EDM 510: Learning Theory Matrix

For our first week’s assignment, we were to familiarize ourselves with behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and connectivism and create a learning theory matrix. I was already pretty familiar with behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism from learning about them in my undergrad classes. I was not as familiar with connectivism. I had heard of it before, but never really studied it. I spent a lot of my time researching what exactly this theory is and how it aligns with technology use in educational settings. Once I began reading I was very interested in learning more about connectivism. I realized that I already am using methods that follow this theory in my classroom without realizing it. It made me stop and think if I’m doing this with any of the other theories. I spent a short period of time reading about each theory because the last time I thoroughly studied them was years ago. During my studies, I decided to challenge myself to think of at least one way I was using each theory with my current class or with previous classes. I came up with some examples that I included in my matrix under examples of specific technology. One thing I learned is that these theories are already influencing my teaching practices, even if I hadn’t acknowledged it before. Now that I am fully aware, I can use my newfound knowledge to improve the way I do things. I did encounter some challenges with this assignment. Like I said before, I haven’t studied the theories since college and I was pretty unfamiliar with connectivism so I had to do some research. Another challenge I faced was that I tend to overthink things and in the process I sometimes overwhelm myself. I have never had a blog before so I spent a lot of time overthinking how it should look, what it should say, etc. I had to bring myself back to reality so I could actually complete the assignment.

My Learning Theory Matrix

Here are links to the resources I used

Learning Theories:

http://thepeakperformancecenter.com/educational-learning/learning/theories/

https://www.sanfordbrown.edu/Student-Life/blog/March-2015/Four-Top-Learning-Theories-in-the-Age

https://www.learning-theories.com/

Connectivism:

http://itdl.org/journal/jan_05/article01.htm

https://joepgaston.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/rethinking-assessment-through-the-theory-of-connectivism/

One thought on “EDM 510: Learning Theory Matrix

  1. Hi Adrian, I related so well to your post! I also had previous knowledge of Behaviorism, Constructivism, and Cognitivism, but was unsure about Connectivism. There are many activities I already implement in my classroom without realizing it, but would like to incorporate more in the future. I love how your definition of Connectivism is very thorough, which gives me a better understanding on how to use it in every day instruction. SeeSaw is new to me and I look forward to exploring it with my students.

    Like

Leave a reply to aubreygrice Cancel reply