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This course is intended as an overview of the major theoretical approaches to learning, especially as they are applied to educational contexts.
As will become clear during ETEC512, there is no 'best' theory that can account for all aspects of human learning. As such, the overarching objective of this course is to expose students to a variety of theories, each of which has potential to be useful in understanding learning and teaching in a variety of settings. However, for this information to be useful, educators need to have an understanding of when and how different approaches should be utilized. To this end, many of the assignments and activities of this course will focus on applying different theoretical perspectives to ill-defined, realistic learning situations. In addition, one of the goals of this course is for students to develop a coherent, explicit sense of their own beliefs about learning, and how the various theories hold together and are related to, or influenced by, the other perspectives.
This course is comprised of 5 separate modules, not of equal length . As a starting place, in the first module (weeks 1 and 2) students will be expected to articulate their personal pedagogical perspective. The readings and activities associated with this module are designed to facilitate this. In a similar fashion, to close out the course, the final module will provide an opportunity for the students to revisit their learning theory and re-articulate it, incorporating the knowledge acquired from this course. The intervening modules will cover different aspects of learning, and as each topic is covered, students will revisit their pedagogical beliefs. More specifically, starting in the second module, students will be expected to develop a concept map of their perspective of learning. This map will be added to and reformulated at the end of modules 2 through 5. In addition, for each of the major topics, thought questions will be posed for students to respond to, with the goal of developing a deeper understanding of the material presented. Below is an overview of the modules: