Behavioral Learning Theory

I am starting the readings for the next unit in the MDDE 603 course. The topic is behavioural learning theories and programmed instruction. I have read about behaviourism before and the consensus is that it is not as fashionable a theory nowadays as constructivism. Obviously, the people who think this have never stepped inside a junior high (middle school) classroom. :>)

Cleaning up the Blog

I used this blog a while back to do a collaborate assignment and gave two of my fellow students access to the blog to post drafts and make comments. I have since removed this access and deleted some of the postings. In the meantime I have left some postings that other DE students may find useful.

One note to anybody else using Blogger to publish online. When I changed the template I lost the links I had posted in the side menu. If you edit the template or make changes to it I strongly suggest copying the link postings to a word processor as a back-up.

Back from a Break

Well, I am back from having a break. I plan to update this blog more often. Currently I'm taking my third course in the Master of Distance Education program at Athabasca. The course is Master of Distance Education 603: Foundations of Instructional Design: Systems Analysis and Learning Theory.

I just completed my first major assignment which was a killer. It was a two part assignment 1)use one of Banathy's lenses to examine a distance education system and 2) use Checkland's soft system analysis to analyze a problem situation in a distance learning system. Second part was a killer and I think I butchered it. Checkland's model involves using a lot of abstract concepts and, pardon the pun, the abstractions drove me to distraction.

I'll try and post some updated links to topics I am covering in my course. I'll also try and post some citations of articles I have to read.