I have attached some articles to help start the assignment along with the assignment rubric
Assessment tasks Assessment task 1: An examination of learning theories Assessment task link to unit learning outcomes: 1. Understand and engage with research into, and theories of, effective learning models. 2. Demonstrate how responsive relationships and pedagogical practices position the learner at the heart of teaching. 5. Demonstrate advanced capacity as reflective learners and professionals who can draw on personal experiences of learning to identify key influences on learning. 6. Demonstrate practices to extend professional understanding through reflective and scholarly inquiry. 7. Develop a personal and professional philosophy around learning. Details of task: The purpose of this assignment is to support and develop your understanding of some of the main learning theories you will use in your professional practice of teaching. This assignment task (addressing learning outcomes 1, 2 and 5-7) is a 2,000 word essay that forms a detailed examination of two learning theories. Students are required to 1. draw on peer reviewed academic literature to discuss, compare, and contrast two learning theories drawn from those discussed in lectures and tutorials Weeks 1 – 5. You are encouraged to include points of agreement, conflict, strengths, and weaknesses of the two chosen learning theories. 2. address the question “What does learning mean to you?”, where you will reflect on yourself as a learner, your own learning journey, and make appropriate links to the two learning theories you chose as the focus of your essay. While addressing points 1 & 2 remember that an essay requires you to develop an argument, not just a description of the two theories. You are arguing how we can better understand learning through these theories, how they help you to understand your own experience as a learner, and where there are any gaps that remain unexplained. Guidelines: READ CAREFULLY Your essay should make use of the lecture/tutorial material and relevant readings (the academic literature) to guide your writing. These may include: · Readings provided as part of the reading list; · Other items made available on Moodle; · Readings discussed in class; DO NOT cite lecture or tutorial content directly e.g. "According to XXXX, Lecture 2, there are lots of theories of learning". Lectures and tutorials are not published sources and cannot be cited directly. RATHER, you should take up the topics of lectures as they were discussed, or use examples drawn from tutorial discussion. INCLUDE additional peer-reviewed readings that you find yourself. (Peer-reviewed readings include journal articles from academic publications that been vetted by other academics. This is usually stated clearly on the journal website or at the start of any hard copy publication. They also include research-based books published by academic publishers.) PLEASE NOTE: Your assignment MUST include a MINIMUM of three additional peer-reviewed readings that you find yourself. These are to be identified in your reference list by beginning the reference with an asterisk. For example: *Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4-14. In addition, your essay should also: · Meet the word count (within 10%), and be logically and coherently structured. · Use clear and appropriate language that is correct in both spelling and grammar. · Ensure your work is original and that you identify where you draw on the words and ideas of others. ● Make correct use of the APA 6th Edition style of referencing. · Include your name in the header of each numbered page. · Meet the presentation requirements outlined below. Word count/equivalent: 2000 words Weighting/Value: 50% Presentation requirements: · The first page must include the title of the work, the student's name, student number and tutorial leader. · All pages must have standard margins. · The body of the work may be organised under subheadings. · The body text must be Times New Roman or Arial, 12 point font, double spaced throughout. · Page numbers should appear on the top right hand corner of each page and the student's name should appear in the header of each numbered page. · All referencing must follow APA 6th Edition guidelines and a full reference list must be included. Assignment 1 : Comparing Learning theories Theories are: 1. Personal Constructivism 2. Connectivism (Digital learning) Tips on the structure of the essay An essay is composed of paragraphs and each paragraph contains one main idea and a number of supporting sentences. Structure Introduction: introduce the general topic, provide background that puts the topic in a broader context, indicate the importance of an issue , identify something that readers need to know, state the position that you, as the author, will argue, provide an overview of what is to come Body: Compare and contrast both theories with examples and articles. Talk about strengths, conflicts, weaknesses and similarities of the theories. (- a detailed examination of two learning theories (Comparing any points of intersection, conflict, or agreement) . Criticqing the two theories (how?)including your own experience to show what learning means to you Conclusion: Restating and summarising (very briefly) the position that has been presented in the body of the essay References a full referencing list ,Use APA (6th edition) ,Include a MINIMUM of three additional peer-reviewed readings that you find yourself. These are to be identified in your reference list by beginning the reference with an asterisk. Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning Volume 9, Number 3. ISSN: 1492-3831 October– 2008 Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? Rita Kop University of Wales Swansea Adrian Hill Open School BC, Canada Abstract Siemens and Downes initially received increasing attention in the blogosphere in 2005 when they discussed their ideas concerning distributed knowledge. An extended discourse has ensued in and around the status of ‘connectivism’ as a learning theory for the digital age. This has led to a number of questions in relation to existing learning theories. Do they still meet the needs of today’s learners, and anticipate the needs of learners of the future? Would a new theory that encompasses new developments in digital technology be more appropriate, and would it be suitable for other aspects of learning, including in the traditional class room, in distance education and e-learning? This paper will highlight current theories of learning and critically analyse connectivism within the context of its predecessors, to establish if it has anything new to offer as a learning theory or as an approach to teaching for the 21st Century. Keywords: e-Learning; online learning; open learning; distance education; pedagogy; learning theory; educational theory Introduction To what extent do existing learning theories meet the needs of today’s learners, and anticipate the needs of learners of the future? Since Siemens’ Connectivism: Learning as Network Creation (2005) and Downes’ An Introduction to Connective Knowledge (2005) initially garnered increasing attention in the blogosphere in 2005, an extended discourse has ensued in and around the status of connectivism as a learning theory for the digital age. Kerr (2007d) identifies two purposes for the development of a new theory: it replaces older theories that have become inferior, and the new theory builds on older theories without discarding them, because new developments have occurred which the older theories no longer explain. If older theories are to be replaced by connectivism, then what are the grounds for this measure? If connectivism is to build on older theories, how is the integration of the old and new theories to be conducted? Forster (2007) maintains that for connectivism to be a learning theory, the theory’s limitations and the full range of contexts in which learning can take place must be Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? Kop & Hill 2 accounted for. Otherwise, connectivism’s implementation by teachers may be insufficient and misguided. With the changes that have occurred as a result of increased accessibility to information and a rapidly evolving technological landscape, educators in higher learning institutions have been forced to adapt their teaching approaches without a clear roadmap for attending to students’ various needs. The wide range of approaches and learning paths that are available to redesign curricula cause friction for educators and instructional designers who are required to deliver course materials in accordance with learning outcomes prescribed and mandated by educational institutions. Overview of Connectivism Connectivism is a theoretical framework for understanding learning. In connectivism, the starting point for learning occurs when knowledge is actuated through the process of a learner connecting to and feeding information into a learning community. Siemens (2004) states, “A community is the clustering of similar areas of interest that allows for interaction, sharing, dialoguing, and thinking together.” In the connectivist model, a learning community is described as a node, which is always part of a larger network. Nodes arise out of the connection points that are found on a network. A network is comprised of two or more nodes linked in order to share resources. Nodes may be of varying size and strength, depending on the concentration of information and the number of individuals who are navigating through a particular node (Downes, 2008). According to connectivism, knowledge is distributed across an information network and can be stored in a variety of digital formats. Learning and knowledge are said to “rest in diversity of opinions” (Siemens, 2008, para. 8). Learning transpires through the use of both the cognitive and the affective domains; cognition and the emotions both contribute to the learning process in important ways. Since information is constantly changing, its validity and accuracy may change over time, depending on the discovery of new contributions pertaining to a subject. By extension, one’s understanding of a subject, one’s ability to learn about the subject in question, will also change over time. Connectivism stresses that two important skills that contribute to learning are the ability to seek out current information, and the ability to filter secondary and extraneous information. Simply put, “The capacity to know is more critical than what is actually known” (Siemens, 2008