The Nature of Learning: The 7 Principles of Learning, Infography

The 7 Principles of Learning

The Nature of Learning:

Learners at the center

The learning environment recognizes the learners as its core participants, encourages their active engagement and develops in them an understanding of their own activity as learners. In elearning:

• To ensure that the learner is at the heart of online training, it is important to avoid elearning rhyming with e-teaching. That is to say that an online course should not take over the formula of a lecture given in a traditional classroom. If the online course includes a presentation by the teacher or another speaker, it should be designed and presented in the “online” format, that is, broken down into shorter segments that can be accompanied by presentations on an interactive whiteboard, and interspersed with, for example, pedagogical exercises in the form of microlearning, discussions or other types of teacher-learner or learner-learner exchanges. In short, it is essential to take into account the particular context of the online environment where the learner is alone in front of his or her screen and to exploit the possibilities of digital technology so that he or she feels challenged, supported and motivated throughout the training.
• Personalized learning is, of course, a form of learner-centred approach and its most high-tech version is certainly “intelligent” adaptive learning. This type of training made possible by artificial intelligence, however, needs to be refined and is still not accessible to the greatest number of people. Even when it becomes more effective and accessible, human intervention by the teacher or trainer — a role that is being defined in the online environment — should remain essential. They will then be able to focus on the more complex human aspects of their work with learners.

Learner-centred teaching

Stretching all students

https://teach2030.com/stretch-your-classroom-with-practical-active-learning/ Stretch Your Classroom with Practical Active Learning - Teach2030As part of this month's Teach 2030 focus on Practical Active Learning, we meet Oluwatosin, a science teacher in Nigeria, and one of our Ambassadors....Teach2030https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/stretch-and-challenge-in-your-classroom/

Emotions are integral to learning

Why emotions are integral to learningTeachers intuitively know that neither their nor their students’ learning is steady and constant, the same day in and day out and moment to moment, consistent from topic to topic.Why emotions are integral to learning Rather, we all have good and bad days; moments of excitement, engagement, and inspiration and moments of disappointment, disengagement, and frustration; afternoons just before vacation and mornings just after; some skills and topics that we find interesting and some that we don’t. These differences influence how children learn and how teachers teach; they even affect what students know at a given time. “In short, learning is dynamic, social, and context dependent because emotions are, and emotions form a critical piece of how, what, when, and why people think, remember, and learn.” (Seen on: www.kqued.org, 2017) The learning professionals within the learning environment are highly attuned to the learners’ motivations and the key role of emotions in achievement. In elearning:

• It should be noted that for the OECD, emotions and motivation are the first pillars of learning. Contrary to popular belief, the virtual context of elearning is not necessarily a brake on the emergence of emotions. On the contrary, some of its tools can even encourage the manifestation of positive learning emotions. This is the case with tools that allow for interaction and collaboration, but also with educational video scenarios that present realistic situations that learners can identify with. To be effective, however, they must be produced with great professionalism (scriptwriting, acting, directing, etc.). As for the presence of the teacher, trainer or any other intervening party, it is desirable that it be marked by warmth and empathy. (Lupeanu, 2021b)

Buiding horizontal connection

Building Horizontal Connections The learning environment strongly promotes “horizontal connectedness” across areas of knowledge and subjects as well as to the community and the wider world. A key feature of learning is that complex knowledge structures are built up by organizing more basic pieces of knowledge in a hierarchical way. If well-constructed, such structures provide understanding that can transfer to new situations – a critical competency in the 21st century. The ability for learners to see connections and “horizontal connectedness” is also important between the formal learning environment and the wider environment and society. The “authentic learning” this promotes also fosters deeper understanding. Do: 1. Have real-world relevance Provide authentic contexts that reflect the way the knowledge will be used in real life. Checklist: Does the context of the course represent the kind of setting where the skill or knowledge is applied? Is the pathway students take through the learning environment flexible, where students are able to move around at will? 2. Provide authentic activities and tasks Activities and tasks are ill-defined, requiring students to define the tasks and sub-tasks needed to complete the activity. Comprise complex tasks to be investigated by students over a sustained period of time. Checklist: Does the activity and tasks mirror the kind of task performed in real-world applications? Is the activity presented as an over-arching complex problem (or series of small sub-steps) that is worked on over a longer period of time? Do students work on the activities and tasks for weeks rather than minutes or hours? Are students able to choose information from a variety of inputs, including relevant and irrelevant sources? 3. Provide access to expert performances and the modelling of processes Checklist: Does the learning environment provide access to expert skill and opinion from a variety of sources? Does the learning environment allow access to other learners at various stages of expertise? (E.g. Putting students in groups or letting them work with a mentor.) Are the students able to hear and share stories about professional practice? 4. Provide multiple roles and perspectives Provide the opportunity for students to examine the tasks from different perspectives, using a variety of resources. Checklist: Are students able to explore issues from different points of view? Are students able to use a wide variety of learning resources and materials (not just a single textbook)? 5. Provide the opportunity to collaborate Support collaborative construction of knowledge Checklist: Are students able to collaborate (rather than simply co-operate on tasks)? Are grades given for group effort of a whole product, rather than individual effort? 6. Provide the opportunity to reflect Promote reflection to enable abstractions to be formed Checklist: Are students required to make decisions about how to complete the task? (reflection-in-action) Are students able to move freely in the environment and return to any element to act upon reflection? Non-linear. Can students compare their thoughts and ideas to experts, teachers, guides, and to other students? Do students work in collaborative groups that enable discussion and social reflection? 7. Promote articulation to encourage students to verbalize their knowledge and thinking Articulation enables tacit knowledge to be made explicit. Provide opportunities for students to articulate the knowledge they gained. Checklist: Does the task require students to discuss and articulate beliefs and growing understanding? Does the environment provide collaborative groups and forums to enable articulation of ideas? Does the task require the creation of a polished product that requires presentation of thought and argument? Does the task enable presentation and defense of arguments? 8. Tasks are seamlessly integrated with assessment Provide for authentic assessment of learning within the tasks. Checklist: Are students assessed on the product of the investigation rather than by separate testing? Are there multiple assessment measures rather than a single measure? 9. Create polished products Create polished products valuable in their own right rather than as preparation for something else. Allow competing solutions and diverse outcomes. Checklist: Are products of performances polished and refined rather than incomplete or rushed drafts? Do students participate in the activity for extended periods of time? 10. Provide coaching and scaffolding at critical times Instructor does not attempt to ‘transmit’ knowledge. Instructor’s role is supporting rather than didactic. Checklist: Is the teacher’s role more supportive than didactic? Are more knowledgeable students able to assist with coaching (by how the learning environment/context is setup)? Is a teacher, guide, or helper available to provide contextualized support? (Adapted from Reeves, T. C., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2002). Authentic activity as a model for web-based learning. 2002 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, USA.). (Building Horizontal Connections | Tool Kit for Innovative Teaching and Learner Success, s. f.)

The social nature of learning

The social nature of learningThe learning environment is founded on the social nature of learning and actively encourages well-organized co-operative learning. In elearning:

• For some years now, there were ample discussions of “social elearning,” a form of learning that is rooted in both collaborative learning, informal learning and forms of elearning. Web 2.0 tools that can be integrated into elearning are indeed renewing the possibilities for distance collaboration and interaction. They can also be used to foster a sense of belonging, a key factor in learning. It is therefore important to carefully plan the integration of activities and projects between pairs — discussions, teamwork, case studies, etc. — in order to take advantage of the digital tools.
• For a dynamic of sociability to take hold, teacher-learner and learner-learner communication must be optimal. This implies, among other things, choosing among the communication tools compatible with elearning those best suited to each type of exchange. It is also desirable to offer learners several communication platforms.
• The teacher or trainer should ensure regular be in touch with the learners, in addition to facilitating and encouraging communication between them. The frequency and quality of the teacher’s or trainer’s presence in the particular context of online training would play a role in the emergence of a group spirit, as Denis Cristol points out in his book “Former, se former et apprendre à l’ère numérique – le social learning”: “The representation of another, distant from oneself, in an environment with no shared spatio-temporal reference points, produces gaps in understanding because the scene of interaction has disappeared. … Under these conditions, the teacher must be attentive to the types of interactions and the setting up of sociability. The trainer must establish a presence that, according to Jézégou (Cristol and al., 2013), can be broken down into a socio-cognitive, socio-affective and pedagogical presence. The higher this presence is, the more it would facilitate the creation of a learning community.” (Lupeanu, 2021)

Assesment for learning

Recognizing individual diferences

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42321-021-00085-3

AFL

Referencias

Emotions are crucial to how humans learn. Can you imagine being a human that was always neutral? Our emotions are what draws us to certain things. If we have positive emotional responses to the things we experience in life we are more often drawn to those things and respond positively to them. In the same sense, if we have negative experiences we tend to try an avoid similar experiences in the future.

“The learning environment devises programmes that demand hard work and challenge from all but without excessive overload” (Dumont, Istance & Benavides, p. 6). “I’ve learned that that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while climbing it.” – Andy Rooney I believe that stretching students is one of the hardest principles for a teacher (and a school on a larger scale) to implement. Not only is challenging and stretching students difficult for the students but it also requires more work for the teacher. I agree that all students have the ability to grow and that it is the educators job to stretch students. Growing is painful but I can assure you that the painful process of growth is the only way people can truly appreciate the rewards that follow. Not only do teachers need to stretch students in terms of their own individual skills and knowledge but I also believe that the box that education fits into needs to be expanded. The learning environment devises programmes that demand hard work and challenge from all but without excessive overload. (The Nature of Learning: The 7 Principles of Learning, 2014)

There are a few ways that I have thought about that can lead to building horizontal connections and wish to use in my practice :

1. Teacher collaboration – Using other teachers as resources for materials and expertise in the subject areas that you are teaching. (i.e., the three teachers that we talked about in class who built a project for students using science, socials and shop class and at different grade levels)
2. Student-community projects – Bring students to places in the community that use the subjects they are learning in school in a job or community setting
3. Community involvement in the school – This is especially important for culturally diverse schools. The involvement of First Nations Elders for instance in schools has a large impact on First Nations students in public school systems
4. Global communications – Students have the ability to be in touch with other people around the world 24/7. Why not use these connections to build knowledge and global awareness in students

The principles and examples in practiceThere are many ways to address these learner-centred principles in the classroom. I’m sharing some very practical ways that I have found particularly productive in a variety of settings (primary, secondary, adult and higher-ed). Think about how these principles and practices could apply in your setting. Learners’ knowledge and experiences are validated

• Always start a lesson by activating learners’ prior knowledge on the topic(s) for the day.
• Use tools such as K-W-L: What do you know? What do you want to learn? What did you learn? Conduct a short Kahoot quiz of learners’ prior knowledge on a topic.

Content of instruction is relevant to the learners’ needs and interests

• Conduct regular needs assessments, not just at the onset of a course.
• Share learning outcomes for a unit and invite learners to prioritize those based on their needs (I can do that; I need more work on that).
• Use four corners for group goal setting. Post signs that represent learning content, outcomes, or even processes for learning in the four corners of the room. Learners move to the corner of the room that represents their greatest need or interest and share why.

Learners make choices about content and classroom activities

• Differentiate tasks and provide options for final learning products, e.g. write a report, or create a poster, PowerPoint, podcast, or short video.
• Use the Question Formulation Technique (Santana and Rothstein, 2011) as learners work with a reading, explore a new topic, or prepare for a project. Learners generate questions and categorize them into closed- and open-ended: What are the pros and cons of each? What happens if we turn closed questions into open-ended questions? Then they prioritize and use these questions during a lesson or unit.

Classroom interactions and tasks represent how language is used in the real world

• Consider the means by which we communicate to complete a task- digitally, face-to-face, in writing- and create tasks accordingly, e.g. create Google forms that mirror tasks learners need to complete online such as requesting an appointment or making a complaint to a landlord.
• Consider what is truly “authentic” use of language for a particular group of learners.

Learners’ first languages and cultures are viewed as a resource for learning

• Encourage translanguaging, using the L1 as a resource, when exploring sources, in discussions or for note-taking.
• Compare languages to develop metalinguistic awareness (How are linguistic features similar or different?)

Classroom tasks challenge learners and promote higher-order thinking skills

• Develop tasks where learners create new ideas.
• Recognise that learners may have prior formal school experiences that focused on regurgitation of facts and discouraged attempts to challenge assumptions (Parrish, 2015). Help learners develop language needed to express critical thinking, for example, English phrases used to support ideas (An example of this is…; In the text it said that…), or challenge others’ opinions (Another way to look at this could be…).

Learners acquire strategies for learning inside and outside of the classroom

• Name strategies that are practiced during lessons, e.g. making predictions about a text based on images, titles or headers; categorising new vocabulary into logical groups; using graphic organisers as a note-taking tool.
• Ask learners to keep a learning log: How did I use English outside of class? How did I manage the situations in English? What did I do when I couldn’t understand?
• Model and promote “think-alouds” of how to find answers in a reading or listening passage.

Consider using this list of principles with colleagues to generate your own inventory of learner-centred practices and strive to make your classes as learner centered as possible! (Parrish, 2022)

https://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/50300814.pdf

.

"In AFL, it is the purpose of assessment, rather than the nature of it, that is important."

The aspect that I value about this principle of learning is that is uses the word sensitive. It does not state that educators must have IEPs for every student and that because each student is different that they must be treated different. The key wording is that educators are sensitive to the difference among students and these differences are therefore embraced and celebrated in the classroom. (The Nature of Learning: The 7 Principles of Learning, 2014)

Building Horizontal Connections | Tool Kit for Innovative Teaching and Learner Success. (s. f.). Delta Learners. https://deltalearns.ca/toolkit/key-principles-of-learning/building-horizontal-connections/ Cambridge Assessment International Education. (s. f.). Getting started with Assessment for Learning. Recuperado 19 de mayo de 2022, de https://cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswafl/index.html#:%7E:text=Assessment%20for%20learning%20(AFL)%20is,learn%20and%20to%20what%20standard. Lupeanu, D. (2021, 5 mayo). 7 principles of 21st-century learning and elearning. KnowledgeOne. Recuperado 19 de mayo de 2022, de https://knowledgeone.ca/7-principles-of-21st-century-learning-and-elearning/ Parrish, B. (2022, 5 abril). Placing Learners At The Centre Of Teaching | Cambridge English. World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press. Recuperado 19 de mayo de 2022, de https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2020/01/07/betsy-parrish-learner-centred-teaching/ The Nature of Learning: The 7 Principles of Learning. (2014, 19 noviembre). Allangirl. Recuperado 19 de mayo de 2022, de https://allangirl.wordpress.com/the-nature-of-learning-the-7-principles-of-learning/ This Practitioner Guide has been prepared by Jennifer Groff based on the contents of Hanna Dumont, David Istance and Francisco Benavides (eds.) The Nature of Learning: -using Reach to Inspire Practice, OECD Publications, 2010 https://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/50300814.pdf Seen on: www.kqued.org. (2017, 13 septiembre). Why emotions are integral to learning. HeutinkBrands. Recuperado 19 de mayo de 2022, de https://www.educo.com/en/why-emotions-are-integral-to-learning/news/25/