I recently watched a short video on on YouTube titled "How We Learn" (above) and I wanted to write this article sharing my thoughts and ideas about what I watched. That said, to effectively learn, there have to be a few conditions met. Firstly...
Barriers
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In the video How We Learn (Forney ISD, 2016), we learn that pain is a barrier to learning. Who would have thought, right!? In all seriousness, the meat and potatoes of that idea is that anything that causes inconvenience/discomfort is essentially a pain point, which can become a barrier to learning, as we tend to focus on those pain points instead of learning the actual content (Forney ISD, 2016). There are so many critical and easily overlooked pain points that could be easily addressed before a student even signs up for a course.
It’s easy to factor in safety and security as a pain point, I mean if a student does not feel safe, they are not going to be focusing on learning. But there are other more subtle often unnoticed or unseen pain points. Are the chairs comfortable? Is it “200 degrees” inside and everyone is beyond uncomfortably warm? Is the environment ADA compliant? After all, ADA compliance isn’t something a student should have to ask accommodations for unless absolutely necessary; course material should follow ADA compliance, so the student doesn’t have to announce their disability. Not all disabilities are visible, and because of stigmatization, not everyone wants to – or is willing to – disclose, which can become a pain point, i.e., barrier to learning. These are just some pain points that can interfere with the learning process. Other pain points can be how the instructor teaches. If the teacher mostly assigns 100’s of pages of reading, followed by nonstop writing and reflections, this can also be a barrier. People learn and express differently. Multiple means of content representation and engagement are critical to the learning process.
Intrinsic Value
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/children-win-success-video-game-593313/Once the barriers are removed, the most important factor to me is intrinsic value. “Is this course material meaningful/interesting?” “How can I apply this material to my life?” “Is this busy work, or is this useful?” And these aren’t just questions students are asking, instructors should be asking questions too. “Does this really need to be a quiz? "Does this assignment effectively reinforce the content, or am I just assigning this quiz or assignment to add fluff to fill in an arbitrary time allotment?” Advice: Nothing will disengage a learner faster than busy work.
These are questions that I, and I am sure most learners, either consciously or subconsciously ponder the second they begin their coursework. According to Forney ISD (2016), these questions we ask are part of a concept called intrinsic motivation. In business terms, we can equate this to a value proposition. If you have less reason to enjoy something, you have less desire to do something – the value is not there, making it less likely that that “something” will be completed with a high amount of value and/or effort. If the student is not intrinsically motivated with their course material, learning effectiveness can and will be reduced as engagement levels suffer.
Autonomy
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In addition to increasing the intrinsic value of course material by giving learners meaningful content and assignments, intrinsic value can also be increased by giving students autonomy. Forney ISD (2016) talks about the importance of autonomy, which allows for students to make meaningful choices. Essentially, giving students multiple means of content representation to absorb the learning material, and multiple avenues to demonstrate comprehension, is one of the best ways to increase student engagement, while also allowing learners to learn at their peak ability because of the autonomy afforded. Multiple means of representation and multiple means of expression are both hallmark tenants of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, which directly supports the statements made by Forney ISD (2016).
Flow Theory
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And all of this naturally leads to the concept of flow theory, which was touched upon in the video by Forney ISD (2016). According to Wankel & Blessinger (2013), flow theory is the idea that learners will focus with absolute attention to their learning content, tuning out everything, even their own self-consciousness, allowing for students to learn and absorb information at their highest ability. Simply put, if you are enjoying what you are doing, you are more likely to do it with all of your attention and focus.
References
Forney ISD. (2016, October 24). How We Learn [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlaG99awCD8Wankel, L A. & Blessinger, P. (2013). Increasing Student Engagement and Retention Using Mobile Applications : Smartphones, Skype and Texting Technologies. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
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Learning Design