Knowledge is....

Learning Theories Related to Distance Learning

Learning studies have been the basis for understanding student learning and how best to facilitate the process.  On the linked pages below, you will find summaries of studies which, at best, will touch on the key notions of the author. These studies, and many others not mentioned, are the basis of the associated page Good Practices.

Click on the links below to find summaries. Use our college research databases to do refined searches to learn more on each subject. 

Summaries

The studies or summaries on the linked pages below are color coded for your convenience: Topics (red) . Key Points (green) . Implications (orange)

• Motivation
• Cognition and Meta-cognition
• Enculturation
• Recognizing Students' Preconceptions
• Characterizing the Distance Learning Student
• Understanding Factors Affecting Student Participation Online
• Understanding Distance Learning Attrition

Motivation     -     4 Summaries

Knowles, Andragogy vs. Pedagogy - 1970 (This is an early study that is interesting, but not well accepted by the academic community. It provoked thought and comment.)

Strategies for teaching adults (different from teaching children)

• The Self Concept Principle - the self-directing character of the adult learner rather than dependent nature of the child.
• The Experience Prinicple - adults draw on experience whereas children are deemed as not having sufficient experience
• Readiness to learn - adult learning needs tend to focus more towards their social roles while pedagogy claims that the learning needs of children are geared towards physiological and mental development stages
• Orientation to learning assumes that adults put more value on being able to practically apply their learning while pedagogy suggests that children naturally focus on postponing immediate application for future needs.

Knowles, " The Modern Practice of Adult Education", 1980, (more recent theory) 

Adult learning is characterized as

• self-directed
• based on experience
• related to their social roles and an immediate application of their knowledge
• performance-centeredness (as opposed to subject-centeredness)

Adult learning is improved by

• a learning environment which draws heavily on the learners’ experience
• a psychological and social climate that is one of acceptance, respect and support
• diagnosing needs for learning;
• the involvement of the adult learners in diagnosing their learning needs, planning, implementing and evaluating their learning;
• timing and grouping of learning takes advantage of their readiness to learn
• having immediate application to take advantage of the adult’s focus on problem solving

The process of helping adults learn includes

• setting a climate for learning;
• establishing a structure for mutual planning;
• diagnosing needs for learning;
• formulating directions (objectives for learning);
• designing a pattern of learning experiences;
• managing the learning experiences; and evaluating results.

Houle, Tough, Vell,  "Motivational Styles",  http://www.learnativity.com/motivation.html

Three motivational styles

• Goal oriented
• Activity oriented
• Learning oriented

Adults learn because of

1. an increase in self-esteem
2. a sense of pleasing and impressing
3. certain pleasures or satisfactions

Pascarella & Terenzini, " How College Affects Students",  1991, http://www.hi.is/~joner/eaps/wh_pasca.htm

"Concluding their massive review of research on the development of students in college, Pascarella and Terenzini (1991), call for a "shift in the decision-making orientation" of administrators toward "learning-centered management."

Learning is improved when

• students are engaged and connected with faculty and peers
• students have strong academic connections

Cognition and Meta-cognition 

Cognitive Teaching Models - (earlier study background)

Summaries

Gagne - The conditions-of-learning paradigm posits that a graded hierarchy of learning outcomes exists, and for each desired outcome, a set of conditions exists that leads to learning. Instructional design is a matter of clarifying intended learning outcomes, then matching up appropriate instructional strategies.

Metacognitive Studies (recent studies)

Metacognition is the process by which a person reflects on the way in which he or she thinks. (awareness of one's own thinking process). In terms of learning theory, metacognition is knowledge a student has about applying learning strategies.

Metacognition

"Metacognition and Freshman Academic Performance", Taraban 2000

Comprehension is an active process through which meaning is constructed. Often it demands that the reader "step in" to figure out the meaning of an unknown word, identify the major theme in the text, or use bridging inferences to maintain text coherence (van den Broek, 1994). This type of directed cognitive processing is called metacognition and is regarded as "the foundation of understanding text" (Nist & Holschuh, 2000, p. 76). Metacognition in reading involves knowledge of comprehension strategies. Importantly, a skilled reader must not only know the strategies but must also know when to apply them (Garner, 1987, 1990; Nist & Holschuh, 2000). Thus, the metacognitive knowledge that skilled college readers need is about the awareness, monitoring, and guidance of cognitive processing that leads to constructing meaning from text.

A widely held view among researchers and educators is that comprehension results from the active construction of meaning and that metacognitive strategies play a significant role in that process. . . Analyses of the data in this study showed that comprehension strategy use was significantly related to higher levels of academic performance.

"Metacognitive Strategies and Behaviors that Contribute to Academic Success for At-risk College Student-Athletes, Gillespie", Ed. D. Nov 1999 Abstract

The goal of the study was to provide insight into the behaviors that impact upon academic success for the at-risk college student-athlete and how the student's use of metacognitive strategies effects academic success.