Learning Theories in a Digital Era

Theories provide the necessary frameworks and guidance in terms of practice. Learning theories are an attempt to help us understand how people learn. The human process of learning is a complex one. In this case, learning theories give direction to how teaching will take place in order to achieve the kind of learning that the teacher aspires pupils to master. Learning theories vary since there are such varied views about what constitutes effective learning. Ultimately, learning theories are bound by approaches to education and what is deemed "effective learning" within the context of our times.

It is therefore understandable that learning theories would change over time - new ones will be crafted and older ones might become less prominent. With the advances in educational technology and the immense influence of ICT on our society, it is evident that changes are occurring that affect how we view learning. In the digital era with its explosion of knowledge and vast expansive online social networks knowledge, learning has been affected in various ways. But before we hurry and start to embrace new theories we need to ask ourselves: Are we learning differently in the 21st Digital Era than in the pre-digital era? Are we required to learn for different reasons than what was in vogue before? Knowledge has seen an explosion, thus beckoning the question: What are we required to learn that is so different from what we had to know before the Digital Era?

With the above in mind, lets consider the learning theories that have come to the fore following the proliferation of ICT in our society. First, we need to understand the more traditional learning theories that existed before the rise of computers and ICT. This website explains it very clearly. For one, Bloom's taxonomy has been adapted for a digital realm. But before you can understand the Digital version of Bloom, you must first understand the original Bloom's Taxonomy, and then its adapted version. Do you indeed understand this taxonomy? If not, look at this website. And what about "Digital Bloom"? Here is a brief summary of what Web 2.0 tools can be used for which of Bloom's domains. For teachers, the question remains: How to use Bloom in the classroom? There are numerous resources to guide and aid teachers with the lessons plans, verbs for assessment, and other resources related to Bloom.

Apart from Bloom, other learning theories that are applicable to us in the 21st Century are Constructivism and Connectivism. Constructivism received a boost in 1990s after its initial inception in the 1908s. With an increase in the use of computers a greater interest in a constructivist approach to teaching and learning followed with an increase in the number of books and other research literature. The principles of Constructivism are:

• Constructivist learning environments provide multiple representations of reality.
• These representations represent that complexity of the real world.
• Knowledge construction is emphasized over knowledge reproduction.
• Authentic tasks are emphasized in meaningful context.
• Real world settings or case-based learning is provided.
• Thoughtful reflection on experience is encouraged.
• Enable context- and content- dependent knowledge construction.
• Supports collaboration and social negotiation among learners.
• Discovery learning
• Collaborative activity
• Integration and activation of prior knowledge
• Opportunities for hands-on activities

The challenge remains for any teacher who wishes to embrace a Construcitivist approach to teaching and learning how best to use educational technology to achieve this. For any student interested in embracing a constructivist approach to teaching and learning, the question is obvious: How must teaching be approached differently and what Web 2.0 tools can be used to allow learners to construct their own meaning while they learn. What does Constructivism look like in the Foundation Phase? Here is an example.

Connectivism is closely associated with the 21st Century in as far as it uses the vast expansive social networks that have become a norm following the popularization of Social Media. "Learning happens in social networks" can also mean that the community construct curricula. Teachers can surely use a wide array of Social Media channels offer by Web 2.0 technologies to benefit their teaching in a highly connected community of learners. It is worth looking at George Siemen's views.

In essence then, student teachers in pre-service training programs such as the B Ed Foundation Phase program offered at Teacher Education Campus, Siyabuswa must ask themselves how they will teach differently once they become teachers. Which learning theory will best suit you in the Foundation phase at a rural school in South Africa?