What Is Modern Learning Theory?
The best teaching methods have evolved significantly over time. Gone are the days of referring to brains as sponges that absorb readymade solutions. In today’s world, teaching involves allowing learners to actively construct their experiences, helping them form an intimate understanding of the material—and ultimately, becoming an even more valuable part of your business.
With that in mind, we’re diving into the details of modern learning theory, so you can empower your team through education and continue making waves in your industry.
Understanding Modern Learning Theory
Traditionally, learning was considered a rather passive process. As briefly mentioned, brains were deemed sponges that could soak up pre-written scripts spouted by the educator. Known as behaviorism, this “blank slate” mentality certainly wasn’t the only traditional learning theory (cognitivism is another example), but it was certainly the most widely used.
Modern theories, however, have moved away from the previously passive ordeal to a much more active, learner-centric endeavour. It involves learner engagement and often leverages the power of technology to deepen knowledge and further improve engagement, while the educator takes a more passive role.
Modern Learning Theories in Practice
Modern learning theories look markedly different from their traditional predecessors. Instead of sitting, listening, repeating, and copying, you’ll notice these principles playing out:
Social learning — This principle acknowledges that people acquire skills and knowledge through social interactions. Unlike traditional methods, it encourages students to communicate to their peers and share experiences to retain information. It realizes the theory that humans don’t just learn from formal teaching, but also information interactions.
Personalized learning — This approach aims to tailor instruction to each individual’s strengths, skills, needs, and interests. Learners receive a tutoring plan based on what they already know and how they learn best.
Active learning — Based on constructivism, a traditional theory, active learning focuses on how people learn, not just on what they learn. Instead of passively receiving information, students’ thinking is challenged, ensuring they play a pivotal role in their own learning process. They build understanding in response to educator-provided opportunities.
Experiential learning — Last but certainly not least, experiential learning is “learning by doing.” By engaging students in hands-on activities, they are able to connect with classroom-learned knowledge and theories in real-world situations, deepening understanding.
Technology’s Role in Modern Learning
Education and technology are becoming synonymous with each other, as an increasing number of businesses bring edu-tech to the learning world. So much so that technology itself has been pivotal in molding modern learning theories. Without it, personalized, social, active, and experiential learning would be difficult to integrate into teaching environments.
One of tech’s biggest impacts has been personalized learning. Data analytics allows tutors to easily track individual student progress and tailor learning experiences as needed. And with the rise of AI, digital learning platforms modify the difficulty in real-time based on previously observed strengths and weaknesses.
Moreover, students no longer need to be in the classroom to learn. E-learning platforms provide virtual classrooms, collaborative documents, and discussion forums that let students learn from the comfort of their own home, on the bus, or anywhere with an internet connection.
Plus, gamification brings an all-new interactive, engaging element to learning. Whether simulations, games, or virtual reality, these gamified experiences are highly enthralling, giving students a much-needed hands-on approach to concepts, regardless of how abstract they may be.
The Science Behind Modern Learning
Cognitive psychology, a branch of science studying internal mental processes, has massively influenced modern learning theories, turning them into the active-learner-passive-teacher affair they are today.
The discipline explores a wide variety of thinking processes, including attention, choice-based behavior, forgetting, decision-making, memory, problem-solving, information processing, visual perception, and speech perception, all of which helps researchers evolve learning theories that tap into our innate curiosity and desire to gain knowledge. Without such studies, principles like active learning, experiential learning, and personalized learning may not have surfaced, leaving educators and students alike stuck in a huge, passive rut.
Benefits of Modern Learning Theories
We’ve hinted at the benefits already, but now we’re ensuring they’re loud and proud:
Increased engagement — Involvement is crucial for learning, and nothing does that more than modern learning theories and technology. From educational apps to gamified e-learning platforms, today’s learning effortlessly improves engagement across the board.
Improved communication and collaboration — No matter the location, tutors and students can connect, collaborate, and communicate through cloud-based platforms. Ultimately, this promotes teamwork and the sharing of ideas, simulating real-world environments.
Enhanced critical thinking — Innovative tools and teaching methods encourage analysis, evaluation, and information synthesis, which are essential for solving modern-day workplace challenges.
Challenges and Criticism of Modern Learning Theories
Despite its benefits, modern learning theories aren’t without their challenges. While the following criticisms shouldn’t deter you from employing them, they must be considered to alleviate any barriers to entry:
Balancing the necessity of an across-the-board curriculum with personalized learning is innately difficult.
Some employees may not have access to the required technology.
Effective technological integration is imperative for modern learning theories to be successful.
Modern Learning Theory 101
As long as you consider the challenges involved with implementing modern learning theories, bringing active, experiential, social and personalized learning to your business’ education courses will only improve employee understanding, collaboration, and engagement. So, wave goodbye to passive pedagogical approaches and say hello to the modern way of tutoring. Your bottom line will thank you for it.
If your organization wants to improve training engagement and reduce staff turnover, get in touch to learn about our bespoke learning management systems.