Too Many _isms?
Karl Kapp stated on his blog that “The issue many forget is that “learning” is not one thing…it is a multi-layered word that tends to get treated as if it were just one thing…and it’s not. It is multi-facetted and that is why developing new models for “learning” is so difficult…there are too many levels for one school of thought or one model to do it all” (http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/index.php/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational/). Here is the essence of the issue on the abundance of “–isms.” I see learning as a giant disco ball, with innumerable facets. There is still too much unknown, and there will never be a time when we know everything there is to know about learning. There never will be a one size fits all “ism” because learners do not fit a one-size-fits-all learning model.
Stephen Downes claimed that “I haven't harped on this, because it should be obvious, but it remains puzzling that so much of the instructional design community remains rooted in behaviorism - this more than 30 years after the theory was abandoned everywhere else” (http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=37293). Behaviorism could not have been totally abandoned because clearly there are times when it works; we still have learning objectives because they help the student focus and serve as a foundation for the design of the instructional material. No one admits to being a behaviorist though. Perhaps, that is what Downes meant.
Each new ism is a stepping stone to a previously unidentified aspect or fact of learning. With the advent of the computer, how people learn changed. New tools and methods in the future may change how the mind takes in information and may change how the brain functions, so the quest will always continue. As Bill Kerr stated on his blog “It seems to me that each _ism is offering something useful without any of them being complete or stand alone in their own right” (http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html). A stand-alone ism is an oxymoron.
Downes, S. (2006, December 21). Definitions: ABCD objectives [web blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=37333
Kerr, B. (2007, January 1). _isms as filter, not blinker [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html
Kapp, K. (2007, January 2). Out and about: Discussion on educational schools of thought [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/index.php/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational/
Tim Weaver's at http://weave1-weave1.blogspot.com/2012/03/tweavermod-2-cognitivism-as-learning.html
