Contemporary Perspectives in E-Learning Research Martin Dyke, Gainne Conole et al. (2007) Chapter 6 Summary Learning Theory

1. Philosophical Foundations
•Experience: argues a socially constructive
perspective with learning as a transformation of
experience
•Reflection: we must reflect on the vast amount of
information available to us in order to make
decisions
•Connection: our ability to engage with others is
integral in our learning in a networked society

2. Theoretical Approaches
• Three useful categories of learning theory (as laid
out by Mayes and de Freitas’ (2004)): associative,
cognitive, and situative
• Even current learning theories are not likely to be
linked directly to creating e-learning activities
• Conole et al (2004) three axes of learning theories:
individual, social/reflection, information/non-
reflection and experience.
The above are used to inform three core elements of
learning that the authors believe would improve e-
learning developments (below).

3. 1. Learning Through Thinking and Reflection
• What is it?“The function of reflective thought
is therefore to transform a situation in which
there is experiences obscurity, doubt, conflict,
disturbance of some sort, into a situation that is
clear, coherent, settled, harmonious” (Conole et
al.,p. 90).
• Example: online toolkits (i.e. DialogPlus – shown below
is http://www.dialogplus.soton.ac.uk/, a site for
sharing teaching and learning of geography)

5. 2. Learning Through Experience and Activity
• What is it? “Learning which accepts that
meaning arises and evolves during interactions
that are influenced by the social relations
within a community of practice, or... ‘you are
what you do’ in a natural context that is
influences by history and culture” (Conole et
al., p.92).
• Example: blogs and wikis

6. 3. Learning Through Conversation and
Interaction
• What is it? “This approach seems to hold that
learning should be conceived as a social
process...Learning is a process that takes place
within a participation framework, not an
individual mind”(Conole et al., p.94-95).
• Example: forums, social bookmarking

7. Conclusion
E-learning can make possible these
approaches to learning and can help them to
thrive, but only if it is understood that in an
ever changing and growing technological
society, we must be flexible and accept the
complexities of learning theory in
conjunction with e-learning itself.
In other words, “distil” out the key parts of a
learning theory that are relevant to e-learning
research and practice.