Principles of eLearning
24 November 2009 | By David in Brain-based learning, Instructional designI’m developing a list of learning principles that I belive have some basis in fact and represent a statement of what I believe in and try to apply to my work as an eLearning and blended learning consultant. I’ve only got a couple so far, but will post a full list on my website once they are done.
People like patterns – Learning with a logical structure, anchored with mnemonics, colour coding, repetition and other patterning devices reduces the threat to learners, making it more predictable and controllable. It also promotes recall of specific and related information.
People like difficult, but achievable tasks – Learning using multiple factors, generating subtle permutations and multiple right answers increase brain engagement and promotes the assignment of ‘meaning’ to information.
Emotions and mild stress bathe neurons in brain chemicals as they are firing, strengthening a memory’s importance in the brain – Learning activities should stimulate emotion through real life examples, exploration of consequences, use of emotional narrative and sensory engagement through music, understated sound effects, time limits, debate and so on.
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25 November 2009 | Ken Allan Said:
Kia ora e David
I wonder at your title, “Principles of eLearning”, if only about the e part. What you have described here (and so far) is a set of ideas that apply to learning.
Teaching and learning has been practised with technological assistance for over a hundred years now. This assistance has permitted its own principles to evolve and it is important that they are not reinvented as those that carry the very specific title associated with elearning.
By way of a specific example of how principles can be recognised as distinctly elearning principles, I point to the research that has been done, in recent decades, in the field of online learning.
Further, there are associated principles that are to do with specific elearning technologies that likewise may be recognised as components of distinctly elearning principles.
However, the principles that are evolving through such studies need reinforcing through practice and further research. These are very specific to the technology and build onto already existing learning principles that are brought into a realm of their own that may well carry appropriately the term elearning in the title.
Catchya later
07 December 2009 | David Said:
Hi Ken, thanks for the comment and i stand corrected, they are indeed principles of adult learning in general. My goal is to blend those principles from learning theory that I have found to work with findings from neuroscience to create something to guide my practice. I also see your point regarding technology specific principles (eg the role of lurking in online communities and so on).
I suppose I’m looking for the magic bullet that will apply to all forms of learning, but I appreciate your comment points to an inherent danger, make the pricniples work for everything and they may not be of any value. Make them specific and I will need to identify valid principles for a wide range of approaches and delivery channels.
Probably the big thing that prompted me to do this was the plethora of superficial lists of principles wheeled out by eLearning vendors in their proposals that are a sales tool, not a statement of intent and the fact that so many of the adult learning theories commonly used and referred to were developed 40 years ago in a very different world.
I want to capture what I know works, what I’m learning about brains and what I believe in and am committed to delivering. Interesting comment, thank you.