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EDEF 860
Advanced Learning Sciences

1. Catalog Entry

EDEF 860
Advanced Learning Sciences

Credit hours (3)
Prerequisite: This class is offered for students accepted into the Doctoral Program in Education.

This course provides doctoral students with advanced skills and knowledge associated with historic and modern theories of learning. Skills are applied in the analysis of case studies representing situations common to educational researchers and evaluators.

2. Detailed Description of Course

This course provides doctoral students with advanced skills and knowledge associated with historic and modern theories of learning. Skills are applied in the analysis of case studies representing situations common to educational researchers and evaluators. The content of the course will specifically address the following concepts:
• A definition for learning;
• Perspectives on learning (biochemical activity in the brain, information processing, remembering and recalling, social negotiation, knowledge construction, conceptual change, etc.);
• Learning theory versus learning philosophy (what is a theory);
• Brief history of the psychological study of learning (including educational psychology, internal states, connectionism, behaviorism, contiguity, reduction theory, Gestalt, cognitivism, constructivism, etc.);
• Learning theory, research and evaluation (quantitative, qualitative, mixed method, research versus evaluation, etc.)
• Critical issues for learning theories (how learning and transfer occur, the role of memory, the role of motivation, self-regulation and its implications for instruction, the role of place and context in learning);
• The neuroscience of learning (neurophysiology, brain development, motivation, and emotions); and
• Instructional applications of educational psychology.

3. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course

This course begins by engaging the learners in a number of discussions about their own profound learning experiences. Characteristics of these effective learning experiences are used to define fundamental concepts of learning and instruction. Readings addressing the
development of learning theories are assigned and discussed. Synchronous and asynchronous lectures introduce a variety of learning theories and research methods used to define such theories. Lectures are followed by case studies that resemble common research and evaluation studies designed to measure learning and evaluate the efficacy of specific strategies. Learners will also develop concept maps or other representations to communicate theory into practice.

4. Goals and Objectives of the Course

Upon successful completion of course requirements, students will:
• Categorize definitions of learning based on alternate theoretical assumptions.
• Identify characteristics of learning common to different definitions that are based on alternate theoretical assumptions.
• Compare and contrast the characteristics of novice versus expert learning and performance.
• Differentiate between learning theories and learning philosophies.
• Align key educational researchers and theorists with their theoretical perspectives, assumptions, and/or research findings.
• Categorize and describe methodologies employed within research studies as quantitative, qualitative or mixed method.
• Distinguish between research and evaluation projects.
• Recognize and discuss critical issues associated with learning theories in the field of educational research and its application in the field of education.
• Describe current advancements in understanding the neuroscience of learning, including current methods for conducting brain-based learning research.
• Summarize the major contributions of researchers and theorists who defined commonly accepted models of social, moral and cognitive human development.
• Identify and describe the primary components of information processing theory, including the role of attention, perception, memory models, and mental imagery.
• Explain how dual-coding theory informs and modified traditional information processing theory.
• Compare and contrast characteristics of the following types of memory: Explicit (semantic, episodic, autobiographical), Implicit (procedural, perceptual, priming), Atkinson-Shiffrin model, working memory, short term memory, long term memory.
• Summarize research results supporting the definition of specific types of memory.
• Describe the development of fundamental components of behaviorism theory, including connectionism, classical conditioning, contiguous conditioning, and operant conditioning.
• Describe the development of fundamental components of Cognitive Learning Process, including types of learning (Gagne, Bloom), declarative versus procedural knowledge, concept learning, problem solving, cognitive strategies and metacognition, and ACT-R (Anderson).
• Identify the fundamental principles of constructivism and describe the development of constructivist learning principles, including the role of Piaget's work in supporting constructivist models.
• Identify the fundamental principles of social cognitive theory, including modeling processes, motivational processes, and self-efficacy.
• Describe how the following motivational variables and theoretical perspectives might influence and affect learning and instruction: expectancy-value achievement motivation, self-worth, task and ego involvement, locus of control, attribution theory of achievement, social comparison, goal orientations, conceptions of ability, perceptions of control, learned helplessness, self-concept, and theoretical perspectives of intrinsic motivation.
• Critically analyze the role educational psychology theories, models and perspectives play in the development of specific instructional variables and issues such as instructional outcomes (learning standards), programmed instruction, intelligent tutoring, multimedia instruction, principles of visual literacy, conditions of learning (Gagne), essential elements of instruction (Hunter), advance organizers, motivation (ARCS), self-regulation, instructional design, and universal design for learning (UDL).
• Define, differentiate and create theoretical and empirical components of effective learning environments.
• Discuss the roles that community, place, and context play within the teaching! and learning enterprise.

5. Assessment Measures

Assessments may include, but are not limited to, the following instruments/experiences: written exams, concept map/graphic organizer development (topics: history of the psychological study of learning and comparisons and contrasts between behaviorism, cognitive learning processes, constructivism and social cognitive theory), and case study analyses.

6. Other Course Information

None

Review and Approval

May 2017