1. Working in the Post Compulsory Sector
29th September am

2. Our theme Learning and Teaching
Making links between teaching and learning approaches and learning theories/ theoretical concepts Have you done your homework?

3. Homework for 29th Sept am Learning and teaching website
Jim Crawley’s website
Your task:
to read the Brief Overview sheet, these websites and any other supporting texts (ie. teacher education and psychology texts in the library)
Either: To describe one teaching and/ or learning experience and relate it to a learning theory or learning theories
Or: to explain a learning theory and its application to teaching and learning

4. Investigations in to learning theories and theoretical concepts
Reminder: You will need to draw on educational theories and theoretical concepts in your report for this module

5. Some underpinning educational concepts
Ways of learning: i.e. surface, deep, achieving (Biggs and Moore, 2003)
Differentiation materials/differentiation/
Support and challenge (Bruner, 1950s: ‘scaffolding’ ; Bloom, 1956)
Learning theories: behaviourism, Gestalt, cognitive and constructivist approaches, humanism, andragogy, social and situated learning
Or surface, deep, strategic: Race, also learning styles/ preferences
Some underpinning educational concepts

6. Bruner: Scaffolding
Term coined by Bruner in the 1950s: The speed at which the learner learns can be supported by the teacher who helps them to organise new knowledge in to their existing knowledge structures. The teacher is charged with building a learner’s confidence in their own capabilities and encouraging them to think for themselves. Feedback is to be given with a view to the learner becoming able to self-correct.

7. Differentiation
‘Differentiation means enabling and ensuring that learners from a wide range of backgrounds and varying experiences of education and with different abilities and different learning styles can achieve.’ (p.117) in Scales, P. (2008) Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector, Maidenhead: OUP

8. Paired Activity
Differentiation: what is it? use this diagram to support your interpretation
CONTENT
RESOURCE
TASK
OUTCOME
RESPONSE
TIME
TIME
SUPPORT

9. Focus on Andragogy: Knowles
The need to know
Self-concept
Experience
Readiness to learn.
Orientation to learning.
Motivation
How do those assumptions relate to yourselves as adult learners?
Reece and Walker page 90
Informs ways in which adults learn best
As a person matures his self concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being
As a person matures he accumulates a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning.
As a person matures his readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social roles.
As a person matures his time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem centredness.
s a person matures the motivation to learn is internal (Knowles 1984:12).

10. Andragogy Five issues:
Let learners know why it is important to learn [that skill/thing]
Show learners how to direct themselves through information
Relate topic to learner’s experiences
People will not learn until they are ready and motivated
May need to help them overcome inhibitions, behaviours and beliefs about learning

11. Individual/ whole class reflection
What are the values of learning theories and theoretical principles?
Read around those theories/ concepts that resonate with you and that might then inform your evaluation of your microteaching
Remember to include reference to theory as part of evaluating your microteaching in your report i.e. to support and/ or critique your approaches