Combining learning types to improve the learning environment

This video presents a framework to show what it takes to learn in formal education. It is called The Conversational Framework, and it is based on a synthesis of different theories of learning.

If you prefer, you can view the video in Burmese below:

The video shows how all our conventional teaching and learning methods can be related to one or more of six types of learning:

• Acquisition;
• Inquiry;
• Discussion;
• Practice;
• Collaboration;
• Production.

There are implications here for how we teach. The best possible learning environment will use all six learning types – if you are using them in your teaching, then you know you have covered the Conversational Framework. That is, you have created the conditions necessary for learning to take place.

That’s about as much as we can do as teachers. And thinking in this way about teaching takes the emphasis off what the teacher does in the classroom and instead focuses on what the teacher puts in place for learners to experience.

The learning types can also help us think about how to use technology – both conventional technologies (such as the home-made clocks or dice game we saw teachers make in step 1.5) and digital technologies for learning. Look at the table in the PDF, “Relating ‘learning types’ to conventional and digital technologies”, in the Downloads. We need to find the right tools – conventional or digital – that enhance each of the learning types.

Digital tools

If you have access to the internet and digital devices, you may be using digital tools in your teaching. Even if you are not using digital tools in your teaching, if you are accessing this CoMOOC online, then you are learning through digital tools. There are a great many such tools available, and it can be overwhelming to make sense of what, why and when to use them.

If you use digital tools in your teaching, remember that the most important reason for using digital methods is to improve the learning experience. So it’s essential to begin by thinking about the most serious problems or challenges we have as teachers and then asking how technology might help.

For example, independent learning is so important at all ages because the teacher cannot be with their learners all the time. So if this is the experience we want to design for our learners, then we need to look for technologies that can serve this goal. Can we use technology to enable learners to find their own voice, to feel self-confident, to think critically, to be creative, and to learn from and with their peers?

In the next step you will be invited to take a quiz on interpreting the learning types – give it a try.

Over to you

Reflecting on a recent session where you were the teacher, can you identify how you used the learning types to create a balanced learning experience for your students? How well did it work? Are there ways you could involve more learning types, or a better combination, in your teaching?