Moving on to Developing Professional Capability
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2.1.A Knowledge of theories and models of adult  learning, for example, Knowles’ Adult Learning Theory, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Gagne’s Nine Levels of Learning, Mager’s Criterion‐Referenced Instruction Approach, social and collaborative learning, and experiential learning.

2.1.B Knowledge of the foundational learning theories of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.

These are notes, expect typos.

Foundations

Behaviorism

• Behaviorism is about predicting and controlling behavior. 
• The emphasis of behaviorism is the “reward” and in discovering the external controls that affect internal processes. 
• B. F. Skinner
• Some of the advantages of behaviorism include that it:
  • ​establishes objectives that are clear and unmistakable
  • ensures behavioral practice, not just theory
  • works best for helping learners acquire behavioral skills
  • is highly specific
  • is observable (learners know when they have succeeded).

Cognitivism

• Cognitivism is about how people think and remember, and “tries to understand understanding” (Clark 1999). Cognitivism focuses on mental processes that involve how people perceive, think, remember, learn, solve problems, and attend to one stimulus rather than another. 
• Some of the advantages of cognitivism include that it:
  • ​treats people as adults
  • focuses on thinking skills
  • emphasizes foundational knowledge
  • builds a base of information, concepts, and rules
  • provides the rationale upon which action is based (Sink 2014).
• Learn from retrieval and rehearsa

Constructionism

• Constructivism focuses on knowledge acquisition through experiences and interactions with the environment.
• Jean Piaget
• Assimilation and accommodation = how learn
• Some of the advantages of constructivism include that it:
  • ​is discovery oriented
  • centers on learner understanding
  • builds learner understanding with real-world relevance
  • allows for differences in learner backgrounds and experiences
  • has facilitators guide learners through the learning process (Sink 2014).

Theories and Models

Malcolm Knowles = andragogy

• Carl Rogers’s Learner-Centered Instruction
  In a learner-centered approach, learners are involved from start to finish and can choose what to study. The TD professional’s challenge is to include active-learning techniques that keep learners engaged and meet their needs.
• Abraham Maslow (1954) is known for his hierarchy of needs model. Motivation is a key component of learning and TD professionals need to understand what leads learners to want to learn.
• Patricia Cross developed two conceptual frameworks that describe aspects of adult learning: chain of response and characteristics of adult learners. Much of her work was a synthesis of other research about adult learning, participation, and developmental stages.
  
  “Chain of response”: popularized by Patricia Cross in 1981, is a model asserting that adult participation in a training program results from a complex series of personal responses to internal and external variables that either encourage or discourage learning.
  
  ​“Characteristics of adult learners” is a framework developed by Patricia Cross to describe why adults learn. Cross synthesized research about motivations and deterrents to adult learning, incorporating assumptions of andragogy into the framework as a means for considering the changing adult developmental stages.

• An important neuroscience influence for TD professionals is the area of emotions and their influence on learning, and also connected with Carl Roger’s his reinforces what thought leaders like Carl Rogers suggested in the 1950s. Research showing that memory is enhanced by firing neurons echoes the studies in cognitive learning that show retrieval and rehearsal lead to memory retention
• Benjamin Bloom (Taxonomy; also learning objectives)
  • ​Cognitive domain
  • Psychomotor domain
  • Affective domain
• Robert Gagné, an American educational psychologist, broke learning into a broader spectrum of five types of learning:
  • Intellectual skills refers to learning concepts, rules, and procedures. In a sense, it’s about knowing how to perform a task.
  • Cognitive strategy refers to learners employing their own learning strategies for taking in information, remembering it, and applying it.
  • Verbal information refers to information the learner can declare or state that they will use to make sense of new information.
  • Motor skills refers to carrying out practical tasks or following a procedure.
  • Attitude refers to the bias or values that influence a learner’s action toward something.
• Gagne’s 9 Events of Learning
• Robert Mager is known for the use of specific, measurable objectives that guide designers during course development, trainers during facilitation, and participants during the learning process. 
  • Performance is the behavior written as a specific, observable action, described using a verb.
  • Condition describes the setting under which the behavior is performed and should include the tools or assistance required.
  • Criteria describes the level of performance and should be stated, including an acceptable range of allowable answers.
• Memory decay
  • The application is that TD professionals can reduce memory decay by designing recall opportunities for learners over intervals of time. This might be within a classroom context; through microlearning, coaching, or innovative practices such as gamification; or by having supervisors follow-up with learners.
• Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
  • The application for TD professionals is that they can design experiences to enable the facilitator to model ideal behavior. They can also create experiences where participants model behaviors or perform tasks in a way that offers an opportunity for other learners to watch and imitate.

Articles to Review

• 3 Evidence-Based Training Methods From Ruth Clark’s Updated Meta-Analysis
• Why Managers Should Understand Adult Learning Theory
• Developmental Learning Theory (Good Examples)