The educational process is rooted in a theoretical understanding of what learning and teaching actually are, and how they can be made more effective.  An array of education theories are available for consideration.  This external website, a collaborative effort to which I contributed, provides an overview of various learning theories.

 

Philosophy of Learning

This brief paper outlines some foundational principles summarizing my personal philosophy of learning and teaching.  In this philosophical statement, learning is the development of new modes of belief, thought or behavior, resulting from processed experience, and teaching is facilitating that process of learning for an individual or group.  The philosophy statement also touches on the nature of knowledge, as well as the conditions and desired outcomes of learning.

 

Four Learning Processes 

This simple diagram creates a matrix of four learning processes: facilitation, training, coaching, and mentoring.  It can thus be a helpful tool in identifying which type of learning process is appropriate for a given situation.

 

Unified Learning Theory

In my initial exposure to the wide range of learning theories, a sense emerged in my own mind that they were all "right" in some sense, and that some sort of "master theory" ought to be able to capture the best aspects of all of them. This diagram was an (early, possibly naive) attempt to do that in a visual way, and thus captures some of my thinking about the learning process.  Perhaps the educational equivalent of a "unified field theory" will eventually be developed in a cohesive way.

 

Dimensions of Personhood

At the center of the "unified learning theory" diagram above is a small model representing the dimensions of personhood - all of which are (potentially) impacted by the learning process.