21st Century Learning Theories

Video Transcription

Hello, and thank you for joining me for 21st Century Learning Theories. By the end of today's tutorial, we will be able to answer the following essential question. What are some theories and models related to 21st century learning?

We're going to begin by looking at constructivism. Remember, constructivism is where people believe that students learn by constructing or creating their own meaning or learning experience. And this is usually as the result of an inquiry-based experience. And that inquiry-based experience is often combined with prior knowledge. That's how they're constructing the learning.

Constructivist classrooms have strong student engagement. They also have tasks that are relevant to the students and meaningful and authentic, meaning they're going to relate to real life. The learning experience often allow the students to collaborate, and it allows students to engage in inquiry. There's also time for reflection on the part of the students, which is very important for metacognition.

If you wanted to incorporate constructivism in a technology-rich classroom, you might give students the opportunity to collaborate virtually as well as in person. You would also give the students the opportunity to publish their learning. And so according to Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, this would be creating. Then they would present that learning using an online platform as well as digital tools to a live, real, authentic audience. An example of this is using a blog for student reflection.

Problem-based learning is another popular theory, and it's actually closely related to constructivism. In problem-based learning students are responding to a specific complex question, problem, or challenge that is generated by the teacher. It's always carefully planned, and it's rigorous. It promotes development of high-quality products as well as presentations on the part of the students.

In a problem-based classroom, students are engaged in inquiry, and the teacher moves from a traditional role to the role of a facilitator. There's also an emphasis on flexible thinking for the part of the student in order to have successful problem solving. And students are actively engaged in this type of classroom, and they're constantly collaborating with others. Problem-based learning works well in a technology-rich classroom because students are able to work collaboratively, virtually, and in person. And they are able to use real digital resources to support their problem solving.

Cognitive flexible theory is another theory for the 21st century classroom. This is focused on a generalization of learning. And what this essentially means is that students take their learning from one situation or context, and they put it in a new situation. This allows the students to use flexible thinking to accommodate that new knowledge, and they accommodate that new knowledge by using it in different settings that might be familiar to them. It is built on the idea that students construct their own knowledge. Essentially, in this theory, students are able to learn new information, assimilate it, and then take ownership of it and make it personal to them.

There are two instructional aspects of this theory that include multiple ways to present content using case studies. By using a case study format, context is provided for the students so that they can easily construct their own understanding of the material. It also gives teachers the opportunity to have diverse cases that they present to their students. This way, students can adapt their understanding based on a case that best suits their life experiences, and this facilitates the construction of knowledge. Cognitive flexible theory in a technology-rich environment gives the teacher greater flexibility because they're able to use the internet to locate authentic case studies to present to the students.

Social learning theory is attributed to Albert Bandura. And essentially, it promotes the idea that students learn from one another, and they learn through one another in various ways, including observing one another, imitating one another, and modeling one another. Then, based on these observations and imitations and modeling, students make decisions about their learning or about their content. It's important to note the student is not passive in this sort of environment. In fact, the student learning is influenced by not only cognition, but also environment and behavior.

Networked learning theory is the last learning theory we're going to discuss today. Essentially, it's all about connections. Students are making connections with people, and students are making connections with information. So it's relationship based. Relationships are so important in networked learning theory. This theory also allows for collaboration and communication so that everyone's learning is supported.

Let's reflect for a moment. Which of these 21st century learning theories do you subscribe to in your classroom? To conclude, today we answered the essential question-- what are some theories and models related to 21st century learning?

For more information on how to apply what you learned in this video, please view the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. The additional resources section includes hyperlinks useful for applications of the course material, including a brief description of each resource. Thanks for joining me, and happy teaching.