1. Foundations and Framework of Instructional Technology Psychological Foundations, Learning Environments, and Learner Motivation

2. Introduction For all people involved in the profession of education, the primary goal is to ensure the passing of knowledge to our learners, such that they have the ability to perform the objectives set for them to achieve, and hopefully to build on that learning to go above and beyond basic understanding. For educators in any realm of instruction, a firm grasp of what learning is and what it is not is essential to the success of that goal. The following presentation will be divided into three distinct sections: Section one will explain the definition of learning and attempt to explain its psychological underpinnings. Section two will present the definition of a learning environment and present learning models that will aid the viewer in understanding how learning environments are constructed and how they impact what learners learn. Finally, section three will discuss the concept of instructional motivation. What makes learners, want to learn?

4. Section One Psychological Foundations

5. Learning: by Carl Rogers 1983 I want to talk about learning . But not the lifeless, sterile, futile, quickly forgotten stuff that is crammed in to the mind of the poor helpless individual tied into his seat by ironclad bonds of conformity! I am talking about LEARNING - the insatiable curiosity that drives the adolescent boy to absorb everything he can see or hear or read about gasoline engines in order to improve the efficiency and speed of his 'cruiser'. I am talking about the student who says, "I am discovering, drawing in from the outside, and making that which is drawn in a real part of me." I am talking about any learning in which the experience of the learner progresses along this line: "No, no, that's not what I want"; "Wait! This is closer to what I am interested in, what I need"; "Ah, here it is! Now I'm grasping and comprehending what I need and what I want to know!" (Smith, 1999)

6. What is Learning? A tough thing to define by anyone’s standards. If you are a Behaviorist, meaning that you pattern yourself after the work of B.F. Skinner you likely view learning as a function of your reaction to the outside world. (Reiser & Dempsey, 2002, p. 58) I’m Sorry! I promise that I won’t leave the lid up ever again. Now, please don’t hit me anymore! Clearly this scene shows education, meaning that there has been change in behavior, but does it really mean that he has ‘learned?’

8. Cognitive Information-Processing Theory (contd.) Learning is developed by social interaction and goes beyond the idea that it is just a reaction to external stimulus. What do you think this young man told his mom when she told him about smoking? But his real learning is defined in his own mind not by the simple admonition of his mother. Mom says that smoking does not make you ‘cool.’ But I think Charley is cool and he’s smoking

10. What is Learning? Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own "rules" and "mental models," which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences. (On Purpose Associates, 1998-2001)

12. What is Learning: A Personal Perspective Learning can be defined in many ways but it is most definitely a change in behavior caused by stimuli. Where I differ from behaviorism is that in my opinion that change in stimuli must come from within or no real learning has taken place. Many times I have crammed for an exam and did well, only to forget everything within a day or two. The motivation was not to learn the material, but to pass the test. My preferred method of learning would be best defined by Situated Learning Theory. I personally get much greater levels of understanding at a much quicker pace when I am confronted with the need to process information within a framework that is ‘real world.’ But, I do feel that some types of learning require the base methods as prescribed by behaviorism. When I am training a group of learners in a particular software, it is imperative that they first garner the basic constructs of how the software functions. How to navigate from screen to screen and how to enter and retrieve data. For this basic ‘learning’ the standard approach of presentation, questioning and simple exercises is well suited. Certainly this basic knowledge is only lodged (cont.)

13. What is Learning: A Personal Perspective (contd.) ‘ in short term memory and if the learners left the room with no other interaction, would quickly forget all that had been shown. It is at this point that an effective instructor would leave the behaviorist mentality and move into a more Situated Learning mentality. Within this construct learners are asked to process information as they would in their daily work roles; going so far as to be expected to use actual case files and real names to make the process even more realistic. It is this processing within the real world that will serve to lock learning in place. For me, learning is a two phase process. Initial learning must take into consideration a behaviorist view point and present the learner with facts that are to be stored and regurgitated as needed. The next step is to present real world circumstances where in that regurgitation can happen quickly enough to make the base learning applicable. Constructivism was going to be my preferred method, and in reality I would have to say that it is. However, creating environments that truly meet the needs of the constructivist would be very difficult and would, in my opinion, only be valuable for an advanced group of learners who are far beyond basic skills.

15. Section Two Learning Environments

20. What is a Learning Environment: A Personal Perspective There are obviously many learning environments, however most seem to ascribe to either the Objectivist or Constructivist theory at their core. Learning environments are either formal and stiff like the stereotype school room of days past, or they are flexible and interactive. Unquestionably the best learning environment in my opinion is the constructivist learning environment. Teachers serve as guides. They allow for learning to take place from within the learner. But, unlike the Collaborative learning model, the teacher is still the primary with regards to authority in the room.

22. Section Three Learner Motivation

23. Motivation: by Terry H. Bell, Former U.S. Secretary of Education There are three things to remember about education. The first one is motivation. The second one is motivation. The third one is motivation. (Lumsden, 1999)

24. Learner Motivation Gagne’s Theory of Instruction has as its primary component, the gaining of learners attention (Reiser & Dempsey, 2002, p. 65) According to Gagne gaining a learners attention is “…a change to alert the learner and focus attention on desired features.” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2002, p. 65) This is a basic construct in all forms of communication, of which learning is most certainly one. If I want someone to do something, anything, I must first get them aware that I want them to do it. This ‘getting attention’ in the realm of education is motivation.

25. Learner Motivation: Intrinsic The best form of motivation to be created in a learning environment is that of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is defined as: “Intrinsic Motivation is the internal desire to fulfill creative pursuits for personal gain without expectations from external influences” ( Duran, Heidrick, Max, Vierra , 2000) Intrinsic motivation generates the type of learning that comes from inside, it can be initiated by outside forces but is driven by the internal, the desire to do, based totally on self-imposed pressures.

26. Learner Motivation: Extrinsic Extrinsic motivation is the more commonly known and most often utilized form of educational motivation. Students performing tasks by being extrinsically motivated, perform those tasks for the sole purpose of gaining rewards (Reiser & Dempsey, 2002, p. 87), whether those rewards come in the form of money, points, or a pat on the head. “Our schools are filled with students who have no vision of the value of their work. In our obsession with the assessment of student progress and measurable goals, we have assigned a point total to every activity, inadvertently shifting the emphasis in the students' minds from the intrinsic value of the activity at hand to the inherently meaningless quest for "points".” (Hawkins, 1999)

27. Learner Motivation: Extrinsic What Hawkins is pointing out is that due to the emphasis on criterion-based testing in our classrooms, we are teaching learners to not bother learning, but just pass the test. Learning done for someone else is much like quitting smoking for a friend or family member. It won’t be long before the motivation is out of the room. What do learners truly learn if their learning is driven only by not meeting the standards of a criteria generated from a source outside of their control?

34. What is Motivation: A Personal Perspective I am of the opinion that people cannot be motivated. I believe that people become motivated, but not from any external source. People are motivated or not motivated by choice. Instructors at all levels of learning can only attempt to make learning either interesting enough or related enough to the individuals life and circumstances that that person decides that pursuit of that learning is worthy of them and therefore generate the motivation to learn it. Motivation is internal, but it does fall upon the instructor to make every effort, to advance upon every learning style, to sing, dance, or tell jokes in the effort to incite that internal motivation. For me, as a trainer of adults for many years, I ascribe to the ARCS model of motivation; although I must confess until this assignment I did not know that my style of presenting had a title. When I am presenting I consider myself to be an “entertrainer.” I consider it my job to make the learning fun and wacky, but effective. I am known for telling jokes, and stories. I throw candy at people for correct answers and generally create an entertaining atmosphere. Within that realm I insure learners are engaged (contd.)

35. What is Motivation: A Personal Perspective ‘ and are not allowed to become overwhelmed. In the world of computer instruction, this is the worst of all. Allowing a learner to feel they are hopelessly lost. Learning for me is “chunky” and taken in a logical manner and progressing into a much real life as possible. This often includes me generating interactions among learners on a topic and then quietly sliding to a corner of the room to let them fight it out. Not only do I consider this to be the sweetest way to learn, I get the advantage of further understanding my learners at a level beyond the student moniker. Bottom line, learning should be fun!