Tablet PCs and their Ink cousins provide a relatively easy vehicle to convert empirical data into intentional learning venues. At the same time, the intersection of myths and facts about learning continues to resonate throughout U.S. public schools. These conditions leave parents and school observers with a mishmash of empirical reports, romantic idealizing, and political as well as religious imagining about and descriptions of learning. The following points outline ways to make sense about learning out of this mishmash.
Just the Facts Learning is a technical field. It’s easy to get bogged down in details and interpretations. It’s also apparent that not all lessons rely on these details, and therefore not all students reach learning criteria. Here are experimental empirical databased facts about learning for parents to use when observing a student studying in and out of schools. I call them First Order Learning Principles. They describe what you can see and hear people do to control new tasks and to solve problems (i.e., to learn). By using these principles, teachers and software developers can offer lessons that allow almost all learners to reach criterion promptly and efficiently.
Recommended Learning Principles to Observe: A Sample This sample of principles describes steps learners follow in order to behave as required to complete the point of a lesson successfully. Learning analysts (whether parents, educators, psychologists, et al.) use these principles to understand what in a lesson leads to control over a problem or task. As far as we know, these principles apply whether the learner works alone or in a group, face-to-face or remotely and with or without a Tablet PC.
1. Learners show observers how they learn. Learning occurs through observable, measurable behavior patterns. (The cognitive, neurological, and psycholinguistic sciences have not described other experiment empirical principles for observers to identify how or when learning occurs.)
2. Learning a task occurs. Learners rearrange lessons in order to follow these principles: From easy to hard; From simple to complex; and From known to unknown.
3. Learning occurs in one step. Learners engage in trial-and-error behavior patterns until they perform the correct or criterion response.
4. A learner’s behavior pattern consists of three parts: Ante Behavior – An observable stimulus the learner identifies to solve a problem or unknown; that which occurs immediately before an action; Behavior Pattern – The actions or trials of the learner to solve an problem or another unknown; and Consequence – That which the learner identifies and which occurs immediately after the trial, variously labeled reinforcement, punishment, etc.; the consequence alters the probability that the behavior pattern will or will not occur again;
5. Learning tasks consist of two parallel parts. Learners use both parts to complete new tasks successfully: Process – Those observable behavior patterns a learner uses during a trial. Content – The organization of the subject matter the learner tries to control, (e.g., what comes first, second, etc. when assembling a bicycle coaster break, adding 1+2, selecting the correct a formula to solve a math problem).
Before Empiricism Before empiricism emerged as a practical way to describe and manage learning accurately and reliably, people used beliefs and values to make such decisions. By the early part of the 20th century, prototypes of reliable measurements of learning existed. Some educators experimented with ways to convert empirical descriptions to lessons. Yet, most public school educators have continued to this day to rely on versions of beliefs and value commitments instead of using experimental empirical data to organize learning in schools. They appear to package and brand methods of instruction vs. learning in ways similar to how companies seek mindshare for their products in purchasing markets.
Distinguishing Facts from Other Ideas To distinguish between factual descriptions of and other ideas about learning, consider these suggestions.
1. Identify if the presentation describes or uses clear, concise steps to solve a problem or uses something else. If an observer does not see, hear, or in other ways observe First Order Learning Principles, then learners likely will not either. Thus, learning likely will not occur promptly.
2. Identify use of active vs. passive language voice in presentations. By definition, active voice declares which behavior patterns to use to complete a task successfully, thus reducing trials-and-errors for learners.
3. When given a choice, select presentations that concisely and directly demonstrate how to reach a learning criterion. Avoid those that use qualifiers, such as adjectives and adverbs.
4. Avoid presentations with visual and other noise (distractions), those that appear more compelling and passionate then the new skills and information they present.
5. Ask for when your child will learn (you fill in whatever you want learned). Teachers who give priority to learning over teaching can tell you a calendar date.
6. Teachers who give priority to learning over teaching use phrases such as “probably,” “likely,” and “reduced risks, “fewer trials-and-errors.” These have technical definitions. 7. Use caution when someone indicates a passive approach to learning with phrases such as “I’ll teach that on …,””it depends on the student,” “this program uses best practices,” “needs,” “necessary,” “other teachers use this program,” and “it works for most students.”
In General. Obtaining intended learning from a lesson relies on balancing speed of learning against exposure to relevant, but less precise steps to meet a learning criterion. Fewer words spoken in a lesson and less distractions from meeting a learning criterion written into a software presentation generally means more aggressive instruction at the expense of related information.
Teachers sometimes refer to striking this balance as the-art-of-teaching. Learners prefer lessons that address the-art-of-learning, those that are more direct and less costly to learners. Above all, as a parent or learning analyst, use your observations about learning tasks to formulate questions of educators and education software developers. They know First Order Learning Principles and can describe how they use them to formulate their lessons.
Note
Previously published August 8, 2007, with the title Distinguishing Learning Myths and Facts on Tablet PC Education.
The “balance” between speed of instruction and the relevance of of the material stuck a chord with me. In my Instructional Design Graduate work we have used some anecdotal information to keep students motivated during the lesson. This works because it helps relate the material to something they understand. Shorter movie clips or analogies are sometimes used to make this connection. This does take time, but adds the layer of relevance you are speaking of. When used too often, students who want to learn the materials faster get frustrated, and the lesson tends to lose focus. When left out, the lesson becomes dry and students can lose interest.
Thanks, Michael. I follow and accept your point. Establishing balances for me has been a constant battle between speed and density of instruction, and student response rates. I wonder, if you, as I do, look forward to an onboard Tablet and other mobile PC student learning analyzer that will assist instructors to create these dynamic balances? I have a selfish reason for asking: I’m working toward one. What features would be most useful to you and other educators?