Social Learning Theory and Collaborative Teaching and Learning

Video Transcription

Hello, and thank you for joining me for social learning theory and collaborative teaching and learning. So for today's essential questions, we're going to answer, how is collaborative learning connected to social learning theory? And how is collaborative learning connected to reciprocal determinism?

So to start off, we're going to look at social learning theory. Essentially, this theory is attributed to Albert Bandura, and it has a couple of different big ideas. And one is that people learn from one another. People learn from observation. People learn from imitation. People learn from modeling. And there's an interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences.

So, essentially, this just means we learn socially. We observe. We imitate. We observe other people. Those people model for us. And then there's this intersection of what's going on cognitively as well as behaviorally as well as environmentally.

To take it one step further, I want to look at the five elements of social learning. We need to realize that it's not solely behavioral. Instead, it is a cognitive process, and that cognitive process takes place in a social context. Additionally, it involves observing a behavior and its consequences. Through that observation, people are extracting information from those that they're observing, and they're making decisions about the performance of the behavior.

So it's important to understand that learning can occur from teacher or peer modeling, and it can occur without an observable change in behavior, meaning the person who's doing the learning might not change their behavior, or the behavior change might not be observable, but it's still taking place. This is where it could be occurring cognitively. And then reinforcement is super important to social learning. However, it is not entirely responsible for the learning.

And then it's important to note that the learner is not a passive learner. They're not just receiving the information. Instead, it's reciprocal learning. And so cognition, environment, and behavior all influence one another.

So this leads us to reciprocal determinism and what role it plays in social learning theory and collaborative teaching and learning. Reciprocal determinism says not only is the student influenced by learning environment, teacher, and peers, but the student also influences learning environment, teacher, and peers. So what does this mean? It means that not only does-- for example, taking the teacher aspect, not only does the teacher influence the learner, but the learner influences the teacher and how he or she teaches, and so on.

So let's look at collaborative learning and how it supports the social learning theory. So, essentially, social learning says that learning takes place in social contexts and that collaborative teaching and learning is directly connected to the social learning theory, especially through collaboration. And within collaborative settings, the learning can occur through observation, modeling, or reciprocal teaching.

Let's reflect for a moment. Now that we know about the theories that go into collaborative learning, are you more willing to use it in the classroom? Why or why not?

Today, we answered the central questions of how is collaborative learning connected to social learning theory, and how is collaborative learning connected to reciprocal determinism? As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you may want to explore the Additional Resources section that accompanies this video presentation. This is where you'll find links to resources chosen to help you deepen your learning and explore ways to apply your newly acquired skill set. Thank you for joining me, and happy teaching.