Emotion plays a major role in memory, learning, and cognition.
In, “Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective” (Ertmer & Newby, 2013), Ertmer and Newby discuss the roles of each learning theory in a continuum of readiness of learning acquisition based on seven questions to unpack each perspective. As a psychology major, I have taken classes in learning and behaviour, and cognition. This article spelled out these two approaches well and how they can be seen as building blocks to more complex applications such as constructivism. Yet, reading this article’s answer to “[w]hich factors influence learning?” in constructivism was sadly limited. Even in the update, there was no mention of the role of the emotion, nor the role of the subconscious.
The subconscious is something not often discussed during theories of learning. In viewing the mind through a dualistic lens of the conscious and the subconscious, behaviourism and cognitivism find a comfy home in the conscious with a cabin in the subconscious, while constructivism and the subconscious are very married. The importance of meaning is paramount to constructivism, and emotions are the backbone to the meaning of constructs. The subconscious interprets the external stimuli filtered through the conscious mind through an emotional regulator of the limbic system. It has its own rules of operating that is different from the conscious. I can go into great depths of how this dualistic operating system impacts an individual with concerns/ trauma and how the mind generates a behavioural response pattern. But, this class is focused on digital learning, so I will focus on that and if you would like any further information about dualism and psychotherapy please do not hesitate to contact me.
McFadden (2007) noted a similar view regarding the role of emotion in digital learning. In his article, “The forgotten dimension in learning: Incorporating emotion into web-based education”, McFadden explores the role of emotion and ends with twenty-one hypotheses involving how this significant dimension of being human is associated with web-based learning.
1. The role of emotion is poorly understood in society and in learning.
2. Educators and learners may have ambivalent attitudes towards
emotion.
3. Science and professionalism may de-value emotion.
4. New research in brain functioning is supporting a major role for
emotion in memory, cognition and learning.
5. Emotion can enhance focus, motivation and reasoning. Under certain situations it can also impair memory, motivation and reasoning.
6. Positive emotions may stimulate more creative, integrative, flexible thinking and an openness to information.
7. Emotion has been associated with academic performance.
8. Emotions are too complex to be categorized as strictly positive and
negative. Lower levels of anxiety, for instance, may enhance focus,
motivation and performance.
9. Learning involves a wide range of emotions.
10. The emotional experience within a course may be an important factor in valuing the course.
11. The expression of emotion may be seen as a danger in creating a
“safe” classroom for discussion.
12. Facilitators may deliberately discourage the expression of emotion.
13. Learners may compartmentalize emotion, “saving” it for outside
the classroom.
14. Learners may have a “personal style” in communicating emotion
online.
15. Some of the features of online education and communication may
limit the expression of emotion.
16. Various tools can be used to enrich online communication with
emotion.
17. Online emotional expression may be related to gender, personal
style, comfort with others, size of the group, and skill and knowledge with computers and the internet.
18. Facilitators may be missing important emotional experiences of
learners such as feeling ignored or unappreciated in an asynchronous communication environment.
19. Course experiences can be described as having an “emotional topography” with common feelings and experiences among users at
different points.
20. Web-course developers should consider the emotional experiences
of learners in designing courses.
21. Web-course facilitators should be aware of the variety of emotions
experienced by learners throughout the course and be prepared to
respond to them.
(McFadden, 2007)
I think they are interesting points to consider as hypotheses. What are your thoughts? Do you think emotion is a factor in learning? What about digital learning, is your response the same? If the subconscious runs much of our behaviour, should there be more attention dedicated to this important variable?
Maybe you don’t think the subconscious plays a role. If so, I would love to engage with a dialogue with you as dialectical engagement is an essence of constructivism.
MacFadden, R. (2007) The forgotten dimension in learning: Incorporating emotion into web-based education. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 25(1-2), 85-101. DOI: 10.1300/J017v25n01_05
Hi, you! I need your help! To accept this mission, please continue reading.
In “Assessing d.learning: Capturing the journey of becoming a design thinker” (Goldman, Carroll, Kabayadondo, Cavagnaro, Royalty, Roth, Kwek, and Kim, 2012) Goldman et al. unpack the transformative journey of changing mindsets through a qualitative lens. Honestly, loved this article. It has some of my favourite elements – Vgotsky, Dweck, and qualitative theories. So I don’t need your assistance in appreciating this article, but your mission, if you choose to keep reading, is to help me apply their understanding in a current work situation that I am not sure how to progress. Maybe through this as a collaborative process, the solution will rise up like smoke.
The Background
Smoke is the key word here. I was offered a new job (Christmas eve starting at 2300) at a residence that has six elderly residents with a long-standing diagnosis of schizophrenia. Each resident has approximately forty years under the mental health act. This means that they: have a severe diagnosis, are not able to find their own shelter, are a threat to themselves/ others, and have not voluntarily accepted continual assistance care (under control of the state legally). Most of their adult life of each individual has been spent in a psychiatric facility. Due to their age, they are no longer considered a violent threat and can live in a community under 24-hour care. This includes medication, food, and knowing of their whereabouts at all time. Four of the six residents are cigarette smokers. One of the non-smokers smoked for 30 years but has quit about five years ago. Two of the residents that smoke are extremely delusional in that they believe that staff are trying to control them – poisoning coffee, the government is controlling their mind, they are in charge of the world during this third world war, etc. The workers in this residence consist of four daytime workers and two night-time workers. I work four nights on and then two nights off. Therefore, I am the most often work at nights.
On my last shift, I was told that two of the staff (the other night worker of two nights, and the primary day person) would like to change the smoking habits of the clients so that there is no smoking between midnight and 0600. Their reasoning is so that they “don’t have to deal with them”, and that maybe they will “stay in their rooms longer”. As you can clearly see, this is not an empathetic approach. In fact, they do not speak with the clients very often, and some clients are afraid of the workers. I, on the other hand, really enjoy engaging with the clients and listening to their perspective although I only have a small window working 2300 – 0700. Building rapport is essential in assisting others, and also allows workers to understand the clients’ motives. One of the clients smokes during the night for two major reasons – smoking a cigarette creates smoke army men that are used to fight in Armageddon that he is in charge of as the commander, and the soldiers are Corinthians (they disappear when the first ray of light hits them) and as such his army building needs to take place during darkness in order to save humanity. Therefore, in his mind smoking during the night is essential to his delusions. I agree that a changed mind be helpful for his health, but a move too quickly can be extremely jarring to a life-long delusion.
Mindshifts
So, the goal is to create a mindshift with the clients, and with the work culture. Goldman et al, identified four key mind-shifts: human-centred; experimental; collaborative; and metacognitive. If the smoking time restriction initiative had more time to develop, I would be developing a design that is collaborative with clients to see how the transition process could be developed with their buy-in. As the initiative has already commenced, the process will have to be a dynamic transition of moving parts. It will need to be a living experiment.
Clients
Human-centred – talking with the clients during the change to understand why they would like to smoke between the times of 0000 – 0600.
Experimental – the transition is possibly changing as I will be working the majority of the nights. Therefore, the times allowed during my shifts, and the rewards/ consequences, can be everchanging while a fit is found.
Collaborative – speaking with the clients to see if they have solutions (eg. perhaps they would like staff to ration out their cigarettes, or remind them when it is closer to smoking end times)
Metacognitive – maintaining mindfulness of the power dynamics between clients and workers, and that these are considered at-risk populations.
Coworkers
Human-centred – I need to be empathetic to their concerns about work restrictions. Although laziness seems to be a predominant factor, perhaps there are additional reasons.
Experimental – speaking with staff about the different tools that are available to help in shaping behaviour and that documenting the team approaches during the transition.
Collaborative – trying to reinforce that as a group we can be more effective in solution finding, and maintaining of a healthy habit.
Metacognitive – being mindful of the power dynamics between the workers. I am the “new guy” and three of the six workers there have been there for over twenty years.
Mission Possible?
Okay, back to you. Since you have continued to read this (way over the word count, but I don’t mind and can take a penalty) I am assuming you have accepted the mission. What I am asking of you is for your perspective. I think that a collaborative approach can yield incredible results.
This is your Windaloobah experiment. This is your mission.
What do you recommend?
Reference
Goldman. S. et al. (2012). Assessing d.learning: Capturing the journey of becoming a design thinker. In H. Plattner, C. Meinel & L. Leifer (eds). Design Thinking Research: Understanding Innovation. (pp. 13-33). Berlin: Springer.
For Activity 7, we formed a team as Christy Boyce, Brandon Carson,Andrea Livingstone, David Livingstone and Michael Murray. We were tasked with reading about the ‘great media debate’ in the field of learning and technology through reading the claims of Clark (1994) and Kozma (1994) as they debate whether or not media influences learning. Our second task was to find four articles that were in stark contrast to either Clark or Kozma’s views in the media debate.
Our four articles are:
8 Ways Technology Will Revolutionise Teaching in the Next Decade
There are two articles that are prime examples at the centre of the “Media Debate”: Kozma’s (1994) “Will Media Influence Learning? Reframing the Debate” and Clark’s (1994) response, “Media Will Never Influence Learning.” The two authors are seeing right past each other, and failing to recognize the basis of each other’s premises. The reason is a confusion of language, and a failure to recognize the real significance of the affordances of the learning technologies they are debating about.
It is possible that the year of the debate could be of some significance. In 1994, Tim Berners-Lee had just invented the World Wide Web, and published the very first website. The existence of the “information superhighway” was just entering public consciousness. There was still much doubt about whether it would deliver on its promises, or if it was just hype. Not having yet experienced the fundamental impact that technology would come to have on education, it is possible that Clark was skeptical about its purported advantages.
Clark rightly points out that there are “no learning benefits” intrinsic in media. As Clark (1983, 1985a) had aptly described earlier, media are “mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition” (as cited in Clark 1994, p. 1). In support of his assertion, Clark notes that the claim has remained uncontested for several decades, listing numerous studies that have confirmed as much, such as Mielke (1968), Schramm (1977), Levie & Dickie (1973) and Clark & Salomon (1986).
Despite the successes noted in the studies cited by Kozma, Clark’s distinction still stands. To clarify, the aspects that contributed to the positive learning outcomes, in either of the two examples presented by Kozma, were not the media themselves, through which the tools were delivered, but what Clark (1994) referred as the “Instructional Method” (p. 2). As Clark rightly points out, the method, or the learning strategy delivered by the media, should not be confused with the media itself.
Curiously, however, Clark also fails to recognize the underlying affordance in the technology. In his critique of Kozma, Clark (1994) lists the two learning examples, but suggests that the studies were faulty, instead of recognizing how they could be used to reinforce his own point. It would appear that Clark believed that to suggest the cases were successful would imply that Kozma would have somehow substantiated that media has an “influence” on learning. Rather, the two cases listed by Kozma were clear examples of the successful use of new media to deliver what Clark called “instructional methods.” The only consideration missing in Kozma’s case would be to accept Clark’s challenge that if either case was replaceable, then they would have to be demonstrated to be more cost-effective.
Clearly, both Clark and Kozma were confounded by the ambiguity of the language in use, and therefore to recognize their points of agreement. The “influence” of media was not the matter in question. Our team believes that both have failed to recognize is that the examples they were referring to were learning aids. Clark has proposed a media assessment criteria which he calls “replaceability,” which is a test to determine whether or not any particular media “attribute” can be replicated by some other medium. If it can, then it demonstrates that the quality is not inherent to the media, but to the “Instructional Method.” At that point, it is a matter of choosing the least “expensive” option.
Clark would certainly be challenged to apply that same test to Kozma’s examples. How else could an “Instructional Method” present game-like interactivity without the use of software. And even if it could, would it be as cost-efficient in being delivered to large numbers of students at great distances? In neither case here are we referring to the intrinsic qualities of the “media.” That effective mechanism, in Kozma’s examples, is the learning game or strategy that is the basis of the tools mentioned. In effect, either tool could be considered a learning aid.
Clark was caught up in the limitations of his own definition of an “Instructional Method,” which he described as “mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition” (cited in 1994, p. 1). However, an instructional method can be used to aid a student in understanding a subject, where oral or written description can be lengthy or difficult to communicate. Learning aids are ancient, and have always been used to assist in learning. The most fundamental example is an analogy, such as Aesop’s Fables, which could succinctly communicate moral lessons through the use of tales as examples. Another ancient example is the abacus. It helps provide a visual representation to more easily conceive mental conceptions such as relationships in numbers. The examples that Kozma provided also used visual analogies to assist students in understanding concepts like Newtonian physics.
Here the debate demonstrates what seems to often be the case — the new media technologies are perceived to be content delivery tools. In other words, computers can deliver visual and audio content, and at a distance. So a computer can display video, play audio, or display reading material, and can even provide access to extensive libraries of such content. However, the most crucial affordance of the modern computer is its ability to serve software, which is what makes it unique. All traditional media, including film, audio and books, represent one-way interaction. The phone is the exception but it is incapable of including visuals. In essence, that is the true affordance of computers, along with the fact that visual and auditory material can be programmed to interact and respond from inputs from the end-user.
It is these affordances that Clark and Kozma appear to have failed to recognize. What computers afford us is grand new possibilities, to create learning aids, but ones with a level of sophistication far beyond anything that we have known in history. The two cases presented by Kozma are inspiring examples; however, they are not examples of media. They are both examples of the great positive potential of how interactive media can be used to enhance learning.
8 Ways Technology Will Revolutionise Teaching in the Next Decade
Regardless of merits of either side of the Great Media Debate, the reality is that new media technology has fundamentally transformed education. It’s not just hype. New learning technologies are here to stay. There is some value, however, in the caution expressed by the Luddites, to temper what has been a recurring cyber-utopianism, which has tended to overvalue the potential of certain technologies for transforming education, thus helping us avoid what has often resulted in wasteful extravagance. In light of these considerations, it is interesting to review a recent article titled, “8 ways technology will revolutionize teaching in the next decade” (2018) and reflect on how it may help us understand the significance of the media debate, and how we can learn to more soberly adopt technologies that can contribute to real benefit.
The Red Bull (2018) article lists several examples of technologies that are already revolutionizing education, or promise to. They represent the combined value of Kozma and Clark’s respective arguments, where it can be shown that media can be used to deliver unique “instructional methods,” but which can be demonstrated to have a positive effect. Important examples they list are: a more personalized experience, by tailoring learning to the pace and skill level of pupils; the convenience of Cloud-based education; modelling and simulation to help students visualize topics of study; 3D printing for rendering practical lessons; and virtual field trips. As is typical, some of these technologies have yet to demonstrate their economic or educational value. But, the points of Kozma’s and Clark’s debate can help us remember that we need to isolate where the value exists, and make sound decisions and restrict our enthusiasm to those aspects of the technology which promise real value. The last point says it all, “Great educators are here to stay, with some help” (Smith, 2018, n.p.).
Low-cost VR Transforms the Healthcare Classroom
Furthering our position, we offer some articles that consider the use of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality as learning tools. Paddick’s article claims that VR is being used to show physicians the experience of a patient with chest pains and their journey from the ambulance to the emergency room to the operating room. The author states that VR creates a “…more visual way for doctors to understand what it is like to be a patient” (Paddick, 2016, para. 1). VR training allows the physicians to become a patient in an immersive, high-stress scenario. This demonstrates the use of VR as a learning tool beyond the capabilities of other technology. Paddick claims that VR is being used to train clinicians in “…understanding the effects things such as communication, compassion, teamwork, equipment and workspace have on clinical performance and the quality of experience a patient receives” (Paddick, 2016, para. 2). We agree that the shift in perspective to become the patient and being cared for, instead of thinking as a physician about the patient and determining their care, may allow for improved observation of teamwork, communication, or equipment interactions.
Paddick adds that new cardboard headsets make VR more scalable and economically accessible (2016). One of Clark’s considerations for choosing a technological ‘vehicle’ to deliver education is the cost (1994). Clark suggests that the lowest cost option capable of delivering the same education should be chosen (1994). Paddick does not mention the cost of filming the scenario and ‘knitting’ the digital film together for VR training, however, in this stage of VR development, these may be considerable.
Paddick claims that it is possible to teach the humanistic skills of compassion and empathy more interactively and effectively with VR (2016). Immersive, contextual social and emotional learning seem applicable with this learning design. Other options for achieving this type of learning without using VR may include mock-up simulations with actors; however, this would likely be high-cost with low numbers of learners reached. Paddick suggests that VR is being used to identify human factors and humanistic behaviour happening in the clinical environment.
We agree that the emergency room is a fast-paced environment and VR could allow a unique perspective for the physicians to reflect upon their treatment as a ‘patient’. In regular training, physician debrief and reflection is not always possible or part of the learning design.
Can Virtual Reality Replace a Cadaver?
In this article, Nazerian (2018) discusses Case Western Reserve Universities new health education campus, which is removing the use of cadavers on campus and introducing the use of the Microsoft HoloLens and the HoloAnatomy application, along with other hands-on exercises.
Although we were tasked with discovering articles with an opposing view to Clark (1994) or Kozma’s (1994) perspective of how media influences learning, critical agreements between the opinions of Nazerian (2018) and Clark (1994) also arose that were unexpected. Through an interview with a professor at Case Western Reserve Universities, Nazerian (2018) highlighted a significant reason to move from the use of cadavers to augmented reality is due in part to the difficulties of running a cadaver lab, along with the overall costs. Clark (1994) discussing the importance of selecting a media that has the capabilities of being the most cost-effective and efficient. Nazerian also discovered that identical test scores occurred between students who learned in the traditional method to using cadavers and the innovative approach of the Microsoft HoloLens, backing Clark’s (1994) stance on how different media attributes can be used and still result in similar learning achievements.
Case Western Reserve University is in the infancy stages of their approach to using simulations instead of cadavers, and it will be interesting to see what the research shows as they continue to use this method. Initial benefits to using augmented reality include a safe space to make mistakes, cost-saving measures and the possibility to create realistic scenarios with the body that a corpse could not replicate (Nazerian, 2014). While a cadaver cannot represent real-life conditions (Nazerian, 2014), it does allow the learner to experience the touch and feel of a human body, along with the process of human deterioration.
Although Case Western Reserve University’s approach is more cost-effective by removing cadavers from their site, they still will incorporate for a two-week boot camp for their students (Nazerian, 2018), where they will use the corpses as a form of experiential learning that other media is not able to replicate for the students. Through the use of augmented reality and cadavers, Case Western Reserve University is currently providing learning benefits that other media would not be able to achieve, in turn, refuting Clark’s claim that media or media attributes do not influence learning (Clark, 1994).
The Role of Technology in the Education of the Future
This article reaffirms our position that as the technology from our global village compounds into exponential growth the ability to forecast its absolute direction is not possible. What we do understand is that if our last hundred years are an indication of the impossibilities that could form into creation, then we are in for an interesting ride of continual surprises. Melding the two positions of Clark and Kozma succinctly the writer of the article states, “while experts believe that the human psychology behind learning has not changed vastly over time, the external factors affecting how we comprehend, retain and receive new material are constantly evolving” (Frezzo, 2017).
The Reflection in the Virtual Mirror
Clark asks us to determine if another set of media attributes could lead to the same learning result (1994). Kozma challenges us to consider conditions under which media will influence learning (1994). Knowledge of the great media debate forces one to reconsider the true technical requirements of their educational goals. Learning designers need to decide whether spending money on technology will improve the quality of the education or if the learning design and learning tools could be optimized instead.
The great media debate asks us to consider the capabilities of our current technology. Is newer technology capable of providing vastly different processing and symbolic systems than those of Clark’s era? We would say, yes, but caution that the effectiveness of newer media depends on how it is used as a learning tool. Kozma supported that the capabilities of media enable the methods of teaching and the methods used to teach take advantage of those capabilities (1994). We would add that the attributes of media in the time of Clark and Kozma’s debate could not have supported the constructivist, experiential, situational, and emotional learning that is now possible with some of our newer communication channels, such as Virtual Reality. Kozma asks us to observe whether the media can enable or constrain symbolic systems and processing capabilities (1994). VR can support symbolic systems identical to those we observe through our own eyes. Processing speeds are our own as we observe and interact with the virtual space. VR may be the one form of communication being used to teach that sways our stance into Kozma’s side of the debate. The tools are getting better, the research needs to follow suit, and the conversation needs to change as a result.
References
Bort, Julie (2014, August 18). No Google. No Netflix. No iPhone. This Is What Tech Was Like In 1994. Business Insider. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-in-1994-the-year-the-web-was-born-2014-8
Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21-29.
Frezzo, D. (2017, May 10). The role of technology in the education of the future. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/science-of-learning/
Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will media influence learning: Reframing the debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7-19.
Nazerian, T. (2018, July 20). Schools and colleges try virtual reality science labs. But can VR replace a cadaver? EdSurge News. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-07-19-schools-and-colleges-try-virtual-reality-science-labs-but-can-vr-replace-a-cadaver
Paddick, R. (2016, March 4). Low cost VR transforms healthcare classroom: Doctors virtual reality training revolutionized by cardboard, smartphones and google. Educational Technology.Retreived from https://edtechnology.co.uk/Article/low-cost-vr-transforms-the-healthcare-classroom
Smith, John (2018, September). 8 ways technology will revolutionise teaching in the next decade. Red Bull. Retrieved from https://www.redbull.com/ca-en/how-technology-will-change-teaching
Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is considered the leading researcher in positive psychology. He has focused his attention on happiness, creativity, and most importantly to this blog – flow. The theory of flow is mostly understood by the public as being in the zone.
I selected Dr. Csikszentmihalyi as a person of interest in this class for two main reasons. First, his impact on motivation, and the interaction between skill and challenge is vital to understanding learning. Second, he mentored many greats like Dr. Keith Sawyer – a Morgan Distinguished Professor in Educational Innovations at UofNC who is an expert on innovation and learning.
Dr. Martin Seligman (a major contributor for creating the counter of the DSM by highlighting the positive aspects of life in Character Strengths and Virtues) connects flow and learning succinctly –
“flow occurs when you deploy your highest strengths and talents to meet the challenges that come your way; it is clear that flow facilitates learning.’ (Seligman et al, 2009).
It is similar to Vgotsky’s zone of proximal development to those that are in education.
I think there are three parts to learning.
The medium (the form of delivery of the information)
The message (the information to be learned)
The learner’s readiness to learn (flow is imperative to this I believe)
To create an analogy –
Radio waves from a transmitter
Information
Antenna for the radio
All three are essential to the transferring of knowledge. If the radio is not set properly, or the antenna is not working, the information will not be received.
For the learner to be in the flow it is to be in the zone. The Twilight Zone! Just kidding. Seriously though. I am very involved in this topic as it related to states of mental states like the ‘theta’ in an electroencephalogram. This is a very important state in trance. This applies to hypnosis trance, musical trance that musicians fall into, and athletes. Definitely worth looking into. Please engage with me if you are even slightly interested in this. It is a big passion of mine and hope that others understand its significance in life.
Here is a link if you are interested, and a video from Dr. Csikszentmihalyi.
This assignment was thoroughly fun! Most of the articles about this topic are from this year, and include one from two months ago. It is amazing to see different perspectives in ways to advance the field. Yet, since the field is relatively new the papers did not have information that solves some components that others were solving. For example, one paper solves x but has a limitation of y and z. The next one solves y but has limitation z, and x. You get the idea. Honestly, I am super stoked about this topic. Please feel free to open a dialogue about it if you are interested. I think this field is fascinating.
For this week’s activity, exploring the pedagogy of abundance, Michael and Sue joined forces to explore an area of interest and report on the implications of the abundance of digital content. Join us on our journey to find out more about the history of Thai food!
Constructing our search
We identified our topic asynchronously through Slack. Both of us have a love of Thai food and wanted to find out more about the history of how the combination of sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter tastes that characterize Thai Food.
If at first you do not succeed, try Thai again
We agreed to conduct independent searches, using a variety of different search engines, and search parameters derived from The history of Thai food.
We created a chart to record our results. Before starting, we incorporated some of the suggestions from Will’s post on Considering your topic and constructing your search, and created a list of synonyms and search parameters (W.Meredith, personal communication, September, 19, 2018).
Search Engine
Search parameters
Number of results
Time to get results
Comments
Google
History of Thai Food
168,000,000
0.73 seconds
Most had the same limited information such as countries of origin, taste, ingredients, variations by region etc.
Most sources seemed to restaurants with a brief historical blurb
One scholarly article (2nd page)
No references
Google Scholar
History of Thai Food
270,000
0.07 seconds
Most articles did not pertain to the history of Thai food
You Tube
History of Thai Food
N/S
N/A
Documentaries about Thai food that did not include history
Lots of amateur videos – no references
Cooking shows with no history
Google
“Food” AND “Thai” AND “History”
157,000,00
0.83 seconds
Same links as previous searches on first page
Google Scholar
“Food” AND “Thai” AND “History”
270,000
0.07 seconds
Same results as previous search “History of Thai food”
Google
Origin of Thai food
32,700,000
0.78 seconds
Mostly listing of restaurants with reviews
Google Scholar
Origin of Thai food
94,800
0.35 seconds
Most articles did not pertain to the history of Thai food
BING
History of Thai food
21,800,000
N/A
Similar results as Google
Encyclopedia Brittanica
History of Thailand
1,730,000,000
0.74 seconds
Much rich history of the people, culture, economics etc. Some information on the history of the food
Google
Evolution of Thai Food
17,500,000
0.35 seconds
Similar results to previous searches
Discovery
History of Thai Food
1161
Covered food and Thai culture
Discovery
“History” AND “Thai” AND “Food”
1093
Similar to previous search – mostly Thai culture and some cuisine
Discovery
“Chronology” AND “Thai” AND “Food”
19
Mostly about general information about agriculture in South East Asia
Google
History of Thai Cuisine and influences
83,000,000
.65 sec
Strong initial results indicating some information about the history of Thai food
Google
Thai food history timeline
21,300,000
.7 sec
Very similar to previous results
Google scholar
Thai food historical timeline
7,680
.08 sec
Poor results. Covered a wide range of topics about Thailand
Google Scholar
“timeline” AND “Thai” AND “Food”
7,590
.04 sec
Similar poor results from previous search
YouTube
“Thailand food” timeline
NA
NA
Starts off with relevant topic, but then quickly diverges into broader topics
YouTube
History of Thai food (also Thai food history)
NA
NA
Almost exact same as previous results.
As you can see, and as you learnt through your own experiences with the activity, when utilising search engines such as Google and Bing we retrieved millions of resources. The challenge now was to weed through the massive amounts of resources and choices and determine which ones were valuable.
I soup-pose this looks right
Evaluating the literature to ensure its validity.
What we learned is the quantity does not necessarily mean quality! Much of the literature we encountered was Produsage or as Anderson (2016) defines “user-led content creation, consumption, and active production online” (p. 41). It was often of poor quality or intended to promote a business or product. Some of the criteria that we used to filter the massive amounts of information were:
Consideration would only be given to the first ten to fifteen results. We rarely went past the first page.
If there were duplications in concepts we accepted them as being valid.
Who was the author? Were they part of an organization?
Did they provide contact information on the webpage?
Did the site look professional? Were there errors in spelling?
Was there an opportunity for others to comment and share their knowledge and experiences?
Did the site share reading lists through social bookmarking? (Weller, 2011, p. 228).
The last two points made up a large part of our criteria for assessing validity. For as Anderson (2016), states “It is through the digital traces of others that learners may formulate connected pathways to accessible online learning resources.” (p. 45).
En-Thai-sing
Does abundant content enable learning?
Abundant content does not promote learning on its own. “The transition from scarcity to abundance introduces massive amounts of information and choice, challenging students and instructors to develop their judgment, comparison, and evaluation skills” (Anderson, 2016, p. 41). Although our search was on an informal topic, it occurred to us that the skills and criteria we used to assess the validity of the content retrieved through our searches was largely gained through experience, not something that was taught to us. We learned through the painful experience of hours of searching for resources to support our topics in the libraries, online, and from our parents, teachers and friends. “In this digital, networked age, how can we ensure that learning environments are created and used by learners to access, process, filter, recommend, and apply information with the aid of machines, peers, and experts within the learning network” (Anderson, 2016, p. 43)? Weller (2011), posits that “moving to a more participatory, socially constructed view of knowledge” such as, resource and problem based learning, constructivism, communities of practice and connectivism learning theories could assist in accomplishing this (p. 228).
Warschaeur (2007), postulates that learners must gain information and multimedia literacy skills to enable digital learning. He defines the two skills as follows:
Information literacy – refers to the ability to define what sorts of information are needed; locate the needed information efficiently; evaluate information and its sources critically; incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base; understand the economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of information; and access information ethically and legally (p. 42).
Multimedia literacy – refers to the ability to interpret, design, and create content that makes use of images, photographs, video, animation, music, sounds, texts, and typography (p. 43).
He also believes that mentorship and modeling from faculty, parents, siblings and friends plays a large role in whether or not learners develop these skills.
As free content continues to grow in abundance, educators must be mindful to provide learning activities that focus not only on content, but also include opportunities for learners to hone their evaluative skills and support the new ways in which knowledge is created (Anderson, 2016).
Food that is to Thai for
Thank you for joining us on our journey, and that you wanted to wok this way. To Thai it all together we encourage you to be mindful in your academic searches in the consumption of knowledge. Thai to remember the importance of validity in the medium, otherwise when you write a paper you may find yourself tongue Thai’d.
If you are too Thai-erd to read this blog, or you are short on Thai-m, you can learn about the history of Thai food through this video –
Photo from https://daringtolivefully.com/how-to-enter-the-flow-state
It is important to understand the relationship between one’s skill level in comparison to one’s challenge level when encountering a learning experience. This is something I believe wholeheartedly. The optimal level of this relationship in learning is coined ‘Flow’ by the psychologist Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2014). This focused mental state is something that I have been interested in and studied for many years. I have been competing in billiards for almost twenty years and teaching it to others for over fifteen years. When teaching others about billiards there is a three-step approach that correlates with Ertmer & Newby’s deconstruction of learning progression as outlined in, “Behaviorism, Cognitvism, Constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design” (2013). I should state very clearly, that I do not subscribe to any certain camp, but feel that each position has merit in sequential learning processes.
There is a phrase that is often used in billiards, and that is “you play to the skill level of your opponent”. The chart showed at the top of this blog illustrates exactly that. When there is a similar level in experience and competition (or better yet, the opponent is slightly better) the learning is optimized. I am going to continue to use the example of teaching, and understanding, billiards to explain how behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructionism, is linked to learning as a sequential model.
To be competitive in billiards there are a lot of variables to understand. There are elements of geometry, physics, ergonomics, mindfulness, self-regulation (inhibition, shifting, and working memory), muscle memory, and a plethora of psychological theories. To explain to a learner all of the reasons why the cue should be positioned at a certain angle when they begin shooting would be overwhelming. It is simply too much novel information. It is best to create a simple task of setting up the cue ball and the object ball, and offer some basic instructions. This provides a reduced intake of stimulus so that the learner can understand what is required and is rewarded by repetitively sinking the object ball into the pocket. Etmer and Newby echo this and state, “[t]he goal of instruction for the behaviorist is to elicit the desired response from the learner who is presented with a target stimulus” (p. 50). In behaviourism psychology, this would involve both classical conditioning and operant conditioning. If you are interested in classical conditioning, please let me know and I would be happy to discuss it with you. To explain it through a short blog would use up too much space. With operant conditioning, there is a positive reinforcement (reward) when the object ball sinks through self-efficacy and social acknowledgement. This is the importance of creating simple drills.
The next stage of learning billiards is introducing more elements of physics, geometry, etc, to the learner so that the learner is able to break down the knowledge to be, “analyzed, decomposed, and simplified into basic building blocks” (Ertmer & Newby, 2013, p. 52). This stage of cognitive understanding is all about the process of sequencing and thinking through the motions. Explaining why certain balls should be sunk in an order, or why hitting the cue ball with a certain force or angle is required to generate a specific response.
The final stage of teaching a learner is all about using previous experiences to build on future applications. I often use language as ‘remember when’ in my instructions at this point. I am addressing situations based on reflections of previous encounters in the learner’s memory. This is similar to Etmer and Newby’s postion regarding constructivism in learning when they state that the learner, “build personal interpretations of the world based on individual experiences and interactions” (p. 55).
All of these three stages encompass the importance of understanding the relationship with flow psychology. In that, the level of challenge, and learning is situational to ones current level of experience.
Another perspective in learning theory is detailed in, “First Principles of Instruction” (Merrill, 2002). Merrill discussed different learning theories and models. Once again, I am not comfortable with positioning myself inside a certain framework. It reminds me too much of the different camps in psychology’s history where each one thought that their model of the mind is correct and argued other views. Thankfully in the last twenty years, the differing camps are being merged into grander conceptions to create a gestalt perspective in counselling. Yes, there are conditioned responses. Yes, there are unconscious processes. Yes, our mind works similar to a computer. Etcetera. In mental health, it is not effective to position oneself to work with a client in a regimented approach. People are dynamic, and therefore instruction needs to be as well. I truly believe it is up to the instructor to be as knowledgeable as possible of different approaches and to then weave between them as they help a learner achieve goals. That said, this assignment had the requirement of aligning myself with a theoretical position. With a gun to my head, I select Shank’s learning by doing (Merrill, p. 56). A blended model (behaviour, cognition, and construction) that holds value in goal-based scenarios through recognition, operations, and a narrative.
This is why both literally, and figuratively, I believe that in learning it is best to “go with the flow”.
What about you? What is your position on learning? Most importantly, how do you learn?
References
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Toward a psychology of optimal experience. In Flow and the foundations of positive psychology (pp. 209-226). Springer, Dordrecht.
There is an excitement that many associate with new technologies. A pulsating presence of an advancement that beats to the sound of an educational drum. In “A History of Instructional Design and Technology: Part I: A History of Instructional Media” and “A History of Instructional Design and Technology: Part II: A History of Instructional Design”, Reiser(2001) details the ebb and flow of instructional progression in the 20th century by noting what has been used and how. A continuous pattern is that the instructional media is purported as the next breakthrough in educational development only to discover that the impact was relatively minor or, sometimes, irrelevant. Specifically, Reiser states, “… as has been the case throughout the history of instructional media, an increased presence of technology in the schools does not necessarily mean an increased use of that technology for instructional purposes” (Reiser, Part I, p. 60). In each stage there is a proposition that the new media is the solution to the problem of engagement, and Reiser posits “[o]f the many lessons we can learn by reviewing the history of instructional media, perhaps one of the most important involves a comparison between the anticipated and actual effects of media on instructional practices (Reiser, Part I, p. 61). The history of instructional design bears a similar resemblance to the pattern of the history in instructional media. There is a growth of excitement in how learning can be delivered and how to increase maximum engagement from a learner. Yet, the critical nature of learning illustrated the potential for thriving. New ideas are introduced to solve a problem to then be questioned as to its potential. There is a noticeable formation of an ideal though, and that is the importance of being precise in goals, rewards, and objectives in pedagogical deliverance.
Comparably, Weller (2018) reinforces the narrative that there is an impotence of novel technology when it is introduced as an educational tool. It is as if instructional possibilities are fleeting fads akin to teenager seeking to self-actualize. In the previous twenty years, the internet offers a vital role in modern educational technology and Weller notes that beyond blogs other technologies fail to remain relevant (p. 39). Of interest is the possibility of the return of artificial intelligence (p. 44). This symbolizes that the pattern of novel instructional technology may have a return to applicability. Personally, I see that is a strong probability. Although both Reiser and Weller focus on the aforementioned narrative, there seems to be an overlook of the impact of learning tools from the past one hundred years. Learning has definitely changed over the past century, and as our lives become increasingly embedded in technologies like television, computers, and cell phones, there is a continuous passive learning that the newer generations are experiencing. It’s no longer in the classroom, it is all around us. For me, if I do not know something I will look it up on my cell phone.
To consider these lessons from the past and the application to my current work had me perplexed for most of the week. I help rehabilitate survivors of brain injuries, and instructional technology at first was not as applicable as others in this class who teach. There is the similarity of doing whatever it takes to help and a hope that a new application on a tablet will be the solution to help survivors learn to take their pills at a certain time. In my field, a new technology that may impact survivors is introduced about once a year. In many cases, it becomes an expensive trial and error. Especially with older survivors, like those who have had strokes. Alternatively, the younger survivors have grown up with a culture of technology surrounding them. This familiarity seems to impact the level of how much the tools are utilized and the effectiveness of them. An example is RLS, a younger man that was stabbed in the head. RLS has been learning new behavioural sequences through the repeated exposure to learning technologies. It is as if there is an awareness that technology can make life easier and therefore he is more open to the possibility. In comparison, SB is a 64-year-old who has experienced an ischemic stroke and was previously an arborist and therefore does not have the normative experience of how technology can assist but rather sees it as an additional tool to learn.
Overall I do see an ebb and flow of instructional technology and its application. It seems to be about managing expectations as some technologies are reintroduced as a learning tool but not necessarily as a “classroom” function but rather as a lifestyle learning experience. Perhaps history is cyclical, but maybe it is all about perception of value.
From Plato to PLATO – Justice Remains in the Republic
Well, isn’t that a strange title for a blog about the history of educational technology? I’ll make you a promise – it will all make sense once you finish reading this blog. Hopefully.
So, in the history of educational technology what’s the story? When asked to understand something, quite often I will seek the etymology of the words. I took Latin as my second language in university. I know, I’m a little weird that way. The word education is from Latin and is broken down into two parts – the preposition ‘ex’ (from) and the verb ‘ducere’ (to lead). The word technology is from Greek and is broken down into two parts as well – techne (art or craft) and ology (the study of). So, in my mind, it roughly translates to ‘leading from the study of the craft’. Or something.
My next step in the discovery phase to understand this concept, I went to YouTube to see if I can get a rough idea of what it means through an audio-visual medium. There are many videos detailing the history. So I watched five. Most start by noting that all historical tools that assisted in leading others (teaching) are part of educational technology. This begins with the drawings of cave-men and continues with examples of recording and transferring knowledge. The timeline consists of major developments such as the writing utensils, printing press, and computers. There seems to be an acceleration in the speed of knowledge transfer. Especially in the twentieth century.
Thinking about historical events reminded me of taking a philosophy class about twenty years ago on Plato’s book Republic. In it, Socrates debates about what a just society is and that education was an element to such a just society. I could not quite remember so I dug around a little on google scholar to see if I could get the connection. Lee (1994) stated in succinctly as, “Plato regards education as a means to achieve justice, both individual and social justice”. Ah! That makes sense.
Okay, so since I am in google scholar I will search around here for a bit. Reiser is cited quite a bit, therefore I should investigate what is said. Reiser (2001) gives a definition on page 53 as
“The field of instructional design and technology encompasses the analysis of learning and performance problems, and the design, development, implementation, evaluation and management of instructional and non-instructional processes and resources intended to improve learning and performance in a variety of settings, particularly educational institutions and the workplace.”
It seems pretty much on par with the direction we were already heading to. I can understand and agree on what Reiser defines educational technology as. He also posits that historically there is a division between teacher, textbook, and chalkboard, and new forms of media (p. 55). It seems that he is suggesting that although cavemen drawings can be included as educational technology one should almost create a division between pre-industrialization and post-industrialization. To simplify, the turn of the twentieth century is a decent landmark for this division.
As a psychology major, I found an article involving B.F. Skinner called “Review Lecture: The Technology of Teaching” (Skinner, 1965) to pop out in the google scholar search. I ended up reading the paper. Personally, I found it quite interesting to see how he uses only portions of operant conditioning (rewards and punishments to shape behaviour) to explain educational technology. In operant conditioning, there are four methods – positive reinforcement (giving something appealing to repeat behaviour), negative reinforcement (removing something unappealing to repeat behaviour), negative punishment (removing something appealing to reduce behaviour) and positive punishment (giving something negative to reduce behaviour). The effectiveness is generally considered in that order as well. Give a sticker to repeat, and down to spanking to stop. What I found very interesting is that Skinner in this lecture discusses only positive reinforcement as a method to use educational technology. It made me wonder if modern education is based on the tenet of only positive reinforcement. With the “no child left behind” principle it kind of applies. It is just based on degrees of positive reinforcement. This does not apply to all institutions as failing in university is still a reality. Will that change, I wonder.
What about the rest of the world. Is the historical account the same? I thought about Turkey as it a major country that is centralized in the modern world and is considered a bridge between Europe and the east. In “Educational technology in Turkey: Past, present, and future”, Akkoyunlu (2002) asserts that Turkey’s instructional technology begins with the industrial revolution. Interesting! This is similar to what I was understanding from Reiser.
At this point, I felt that I could go down an academic rabbit hole if I kept going. I figured it may be better to go back to youtube and search for phases of educational technology. I found one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ir4-EFVhzI) that depicts three distinct phases.
1) Dynamic interaction
2) Textbooks are replaced with computers and online sources
3) Content consists of communication, collaboration, and creation
The video talks about modern educational technology is how students: become producers rather than receptors of knowledge, publishers of their creation, act as an audience from their peers, and therefore the piece becomes peer-reviewed. This sounds a lot like how Royal Roads is designed, and this class is a perfect example of this.
Okay. I think I have a basic understanding of it (maybe?) but PLATO is a new concept. What an amazing piece of technology this is. It is a computer system that revolutionized interactive learning. It really blew me away that I had not heard of it before and was such a major development. I thought it was interesting that Wikipedia states –
“Before the 1944 G.I Bill that provided free college education to World War 2 veterans, higher education was limited to a minority of the US population, though only 9% of the population was in the military. The trend towards greater enrollment was notable by the early 1950s, and the problem of providing instruction for the many new students was a serious concern to university administrators. To wit, if computerized automation increased factory production, it could do the same for academic instruction”
It seems that PLATO was a pinnacle piece in making the common man become more involved in gaining knowledge. The public was becoming empowered through education to create a just society. This brings us back to Plato’s Republic.
*breathes*
Phew! That was a long road to circle around, eh?
Anyways, if you are still reading this. Thank you! My interest in educational technology resides in virtual reality, augmented reality, and forms of learning that are based on heavy user interaction. From practicing surgeries for medical teams to interactive learning. For example, in Victoria BC there is a company called LlamaZoo and they have created a veterinarian tool for understanding canine anatomy. If you are interested here is a video demonstrating this form of learning –
Akkoyunlu, B. (2002). Educational technology in Turkey: Past, present and future. Educational Media International, 39(2), 165-174. Retrieved from: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/action/doSearch?AllField=educational+technology+in+turkey%3A+past%2C+present+and+future
Lee, M. (1994). Plato’s philosophy of education: Its implication for current education. Retrieved from: https://philpapers.org/rec/LEEPPO
PLATO information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system)
Reiser, R. A. (2001). A history of instructional design and technology: Part I: A history of instructional media. Educational technology research and development, 49(1), 53. Retrieved from: https://docdrop.org/static/drop-pdf/A-history-of-instructional-design-and-technology-1-8nOHG.pdf
Skinner, B. (1965). Review Lecture: The Technology of Teaching. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences,162(989), 427-443. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/stable/75554
