Establishing Conditions for Learning

Abstract

For traditional instructor-led classroom presentations, the designer can ensure that the learner makes a connection to new factual type of material by becoming familiar with the prerequisite knowledge that is required to understand the instructional presentation and adjusting the level of the presentation and the examples provided during the presentation based on student feedback. Content organization and practical examples that enhance the online learning experience of new tasks and procedures and tie new procedures and job-tasks to old ones, however, create more of a challenge. The challenge is to avoid the creation of what is called “functional fixedness” which occurs as a result of becoming focused on a single task structure rather than its application to a wide variety of situations. It also is a product of the difficulty of providing a logical sequence for exercises and relevant examples that provide learning experiences that are sufficiently linked so as to be integrated with previous tasks and skills. This paper examines how we can assist learners in to integrate new concepts and procedures to the level where they can be applied to similar by making them active participants in the instructional presentation and providing them with useful examples and tools by which to integrate new concepts and procedures with the existing knowledge base. It also establishes conditions to ensure that the learner receives meaningful learning regardless of the current knowledge or experience with the new system. They include: • The instructional product must make the learner an active participant in the learning process. This follows principles of Wittrock’s Generative Learning Theory. • The external requirements of the instruction must match the internal conditions of the learning. This is similar to Gagne’s Conditions for Learning. • The instructional exercises must be structured in such a way as to stimulate cognitive activity.