Blog post 1

 Online learning is pretty much the norm now, especially after the pandemic hit and uprooted many classrooms mid-year. This is changing the way students learn. The theories I will go into are the basic theories of learning and we can figure out how these theories play a part in the online learning process. The first theory I will go into is cognitivism. The cognitivism learning theory focuses on how information is received, stored, organized, and retrieved. Ironically this theory is known to use the person's mind as a computer or information processor. Memory is a very important part of cognitivism and with online learning, it is known that people are not relying on memory as much as they did during in-person school but more on the internet right in front of them. This is all dependent on how online learning is set up and this is not always the case. 

The next theory I will focus on is behaviorism. Behaviorism really focuses on interactions and stimuli. Behaviorism relies on the environment around the person to create these stimuli and interactions to shape different and new behaviors for the person. Now during online learning, depending on the age of the person doing the online class and what course it is that is online, the class may not be enough stimuli or interaction to fully embrace the behaviorism theory. 

The last theory is Constructivism. This theory revolves around experience. As the learner goes on gaining different types of experience that will translate to knowledge for them. This theory also wants the person who had these experiences that turned into knowledge to tap into and apply them to life later on, this is another theory that heavily relies on memory. This theory I believe is the most suited for online learning. Everything the student is going through is still experience, even the reason they are most likely doing online learning is an experience within itself, it may have been the pandemic, it may be life circumstances, or it may be for convenience.  

As I talk about the many different learning theories and how it impacts learning I need to discuss another major impact in the classroom and that is synchronous vs asynchronous classroom. Synchronous learning is where teachers and students come together at the same time, this may be over zoom or something else. Where asynchronous is when the teaching is not done at the same time and the student will come in as they are available and submit the work as it is due. 

There are many advantages to learning online and those mostly apply to people who have busy schedules or even disabilities. Many times life gets in the way of being able to commute somewhere for hours and commute back leading to it being all day that you are out or commuting. Online learning allows those who aren't able to transport themselves to campus easily to learn on their own schedule. A disadvantage is possibly feeling disconnected from classmates and professors or maybe if you aren't keeping yourself in check you may slack on homework without the added pressure of seeing your professor in person. 

Thank you for reading!