Subject: discussion10 Three theological standpoints
Author: B
It is not easy to debate or guard any of the three theological standpoints: cognitivism, behaviourism and constructivism. These three standpoints may differ in thought, but they also reflect the different teaching and learning styles which can be observed in some of our e-learning courses at the University of the South Pacific. Due to privacy and policy issues it will not be possible to specifically identify or name the course without the lecturer’s permission, but to mention that it was a School of Law first year undergraduate course which had examples of some of these theoretical perspectives, which reflects an eclectic approach.
In reviewing the course activities and content, one can identify some of the learning conditions that relate to cognitivism that covers Gagne’s five learning outcomes (verbal information, intellectual information, cognitive strategy, motor skills and attitude). The topics are arranged in sequence where students learn certain jargon or legal terms in regards to legislation and constitutions. For the topic they are to take a review quiz, which consists of 10 multiple questions. These questions not only tested them to remember the definitions for the terms they learnt in a topic but there were questions which gave a scenario, which students had to identify what type of legislation would be applied which reflected verbal information and intellectual information. In other exercises students had to go to their campus library to study their country’s constitution and its laws, which could be seen as developing motor skills. But in this aspect of e-learning a lot of direction came from the lecturer.
This could lead to the idea of behaviourism, which in e-learning may revolve around the framework of “drill- and- practice” material which is made up of 3 parts: introduction, practice cycle and termination. This can be observed in the same course where students are introduced to the course and its objectives. They are “drilled” on the content in regards to legislation through given readings. After completing the reading they do a short multiple-choice test. Students are able to do the test over again till they get the correct answer. However the difficulty level in the questions does increase in regards to students having to choose from the choices correct situations that reflect a law or judgment. Also when students get the answer wrong they are informed that the answer is incorrect and to refer back to a particular page(s) in the reading. This ensures the student goes back to the required reading.
Unlike cognitivism and behaviourism, constructivism is an approach where students will learn through collaboration or discussion with little interference or interjection from the lecturer. In the law course, it did attempt to create an authentic experience where students were divided to work as a teams to review environmental legislation. They were to use the discussion boards to collaborate on a case where they would take a company or factory owner to court for environmental pollution. The final outcome would be a mutually agreed argument to prosecute. As they did their research they found their laws archaic with very low penalties. A spin-off from this was to discuss and formulate laws that would ensure the factory owner received a harsher penalty.
From this study it can be seen that incorporating the three theological perspectives can make the course more interesting and flexible. Each perspective brings something worthwhile to the students learning where they are independent learners but receive guided learning. It is important that the learning objective is effectively met so that the student feels satisfied.