We should arrange practice with feedback so that the new information is effectively and efficiently
assimilated and accommodated within the learner’s cognitive structure.
If the cognitivistic model is applied to e-Learning environments we can derive the following requirements:
o
Emphasis on the active involvement of the learner in the learning process.
o
Self planning the learning process
Monitoring learning progress
Emphasis on structuring, organizing, and sequencing information to facilitate optimal processing. Support of
the use of cognitive strategies such as outlining, summaries, synthesizers or advance organizers by offering
tools such as
o
An individual workspace, including simple authoring and structuring tools to summarize and
reprocess information
o
Powerful search facilities to locate relevant information
o
Private annotations and typed links and bookmarks, automatically summarized by a learner’s diary.
o
Mind maps
o
Semantic networks
Use of hierarchical analyses to identify and illustrate prerequisite relationships (cognitive task analysis
procedures). Here again Mind Maps could be of great value.
Creation of learning environments that allow and encourage students to make connections with previously
learnt material. This should support the recall of prerequisite skills, use of relevant examples and analogies.
This could be provided by an:
o
Acquired-skill inventory which is created partly automatically, by summarizing the difference
between the pre- and post-test results after successfully finishing a course, and. also includes private
entries to reflect additional experiences.
o
Knowledge base (or workspace) organized in a hierarchical or semantic structure and containing
collected articles, summaries, annotations and bookmarks.
1.1.3 Constructivism
Constructivism is a theory which is based on results of Piaget's research. It differs from the traditional view that
knowledge exists independently of individuals, the view that the mind is a ‘tabula rasa’, a blank tablet upon which a
picture can be painted.
Piaget says that there are mental structures that determine how data and new information are perceived. If the new data
make sense to the existing mental structure, then the new information is incorporated into the structure. Rather than
simply absorbing ideas through endless, repeated rote practice, constructivism posits that students actually invent their
ideas. Learning is considered as a reconstruction rather than a transmission of knowledge. Learners assimilate new
information to simple, pre-existing notions, and modify their understanding in light of new data. They will reformulate
their existing structures only if new information or experiences are connected to knowledge already in memory.
Inferences, elaborations and relationships between old perceptions and new ideas must be personally drawn by the
students in order for the new idea to become an integrated, useful part of their memory.
This gives an idea how this could be supported by Virtual Learning Environments in e-learning courses:
Seek out and use student questions and ideas to guide lessons and whole instructional units.
Accept and encourage student initiation of ideas.
The model e-learning system
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