Early Computer Assisted Language Learning programs were designed based on a behaviorist to learning. There are various behavioral theories that extend from Ivan Palov’s classical conditioning to the operant conditioning of B.F. Skinner. Ivan Palov’s work on “the digestive system of dogs came upon interesting idea that changed the history of psychological research” (Gilliani, 2003. p. 26). His work, classical conditioning, influenced the work of E.L. Thorndike in the area of applying a behavioral approach to education. He applied his “connectionism theory” into educational planning and developed “law of effect” and “law of exercise” (Gilliani, 2003. p. 27).
Connectionism is a process of forming a connection between stimulus and respond, and Thorndike defined learning as habit formation. Law of effect takes place when a connection is created between stimulus and response and is followed by reward. The next important principle posited by Thorndike for educational purposes was the law of exercise. This principle states that repetitions strengthen connection between stimulus and response. In other words the more practice the stronger the connection is.
Like other behaviorist’ theory, operant conditioning developed by B.F. Skinner was based on stimuli-responses. This behavioral theory, however, differed from other behavioral theories in respect to stimuli-responses and treatment of reward. In stimuli-responses, Skinner posited two types of response called “respondent” and “operant” to explain human behavior (Gilliani, 2003. p. 28). Respondent is response that occurs to a specific stimulus, and operant response occurs for no apparent reason and it is uniquely human. Gilliani (2003) points out that there are operant responses that a child has the innate tendency to acquire and these operant responses become rooted in human behavior when they are properly reinforced. “This is why Skinner refers to his theory as operant conditioning” and becomes the goal of learning and education (Gilliani, 2003. p. 29).
Behaviorists believed that there are three important components for education; assessment, intervention and evaluation (Gilliani, 2003). In this case the learner should be assessed for determining the goal and objective. Intervention program, including teaching materials with suitable practice along with feedback and reinforcements should be developed. Finally the evaluation on the learners’ competencies in relation to the goal that was set previously should be carried out. If the learners pass the evaluation, then they are guided to the next level and if fail are guided back to the intervention component.
Many CDs tutorials such as TOEFL tutorial, IELTS tutorial, Grammar Exercises on CDs and some exercises published in some web sites, such as http://e-dukasi.net, http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz/, http://www.lc.itb.ac.id/selfstudy.htm are some examples of the influence of behaviorist theory to the e-learning environment. In this type of learning environment the students will get rewards when they do the exercises correctly and have to finish certain level before continuing to the next. Gilliani (2003) calls this type as practice and drill.
It is worth noted that tutorial, practice and drill of behaviorism as adapted to e-learning environment, have received a lot of criticism. Jonassen (1998) has criticized practice and drill programs for not using the full potential of computers. He claims that practice and drill programs can easily be done with pencil and paper. On the other hand,
Gilliani (2003) points out that there is a place for the use of a behavioral approach to e-learning, and states that there are important factors to be considered such as gathering adequate information about the target learners, designing the content and making an appropriate decision about what teaching and learning model should be implemented in the e-learning program. In other words, in the e-learning environment the behaviorists believe that;
- Learners should be told the explicit outcomes of the learning so that they can set expectations and can judge for themselves whether or not they have achieved the outcome of the online lesson.
- Learners must be tested to determine whether or not they have achieved the learning outcome. Online testing or other forms of testing and assessment should be integrated into the learning sequence to check the learner’s achievement level and to provide appropriate feedback.
- Learning materials must be sequenced appropriately to promote learning. The sequencing could take the form of simple to complex, known to unknown, and knowledge to application.
- Learners must be provided with feedback so that they can monitor how they are doing and take corrective action if required.
Cognitive and e-learning
Cognitive developmental research has also influenced the development of teaching and learning English in the area of learning capacity. Cognitive developmental research has had an impact on the constructivism movement in education and educational technology (Gilliani, 2003). Constructivism originated in the ideas of Piaget (1952) to account for the way in which children acquire cognitive abilities in an apparently regular order and children are engaged actively in constructing theories about how the world around them works.
Constructivism is the idea that a leaner is an active learner who constructs a personal base of knowledge and understanding. In other words, the learner does more than just discuss a topic. The learner actually creates a product for delivery to the teacher, classmates or others. Piaget (1952) used the word schema to represent this theory. Learners do not acquire information simply by reproducing it internally, but trying to fit it into their existing framework of understanding. If their current frameworks of understanding do not accommodate the new information, they will actively try to develop new ones. In other words, new information may simply be accommodated in existing schemes of thought, or it may be used to make paradigm shifts.
Jerome Bruner (1966) proposed a learning theory whose educational implications resemble the concrete to abstract concept of Piaget. Such a process is called scaffolding where the learner is initially dealing with concrete subjects, and the mentor provides a great amount of support. However, the support fades away as the learner begins to think abstractly (Giliani, 2003). This shift can lead to very rapid learning, but is also risky process because it means abandoning old ways of viewing concept. This notion of scaffolding is useful, because it describes how new models of concept can be introduced to learners gradually and in a way lessens the risk.
Furthermore Flavell (1983) has provided a more detailed discussion of three operations as the continuation of Piaget’s work in the area of cognitive development. The three operations are called; combination reasoning, propositional reasoning, and hypothetical-deductive reasoning (Flavell, 1983). Combination reasoning refers to the ability to consider different factors to solve problem. This reasoning provides the learner with the ability to look at problems from an integrated approach. Propositional reasoning refers to the characteristic that learners acquire to reason on the basis of assumption to solve problems. Hypothetical-deductive reasoning allows the learner to consider different hypotheses in dealing with a problem. This also enables the learner to gather data and test different hypotheses to come up with a possible solution. In brief, cognitive theories are useful theory to explain how, why, and when learners develop and learn new concept.
These theories provide a frame of reference by which educators and educational technologies can analyze the behavior of the learner and design educational environments where the learners can construct their own knowledge. In the design of e-learning environment, such as SimCity, science exploration (www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/index.html) and many other similar programs which are mostly designed by using software called Macromedia Authorware, are examples of the influence of cognitive approach. These e-learning environments attempt to guide the learners to construct knowledge in the process of learning.
Just like any other theoretical foundation for instructional development, there are those who support a cognitive approach to technology (Papert, 1994, Jonassen, 1991), and there are also those who claim that cognitive approach of unstructured learning is not best use of technology (Laurillard, 1993).
In short, the implication of the above theories for online learning designers, material writers, programmers are among others;
- Learning should be an active process. Keeping learners active doing meaningful activities results in high-level processing, which facilitates the creation of personalized meaning.
- Learners should construct their own knowledge rather than accepting that given by the instructor. Knowledge construction is facilitated by good interactive online instruction, since the learners have to take the initiative to learn and to interact with other students and the instructor, and because the learning agenda is controlled by the learners (Murphy & Cifuentes, 2001). In the online environment, learners experience the information at first-hand, rather than receiving filtered information from an instructor whose style or background may differ from theirs. In a traditional lecture, the instructor contextualizes and personalizes the information to meet their own needs, which may not be appropriate for all learners. In online instruction, learners experience the information first-hand, which gives them the opportunity to contextualize and personalize the information themselves.
- Collaborative and cooperative learning should be encouraged to facilitate constructivist learning (Hooper & Hannafin, 1991; Palloff & Pratt, 1999). Working with other learners gives learners real-life experience of working in a group, and allows them to use their metacognitive skills. Learners will also be able to use the strengths of other learners, and to learn from others.
- Learners should be given control of the learning process. There should be a form of guided discovery where learners are allowed to make decision on learning goals, but with some guidance from the instructor.
- Learners should be given time and opportunity to reflect. When learning online, learners need the time to reflect and internalize the information.
- Learning should be made meaningful for learners. The learning materials should include examples that relate to learners, so that they can make sense of the information. Assignments and projects should allow learners to choose meaningful activities to help them apply and personalize the information.
- Learning should be interactive to promote higher-level learning and social presence, and to help develop personal meaning. According to Heinich et al. (2002), learning is the development of new knowledge, skills, and attitudes as the learner interacts with information and the environment. Interaction is also critical to creating a sense of presence and a sense of community for online learners, and to promoting transformational learning (Murphy & Cifuentes, 2001). Learners receive the learning materials through the technology, process the information, and then personalize and contextualize the information. In the transformation process, learners interact with the content, with other learners, and with the instructors to test and confirm ideas and to apply what they learn. Garrison (1999) claimed that it is the design of the educational experience that includes the transactional nature of the relationship between instructor, learners, and content that is of significance to the learning experience.
Constructivism and e-learning
Today’s constructivist theories evolve from a conceptual point of cognitive constructivist theory where the learners ‘construct’ their knowledge, skills or understanding from their own observational and reasoning capabilities (Holmes and John Gardner, 2006). In essence, the socio-constructivist model requires a third dimension to the interaction between learners and other people (Warschauer, 2003). Constructivism underpins the understanding of how individuals learn in a social context and extends to the learning organization, which by nature its members learning together, improves its activities through group reflection and sharing of experiences. In this case e-learning has the potential to overcome some of the limitations of traditional learning, including the fixed times and locations for learning. E-learning allows for a synergy between advances in information and communication technologies. However, it is still considered by many to be simply an add-on to key developments in the technology itself (Holmes, 2006).
The significant development of the technology is the rapid development of very different forms of e-learning such as weblogs, and the multi editor wiki systems. Weblogs or blogs are electronic journals that allow the user to keep records of their writing or recordings on a website. A good example of the use of blog for teaching is the Bay Area Writing Project which has organized the Educational Blogger Network (edBlogNet) with the purpose of helping kindergarten through university teachers “use weblog technology for the teaching of writing and reading across the disciplines” (http://edBlog.net).
· All of the teacher's notes will be viewable together in chronological order. This is very convenient when preparing lessons that build upon previous material taught in the class.
· It is simple to edit class material if the text can be improved or if something new needs to be added.
· All student writing samples are kept in one place and can be read from any computer connected to the Internet at anytime.
· Teachers can give collective feedback to the class when a recurring mistake is found by adding entries to a “Writing Feedback” class blog. Additionally, individual feedback can be given to individual student blogs.
· Students have access to your complete notes on the Internet. Students have the option of previewing the class material before class and reviewing the material after class.
· The class material is organized into sections, students can easily find information.
· Students can read comments for the class as a whole and comments directed at them individually. This maximizes feedback and contact with the teacher.
· Students can observe how their writing has changed over time.
In contrast to blogs, wikis accommodate the two main themes of constructivism with much more of a learning bent. According to wikipedia, the first wiki was created by Ward Cunningham in 1995. A wiki uses a simple database approach to create Web pages that are generally highly hyperlinked. The two key attributes of a wiki are that the community of learners involved are free to create any definitions or narrative texts they wish, and that these definitions or narrative texts can be edited freely by anyone in that community. In this context of course the students should have experience in using the internet as a learning media. The implication of constructivism theory to the learners for online learning, are among others;
· Learners should have the knowledge of searching for information using criteria that have been identified as relevant to the task.
· Learners should have the ability in solving problems by combination of discovery, trial, error and analysis.
· Learners should have the ability in applying ideas and information creatively to develop new knowledge.
· Learners should have the ability in evaluating and critiquing ideas.
Larry Cuban states that the current situation on the integration of computers in education as ‘oversold and underused’ (Cuban, 2000). However, the education system is therefore being forced to use the technology from basic computer literacy skills to sophisticated applications for web design (Holmes, 2006).
References;
Bruner, J.S. (1966). Toward a theory of instruction.
Campbell, A. P. (2003, February). Weblogs for use with ESL classes. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. IX, No. 2
Cuban, L. (2000) Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom.
Flavell, J.H.: Metacognitive Aspects of Problem Solving, In: L. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence.
Garrison, D R & Anderson, T 2003. E-learning in the 21st century: a framework for research and practice.
Gilliani, Bijan B. (2003) Learning Theories and the Design of
Holmes, B and John Gardner (2006). E-learning: Concept and practice, SAGE Publications.
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Hooper & Hannafin 1991.: “The effects of group composition on achievement, interaction, and learning efficiency during computer-based cooperative
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Papert, S.,(1998). Logo Philosophy and Implementation, Logo Computer System inc., disponibile anche parzialmente on-line al sito:http://www.microworlds.com/company/philosophy.pdf
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