Personal Approach to Applying Learning Theory

When you think about learning, what comes to your mind? Learning is a continuous process that results in changes in behavior or experience. Learning theories create the opportunity to address important questions about learning, its influence, memory and knowledge which allow for educators to create better instruction for better learning outcomes. Applying learning theory when designing learning experiences is essential to ensuring that the experience is effective. Below are some ways that I have implemented learning theory into my designs. 

Behaviorism and Gamification

With this assignment, the goal was to design a gamified learning experience to teach and assess new employees' understanding of company policies using behaviorism and gamification principles using Google Forms. The end goal of this project for me was to provide different paths for the training so that employees could choose a path in a board game style quiz in order to gain a fun certificate in the end. I used characteristics of Behaviorism and Gamification together to ensure that the game did not allow the user to advance forward until they got the correct answer on the form which ensure that they fully understood the content. 

Behaviorism focuses on how our surroundings influence and shape our actions. Gamification is using game design-like elements into the learning in order to create engaging learning experiences. 

Keller's ARCS Model

The objective of this project was to apply Keller's ARCS model to create an infographic that captures and sparks interest in remote work options for new employees at a theoretical company. The goal in this project for me was to use bold and exciting colors to capture the persons attention. I added a frequently asked questions section because I thought it was important since the users were frequently reaching out to ask additional questions even after viewing the website. The data and photos added an extra level of satisfaction and confidence for the reader. 

ARCS stands for attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. 

Mayer's 12 Principles

In this project, I was intended to create a multimedia presentation about workplace safety using Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The goal with this project was to be methodical throughout the presentation to create consistency for the employee. I used videos, images and bold lettering to align with Mayer's theory. I wanted to ensure that the learning was clear without becoming too jumbled, so I tried to limit the wording and use photos to capture the message of what I was trying to convey. 

Cognitivism focuses on the internal process with learning and explains how information is received, processed, stored and retrieved within the mind. 

Col Framework

For this project, I was tasked with designing an online learning community in the form of a Slack workspace, grounded in the Community of Inquiry framework and principles of constructivism. I created the channels #ConnectedCafe, #MeetTheExperts, and #DiscussWithMe. These channels were intended to support open virtual connection, to provide students with the opportunity to engage in active discussion with experts and peers and to provide students with the opportunity to discuss assignments and express themselves freely, respectively. I provided relevant roles and responsibilities for the moderator, contributor and observer using the Col framework. I provided engagement strategies, tips and brainstormed the challenges and advantages for this virtual knowledge sharing space. 

The Community of Inquiry (Col) framework emphasizes the importance of interaction, collaboration, and connections in online settings (Cleveland-Innes & Hawryluk, 2023). The three original presences of the Col framework are cognitive presence, teaching presence and social presence. The new model is evolving to add emotional presence as well. 

Sociocultural Learning Theory and Situated Learning

In this project, I was responsible for creating a digital team-building activity a digital team-building activity rooted in sociocultural theory and situated learning principles. My activity name was Cultural Spark which was a play on the company name Sparkywave Solutions as well as a way to emphasize that the activity was created to encourage cultural differences and similarities in the workplace. The activity was to foster enhanced communication, trust and common ground among the six new team members with diverse backgrounds to encourage team collaboration for a pitch for an upcoming product. I created thorough activity instructions, provided technology requirements and debriefing for the pitch. 

Sociocultural theory is a framework within educational psychology and instructional technology that emphasizes the crucial role of social interactions and cultural context in shaping human cognitive development (Allman, 2020). Situated learning means that learning is distributed across the individual, the environment and the activity that is being done, meaning learning by doing. 

Self-Determination Theory and Transactional Distance Theory

For this project, I was tasked with developing a proposal for a self-paced cybersecurity eLearning module that incorporates generative AI by applying Self-Determination Theory and Moore's Theory of Transactional Distance. I created a video using Adobe Express titled Education, Cybersecurity and AI and did a quick pitch using my own voice with an animated narrator. I added details about my strategy and plan within my template which included different levels for training for entry-level or experienced employees, self-assessments/reflections, and cyber cafe for open discussion. In the cyber cafe, the goal was to connect with others on their own terms and be able to have discussions with mentors with sharing the opportunity on how they could potentially become a mentor in the future. I added an option for generative AI to create personalized feedback for the employees which provide additional resources and personalized learning specialized for each employee and their personal needs. The goal that I had was to use these theories to provide autonomy and support dialogue in the workplace within a remote setting. 

Self-determination theory helps us understand what drives people to behave in a certain way within educational settings. It proves that we all have a natural drive to learn and improve, but that drive can either be supported or stifled. Transactional Distance is related to three key constructs: autonomy, structure and dialogue and it measures the degree of separation between the learner and the educator within time and space based on level of communication. 

Connect the Dots

All of these diverse learning theories and frameworks collectively play a huge role in ensuring that learning design and experiences are effective. They all share different views and have extensive arguments that discuss how learning effects individuals as a whole. As an educator of any kind, it is vital that the learning experiences that we create for the learners actually provide them with learning that is tailored to them and their life experiences. This is why learning should not and does not suit a one-fits-all type of approach and why all of these learning theories and frameworks exist. 

My Personal Journey

I have grown immensely through these projects and experiences as an Instructional Designer Assistant for Sparkywave Solutions and in this Digital Learning Theories course. After taking the course and writing this blog post to finalize the work that I have done, I can now see where my projects could use improvement and how I can better implement these educational theories to best suit the learners. They always say, "Your first project will never be your best project", so I am absolutely looking forward to continuing on this path as an Instructional Designer and look forward to seeing my work improve greatly through this project and building my portfolio in the near future.