism (Vygotsky): emphasizes on how meanings and understandings grow out of social