ABSTRACT
Knowing what is likely to work, when and why, is important when designing teaching at university. This chapter guides you through the complex field of learning theories, the explanations of how learning takes place as a process. It introduces you to the main influential theories and how these ideas have matured and conflicted, to help you make sense of their implications for teaching. It introduces terms such as ‘constructivism’ and ‘behaviourism’ that you may encounter in teaching and learning literature, and explores developments in cognitive psychology and more recently, neuroscience, that examine how individuals process and recall information. The social influences on learning follow, before turning to important works on metacognition and ‘self’ theories that increasingly inform recent teaching designs. Contemporary theories on networked and distributed learning relevant to the internet age are also reviewed.
Throughout this chapter, the influence and implications of different theories for teachers are considered, with key criticisms of the different perspectives, theories and models summarised to help the reader make informed choices about when particular approaches might be applicable or not. While ‘theory’ is often seen as detached from everyday practice in teaching, the chapter closes with thoughts on how your enhanced knowledge of learning as a process can be harnessed to optimise effective teaching designs.
