Cognitivism and Connectivism
Learning is making connections with our own experiences and with each other.
Like constructivism learning theory, cognitivism counters behaviorism by seeing learning as more than behavioral changes as a response to stimuli. It recognizes that people are not blank slates, but that they have ideas and experiences, or existing schema in their minds, that they can connect to and build on as they learn new things. Cognitivism goes a step beyond constructivism to explore the mental processes that happen between the intake of knowledge and learning — mental processes like attention, retention, and intrinsic motivation. It looks at the structure of learning, and what can be done to improve effectiveness for the learner. Social cognitivism further builds on cognitivist theory to include the phenomenon of learning through observation — people do not have to experience everything directly, but can instead learn from watching or hearing/reading about things that others have done and learned (Cherry, 2019).
People are not blank slates, they have ideas and experiences that they can connect to and build on as they learn new things.
Connectivism is a relatively newer theory that came up during the Information Age to account for the leading role that technology and the internet play in learning. It is similar to cognitivism in that it relies on learners having existing schema to connect new ideas and facts to, and to social cognitivism in that learning can happen through observation of or reading about others’ experiences and ideas (such as through watching videos or reading websites and blogs).
Connectivism views knowledge as a network of nodes — these nodes remain strong when they are revisited and connected to, but can fade if they are unused. Connectivism shows a shift in thinking from learning depending on a teacher to learners having more control over their journey. This is enabled by the open-source nature of the internet and the vast amount of information and resources available for people to access that allows for a state of “networked individualism” rather than knowledge belonging to groups or organizations (AlDahdouh et al., 2015).
Theory in Action: Example of Practical Application
There are a few cognitivist approaches I will employ for my mindfulness curriculum (which you can compare with my behaviorist and constructivist approaches to teaching mindfulness). Learning to meditate can be quite taxing on the attention span, so chunking the content, or presenting it in small and focused sections, can help prevent cognitive overload (Pappas, 2016). There are many different meditations to be learned and a lot of science and psychology that explain the benefits of mindfulness, so I find it helpful to pair one bit of science with one meditation to present at a time so it can be impactful and not overwhelming.
Intrinsic motivation is a key component of social cognitivist learning (Cherry, 2019). To help learners find and remember their self-motivation to practice mindfulness, I will encourage them to keep a meditation journal. This can be kept short — I will simply ask them to note when they meditate, how long they meditated for, and how they felt before, during, and after. As their learning journey progresses, I will also ask them to reflect on overall changes they might find in their daily lives since they started learning about mindfulness. Have they noticed any changes in overall mood or behavior (maybe feeling stressed or anxious less often, or feeling more compassionate towards themselves and others, etc)? Have they incorporated mindfulness into their lives in ways besides meditation (maybe finding joy in small things, or taking a breath before reacting to something upsetting)? How is learning meditation and mindfulness improving their lives? There isn’t always a noticeable immediate benefit to meditating or practicing mindfulness, so keeping this journal and reflecting on the benefits they find should help learners stay motivated to keep learning and practicing.
I will also use Albert Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy as intrinsic motivation for learners — the concept is that learning shouldn’t be so difficult that is demotivating, but should be difficult enough that the learner feels a sense of pride and accomplishment at having been able to learn the information or complete the task (Bandura, 1977). I can promote this sense of self-efficacy by having learners practice meditation for increasingly longer periods of time, both in lessons with me and on their own.
This same mindfulness class could be tweaked to fit a connectivist approach. Instead of presenting a meditation and some related scientific background that I choose, I could instead ask the learners to do their own research to find a meditation that they want to learn and to see if they could find some information that explains the benefits of their chosen meditation. I could also set up an online group forum or discussion board where learners can share their findings with each other. They could also then share their reflections with each other, too, instead of in their own private journal.
References
AlDahdouh, A. A., Osório, A. J., & Portugal, S. C. (2015, October).
Understanding knowledge network, learning, and connectivism.
International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance
Learning 12(10).
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED572896.pdfBandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of
Behavioral Change. Psychological Review 84(2) pp. 191–215.
https://d37djvu3ytnwxt.cloudfront.net/assets/courseware/v1/0562
4ff228a31c02f3d52d336b3c872e/asset-
v1:USMx+LDT100x+2T2017_2+type@asset+block/Bandura1977PR.pdfCherry, K. (2019, December 1). How Social Learning Theory Works.
Very Well Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/social-learning-
theory-2795074Pappas, C. (2016, April 17). 7 Tips to Reduce Cognitive Overload in
eLearning. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/7-
tips-reduce-cognitive-overload-elearning
