ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author argues that design decisions need to be based on clear theoretical principles, and identifies three broad perspectives on learning from which these principles can be drawn: the associative, cognitive, and situative. The view of learning as underpinned by a simple link mechanism took on a new life in the form of neural network theory. Much of the focus in the learning sciences is on the phenomena associated with learning on the participative web, with concepts developed and applied solely in that context. A very disparate range of research into learner capabilities or the internal characteristics of the individual can be incorporated into the concept of individualised learning. The author summarises new evidence from the fields of artificial or machine learning, neural networks, educational neuroscience, and the study of learning on the participative web.
