Fitting the Pieces Together

Learning theories and learning styles
I have learnt several learning theories under the three main categories of behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism. The learning style have changed from teacher centered methods to student center methods by these theories.
Behaviorist learning theories mainly discuss about behavioral changes of the learner and they have been mostly based on experiment with animals. Therefore a debate existed as to how they could be applied directly to humans. But based on behavioral, there were a number of valuable theories put forward. Skinner’s theory of learning belongs to this behaviorist category where reinforcement is discussed. Other learning theories based on behaviorism were contributed mainly by Bandura, Thorndike and Pavlov.
Theories of cognitivism were presented mainly by Gagne Bruner, Anderson, Gardner, Novak, Rummelhart and Norman. Information Processing Model explains based on cognitive learning. Short Term Memory STM, Long Term Memory LTM and how rehearsal and practice are useful for store in LTM, are also described. Learning theories under this category considered cognitive learning.
The final category of learning theories is constructivism and they are the learning theories mostly accepted today. Vygotsky, Lave & Wenger, Piaget, Bransford, Hasselbring, Grabinger, and Spiro contributed towards these learning theories. Collaborative Learning, Problem-Based Learning, Authentic Learning , Object-based Learning are discussed under constructivism. The role of the teacher has changed that of facilitator. The teacher does not teach in the classroom. Student learns with group activities. The instructional model of 5E, 7E are implemented in constructivism.
My personal learning preference
In my studies from school time to Master Degree, my leaning mostly based on teacher centric learning style with lecture method, discussions, brainstorming sessions and drill and practices etc. During my studies of Post Graduate Diploma in Education, I learnt using other various methods, but all these methods were teacher centered. There was no constructivism applied in my studies by my teachers. At that time they had known behaviorism and congnitivism only. But with my experience as a teacher, master teacher, curriculum developer, CAL software developer and with my latest studies, I personally preferred constructivist learning style.
Initially, teacher should provide the engagement to the lesson. The teacher does not teach and students have to attend to group activities to explore the content of the lesson using supportive materials provided by the teacher. Teacher does not assist to student in their searches but the teacher has to guide them with regard to the final outcome. Then, the groups of students have to make presentation of their findings in the classroom in the presence of the teacher. The student’s findings and teacher involvement in elaboration is useful to confirm the learning. The evaluation of the student is also required. Such learning style in constructivism support the students in active learner rather than passive leaning styles in behaviorism and cognitivism stages.
The technology in learning
The technology makes a considerable contribution to learning. In their exploration, student should have good resources. Audio, video materials make initial level contribution in learning. Now, Internet with communication, search engines, web 2.0 tools and web 3.0 tools make a remarkable contribution. The web 2.0 tools like blog sites, wikis and youtube are useful for the learning of students. Creation of personal web sites is possible using blog sites in the Internet free of charge. Hence students can actively participate in the lesson creating blog sites.
The Learning Management Systems and the online courses are also very effective in learning and constructivism can be applied easily in such online courses. The CAL software including interactive models, simulations, Artificial Intelligent model (Web 3.0 tool) and evaluation makes highest impact in learning. Such software can be used in the constructivist classroom in group exploration and evaluation. Such software can be included in online courses also.
In recent time, mobile units like mobile phones and iPod have become very popular. The Mobile Units, Cloud Computing, Geo-Everything, The Personal Web, Semantic-Aware Applications, Smart Objects are also recent trends in education.