1. Introduction

There are many theories associated with education. Learning theories describe the nature of learning, providing multiple perspectives on when, how, and why various types of learning happen. Instructional-design theories provide guidelines in the practices that can facilitate learning based on scientific learning principles implied by learning theories.

When referring to digital education and its advantages to learners, four theories can help us to understand how to go about teaching online:

  • behaviourism,
  • cognitivism,
  • constructivism and 
  • connectivism.

It can be useful to bear in mind the general ideas behind them when considering moving into the online teaching environment (OU, 2017). 

 

 

Video 1:  Unlocking Digital Education: 4 Key Learning Theories [Duration 1:48 minutes, created by the course authors]

“Learning and developmental theories are useful for understanding why an instructional-design theory works, and, in areas where no instructional-design exists, they can help an educator to invent new methods or select known instructional methods that might work”. (Reigeluth, 1999, p.13).

   

Video 2: The 5 Learning Theories [9:02]