Design of Learning Spaces: LEARNING about LEARNING-2

Image from Educational Psychology, a course taught by Dr. Lawrence Tomei, Duquesne University and Applying Educational Psychology in the Classroom, a text by Myron H. Dembo, University of Southern California.

Comparing and Contrasting my Initial Responses to
One of the Learning Theory Theories Presented in Class
(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)

My domain of study concerns the assessment of university arts and design environments. I also taught as a full-time design professor for two years. I am interested in the ways that the built environment influences learning outcomes in higher education, therefore, learning theory, curriculum and instruction are very important to me. In regard to the question about the nature of learning, I remarked that it is the acquisition of knowledge. I added that I define ‘knowledge’ as ‘useful information’. I think that the reasoning for learning is so one can do things that one couldn’t do before. Lastly, when asked how one learns, I replied that it is through many ways of sensual experiences.
After reading the handout, I find that my initial responses are unchanged, but I do connect with the Situated Learning model and I feel that it is quite applicable to teaching arts and design in higher education settings. I am most interested in Situated Learning because it embraces the social aspects of learning, embodied in activity, context and culture. To learn architecture or sculpture is to know the discourse of the profession and how practitioners take from and relate to society. A lot of knowledge is acquired by the novice designer by interacting with experts and exposure to their works, apprenticing, and participating in the learning process with other students.
Of course, there are other models for learning that are applicable to higher education arts and design. Behavioralist learning theories associate actions that demonstrate the acquisition of knowledge. These acts can be observed, measured, and analyzed. Since, I feel the creative process is iterative, many times my students were required to show, for example, me five different explorations of a concept or ten schematic designs of different organizational concepts. Thus, they were graded, in part, by how well they performed the behaviors of a creative student. Other relevant models of learning for arts and design education are apprenticeship and communities of practice (which was touched upon in the Situated Learning text). An apprenticeship model of learning is founded in a traditional concept of learning by doing and by observing a Master teacher. In addition, learners benefit from association to the physical environment and discourse of an area of study. The community of practice model emphasizes the social nature of our humanity and acquisition of knowledge. Skills are learned in reference to social attitudes, and learning contributes to our ability participate in the community and engage in the world.
Lastly, the Situated Learning websites were helpful in providing supportive information. I was especially keen to access the sites that offered critiques of Situated Learning, which had a ‘pro’ and ‘con’ dialog with rebuttal.