Educational Philosophy Assignment

Due September 22

How do you think people learn? As an instructor or trainer, what do you do to facilitate learning? Is there a congruent relationship between the two? The purpose of this activity is to help you examine your educational philosophy. We all have assumptions about how people learn, even though we may have never articulated these assumptions. And, these assumptions, whether implicit or explicit, have a direct effect on how we teach. A clearer understanding of your teaching and learning philosophies will enable you to become a more effective designer of instruction.

First, we will read about two epistemologies (theories about the origins of knowledge): empiricism and rationalism. Then, we will read and examine three major learning theories: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Finally, you will generate a statement of your personal educational philosophy and how you believe people learn. Note: the treatment of educational philosophies and learning theories in your text is cursory, so I am providing more information below. I believe that a basic understanding of these philosophies and theories will help you explain your instructional design decisions.

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Procedure:

1. Read the article by Ertmer and Newby in Performance Improvement Quarterly.
2. Compare the key factors associated with the epistemologies of empiricism and rationalism.
3. Write a statement about your epistemological beliefs.
4. Compare the key factors associated with the three learning theories.
5. Write a statement that expresses how you think people learn.
6. Write a statement that expresses what you think instructors should do to enhance learning.
7. Write your document in Google docs or upload a Word file to your Google drive folder.

Grading Rubric: Assignment 1 (30 points)

• Epistemological beliefs clearly stated
• Beliefs on how people learn clearly stated
• Beliefs on how instructors facilitate learning clearly stated
• Statements are congruent

Additional Readings:

Flow Theory -- TED talk by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Learning theories in general

Learning theories.com

Empiricism vs. rationalism: from UCLA

See this collection of articles from Teachnology on constructivism.

Behaviorism: a good discussion of this theory from Stanford University.

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