Learning in a Digital World Module 6

I believe learning must be meaningful in order to engage learners which follows the Meaningful Reception Learning Theory (Driscoll, 2008, p. 418). Learners want to obtain knowledge when they feel the knowledge will be essential or beneficial later in their career. Technology has given instructional designers and educators the ability to use various tools to engage learners.  Learners may be engage by asking open-ended questions that will generate discussion where learners can share experiences of how they transferred previous knowledge to accomplish a task. Instructional designers must realize that technology enables learners to use interactive tools such as blogs, SKYPE, Wikis, and discussion boards as part of online learning.

My personal theory of learning builds upon multiple theories and principles. The non-negotiable in teaching and learning factor are:

• Instructional material must be designed to accommodate the effects of the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML) which states the “visual/pictorial and auditory/verbal channel in working memory are extremely limited so a few items can be held or manipulated in each channel at one time” (Mayer, 2005, p. 170). A way to compensate for the effects of CTML is to use segmenting , pretraining and modality principles. The memory overload can be curtailed with modularity.
• The Four-Component Instructional Design (4C-ID) must be followed for complex tasks with includes learners task, supportive information, procedural information, and part-task practice (Mayer, 2005, p. 71).
• Learning must followed the multimedia principle which requires pictures and word instead of only words.

References

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Mayer, R. (2005). The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.