Course dates 2025 CLS930-1: 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19 June, 9:00-12:00

Use the following Promotion Code on the next page to enroll in the course: DIPLOMA

Enrolment opens at noon November 1st.

 

Course syllabus for CLS900 – Theoretical Perspectives on Learning

 

Syllabus adopted 2022-03-02 by Jens Kabo, Diploma coordinator, EER, CLS

 

2,5 Credits

Grading: Satisfactory/not satisfactory

Education cycle: Second-cycle

Department: 62 - COMMUNICATION AND LEARNING IN SCIENCE

 

Teaching language:

English

 

In course package:

Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

 

Examiner:

Jens Kabo

 

Eligibility:

Bachelor’s degree, 180 higher education credits or equivalent

 

Course specific prerequisites

CLS926 University Teaching and Learning or equivalent course

B2 CEFR in English (https://www.coe.int/en/web/portfolio/self-assessment-grid)

 

Aim

Participants are expected to gain awareness of different theoretical perspectives on learning and increase their ability to use these perspectives to develop their teaching practice in support of student learning.

 

Intended learning outcomes 

After completion of the course the participant should be able to:

 

•      Discuss their interpretation of major aspects of different theoretical perspectives on learning.

•      Design teaching and learning activities from different theoretical perspectives on learning.

•      Compare and contrast the implications and relevance of different theoretical perspectives on learning for a particular teaching and learning situation from their own practice.

 

Content

Learning is a central aspect of human existence and activities, including higher education. Despite millennia of thinking and debating, no grand theory of learning has successfully been formulated and today multiple complementary and competing theoretical perspectives exist, which actually is a good thing due to the great range of possible learning experiences and situations. In this course, we will explore a selection of theoretical perspectives on learning from the last century with an emphasis on implications for teaching practice aimed at supporting student learning.

 

Readings will be a mix of texts focusing on the general nature and central ideas of each theoretical perspective and texts focused on specific ideas and/or tools derived from the corresponding perspectives. Theoretical perspectives covered in the course will include behaviourism; cognitive perspectives on learning such as constructivism and conceptual change; metacognition and sociocultural perspectives on learning, such as situated learning.

 

Organisation

For this course, we use a flipped format where participants prepare for each session through individual reading and the time in the classroom is dedicated to together attempting to grasp the various theoretical perspectives on learning through discussion seminars and trying the perspectives in practice through role play.

 

During the first day of the course, participants will be divided into small teaching teams. Each teaching team will be assigned one of the main theoretical perspectives covered in the course.  Their task will be to draft a 20-minute learning activity that exemplifies principles from their assigned perspective on learning. They will then lead a role play where they try out their learning activity in practice with the other course participants as their students. Most sessions will follow the same format with the first part dedicated to role playing and debriefing one team’s learning activity and the second part dedicated to discussing the next theoretical perspective based on the course readings.

 

Examination

A successful completion of this course will be judged on the following:

 

•      Attendance and preparation for the face-to-face sessions.

•      Design and delivery of a 20-minute learning activity.

•      Completion of a concluding reflective essay with the focus on comparing and contrasting the implications and relevance of different theoretical perspectives on learning for a particular teaching and learning situation from one’s own practice.

 

Literature

There will be a selection of texts to read, which will be made available to participants.