Modern Learning (2022)

Introduction

Critical thinking is the analysis of facts to form a judgment or result in a rational, skeptical, unbiased analysis, or evaluation of factual evidence.
Edward N. Zalta

Studies around the world look at how people learn. This module synthesizes many of the most common methods employed in face-to-face and online classrooms.

Start by understanding Blooms Taxonomy, then review others that spark your interest.

To merely learn a fact, so you can choose it on an exam, is low-order learning. Employers in your future will want you to take limitations, look at them from many sides, evaluate, and communicate/present them in a professional manner. So that is what we'll practice in this course.

Employers' needs in the workplace continually change. Today, workers are expected to be inclusive, flexible, and technically savvy. Your communication skills will require you to write well to be understood and present your ideas verbally (in person or via audio/video). You may interact with workers from around the globe, which requires understanding and respect of cultures. Your classmates are from around the world...so you'll get to practice your cultural competence skills.

References

This list was compliled by Pam Van Londen, Sr. Instructor in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University. Some methods were synthesized by Honors students in the CS 391H: Social and Ethical Issues in Computer Science course at Oregon State University. The content is shared with future ethics students as well as students from other majors taking beginning computing courses.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Many of the lessons in this course will require higher-order thinking skills, which you can see from New Zealand author Andrew Church's Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, will include Creating, Evaluating, Analyzing, and Applying knowledge and skills, rather than merely Understanding and Remembering facts (like might occur when presented with a bullet-point lecture).

Bloom's Digital Taxomonmy chart deveoped by Andrew Church in 2007 — Andrew Church's modern interpretation Benjamin Bloom's original Taxonomy of Educational Objectives; the common framework educators have been referring to and reinventing since 1956. (Redrawn by Ron Carranza in 2015.)

By Alexander O'Sullivan, Honors Student, Oregon State University, 2022.

According to Churches, the digital taxonomy describes cognitive objectives developed in the 1950’s by Benjamin Bloom. This taxonomy categorized thinking skills in order of lower order to higher order, and is structured in a sequential manner. These skills were, in order, knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The structure of this taxonomy was organized in such a way that the previous step needed to be fully mastered before the next step could be developed. For example, according to Bloom’s Taxonomy, one cannot find applications for a topic they do not comprehend, and one cannot perform rigorous analysis on a topic that they have not used before. In the 1990’s, this taxonomy was revised to include verbs and by extension actions that needed to be taken. The new skills of the revised taxonomy are “remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating”.

Remembering is “the ability to retrieve, recall, or recognize knowledge from memory”. Such knowledge can be anything, such as facts, names, or other similar relevant material. Digital examples of remembering include bullet pointing key points, highlighting key phrases in texts, social networking and bookmarking, and searching for information online.

Understanding is “the act of comprehending memorized knowledge and constructing meaning from that knowledge”. Digital examples of understanding include answering questions on blogs, advanced searching of information, and commenting and and annotating. Applying is “the act of carrying out a procedure based on understood knowledge”. It essentially involves finding uses for gained knowledge. Digital examples of applying include running and operating programs, editing and uploading media, or even simply playing a game as a form of education.

Analysing is “the process of breaking material or concepts into parts in order to determine how the parts relate or interrelate to one another”. This includes mental actions such as differentiating, organizing, and attributing different topics. Digital examples of analysing include the reverse engineering of software or programs, linking or mashing different data sources, and validating information.

Evaluating is “the process of making judgements based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing”. This higher form of thinking skill involves being able to provide critical feedback about a certain topic. Digital examples of evaluating include moderating and posting on blogs or other social media forums, collaborating and networking with others, and testing applications or tools.

The highest order of thinking skill is creating, which is “the process of putting different elements together to form a functional whole”. It represents the ultimate form of understanding, as in order to effectively create something one of a certain needs to have mastered all other thinking skills related to that topic. Digital examples of creating include programming new code, directing or filming videos, and publishing finished works.

Your Brain on Search.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin named their first search engine, Backrub, in 1995. They renamed it Google, which is a play on the word googol, a mathematical term meaning a number too large to comprehend.

From the garage to the Googleplex

Google's search box has become a powerful dictionary, encyclopedia, and calculator over the last 2 decades. You can type: define [word], and get an instant answer! Ask Google to define learning, and it'll tell you that it is, “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience and study...”

In The Internet Has Become the External Hard Drive for Our Memories, authors Daniel Wegner and Adrian Ward posited that Google and the Internet are changing our brains. This change has occurred because we no longer delegate the memory of who can help us with a task, but how to search for that task. In general, people offload or distribute details to others to free up space in their brains to provide depth of collective knowledge.

The dependency on connected devices to store memory depletes neuronal activity as there is no information to rehearse. — What is Digital Amnesia and how does it affect our memory? Learn more about this issue by searching "how does the "google effect" change memory?"

We are now offloading memories to a computer cloud rather than into our own DNA. This creates a "transactive partnership not just with other humans but with an information source more powerful than any the world has ever seen." (Wegner, et al 2013)

The problem is that people now tend to make little effort to remember details unless specifically asked, and think first to consult the Internet if their memory is challenged. They also may feel less smart if they do not consult the Internet, as the instant gratification it provides is motivating, which tends to create a feeling of false superiority.

To combat digital amnesia in class course, you'll gain knowledge through reading, writing, and discussion, as well as by creating projects that demonstrate skills needed for future courses and employment. Other than the Syllabus quiz, your assessments will be collaborative projects and discussions, rather than quizzes and exams.

Crowd-learning

The Google-it way of learning has also given rise to other ways to learn...such as through crowd-sourced content like YouTube, Khan Academy, and TED Talk channels, which help individuals speed through new knowledge/skills quickly on their own time.

In 2008, Jeff Howe coined the phrase Crowdsourcing and talks about its power in, Why the Power of Crowdsourcing is Driving the Future of Business. Crowdsourcing takes the notion of open-source and applies it to any field outside of computer science, such as research and reporting by journalists, scientists, and other authors. A company called Crowdlearn uses the notion as their business model. Other startups are following their lead. Crowdlearning has become a common way to learn.

When groups solve problems together, they are crowd-learning. Students share of new ideas and approaches. They begin to understand correct solutions, but also the structure of solutions, and they outperform those that have participated in overly-prescribed teachings. Learn more about this notion from a 2011 study, Designing for Productive Failure, by authors Kapur and Bielaczyc.

By Patrick Iacob, Honors Student, Oregon State University, 2022.

In 2016 in Crowdlearning: A framework for collaborative and personalized learning, Thilak R. Balasubramanian and Trilce Estrada, describe Crowdlearning as a new learning paradigm in which students are transformed from content consumers to content ‘creators and curators’. Unlike a vertical approach to remote learning, like MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courseware), that rely on educators spending hours creating learning materials for their lessons that they then present to students, Crowdlearning presents itself as a horizontal approach to teaching, where students and educators share the responsibility of creating material. Though the creator of a document will be kept private from other students. The advantages being that this approach could scale better with an increasing number of students since to responsibility is shared. Another advantage being that students could get additional points of view of the material from their peers which could help their understanding of the topic more than a single teachers instruction. The authors of the proposal also include a proof of concept application as a reference for implementation of their design.

They also admit that since the material is generated by other students the trustworthiness and quality of materials could be dubious in some cases. The freedom required for this paradigm can be easily abused by students to create unrelated or offensive material. The authors proposed solution is a system of trustworthiness, where students with a track record of high quality materials are given a higher reputation score that is associated with their profiles. A few users would be given prial approval for curation at the beginning and other users would gain reputation by having their creations approved by these first users.

Cooperative Learning

Hole-in-the Wall Education Project terminal with children learning without a teacher. — Hole-in-the Wall Education Project (HIWEP),

The Minimally Invasive Education (MIE) pedagogy created by Dr. Sugat Mitra defines a delivery system called the Hole-in-the Wall Education Project (HIWEP), wherein under-served communities are provided a computer in a public wall area, so that anyone can step up to the wall and learn whatever they want. Kids and adults will often self-organize to teach each other. "That children could learn on their own, was something not many people would have imagined and that too in such a cost-effective manner with benefits like improved group dynamics..." (Mitra 2007) This project had computers in walls in more than 24 locations in India and Cambodia. The initial 4-year study showed improvement in not only test scores, but the assimilation of concepts.

Key points driving Cooperative Learning at Madrid’s Arenales Carabanchel

Inquiry-Based Learning

By Malhar Damle, Honors Student, Oregon State University, 2022.

Authors of Phases of inquiry-based learning: Definitions and the inquiry cycle states that Inquiry-based learning is a technique used by educational institutions where students follow the process of discovery through the scientific method.

Through devising hypotheses and testing different methods via experimentation and observations, problems can be solved while developing problem-solving skills. Specifically, this method of learning focuses on encouraging active participation from learner’s while guiding them to discovery based on a self-directed inductive process. Furthermore, it has been identified that inquiry based learning improves learner’s ability to identify problems, formulate questions, plan and carry out experiments, collect and analyze data, and reach conclusions.

The phases of the inquiry-based learning cycle is as follows: Orientation, Conceptualization, Investigation, Conclusion and Discussion. The orientation phase consists of three activities, introduction, observation and learning challenge. The conceptualization phase focuses on asking a question, determine the unknown and known variables, searching for more background information, making predictions and hypotheses. In the investigation phase, methods are planned, equipment is gathered, evidence is collected, a brief analysis is conducted and the data is organized and synthesized. Next in the conclusion phase, the analyses are refined and more reasoning is constructed through models and data organization and a solution or final finding is offered. Lastly, in the discussion phase, the final results are discussed along with the entire process along with evaluating success and reflect on the process, identifying room for improvements and future inquiries.

According to research conducted by Minner, Levy and Century (2010), a positive trend supports inquiry-based learning over traditional teaching methods. Additionally, the rise of technology also plays a role in the increased success of applying inquiry-based learning and different inquiry skills.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) (2020)

The Flipped Classroom

By Arjun Subramanian, Honors Student, Oregon State University, 2022.

Divjak et. al. 's 2022 meta-analysis Flipped classrooms in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings and future research recommendations findings and future research recommendations discusses the effects of online pedagogies involving flipped classroom (FC) learning approaches. FC approaches are learning strategies which involve the “information transmission component of a traditional face-to-face lecture” being moved out of the class time, usually in the form of a recorded lecture. This allows students to not only engage with the material at their own pace, but also frees up classroom time for students to deepen their understanding of the recently learned material.

These approaches were popularized among higher educational institutions (HEIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the close proximity involved with traditional learning. Five key factors for promoting student engagement in online FC approaches were noted as: “interaction, active learning with feedback, supported problem-centric learning, teaching variation and teacher attributes.”

Prior meta-analyses have shown that FC approaches have positive effects on a students ability to learn when compared to traditional learning styles. The meta-analysis analyzed 18 papers on the performance of online FC approaches in HEIs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this analysis showed how online FC approaches mitigated some of the problems of remote learning, as the partial asynchronous nature of the learning allowed students to work around their time schedules, while also allowing for more interactions between students and teachers.

Some difficulties of online FC were noted as having difficulty showing non-theory based lessons, and requiring teachers to spend greater amounts of time preparing the asynchronous materials. It was reported that there were no significant differences for student learning outcomes between online and in-person FC approaches. Online FC approaches had differing levels of satisfaction for students and teachers across different cultures and educational levels and disciplines, but in general, most students and teachers were decently supportive while also still having criticisms of online FC approaches.

Project-Based Learning

Project-Based Learning Application in Higher Education: Student Experiences and Perspectives (2022)

Gamification

Is game-based pedagogy just a fad? A self-determination theory approach to gamification in higher education (2022)

Problem-Based Learning

By Ethan Rahnama, Honors Student, Oregon State University, 2022.

In the 2019 article, Learning Analytics framework for measuring students’ performance and teachers’ involvement through problem based learning in engineering education, the authors Akhila Joshi, Padmashree Desai, and Prakash Tewari discuss their study where they employed Learning Analytics (LA) in a classroom setting under the problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogy.

The authors define LA as “a systematic and interdisciplinary field that uses methods and analysis techniques to measure the effectiveness of different pedagogical approaches” (Joshi, Akhila, et al., 2019). PBL is a student-oriented pedagogy where, rather than being presented with concepts to memorize and apply to solve problems, students are presented with the problems first and learn the concepts through the problem-solving process.

Typically, the types of problems used in PBL apply to the real-world and are open-ended, allowing students some creative agency. The study was conducted on third-year undergraduate Computer Science students, and PBL is being applied to their Software Engineering course; specifically, they are learning about the topic of Software Testing. There were three major sequential steps to conducting their study: a pre-assessment meant to assess the students’ prior knowledge of Software testing, a PBL session in which students were taught about Software Testing, and a post-assessment questionnaire designed to quantify the students’ improvement.

The authors, based on their analysis of the assessments and feedback acquired from the instructors, observed a noticeable improvement in the students’ problem-solving and critical-thinking skills as the average number of test cases that students were able to correctly write rose from five to nine. This near-doubling in the number of test cases post-PBL was certainly significant, and the authors believe that it may be a result of significantly higher student engagement, as made evident by the types of questions being asked by the students. They concluded with the idea that the coupling of LA and PBL is “essential” in developing and designing newer, more efficient pedagogies in the future.

Design Thinking

Using Design Thinking in Higher Education (2015)

Competency-Based Learning

Different roles, different demands. A competency-based professional roles model for early career engineers, validated in industry and higher education

Case-studies

Ethics Training is Broken. Can Storytelling Fix It?

Hybrid Classroom: Education 4.0

The core components of education 4.0 in higher education: Three case studies in engineering education Login to your OSU library account to access this article.

Socratic Circles

The Socratic Circle: Handing the Reins Over to Students (2018)

Labor-based

What is Labor-Based Grading? Its Pioneer Explains (2023)

Labor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and Inclusion in the Compassionate Writing Classroom (2022), 2nd Edition

Social Learning

Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (2024)