This document is a cover sheet for a submission to a Learning Theories module. It includes information such as the participant's name and student number, date of submission, type of submission, and module tutor name. It also lists the programme learning outcomes related to knowledge, know-how and skill, and competence for the MSc Applied eLearning programme. The submission checklist declares that the assignment has been proofread and meets formatting requirements.

1. LEARNING THEORIES SUBMISSION COVER SHEET
This sheet should be completed and signed and should accompany your submission for the
Learning Theories module.
Module Title: Learning Theories
ECTS credits: 5 ECTS
Participant name:
Participant Student Number:
Programme of Study: MSc Applied eLearning √ MA in Higher Education x
Date of Submission:
Type of Submission: Paper √ Multimedia Blog x
Module Tutor Name(s):
For reference, the MSc Applied eLearning programme learning outcomes are provided below.
PROGRAMME LEARNING OUTCOMES
Knowledge
On successful completion of this programme, graduates will:
Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the theory of, and best practice in, eLearning in a range of
educational contexts;
Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of current eLearning technologies and the challenges and
opportunities associated with each.
Know-how and Skill
On successful completion of this programme, graduates will be able to:
1. Identify instances and conditions where eLearning would be appropriate and evaluate its potential, and
use, within different contexts;
2. Apply a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of eLearning in a range of contexts;
3. Create and evaluate strategies for the effective use of eLearning in a range of Higher Education learning
environments;
4. Conduct critically focused literature reviews relevant to the use of eLearning within their selected
discipline area;
5. Design a constructively aligned module integrating the appropriate use of eLearning technologies;
6. Design specific eLearning applications/resources and evaluate them to determine their value according
to specified criteria;
7. Sustain from the research evidence obtained from the undertaking of an eLearning project, a reasoned
argument and draw consistent and coherent conclusions;
8. Reflect self-critically on the process and outcomes of a development and eLearning implementation
project.
Competence
On successful completion of this programme, graduates will be able to:
1. Manage the design, development, implementation and evaluation of a number of appropriate
eLearning resources;
2. Engage in research to evaluate the effective use of eLearning resources within a Higher
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2. Education environment.
Submission Checklist and Declaration
To ensure that the focus of the assessment of your assignment will be on the development of the
higher order skills and competences associated with a level 9 qualification, please complete the
checklist and declaration below. The checklist specifies the mechanical and lower order concerns
that need to have been met before you can submit your work.
I declare that the assignment I am submitting:
Has been proofread thoroughly for grammatical, punctuation, spelling and
typographical errors.
Meets the word count / duration specification.
Follows the recommended structure and format.
Contains citations and references that have been formatted according
to the APA guidelines provided.
I understand that my work can be returned uncorrected if the criteria above
have not been fulfilled.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Signature:
Date: 27/10/2014
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3. Cognitivism as a means to teach IT in a healthcare environment, are there alternatives?
DT580 MSc E-Learning
LTTC5802 - Learning Theories Paper
Submitted by Jon Synnott
Date: October 28th
Oct 2014
Introduction
Implementing an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) into a healthcare environment is fraught
with challenges. The area where most of these challenges are encountered is the training.
Training is also the task that is most important as delivery of effective training to all the
stakeholders is critical to the success or failure of the project. Careful planning and execution
of the training while taking into account learners roles and personalities as well as limited
time availability is crucial and should not be underestimated.
In this paper I aim to detail the main challenges that are faced as a trainer in such a project
and outline the training approach that is adopted to counteract these challenges. With
knowledge of learning theories I will then analyse the approach and identify the learning
theories invoked before finally outlining recommendations on how the training can be
modified to more effectively overcome the challenges and ensure a more beneficial learning
experience
Background
When a healthcare institution makes a decision to adopt an EPR every employee in the
institution is impacted and will require training. The learning demographic ranges from 18
year old students to 65 year old appointment staff. As the head of training I carry the full
responsibility to ensure that all users are trained to a competent level before they are allowed
use the software in a live environment thus ensuring the continued effective running of the
institution with minimal impact on the patients.
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4. The training approach currently adopted is one that has evolved over time based on personal
reflection and learner feedback. The reflection has no theoretical basis, instead it is based on
instinct and subjective opinions from the analysis of the learner feedback forms. This paper
will enable me to take a more theoretical and scientific reflection on my training in order to
enhance it in future sessions.
Challenges
As previously mentioned there are many challenges faced in delivering the training, and in
many cases these challenges influence the training approach adopted. Some of the main
challenges include:
Time:
Getting the learners released from their core duties is difficult so the time allocated for
training is usually shorter than is recommended. This results in theory heavy lessons with
limited hands-on practice. These theory heavy sessions reduce the learning effectiveness due
to demand working memory (Clark & Mayer, 2008) and extensive Cognitive load (Kirschner,
2002)
Mixed ability:
The Learners that I train are of three categories:
Dentists:
This group range in age from 24 – 65, they have same dental training however their
level of IT competence ranges from none at all to those who have developed software
programs.
Dentists in general are tinkerers and like hands-on practice during learning. They are
also very detail focussed so it is important that all examples used are authentic.
Students:
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5. The students are mostly of similar knowledge level, i.e. they are IT literate and while
they have not used an EPR system before they have no fear about learning a new
application and usually pick it up relatively quickly.
Like the dentists they like getting hands-on practice and completing a realistic task
with a pre-set outcome to aim for.
Receptionists
The receptionists, like the students are all of a similar knowledge level. While this
level of knowledge is weak from an IT perspective the mixed ability challenge is not
encountered.
With such a wide spectrum of existing knowledge and IT ability it is important to ensure the
weaker learners are not overloaded while still challenging and engaging the stronger ones.
The inclusion of hands-on practice sessions is crucial as it provides the opportunity to get one
on one time with the weaker learners while the stronger learners get the opportunity to
explore.
Group size:
Many of the groups have between 30 and 40 learners, so managing the volume of questions
can challenge the time allocated to the session. Due to the mixed ability nature the questions
range in complexity and are not always applicable to the whole group. Often the questions are
noted and dealt with during the practice sessions
Training needs:
Often the group of trainers are from different disciplines so the training material has to be
kept generic. This reduces the effectiveness of the session as it is not fully authentic to any
particular attendee. (Lorenzi, Kouroubali, Detmer, & Bloomrosen, 2009)
Attitude:
In many institutions there is a negative attitude to the implementation of the EPR and this
attitude flows into the training. The training session is one of the few situations where these
people get the opportunity to air their grievances so this can lead to many difficult questions
which may not be related to the software at all. These questions have to be handled carefully
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6. as dismissing them will create a negative environment but answering them all will reduce the
valuable training time.
Training Approach
The training delivered takes a two phase approach:
9. Classroom/computer lab based presentation with hands-on practice
10. Self-guided role-play practice.
I previously referenced that hands-on practice is crucial to the engagement and motivation of
the learners so this forms a key part of the training plan, however, an initial information
presentation is required to provide base understanding and make meaning out of the hands-on
practice. Clark & Meyer, (2008) note there are times where viewing is better than doing. The
lesson takes the predominant cognitivist approach of passing information via a presentation to
the learners who passively process the information based on existing knowledge. The
presentation takes the form of a patient journey so it is authentic and makes it easier to
associate the information with real-life scenarios.
Following the presentation the learners get hands-on practice via prescriptive instructions that
guides them through a similar patient flow to the one they have been shown. This hands-on
practice activity promotes transforming the theory into real life scenarios and gives the
opportunity for explorative learning.
The first flow they are introduced to is a very basic patient flow so the amount of new
information presented is minimised to aid processing and understanding.
This process of presentation followed by practice is repeated a number of times with each
subsequent cycle repeating the steps from the previous cycle while adding on extra
information thus following Bruner’s Spiral curriculum (Bruner, 1977). This process of
repetition works well in reinforcing the learning and the approach of iteratively adding new
elements prevents cognitive overload.
After the formal training delivery the students are scheduled for self-practice. The practice
takes the form of a guided role-play where the learners are given details of a real live scenario
that they need to complete. This role-play, which is customised per learner group brings out
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7. the authentic experience and also facilitates the explorative nature of the dentists. These
sessions are supervised by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to provide support and guidance
where required thus avoiding the risk of failure that is common in insufficiently guided
discovery learning scenarios (Mayer, 2004).
Future considerations for my training
Based on the knowledge gained through my reading and research on learning theories I have
taken a critical look at each step in the process and analysed how these could be altered to
enhance learning experience.
Each presentation cycle detailed earlier takes on average 40 minutes which challenges the
attention span of the learners so I aim to reduce this presentation time. While it is widely
acknowledged that learners attention span cannot last for long periods of time there are mixed
reviews on the actual length of time they can pay attention for. Bunce, Flens, & Neiles
(2010) found that rather than learners loosing attention after a certain period of time, their
attention lapses are frequent but brief. The length of time between each lapse in attention is
different per user, varying from 10 – 25 minutes and also the length of time their attention
lapse is for varied from 1 - 5 minutes. This knowledge gives more flexibility in reducing the
presentation time, so it can be based on the length of a logical patient flow and not based on
perceived length of attention span. The reduction in presentation time will also allow time to
incorporate more hands-on practice sessions.
For these hands-on practice sessions, which are driven via the prescriptive step by step
instructions I plan reducing the prescriptive nature for each subsequent flow, this will
promote learning through deduction rather than just following instructions. By the 5th
cycle
the learners should be able to complete the exercise with very high level instructions.
Removing the prescriptive nature is like removing the scaffolding as described by Wood,
Bruner & Ross (1976)
Making the sessions more interactive by asking questions and encouraging the learners to
suggest/guess the next step will maintain engagement. This interactive questioning will also
promote some element of discovery learning. Lesson timing is very important with this
approach as interactive sessions take longer but all the material still needs to be covered in
the allotted time.
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8. For the post-lesson role-play sessions I intend modifying these from individual sessions to
group-work sessions which are conducted in the clinical environment. This will promote
learning via social constructivism with each group of 4 learners playing out an authentic
scenario which I will devise to challenge the group to apply their recently gained knowledge.
(Lorenzi et al, 2009). There will also be some trial and error involved which will encourage a
behaviourism learning approach.
Moving the sessions from classroom to a clinical environment will encourage the
incorporation of Social and Cultural factors which will ensure an understanding of the bigger
picture (McAlearney, Robins, Kowalczyk, Chisolm & Song, 2012). This physical move will
also reduce the cognitive load as it is more authentic to what they will encounter in reality.
(Kirschner, 2002). The risk here as noted by Saleh, Lazonder & Jong (2007) is that most of
the interaction will be between the stronger and the weaker learners with the average learners
acting as observers. However having only 4 learners per group should minimise this risk
The final enhancement I intend making is to schedule a follow up interactive workshop
session. This session, facilitated by a trainer, will be driven by the learners based on questions
they have from their role-playing exercise and possible future scenarios they see themselves
encountering. Rather than the trainer answering the questions, the trainer will give guidance
and hints to encourage the learners to construct and suggest the answers.
Conclusion
The study of learning theories has given me a strong focus for enhancing the effectiveness of
my training reflection and evaluation. I can now move from a subjective evaluation, which
has some merit, to evaluation on a more scientific and proven methodology.
It was also encouraging to note that many elements of the current approach fits well with the
cognitivist learning theory: i.e.
• Demonstrate and explain the material
• Relate new information to existing knowledge
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9. • Ensure the scenarios and situation, where possible, are authentic
• Use hands-on practice for re-enforcement
I am now confident that by introducing the group practice and workshop sessions the overall
training experience will be more complete as it will add Social Constructivism and
Behaviourism to the existing Cognivitism theory in practice. However, if, according to Hung
(2001), all learning theories are mutually exclusive, in reality I am enhancing the Social
Constructivism and Behaviourism elements that currently exist
While implementing the above recommendations will present some challenges I am confident
the benefits will outweigh the challenges and lead to a more effective learning experience.
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10. References
Bunce, D. M., Flens, E. A., & Neiles, K. Y. (2010). How Long Can Students Pay Attention in
Class? A Study of Student Attention Decline Using Clickers. Journal of chemical
education, 87(12), 1438.
Bruner, J. S. (1960). The Process of education. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2008). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Clark, R., C. & Mayer, R. E. (2008). Learning by viewing versus learning by doing:
Evidence-based guidelines for principled learning environments. Performance
Improvement, 47(9), 5-13. doi:10.1002/pfi.20028
Hung, D. (2001). Theories of Learning and Computer-Mediated Instructional Technologies.
Educational Media International, 38(4), 281-287. doi: 10.1080/09523980110105114
Kirschner, P. A. (2002). Cognitive load theory: implications of cognitive load theory on the
design of learning. Learning and Instruction, 12(1), 1-10. doi: 10.1016/S0959-
4752(01)00014-7
Lorenzi, N. M., Kouroubali, A., Detmer, D. E., & Bloomrosen, M. (2009). How to
successfully select and implement electronic health records (EHR) in small
ambulatory practice settings. BMC medical informatics and decision making, 9(1),
15-15. doi: 10.1186/1472-6947-9-15
Mayer, R. E. (2004). Should There Be a Three-Strikes Rule Against Pure Discovery
Learning? The Case for Guided Methods of Instruction. American Psychologist,
59(1), 14 - 19. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.14
McAlearney, A., Robbins, J., Kowalczyk, N., Chisolm, D., Song, P. (2012). The Role of
Cognitive and Learning Theories in Supporting Successful EHR System
Implementation Training: A Qualitative Study. Medical Care Research and Review,
69(3), 294 - 315.
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11. Saleh, M., Lazonder, A. W., & Jong, T. d. (2007). Structuring collaboration in mixed-ability
groups to promote verbal interaction, learning, and motivation of average-ability
students. Contemporary educational psychology, 32(3), 314-331. doi:
10.1016/j.cedpsych.2006.05.001
Wood, D. J., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving.
Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 17(2), 89-100.
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