Module 7, Learning as a Social Process, discusses the interaction between the student and his or her social environment. We start with elaborating three basic theoretical frameworks: Bandura, Vygotsky and Bakhtin. The next step brings us into the social context of teaching and learning. We focus on Brown and Palincsar’s strategy of reciprocal teaching and Janneke van de Pol’s scaffolding model. We take one step further and zoom in on group processes in the context of education: cooperative learning, group dynamics, and peer feedback and assessment. The last unit focusses on the social environment of one particular educational context: higher education institutes. This unit has a stronger policy analysis point of view than the other units in this module and is partly based on my own experience as a educational policy adviser at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, a university in which 30% of the student population has a culturally diverse background.
Learning goals of Module 7
After studying Module 7
- You understand the basic principles in the theories of Bandura (vicarious learning), Vygotsky (Zone of Proximal Development), and Bakthin (Meaning Negotiation).
- You can relate the instructional strategy of Cognitive Apprenticeship to the basic principles in the theories of Bandura, Vygotsky, and Bakhtin.
- You can implement the concepts of contingency, fading, and transfer of responsibility in a learning environment in which a teacher coaches a group of students working on group problem solving project.
- You understand Kurt Lewin’s concept of social interdependence.
- You can implement Slavin’s method of combining group rewards with individual accountability in a community of learners setting.
- You can distinguish the supply and demand side of Brink’s concept of Knowledge for Life as the main contribution of universities to society.