LinkedIn for Instructional Purposes
Cognitivism Learning Theory for Instructional Purposes in Hypothetical Training Scenario
Summary: This LinkedIn training takes the scenario of balancing life, school, and work as a graduate student and applies components of the Cognitivism Learning Theory for instructional purposes.
Overview of Cognitivism Learning Theory:
Cognitivism learning theory redirects the priority on learning from the environment (behaviorists) or the whole person (humanists) to the learner's mental processes (Merriam & Bierema 2014, 31). Cognitivism learning theory attempts to help learners maximize the brain's potential by focusing on the following cognitive processes:
Cognitivism learning theory redirects the priority on learning from the environment (behaviorists) or the whole person (humanists) to the learner's mental processes (Merriam & Bierema 2014, 31). Cognitivism learning theory attempts to help learners maximize the brain's potential by focusing on the following cognitive processes:
- Use prior knowledge to process new information.
- Creating learning environments that encourage students to connect with previously learned material.
- Emphasis on the active involvement of the learner in the learning process.
- Engage information processing in the brain to absorb and retain knowledge through experiences and senses.
- Emphasis on structuring, organizing, and sequencing information to facilitate optimal processing.
- Deepening memory and retention capacity.
- Use of hierarchical analyses to identify and illustrate prerequisite relationships.
Training plan to Balance Life/School/Work as a Graduate Student Training Topic/Context:
This training will take place in a fully online asynchronous environment that does not require learners to participate in the course on any specific day or time. Proponents of cognitivism learning theory prefer a personalized learning approach. This training will take place over a seven-day week to allow employees to learn at their own pace and with various learning opportunities.
Readings, materials, and activities throughout this training will be divided into stages and maintain a logical flow of lessons taught. Our training will consist of two stages or sessions containing the following sections: Explore IT phase, Do IT phase, and reflection. During the Explore IT phase, new information will be instilled in learners in a sequence to build on what is already understood. Participants will apply new skills and acquire knowledge through cognitive-based tasks and challenges in the Do IT phase. Finally, all PowerPoint slides, links to videos, the training guide, presentation scripts, and video captions will be shared will all participants. (Valamis 2022)
Training Goals/Objectives:
At the end of this training, learners will be able to:
This training will take place in a fully online asynchronous environment that does not require learners to participate in the course on any specific day or time. Proponents of cognitivism learning theory prefer a personalized learning approach. This training will take place over a seven-day week to allow employees to learn at their own pace and with various learning opportunities.
Readings, materials, and activities throughout this training will be divided into stages and maintain a logical flow of lessons taught. Our training will consist of two stages or sessions containing the following sections: Explore IT phase, Do IT phase, and reflection. During the Explore IT phase, new information will be instilled in learners in a sequence to build on what is already understood. Participants will apply new skills and acquire knowledge through cognitive-based tasks and challenges in the Do IT phase. Finally, all PowerPoint slides, links to videos, the training guide, presentation scripts, and video captions will be shared will all participants. (Valamis 2022)
Training Goals/Objectives:
At the end of this training, learners will be able to:
- Compare a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset.
- Apply cognitive strategies such as metacognition, dual Coding, and schema theory during learning.
- Prioritize tasks involving time, difficulty, and location.
- Develop a weekly agenda for their coursework, job, and personal activities.
Session One: Explore IT Phase - Reading and Instructional Materials
Explore IT - Consider While Reading:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
(Dweck, Carol S. 2016. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York, NY: Ballantine.)
Chapter 1: The Mindsets
Chapter 2: Inside the Mindsets
Chapter 8: Changing Mindsets
Explore IT - Consider While Reading:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
(Dweck, Carol S. 2016. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York, NY: Ballantine.)
Chapter 1: The Mindsets
Chapter 2: Inside the Mindsets
Chapter 8: Changing Mindsets
The Role of Metacognition in Learning and Achievement
Mindshift. 2016. "The Role of Metacognition in Learning and Achievement."
Mindshift. 2016. "The Role of Metacognition in Learning and Achievement."
The Impact of a Growth Mindset
Mindset Works. 2023. "The Impact of a Growth Mindset." Science Impact.
Mindset Works. 2023. "The Impact of a Growth Mindset." Science Impact.
Explore IT - Consider While Watching:
The Most Powerful Mindset for Success
Brilliant. 2017. "The Most Powerful Mindset for Success." Freedom in Thought. YouTube.
The Most Powerful Mindset for Success
Brilliant. 2017. "The Most Powerful Mindset for Success." Freedom in Thought. YouTube.
The Power of Believing That You Can Improve
Dweck, Carol. 2014. "The Power of Believing That You Can Improve | Carol Dweck." YouTube. Ted Talk.
Dweck, Carol. 2014. "The Power of Believing That You Can Improve | Carol Dweck." YouTube. Ted Talk.
Session one: Do IT Phase - Engagement and Reflection Activites
Do IT: A Growth Mindset - Engagement and Reflection Activity
As participants read, view, and interact with the reading and training materials for session one, they will complete activities found in the training handbook. These activities involve cognitive strategies such as outlining, summarizing, and synthesizing. There will be an emphasis on structuring, organizing, and sequencing information to facilitate optimal processing. (Ertmer and Newby 2013, 53)
Cognitive Learning Concept: Explicit Learning
Explicit learning will occur as participants intentionally seek knowledge to attempt and learn a new skill or process. It will require them to be attentive and take action to acquire knowledge. (Valamis 2022)
Do IT: Growth Mindset Quote Posters: Famous People - Engagement and Reflection Activity
Participants will view a PowerPoint slideshow that depicts 20 slides of famous people. Each slide contains a photograph or illustration of the person, a growth mindset quote made by the person, and how they are famous in history. One statement and question appear on each slide, "Explain what this quote means in your own words." and "How does this quote apply to your life?" Afterward, learners will choose between five and eight slides. Next, they will answer the statement and question in the training handbook.
Cognitive Learning Concept: Meaningful Learning
Meaningful learning will occur with each participant as they can acquire new information and relate it to past experiences. This cognitive learning approach teaches learners to build transferable skills that will be applied in session two's upcoming life/school/work activities. (Valamis 2022)
Do IT: A Growth Mindset - Engagement and Reflection Activity
As participants read, view, and interact with the reading and training materials for session one, they will complete activities found in the training handbook. These activities involve cognitive strategies such as outlining, summarizing, and synthesizing. There will be an emphasis on structuring, organizing, and sequencing information to facilitate optimal processing. (Ertmer and Newby 2013, 53)
Cognitive Learning Concept: Explicit Learning
Explicit learning will occur as participants intentionally seek knowledge to attempt and learn a new skill or process. It will require them to be attentive and take action to acquire knowledge. (Valamis 2022)
Do IT: Growth Mindset Quote Posters: Famous People - Engagement and Reflection Activity
Participants will view a PowerPoint slideshow that depicts 20 slides of famous people. Each slide contains a photograph or illustration of the person, a growth mindset quote made by the person, and how they are famous in history. One statement and question appear on each slide, "Explain what this quote means in your own words." and "How does this quote apply to your life?" Afterward, learners will choose between five and eight slides. Next, they will answer the statement and question in the training handbook.
Cognitive Learning Concept: Meaningful Learning
Meaningful learning will occur with each participant as they can acquire new information and relate it to past experiences. This cognitive learning approach teaches learners to build transferable skills that will be applied in session two's upcoming life/school/work activities. (Valamis 2022)
Session Two: Explore IT Phase - Instructional Materials
Explore IT - Consider While Viewing Presentation: "Define the Demands on Your Time"
Cognitive Learning Concept: Dual Coding and Multimedia Learning
Dual Coding Theory tells us that "[w]e learn more effectively from words and pictures than from words alone" (Victor and Spencer 2018). If Dual Coding is good, more codes must be better. Combined with the idea that multimedia learning is a cornerstone of cognitive learning (Arshavskiy 2018), we can conclude that learners need as many means as possible to engage with the material. We must always be learning in more than one way at all times.
Session Two: Do IT Phase - Engagement and Reflection Activities
Do IT: Coding - Engagement and Reflection Activity
Cognitive Learning Concept: Schema Theory
Schema Theory suggests that learners can learn the material in new ways by re-categorizing it through accretion, tuning, and restructuring (Victor and Spencer 2018). Therefore, learners need to re-categorize information repeatedly into many small categories that change with each iteration and compare each way of organizing to all others. This repetition and multiple-schema paradigm increases learning through repetition and offers multiple opportunities to engage with the material.
Do IT: Prioritize Your Action Lists - Engagement and Reflection Activity
Participants will take their action lists from the Coding activity, which are located in the participant's training handbooks. Next, they will develop a strategy to prioritize your action lists. Here, learners will need to compare and contrast the tasks on their action lists by asking themselves the following questions:
What is important?
What is not important?
Next, learners will use one word to describe if they can balance their life, school, and work by asking themselves the following questions:
What would it feel like?
What would it feel look like?
What would it sound like?
Cognitive Learning Concepts: Emotional Learning, Self-Regulation, Assimilation, and Equilibration
Participants will interact cognitively with emotional learning concepts by comparing and contrasting the tasks on their action lists by identifying what is important and not important. Also, learners will engage in the cognitive process of self-regulation that includes the triad of self, world, and future. Every learner must know how to apply implicit knowledge by identifying explicit learning needs. Moreover, this will allow them to make better positioned to answer the why of what is important. These cognitive processes will make the "Prioritize Your Action Lists" exercise meaningful to the learner. Next, assimilation will occur as participants arrange this new knowledge cognitively besides what they already know. Finally, as learners balance prior knowledge with new information, they will participate in the cognitive process known as equilibration.
Explore IT - Consider While Viewing Presentation: "Define the Demands on Your Time"
- The instructor gives a presentation on the introductory topic.
- The presentation includes a video element (which is subtitled), and learners interact with printed handouts of the presentation slides and included transcript of the video subtitles.
- After each slide, the video stops. During this reflection time, learners will cognitively interact and engage with the presentation content found in the training handbook. This content will require learners to predict what will be on the next slide.
Cognitive Learning Concept: Dual Coding and Multimedia Learning
Dual Coding Theory tells us that "[w]e learn more effectively from words and pictures than from words alone" (Victor and Spencer 2018). If Dual Coding is good, more codes must be better. Combined with the idea that multimedia learning is a cornerstone of cognitive learning (Arshavskiy 2018), we can conclude that learners need as many means as possible to engage with the material. We must always be learning in more than one way at all times.
Session Two: Do IT Phase - Engagement and Reflection Activities
Do IT: Coding - Engagement and Reflection Activity
- Learners are presented with a list of tasks that they might need to complete during a given week using a PowerPoint slideshow. Each task can be found in the participant's training handbooks.
- Learners provide rankings of the tasks based on time for completion, the difficulty of the tasks, the location where the task occurs, the category of the task (work/life/school), the number of external resources required, time of day when the task would be completed, alphabetical order, length of task title (in words), length of the task title (in letters), and personal preference.
- Learners compare each of their rankings, develop a pros-and-cons list for each and then organize the rankings that they feel provide the best ranking of the tasks.
Cognitive Learning Concept: Schema Theory
Schema Theory suggests that learners can learn the material in new ways by re-categorizing it through accretion, tuning, and restructuring (Victor and Spencer 2018). Therefore, learners need to re-categorize information repeatedly into many small categories that change with each iteration and compare each way of organizing to all others. This repetition and multiple-schema paradigm increases learning through repetition and offers multiple opportunities to engage with the material.
Do IT: Prioritize Your Action Lists - Engagement and Reflection Activity
Participants will take their action lists from the Coding activity, which are located in the participant's training handbooks. Next, they will develop a strategy to prioritize your action lists. Here, learners will need to compare and contrast the tasks on their action lists by asking themselves the following questions:
What is important?
What is not important?
Next, learners will use one word to describe if they can balance their life, school, and work by asking themselves the following questions:
What would it feel like?
What would it feel look like?
What would it sound like?
Cognitive Learning Concepts: Emotional Learning, Self-Regulation, Assimilation, and Equilibration
Participants will interact cognitively with emotional learning concepts by comparing and contrasting the tasks on their action lists by identifying what is important and not important. Also, learners will engage in the cognitive process of self-regulation that includes the triad of self, world, and future. Every learner must know how to apply implicit knowledge by identifying explicit learning needs. Moreover, this will allow them to make better positioned to answer the why of what is important. These cognitive processes will make the "Prioritize Your Action Lists" exercise meaningful to the learner. Next, assimilation will occur as participants arrange this new knowledge cognitively besides what they already know. Finally, as learners balance prior knowledge with new information, they will participate in the cognitive process known as equilibration.
References:
Indeed Editorial Team Canada. 2022. “Applying Cognitive Learning Theory to Corporate Training.” https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/cognitive-learning-theory.
Quality Insolvency Services Ltd. 2016. “4 Steps to a Developing a Growth Mindset.” YouTube. YouTube. October 25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNHas97iE78&list=RDLVhiiEeMN7vbQ&index=22.
Arshavskiy, Marina. 2018. “The Learning Theory of Cognitive Development in Elearning.” ELearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/learning-theory-of-cognitive-development-elearning.
Brilliant. 2017. “The Most Powerful Mindset for Success.” Freedom in Thought. YouTube. December 24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjBdcyueom8.
Dweck, Carol S. 2016. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York, NY: Ballantine.
Dweck, Carol. 2014. “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve | Carol Dweck.” YouTube. Ted Talk. December 17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU&list=RDLVhiiEeMN7vbQ&index=5.
Ertmer, Peggy A., and Timothy J. Newby. 2013. “Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features from an Instructional Design Perspective.” Performance Improvement Quarterly 26 (2): 43–71. doi:10.1002/piq.21143.
Merriam, Sharan B., and Laura L. Bierema. 2014. Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Mindset Works. 2023. “The Impact of a Growth Mindset.” Science Impact. Accessed February 7. https://www.mindsetworks.com/Science/Impact.
MindShift. 2016. “The Role of Metacognition in Learning and Achievement.” KQED. August 10. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/46038/the-role-of-metacognition-in-learning-and-achievement.
Shift Admin. 2018. “Breaking the Code: What Motivates Adult Learners?” Breaking the Code: What Motivates Adult Learners? May 10. https://www.shiftelearning.com/blog/what-motivates-adult-learners.
Sword, Rosalyn. 2022. “Metacognition in the Classroom: Benefits & Strategies.” The Hub | High Speed Training. June 15. https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/metacognition-in-the-classroom/.
Valamis. 2022. “Cognitive Learning Theory: Benefits, Strategies and Examples.” Valamis. Valamis. October 4. https://www.valamis.com/hub/cognitive-learning#cognitive-learning-strategies.
Victor, Stephen, and Tim Spencer. 2018. “3 Cognitive Theories for Transforming Learning.” ELearning Industry. March 21. https://elearningindustry.com/transforming-learning-3-cognitive-theories.
Wlodkowski, Raymond J., and Margery B. Ginsberg. 2017. Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn a Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Indeed Editorial Team Canada. 2022. “Applying Cognitive Learning Theory to Corporate Training.” https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/cognitive-learning-theory.
Quality Insolvency Services Ltd. 2016. “4 Steps to a Developing a Growth Mindset.” YouTube. YouTube. October 25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNHas97iE78&list=RDLVhiiEeMN7vbQ&index=22.
Arshavskiy, Marina. 2018. “The Learning Theory of Cognitive Development in Elearning.” ELearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/learning-theory-of-cognitive-development-elearning.
Brilliant. 2017. “The Most Powerful Mindset for Success.” Freedom in Thought. YouTube. December 24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjBdcyueom8.
Dweck, Carol S. 2016. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York, NY: Ballantine.
Dweck, Carol. 2014. “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve | Carol Dweck.” YouTube. Ted Talk. December 17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU&list=RDLVhiiEeMN7vbQ&index=5.
Ertmer, Peggy A., and Timothy J. Newby. 2013. “Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features from an Instructional Design Perspective.” Performance Improvement Quarterly 26 (2): 43–71. doi:10.1002/piq.21143.
Merriam, Sharan B., and Laura L. Bierema. 2014. Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Mindset Works. 2023. “The Impact of a Growth Mindset.” Science Impact. Accessed February 7. https://www.mindsetworks.com/Science/Impact.
MindShift. 2016. “The Role of Metacognition in Learning and Achievement.” KQED. August 10. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/46038/the-role-of-metacognition-in-learning-and-achievement.
Shift Admin. 2018. “Breaking the Code: What Motivates Adult Learners?” Breaking the Code: What Motivates Adult Learners? May 10. https://www.shiftelearning.com/blog/what-motivates-adult-learners.
Sword, Rosalyn. 2022. “Metacognition in the Classroom: Benefits & Strategies.” The Hub | High Speed Training. June 15. https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/metacognition-in-the-classroom/.
Valamis. 2022. “Cognitive Learning Theory: Benefits, Strategies and Examples.” Valamis. Valamis. October 4. https://www.valamis.com/hub/cognitive-learning#cognitive-learning-strategies.
Victor, Stephen, and Tim Spencer. 2018. “3 Cognitive Theories for Transforming Learning.” ELearning Industry. March 21. https://elearningindustry.com/transforming-learning-3-cognitive-theories.
Wlodkowski, Raymond J., and Margery B. Ginsberg. 2017. Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn a Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.