Week 4

Activity 1
Write out your own definition of ‘learning’.
This should be your first thoughts; i.e. how you might respond without any research if asked: ‘What is learning?’ Take some time doing this and consider what wider implications your definition might have.
Gaining knowledge and understanding.
Being able to put that knowledge and understanding into practice.
Acquiring new skills.
Developing as a person.
Sharing opinions and ideas with others.
It's an ongoing process, it's lifelong.
Post your definition (no more than a single paragraph) to your tutor group forum. Allow about half an hour to write your definition and post it to the forum.
Now search for ‘definitions of learning’.
We suggest you use the Web initially and we would like you to record your impressions of the definitions you find. Begin with the definitions you find from simple searches and progress to making more systematic searches of the Web for sources you consider to be of a higher quality. For example, search using the OU library online.
Once you have done this, make use of any definitions you have to hand in books, journals or in other non-Web accessible sources.
Here are some questions that might help you frame your review of available definitions:
Are the definitions similar to your own? Yes. Although many include cognition and experience.
Do they carry any particular implications for what is thought of as learning?
Are the references you find on the Web skewed to any particular kind of definition? If so, how would you describe this bias? It appears they see learning in an educational context.
Write a short report (500 words maximum) of your search. Comment on:
The kinds of definition you find in the different sources. Are there variations according to where the definition was found?
The variations in the definitions and their similarity to or difference from your own.
Post your report to the tutor group forum and read the first definitions posted by other students in your tutor group and the reports they have posted. Allow about two hours to write your report and read other contributions.
Finally, we would like you to go back to your initial definition and to either revise it in the light of what you have read or to provide a brief account of why your definition stands up and is preferable to the found definitions.
Post your final definition to the tutor group forum and read the definitions posted by the other students in your tutor group.
Allow about an hour to revise your definition, post it to the forum and read other contributions