Week 1: Learning theory and e-learning

This week I looked at the learning theory of behaviourism. I believe that the beginning minutes of the above YouTube clip provides an in depth definition and reasoning into the topic of behaviourism and certain behaviourist approaches.

In this week I was firstly directed to the site http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/behaviour.htm , which gives a general overview of what behaviourism is and the different ways that it is studied and experimented; the website also gives an explicit idea of what behaviourism is in education or in a classroom. The site mainly gives the impression that behaviourism in education is 'the dominance of the teacher and the modification of behaviour'.

Jessica Collins and I wrote into the wiki page http://fahe11001gladstone.wikispaces.com/Behaviourism, on the topic of behaviourism and we expressed our ideas. It was my first time to use or create a wiki and at first I found the experience very daunting. There was so much that I was unsure of...Do I need to log in? Do I just press edit or do I create a new entry??? Adding to a wiki on a topic seemed as though it was an experience aimed at exploration; working in pairs gave the opportunity for argument and the exchange of ideas (collaboration).   

We used the positives, minus, and interests (PMI) method to jot down some key points of behaviourism.   
   
We found that some positives include that it teaches the students positive efficacy, it allows the learners to modify their behaviour in accordance to consequences that the teacher enforces, and that if positive behaviour is recognised other students will react and copy.
Some minus things of behaviourism is that if the teacher is not consistent (dominant) the students will not feel the need to be consistent in their behaviours, if a teacher is only concerned with bad behaviour then the amount of good behaviour demonstrated will decrease, and if a teacher does not follow through on rewards then the students will lose trust.

Interesting things about the learning theory of behaviourism is that rewards motivate students, difficult students can transform into exemplary students, and that actions and consequences can create classroom expectations. 
From all of these points you can see that behaviourist strategies are very much reliant on the teacher.


Using the PMI scaffolding method to deconstruct information and classify it was nice and easy for me, it allowed me to put my thoughts (collaborated with Jess) into an easy to understand format. Reflecting now, I think that i will make use of the PMI scaffolding method in my classroom on prac days=)


A wiki entry is new to me and after using it for the first time, I believe that it could be a very useful tool in education and in my classroom. It is a new and different networking system! 


Lastly, I would like to recommend that you watch the YouTube clip 'The Big Bang Theory - Sheldon Trains Penny' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_mIEnnlF4), which is very good, and comical example of a simple behaviourist approach.