I give them a cure with a fresh new album. what's
up what's up what's up what's up everybody welcome
back this is recon towers food for thought thoughts
if it were you this is your host neogentrix we
have been talking about a lot of different things
we started with the learning series i told you
that we cover all the different types of learning
so that you'd be able to understand them better
and you know understand how to learn more efficiently.
These are things that schools don't teach people.
I wish they did because if they did, people would
be able to learn more efficiently. They'd be
able to learn and know their style of learning
so that they can improve on the way they do things.
If you can't learn something one way, learn it
through a different method. That's just how we
do. I hope everybody's been having a great week.
So far, every now and then, I'm only going to
be doing maybe two or three episodes each week.
Until I get back up to the speed where I'd like
to be, thank you guys for sticking with me through
all of this. So look forward to another two or
three episodes this week. So we'll go ahead and
get started. Today we're going to talk about
the learning approaches. Those are things that
people need to know how to go about when determining
what their learning style is, okay? Next time
we'll be covering learning styles. There are
eight different types, but we'll cover those
in a minute. first off first off first off like
i said there are so many different ways to approach
this and how you learn is one of those things
that you need to learn how to be able to have
you know handle or deal with so over the years
many theories many many many many theories have
been developed to examine the process involved
with learning and most learning theories concentrate
on the significance for the way that learning
is delivered to you. So there are many different
ways of learning, both formally and informally
as part of a group, such as a classroom setting,
one -on -one, you know, mentoring, coaching,
or just self -learning if you're one of those
types. Furthermore, people learn differently
at different times in their lives and in different
circumstances, okay? These approaches that I'm
going to cover, there's three of them. They are,
first off, the one that is concerned with the
learner's response to some form of stimulation
is called the behavioral approach. We're going
to cover that. And then there's one that deals
with knowledge and knowledge retention, like
getting ready to take a test and making sure
you remember the information that you learned.
That's cognitive. That's the cognitive approach.
And then there's the humanistic approach, which
is based on explanations of another person's
experience, whether yours or someone else's.
So these are the three different approaches that
we have that are capable of being used to teach
somebody how to learn something. And I'm going
to go ahead and try to go into them as best as
I can so that you understand the theory behind
this. and keep it as simple as possible i don't
want to go off into some tangent i'm not trying
to make it seem like you know i'm saying you're
unable to learn if you're not able to use one
of these three methods no everyone should be
able to use all three methods but some people
are either medically incapable or so on and so
forth so take it with a grain of salt find out
which method works best for you use that it doesn't
mean you can't use the other methods it just
means that you would have to learn or uh try
a little harder to do so so there's something
to look forward to and let's get started all
right everybody welcome back let's go ahead and
start talking about the behaviorist approach
okay This approach, the one I mentioned before,
is based on the idea that the learner responds
to a stimulating environment, okay? The role
of the learning facilitator here for this thing
is supposed to provide relevant and useful stimuli,
something that stimulates the learner so that
they respond to and gains the required knowledge
and experience of whatever it is that they're
trying to teach them, okay? In this approach
to learning, it centers around the belief that
the appropriate behavior can be taught through
constant repetition of certain tasks and combined
with feedback from the facilitators, the people
that are in charge. Positive feedback encourages
and reinforces success, while negative feedback
and intermediate correction discourages the repetition
of any mistakes. or desirable behaviors. This
is something that is noted, especially when teaching
animals. Believe it when I say that it does work
when teaching animals. So this is something that
can be used for humans or for animal training,
for lack thereof. Proof of this would be back
in 1927 with Ivan Pavlov. I can't pronounce this
guy's name. He conducted a famous experiment
with dogs. He taught the animals to salivate
on hearing a certain bell ringing, signifying
that it was time to feed them. Later, he stopped
feeding them in this method, but the dogs continued
to salivate when they heard the bell regardless.
In other words, it became a learned behavior
as a result of all the sequence of events that
he had done to go through to train them and became
more of a It became more than just a conscious
thought process by the dogs. What he discovered
was known or rather termed as classical conditioning.
This kind of conditioning can be used to develop
repetitive actions within training or muscle
memory, if you will. For example, looking in
the mirror and putting your seatbelt on before
driving off in a car. Those are just examples
of spontaneous behaviors that have been learned
and become repetitive actions. The association
between the stimulus response can be made more
effective by reinforcement. Again, like I mentioned
earlier, this is the idea that underpins the
theory that back then it was developed by B .F.
Skinner in 1957, saying that reinforcement can
work in both positive and negative ways. A positive
reinforcer is anything that strengthens the desired
response that you want the person to have in
training. And where the aim is learning, for
example, this might be stimulated by verbal phrasing,
good marks, a feeling of achievement. On the
other hand, if verbal praise is withdrawn, this
will also have a negative effect and the motivation
to learn will monumentally decrease. Not all
the time like a lot of the times compliments
can be considered derogatory they can be seen
as being overly ambitious or just trying to get
someone to do something that you want them to
do but at the same time while you're doing that
keep in mind that this is also a way of behaviorally
training somebody unintentionally they think
that because you're complimenting them that you're
doing what you want them to do and a lot of people
misconstrue this as thinking that they're needed
that they're wanted by this person that they
want them to do this they want them to act this
way they want them to be this way when in reality
they're defying who they are and that's probably
not what that person wants unless that person
is a tool and they're just using you please keep
this in mind okay one of the main ways to use
behavioral approach is to uh to learning and
training and teaching is to specify clear behavioral
uh objectives at the start and then supply learning
opportunities that ensure that the objectives
are met so the approach is Based on the view
that there is one right way, one truth that the
student or the person needs to learn and that
that knowledge is the same for all the learners
in the room. For this reason, it emphasizes teacher
and trainer control. The trainer employs external
reinforcement to motivate and encourage the trainees
to reach that stated objective. There was a theory
that was created years ago. Called The Theory
of Instruction created by R .M. Gain. Spelled
G -A -G and accented E. I had to think for a
minute. I had it written here on a piece of paper.
But the most recent proponent of the behaviorist
approach can be found in his work. In his theory,
he suggested that learning takes place in a hierarchy
way. He proposed that there are eight stage models,
and each stage of which is associated with a
type of learning that influences the way that
instruction is delivered. And, you know, with
that being said, it's basically understood that
what he's saying is that learning at one level
is only possible if learning at the previous
level has already taken place. Okay? So, like
I said, You figure out where you are, you can
understand what you don't know, and it'll help
you grow and learn more efficiently in the future.
So to understand this more effectively, based
off of what I'm trying to say, is that the eight
different types of learning based off of his
theory are signal learning and recognition, recognizing
that something is happening based off of what
you're doing. Stimulus response learning, which
is learning the response due to the stimulating
environment or stimulus that you're using. Motor
chain learning. You're learning the sequence
of actions necessary. Then there is verbal chain
learning, which is associating words in the sequences.
Multiple discrimination. which is choosing relevant
responses to particular stimuli, which means
that certain responses only work to a certain
target. The next is concept learning, which is
making a common response to a class of stimuli.
The last two are acquisition of rules. Concepts
joining together the guide of the behavior with
a set of instructions. And then problem solving,
where you combine all the rules and forms of
learning that you have together to solve whatever
the problem is. If a person has a high skill
of problem solving, then that means that they're
able to do all the previous ones subconsciously
without thinking. And even if you don't think
you have any of the other eight based off of
this instruction method, if you're able to problem
solve subconsciously, you're able to do the others
without thinking. Just so that you understand.
Okay? All right, everybody. Now that we got through
most of that information, let's go ahead and
move on. The next thing would be social learning
theory. Okay, so we're still talking about behavioral
approach. Okay, we'll get to cognitive in a second.
But I want to go ahead and talk about social
learning. There's a theory behind this that I
want people to understand that this has to do
with the behavior of... of people and their the
way they learn okay i'm pretty sure you've all
heard of peer pressure right it's a thing okay
where you're pressuring someone to do something
that everyone else is doing or you know you feel
pressure that you should be doing what everyone
else is doing okay this is a behavioral thing
okay it's not something that's in the innately
learned from youth it's something that's learned
through social interaction okay The social learning
theory is the development of early behavioralism
theory, and it proposes that people can learn
both directly and indirectly by observing others.
And in order for that to become an effective
way of learning, learning has to become absorbed
into the repertoire of behaviors in a way where
it needs to be positively reinforced. However,
this isn't always the case. And as you could
probably guess, What I'm about to tell you is
the positive effects and how this becomes a thing.
And then you can understand how peer pressure
is the negative side of this and why it should
be avoided at all costs. But, you know, society
continues on in its own way and people do what
they want. So anyway, for this to become an issue,
for people to gain this ability and feel that
they need to do something because of other people's
behaviors and actions. It starts off in three
stages. First off, attention is focused using
a model, usually a child or a parent. Then learning
takes place through observation of the model's
behavior and the consequences of the said child.
In this instance, we would use a child watching
their parent use the telephone. We learn these
behavioral responses from watching the model
in our life, which when growing up becomes our
parents. We want to do what they're doing. We
see what they're doing. We think what they're
doing is okay and right, so we want to do what
they're doing. Okay? You see how this is starting
to build into what later becomes a negative response
due to peer pressure, right? The next thing is
the subject analyzes and codes the learning into
their own behavior, and then, if anything, starts
to imitate the model's behavior if possible.
This will then help in the reinforcement process
of being able to do what they see the other person
do. In other words, if the child can copy the
parent's action, the learning will be reinforced
and the action is learned. Okay? Ergo, peer pressure
is the opposite of it, where you don't want to
do something, but because everyone else is doing
it, you feel that you should do it, and then
you copy them. Thus, the action is learned. The
social learning approach places great significance
on learning with other people through interpersonal
reactions, either face -to -face or in a team.
And one of the problems of this approach is that
people don't copy everything they see, but as
individuals, they tend to be selective about
what they choose to copy. It is therefore important
for other people to demonstrate best practices
while using this approach to training and picking
up on mistakes quickly before they start copying
the mistakes too as learned behaviors that are
positive. This is something I want you all to
understand that just because everyone else is
doing it doesn't mean you need to do it too.
All right, so next we're going to go ahead and
get started with the cognitive approach. Now
that we've finished behavioral approaches, I
want you to see what a cognitive approach is,
okay? Behavioralist theories of learning essentially
stress the importance of the assertiveness of
what the tutor is trying to teach you. And the
passive participant who is not given a great
deal of choice other than to respond to a predetermined
way. So it's not a very, it's an effective way
to train someone. It's just not a very good way
to train somebody. um if you want to look at
it from a moral perspective in contrast to that
though the cognitive theories are concerned with
the role of the active mind in processing learning
opportunities and development let's say let me
use an example the tutor if present in this scenario
um and the participant both engage with knowledge
the role of the tutor is to choosing the best
method to convey the understanding and the work
of the of two well -known classical cognitive
theories uh that expressed this whole thought
process to understand it would be John Dewey.
Everybody knows John Dewey back in 1938. If you've
taken history, you know who this is. If you don't,
don't worry about it. And the other one is B
.S. Bloom. So, what did Dewey have to say about
this? John Dewey said, believes that learning
involves learning to think. I'm not saying that
literally, I'm meaning that liberally. I'm going
to go ahead and quote him here. It's going to
give me a minute. He says that the process of
learning is more than doing a task or an activity.
It requires reflection and learning from this.
So to Dewey, the purpose of thought is basically
attaining a state of equilibrium, enabling an
individual to solve the problem and prepare themselves
for further inquiries rather than just giving
them the solution or acting a certain kind of
way to get a certain result. It's often associated
with progressive education. I'm pretty sure y
'all have heard of that. Dewey rejected traditional
forms of education based on the reinforcement
of information where the student had a passive
role, suggesting that this type of learning was
superficial. He said that learning only occurs
if the student plays an active role in the process
actually doing it. Okay? You see how we're getting
into the types of learning as we're doing this,
right? We'll cover that more in detail next time,
but don't worry about that for right now. For
learning, in this regard okay it to take place
it must be meaningful to the individual they
have to want to do it the student critically
reflects on the information presented they have
to be able to experience the information in and
the way to facilitate this is to draw on past
experiences and show them or make them allow
them to do it it can be argued therefore that
dewey was one of the the foremost uh proponent
people of experimental learning but that's neither
here nor there that's not the point of this okay
Teachers or trainers employing Dewey's approach
to learning play a key role in the learner's
development, but it is in a more indirect way
than implied by the behavioral format that we
mentioned earlier. For example, planning sessions
that encourage interaction with the material
that's presented and reflective thinking, as
well as creating a climate where students or
the trainees can structure their own learning
based off the information given. Okay? You know,
kind of like math class, where they not only
explain how the problem works, but they make
you come up there and do it, too. I'm pretty
sure we've all had that opportunity to walk up
to the blackboard or whiteboard, whichever it
is, and solve it with a piece of chalk or a dry
erase marker, depending on where you went to
school. Or, unless everything's digital, then
now you do it on a piece of paper or a tablet.
What have you. okay so the other one vs bloom
basically another theorist in the cognitive approach
uh consider learning occurs in both the cognitive
domain that is associated with memory and understanding
and you know the effective domain how feelings
or emotions change as a result of learning so
basically this person um is saying that The way
you remember and do stuff off of memory and understanding
is also based off of how you feel at that moment.
He suggests that parallel learning between the
cognitive and the affective domains of your brain
in a cumulative way depends on the degree of
difficulty, how hard it is. The degree in which
learners can use this will depend on that person.
I would use my girlfriend as an example in this,
but it's not fair to her if I do that. So let's
just use a different person in this approach.
So when it comes down to it, cognitive approaches
and the effective response in your feelings or
your emotional state helps with learning in a
certain way. Knowledge, when it comes to the
knowledge cognitive aspect, you have to be willing
to receive the information. When it comes to
comprehensive, you have to be able to respond
to the information. When it comes to the application
of it, you have to value what you're using and
want to use it. When it comes to the analysts.
and the analysis and synthesizing of the information
in the process of applying it, you have to be
able to conceptualize. You have to be able to
think through it and know that you can do it.
Then last but not least, evaluation. Being able
to organize everything and put it together. You
know, get yourself together and focus. So that's
the essentials of how Bloom states that this
should work. Now that we've gone through all
of that, let's go ahead and look at the humanistic
approach to lurk. Okay, it's the last approach
out of the three. It's a more recent theory.
It takes into account the way that in our society
previously polarizes the views of right and wrong
has dissolved into like a variety of potentially
equal valuable truths. pluralistic approach,
if you will. The stress on valuing diversity
in many organizations and in social society generally
is a reflection of this ideology. And an emphasis
on learning or active learning is at the core
of this humanistic approach to learning. The
terms, well, and drug, I hate these, I hate pronouncing
words like this. I'll just say andragogy, because
that's about the best way I can pronounce it,
and pedagogy, or gogy, whatever. You discern
how this should be pronounced. I'm just trying
to portray the information. I never was able
to pronounce these before, and I still am able
to pronounce them now. But the difference between
the earlier models that I mentioned before of
training and the more usual approach nowadays
would be these two things. They are terms derived
from the Greek words meaning child and man, respectively.
Okay. Pedagogy is essentially based on instruction,
knowledge that is transmitted formally from one
who knows to one who doesn't know. This type
of model has often been used in institutional
settings where it can be administratively easier
to Assume control of the learning experience
while ignoring the abilities or needs of the
person to engage in self -directed learning.
For example, in schools and other educational
establishments, this can be seen and used. Unfortunately,
this model can engender resistance or rebellion,
particularly in older children, adolescents,
or adults. So if you've seen that before, that's
probably the reason. It can be claimed that it
actually misses the point. Providing training
or education does not necessarily mean that the
learner will enjoy or remember the experience,
even less transfer it to useful settings. Basically,
they feel like they are being forced to learn
it and they don't want to do that. Andragogy,
on the other hand, however, provides us with
a process model in which the learner discovers
knowledge at a pace that is suitable to themselves
and is supported by a facilitator or a coach
or mentor that, you know, tries to help them
in that regard. This theory is based on four
assumptions that define its unique position against
the other, or traditional learning methods. One,
the learner needs freedom to develop his or her
own learning style, or skill, for that matter.
The second one is the existing experience of
the learner are fundamental for understanding
and new learning to take place effectively. Third,
the person needs to be ready to learn as opposed
to being motivated by fear or coercion, you know,
being forced to do it. The fourth thing is the
orientation to learning is a paramount. In other
words, it's not subject oriented, but learner
centered so that they can, you know, focus on
what it is that they need. That's just why I
structured my podcast the way I have, because
I want it to be structured around what the learners
need, the people who listen, who want to know
this information. rather than certain subjects.
It may seem like I'm all over the place, but
if this is what you want to learn and this is
the recommended or the suggested item that you
want to hear me talk about, I will cover that.
And then I'll go back to the topic that I had
started on before. This is why topics take a
little bit longer to come out. It's not that
I don't want to do it. It's because this is what
you want to learn about now at the moment, so
I'll cover it now. If I'm unable to, I'll finish
what I started first and then come back to it.
Informal individual support is important in this
method or theory as it's the development of a
group environment that is both positive and accepting.
Sharing experiences can deepen individual learning.
not only for the cognitive or intelligent processes,
but also for the emotional processes that a person
has. Participation methods build on both individual
and group experiences, aiding in reflection of
the information, lengthening the span of the
attention, and increasing self -awareness. Learning
in this way is often referred to as experimental
learning. You'll probably hear that quite often.
It was developed by a man named David Kolb. In
his experimental approach, the experimental model
of learning that he came up with underpins much
of the work of the modern adult training that
they provide. Essentially, he believes that learning
is a dynamic process in which we can constantly
be able to construct our own learning and development
by moving through the following cycle I'm going
to give you. Okay? It's a circle, so it's split
into four. You can find this stuff online if
you look for Calls Experimental Learning Cycle.
There are four things. Concrete experience, which
is engaging in an activity or experience. Reflective
observation, reflecting on the activity or experience.
Active experimentation. trying it out, and testing
the new skills and abilities, and abstract conceptualization,
which is gaining knowledge or skills from the
experience of doing it. Okay? There are... He
has four aspects of his learning cycle in which
experiences are constantly reviewed and impressed,
or challenged or confirmed on the basis of an
experimental or experiential learning theory,
and such helps the person grow. The sequence
is explained in the following way. A person's
life experiences from the basis of... her observation
and reflection what was, has been encountered
and encourages learning. This in turn becomes
a simulator to what is already known, provides
a new conceptual map on which further actions
will be based on this fact and thus forming a
new experience. To complete the cycle, people
also need to be able to practice the skills learned
if the training is to have any true meaning or
effect for them. In training terms, therefore,
learning is facilitated if the course content
and the process key into participants. an existing
experience are so designed to encourage reflection
and formation of the new concept essentially
as long as the training not only enforces the
learning but gives them a way to practice it
and a way to use it it's going to help reinforce
the way they learn it so that they can do it
Let's go ahead and finish this off with another
theory based off of the humanistic approach,
and that would be the Bandura's self -efficacy
theory. Albert Bandura was a key proponent of
social learning, who also popularized the notion
of self -efficiency or self -efficacy. His theory
takes into consideration how people perceive
themselves or how they raise their own level
of competence in the process of learning. People
low in self -efficacy will dwell on their perceived
inadequacies and difficulty of their situation.
Conversely, people high in self -efficacy will
see a situation as a challenge rather than a
problem and focus on what needs to be done. They
manage threats well and can apply their knowledge
to different situations. Okay. He points out
that... The level of self -efficacy may influence
a person's performance in many different ways.
I have two examples here. The first one is the
amount of effort and persistence a person puts
into a task. For example, if a person starts
an activity with weak expectations or low self
-esteem, I'll just use that. It's pretty much
the same thing. But this is followed by positive
experiences. They are more likely to perceive.
and persevere through it. However, individuals
who have strong expectations will continue to
persevere despite negative or dissuading experiences
at all, okay? So even if they don't have the
positive experiences, they will still try to
persevere just because they have strong expectations
of how it's supposed to be. You know, you could
be one or the other. You may be one of the ones
who need the extra boost to help get you through
it. The other option is the actions or tasks
people choose. Individuals will be more inclined
to undertake tasks in which they have strong
expectations and are less inclined to do those
linked to weak expectations. So if the outcome
seems like it's not worth, you know, the living
hell that it's placed on, they're probably not
going to bother. This self -efficiency or self
-efficacy is derived from a number of sources
which include performance accomplishments, which
is basically, these are the most dependable sources
of self -efficiency or efficacy expectations
because they are based on one's own personal
experiences. And success raises mastery expectations
and repeated failures lower them. The second
one is vicarious experiences, which is watching
others undertake fearful or feared activities
without negative consequence. This can also create
a positive expectation in the observer and is
sometimes referred to as modeling to get them
to do something that they would otherwise probably
never do because they were afraid of the outcome.
The third one is verbal persuasion. Individuals
can be led to believe that they can cope successfully.
Expectations created in this way, however, tend
to be weak. Therefore, you really shouldn't use
it unless you have to. And they tend to be weak
unless accompanied by an authentic experimental
or experiential base. Basically, it's very, very
weak. It doesn't always work unless you have
someone or something there that helps bring it
along or helps with the encouragement. The third
one is emotional arousal. This is the one that
seems to be more common but misused. People partly
rely on their physiological arousal to judge
anxiety states. High aversion arousal tends to
debilitate performance, whereas with a calm and
low arousal setup, success is more likely if
a person is anxious and overly like animated
and doing something they're more likely to not
do it or fail than if they just calmly rationally
try to think it out okay the implication for
training is for training designs are various
and includes different settings that are either
realistic but even if they are realistic they're
not too easy a goal that you know anybody can
achieve them there's still something they have
to work towards and in order for the people to
feel that they've really achieved something and
ensure that people have the support and rewards
that is necessary, they have to feel as if they
had to work for it to earn it. If it's too easy,
they're not going to feel like they gained anything
from it, and they're going to come to hate it,
okay? Ensuring that people have support and rewards
for their learning in either workplace or training
environment, regardless of the fact, will help
ensure that they learn more efficiently. If all
they receive is a negative backlash or a negative
outcome, it's going to hinder their learning
and then for either make them stop doing what
they're doing or stop wanting to be around you
for that matter, if that's the case. This goes
not just for a learning environment, but this
also goes for a workforce environment as well.
Take into effect that, take into the consideration
that if people feel like they're being stimulated
to do something, if they feel like they're wanted
and that the environment is a positive one. And
that even if it's something that would otherwise
be considered impossible to them, if everyone
can do it and anybody can do it, they should
be able to do it and they should be able to earn
the tasks as well. Okay? Think of it like a self
-motivational tactic in a reverse way. All right?
It's been fun, guys. I'm thanking you guys for
listening to this podcast, learning about the
different learning approaches and how they affect
people and how you can use them or misuse them.
I don't recommend the second one, but still.
Thank you for listening. This has been Food for
Thoughts if it were you. Sponsored by Recon Towers.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day. Stick
around next time. We will talk about the different
learning types like promised. And then we'll
get on to the eight types of learning styles
that are more predominant. Okay?