Ambitious Mashups: Learning Theories

Authors: Judi Fusco & Jeremy Roschelle; Contributor: Patricia Schank

Definition

Theories of how people learn are an integral part of cyberlearning research. Projects interweave learning theories with emerging technology and research methods to uncover processes of how learning unfolds with theoretical depth and empirical precision in service of new theories of learning. Cyberlearning projects also use principles of how people learn to support learning in STEM (for example astronomy, data science, biology), topics beyond STEM (language learning, reading, writing) and workforce skills. In this review, the following three areas in learning theories were considered:

  • Collaborative Learning. Collaborative learning examines how people learn socially through shared words, actions, and meanings. In cyberlearning, collaborative learning occurs when the tool or environment for learning is social. The concept of collaborative learning is broad and includes collective inquiry, knowledge building, joint problem solving, intersubjectivity, shared/collective/group/distributed cognition, collective consciousness, and transactive discourse. From a constructivist perspective, learning occurs as participants make sense of their experience.
  • Embodied Learning. Embodied learning theories seek to understand how movements, gestures, and actions influence learning. In cyberlearning, embodied design guides the integration of gesture and technology; for example, virtual tutors gesture in interactions with learners and technologies recognize movements that are used in relation to concepts.
  • Identity. Sociocultural theories examine how a person forms their own identity situationally, and how learning is about developing identity (not just knowledge or skill). Identity development includes seeking to understand how you think of yourself, your perception of how others see you, and what perspective is promoted by society.

Among all themes examined in our reflection analysis, “learning theories” was the second most frequent tag for cyberlearning convening sessions. While here we focus on the three sub-areas above, other long-standing scientific theories also have a strong place in cyberlearning work. For example, cognitive theories are not explicitly included here, although cognitive theories often inform projects with respect to representations (e.g., games, simulations, and visualizations), methods, and AI (e.g., learning analytics and intelligent tutoring systems), and collaborative learning. Projects guided by neuroscience theories are discussed in the External Trends brief, but also overlap with projects tagged with embodied learning.

Please see the full report for additional information on how this theme changed over time in cyberlearning research and for some questions that arose as we investigated the theme.

Project Examples and Resources

Collaborative Learning

36 Projects

Stimulating Quotes and Snippets:

  • Collaborative robots are emerging as a new family of advanced technologies that are designed to work side-by-side with people in industrial settings. Bilge Mutlu, Andrew Ruis, David Shaffer
  • This PI team asks (i) how to use the affordances of modular robotics for distributing work among individuals in a student groups to promote both better engagement and better learning among those learning algebra and (ii) what can be learned more generally from this effort about orchestrating and supporting learning when learners have available to them technology that supports distributed group work.
    Harry Cheng

Example Project Abstracts:

Related Primers/Spotlights/Reports:

Showcase Videos and/or Gallery Posters:

Potential Platforms

Cross Connections:
AI/Robotics/ITS, Learning Analytics, Representations (VR/AR)

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