One question that I had was similar to what we talked about in class. Who is responsible for learning? Is it the imitator or the model? I know that as students it is our responsibility to be proactive and learn, but isn't it also the teachers job to get us interested? Does this differ with age? Or does this have more to do with self-efficacy and self-regulation?
According to Social Cognitive Theory learning is learning information through a certain source, either by observing others or from a model, and being able to imitate and produce that same behavior. One implication for teaching is that this is not how all children learn. Some students aren't able to see something be done and be abe to do it themselves. They need more attention than others or might not understand what the model is doing.
Other people can affect the way that you learn because they may see something or learn something a different way than you do, and you may not understand how they are getting it. If two students are given a problem and they do them different ways, they may think that they are no longer correct because they thought of the problem in a different way. This can be discouraging for students. They may affect what counts as learning or intelligence because if they think they are right and that you are wrong, you may also start to doubt yourself. Also, if one student is praised for their achievement, others may think this is the only way to do something and may be ashamed of their own work.
In response to your question I think what this theory is trying to say is that all aspects (model, imitator, and environment) are important to learning. Some situations though place emphasis on certain components of the observational learning process over others. For example when parents are trying to teach their kids how to brush their teeth they need to model the behavior first so the emphasis is mostly on the model.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Hannah but I also think that this would depend on many different factors. For example, in college I believe it is mostly the responsibility of the imitator to learn the material because in most classes you do not even have to go to the class. So if the imitator doesn't go to class then the model has no responsibility to make sure the person who missed class understands what was taught the day he or she missed. On the other hand, a child in K - 12 has to be at school so in this case I would say it is the responsibility of the model (teacher) to keep the kids' attention and interest on the material being taught. I also believe that in both of these scenarios self-efficacy and self-regulation definately play a part in whether the imitator learns or not.
ReplyDeleteI think that is mainly up to the imitator because the imitator chooses which model to follow and in what environment. Obviously it is not only up to the imitator, but the majority of learning is up to the imitator. But it is also up to the model to be of high status and do a good job of giving good instructions. The environment has to make sure that their is access to the imitator so they can learn.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, I think a lot of the learning is up to the imitator but to even initiate their own learning they need a model to show them how to go about their own learning. Grade school teachers taught us a lot about "learning how to learn" to prepare us for independent learning. I think it transitions from the model being the most responsible for learning in the early years to the imitator in later years of life after learning habits are already established.
ReplyDeleteI feel like its half and half. The model has to show and explain the information the best they can so that the the imitator can understand and grasp the concept given to them. It's also the imitators responsibility to take the concept and use it and perform it in their everyday lives. If the imitator ignores whats being given to them then they will never actually learning anything no matter how well the model explains the concept
ReplyDeleteThe responsibility question is tricky. Sometimes you want to make things as interesting and accessible as possible but say that it's the students responsibility to motivate themselves and study, etc.... However, it's also true that many students (especially children) don't know HOW to self regulate, and need some help in controlling their own learning processes. Even college students don't have a lot of practice in this at times! It's really hard to recognize what sort of environments your mind works best in, then get yourself to those places at regular intervals and focus your attention on work for long periods of time.... It's good to scaffold those things for students, so they have the skills and can practice.
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