Theory: Learning Environment and Context

Theory:

Learning Environment and Context

By Leilani Pearce

	Commented On:
Leilani Pearce	Kara DuQuette
Leilani Pearce	Danielle Riddell

Introduction

Learning is multidimensional and many factors play into the ability of an adult to capture information and turn it into knowledge. As we explore the types of environments learners inhabit, it is important to acknowledge outside environments as well as internal environments as they may impact them in similar ways. The context in which new information is presented, and the place where the learner is within their own life, can impact the way new information is processed. A teaching or training facilitator in a new learning environment must take into consideration the environment and context in which they are utilizing.

According to MacKeracher (pg. 186), we must take into consideration more than just the physical environment, which includes ergonomics and technology. We must be aware of the cultural environment, which is always an invisible presence of cultural undertones and their impact on learning. This may not always be apparent to the facilitator, however it must be considered when training new people. MacKeracher also highlights the importance of the power environment, the natural imbalance of power between teacher-student interactions, as well as the knowledge environment. The knowledge environment is a broad environment which includes previous knowledge on the subject being taught, as well as knowledge of society, the power structures surrounding us, and marginalization on a larger scale. The last environment MacKeracher discusses is the ‘real-life’ environment; the environment where most of us are ever-aware as it is the context we observe.

As future facilitators prepare to train and teach in future roles, they must learn how the environment can influence successful outcomes. This will allow for creating a learning environment that is set up for both the facilitator and student to have successful outcomes during the learning process. As technology advances, and learning initiatives become more strategic in reaching students throughout the world, many of these environments will need to be addressed in ever increasing functional and creative ways. Establishing patterns of successful learning environment qualities and traits have been imperative to universities and training programs. The idea that environment isn’t only the physical environment that teaching occurs within is an important piece of student success.

Themes

Learning Environments Evolve Over Time

            Just as students transform over time, so do learning environments. This is supported throughout research on context and learning design. “Learning environments are not static resource repositories. Just as participants interact and change over time, so does the environment” (Wilson, pg. 79). MacKeracher words this as “Ongoing, periodic, and lifelong interactions between the Person (individual learner or facilitator) and the environment have consequences for the resulting Behaviour or learning” (pg. 186). This may change from week to week within the learning environment, or even minute to minute. Being aware of this as a facilitator can help to provide a better learning environment for students.

 Being aware that learning is cyclical and ever changing is important to consider outside of individual learners and the physical environment. “Resources and materials change in ways the other components of learning environments do not. Moreover, change in educational resources and materials has been closely tied to technological change” (Jackson & Deal, pg. 107). Even when a facilitator is not using technology to facilitate learning, this does not mean the students are refraining from using laptops, recording devices, cell phones, or various websites to facilitate their own learning within the context of the classroom or training area. To make the most of the learning environment facilitators should keep new technology in mind when creating syllabi or training schedules. 

Efficiency Can Negatively Impact Quality

            Technology can help to ensure efficiency within large institutions of learning. However, the codification of processes, the bureaucracy, the structure of lecture and learning in general can inhibit the learning process. In being efficient, many studies have shown that it can stop creativity within the learning space. Hay and Barab examined power within two groups of students and found, “when instructional power was invoked there was a discernible loss of attention, ownership, group identification, authenticity, acceptance of the goal, persistence to the goal, enthusiasm…” within the student community (pg. 316). When students are given power to construct their own learning environment, they own their education. When comparing and contrasting the social constructivist perspective and the individual perspective, we can see how when individual learners are given power in their learning environment, they lose ownership when instructional power is enforced.

            Facilitators are held to a standard and expectation of being efficient within their teaching environments. In the conclusion of his article, Wilson states, “I believe we can make the best progress in this effort by weaning ourselves from over-reliance on any narrow ideology” (pg. 83). Facilitators are expected to produce specific learning outcomes for the individual learners within their classroom or training session. They rely on comfortable frameworks which have proven successful during previous training sessions or classes. This reliance on efficiency may hinder the learning environment by limiting the creativity of the individual learners. This reluctance to change or grow within new technologies can negatively impact the learning environment.

Cultural Contexts

            Cultures are not limited to just geographical areas throughout the globe. Cultures are created within communities of practice on a much smaller scale. MacKeracher states, “Cultural is never neutral” (pg. 192), it is ever present in people’s lives, and it enters into everyday scenarios including learning environments. Facilitators must be aware of the social power they hold over marginalized peoples within their classrooms. This is one of the more difficult learning environments and contexts that facilitators will encounter.  “Look further than the technological constraints and conventions and take into account the educational and social constraints and conventions that play a role in collaborative environments” (Kirschner, Strijbos, Kreijns, & Beers, pg. 53). MacKeracher points out that “Becoming interculturally competent is a complex process” (pg. 195) and it is not a process that can be perfected quickly, or ever.

            Working towards unpacking the multidimensional box that is privilege is not something that is easy to ask of individual learners within a diverse learning environment. However, facilitators must acknowledge that privilege exists, that it comes with unearned benefits, and that it is present in marginalized people’s active realities and that it cannot be avoided. Facilitators cannot change privilege alone, however they can bring attention to micro-aggressions that occur in the learning environment and point out ways that certain assumptions and stereotypes can undermine the learning environment for marginalized people. An effort to ensure that all individual learners within a learning environment are heard and are comfortable can help their learning within the classroom or training session.

Empowerment within Power Environments

Although it may seem that certain environments do not change, this does not hold true. Even cultural environments change with outside political forces, or even our understanding of other cultures. While this may not appear to influence learning or facilitating, it can have unforeseen effects. MacKeracher highlights privilege in the classroom and how students can be highly aware of socioeconomic privilege, race and gender privilege, and how this can impact the learning environment. Those of us becoming facilitators in 2017 have different cultural environments than we will have in 2027, or even from those who were teaching in 1987. “In North American society, privileged groups include the white race, English speakers, the male gender, and persons with money and education” (MacKeracher, pg. 194). This privilege comes with invisible power.

            All power within the classroom should be recognized, even if the power structure is unavoidable. Hay and Barab found that, “teachers, through no fault of their own, are in a position that they must say "do it this way because I say so, "instead of "do it this way to be a part of the community of practice." And when they said "because I said so," there was discernible loss of connection to important educational dimensions” (pg. 317).  The idea of transferring perceived power to the learners is still being studied.  In Land and Hannafin‘s research they explored how theory and learning environments blend and examined the perceived outcomes. “Another avenue for research involves how theory building and evolving are facilitated or hindered through social facilitation. Cooperative groups, for example, are assumed to promote sharing and the development of understanding” (pg. 50). When facilitators transfer their power to the learner, this shift in power can create a community within the learning environment that may help to balance out the power divide and social stratification.

Online Learning and Future Strategies         

Online learning environments have been present in learning institutions for years. Many facilitators have been teaching in online environments and have been successful in teaching learners, even those who may not have been fully comfortable with the technology. Online environments are unique in that there may never be an interaction between some students within the learning environment, and in some cases the facilitator may not be in a position to have beneficial interaction with some students. This environment is difficult to navigate as the facilitator cannot keep the physical environment distraction free, ergonomic, or even functional.

“The rise of online learning environments has driven home the need to carefully

consider all aspects of the learning experience, because learners often encounter

the stimulus materials when they are sitting alone at a computer, away from

easy coaching or support from an instructor” (Wilson, p.77).

MacKeracher states that facilitators should put effort into learning the technology that is housed within their learning space. She states, “Facilitators must know how to use the available equipment, how to do easy repairs on equipment, how to make do when something doesn’t work, how to contact technicians who can provide assistance…” (pg. 190). This is difficult to navigate in an online environment where students may be experiencing technical issues that cannot be resolved with the help of their facilitator. With the constant progress and changes in higher and continuing education, controlling the physical environment may be impossible.     

Implications

Facilitators must learn to adjust to advances in technology and at the same time be flexible with learners who may be learning new technologies. Facilitators must understand the cultures that exist outside of their control and the power dynamic within the learning environment may present challenges, however facilitators can assist in creating a “safe space” and help not only teach the subject at hand, but show their learners how to work with others who are different. It is important for facilitators to keep in mind that having control of any environment will never be truly possible, even if they are in the same space as the individual learners. The different types of learning environments MacKeracher describes are each a pure type of environment; it is important to remember that they will always blend together. This means that the facilitator will never have full control of a learning environment and the context in which their students learn.

Balancing power and the responsibilities within the learning environment becomes a task that needs to be addressed by both the facilitator and the individual learner. It is important for facilitators to focus on many different aspects within their learning environment, including the physical environment, the cultural environment, the power environment, the knowledge environment, and real-life environment. In a true effort to ensure that all learners are welcome and that all removable barriers are absent, facilitators should always take the different learning environments into consideration when building their course regardless if it is face-to-face or online.

            Learning environments are progressing with the expectation that they will be more technological, flexible, and adjustable. This can be seen from preschool classrooms through higher learning distance education. As we rely on technology and move towards online courses, it is imperative for facilitators to ensure that the technology they are using is accessible to all learners. This also means that facilitators must be familiar with the technology they are requiring of their students, especially in an online forum. As facilitators become more aware of differences in ability within their student population they should also be aware of other issues in all environment types that may arise. At Ball State University there have been additions of specially designed learning spaces that are aimed at flexible activity and instruction. There are training sessions for faculty hosted by the Division of Online and Strategic Learning to assist faculty in learning new technologies and ways to enhance their classrooms. As institutions take strides in assisting their faculty and trainers to improve and grow, everyone within their pool of constituents will benefit, including the faculty, trainers, students, learners, and the community.

Reflections

            I found that exploring research that has been done on education was a little bit more difficult than the research I usually do for sociology and deviance. I found that as I was writing my paper, I was able to pull from my undergraduate degree and it helped me to understand the cultural context better. Overall, I found that the process of this paper was similar to literature reviews that I have done in the past. It was difficult for me to refrain from writing this as a literature review.

            I hope that if I ever become an instructor that I am able to take these different environments into consideration when planning and engaging in teaching activities. In the process of researching and studying for this assignment, I stumbled upon wonderful information about new technologies that are being utilized in online learning environments. Even though my paper wasn’t only about technology, I found that to be something I really enjoyed learning about and reading up on. There is a newer product called “ShinDig” that allows instructors to hold a face-to-face class in real time with individual learners who can “raise their hands” have separate discussion groups and interact with each other in real time. I wanted to focus my entire paper on this technology.

Citations

Hay, K., & Barab, S. (2001). Constructivism in Practice: A Comparison and Contrast of Apprenticeship and Constructionist Learning Environments. The Journal of the Learning Sciences,10(3), 281-322. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.bsu.edu/stable/1466753

Jackson, G., & Deal, T. (1985). Technology, Learning Environments, and Tomorrow's Schools. Peabody Journal of Education, 62(2), 93-113. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.bsu.edu/stable/1492880

Kirschner, P., Strijbos, J., Kreijns, K., & Beers, P. (2004). Designing Electronic Collaborative Learning Environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 52(3), 47-66. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.bsu.edu/stable/30220390

Land, S., & Hannafin, M. (1996). A Conceptual Framework for the Development of Theories-in-Action with Open-Ended Learning Environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 44(3), 37-53. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.bsu.edu/stable/30221034

MacKeracher, D. (2010). Making Sense of Adult Learning. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Wilson, B. (2004). Designing E-Learning Environments for Flexible Activity and Instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 52(4), 77-84. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.bsu.edu/stable/30220406