How is your proof going for Dr. Patty's class? I sure love that class. Dr. Patty is the best. He is such The Mac Daddy!

Anyway, I'm having a hard time defining S.L. too. What do you have so far?

Hey there Ahshua (I hope I spelled that correctly)!! I love that class too. Dr. Patty is sure a swell guy! So far I have just gone through and listed a bunch of questions and issues that I have remembered over the last few weeks. Here they are. What can you make of it all?:

Proof #4: Social Learning

What is the goal?
How do you define the learning process?
What are key elements?
How does motivation work? What is believed about the student?
What is believed about the teacher?
How do you determine/evaluate how a student has learned?

Examples of Social Learning that I have taken part in in the last few weeks:
• Reading session with students in class
• The simulation of classes/stratification
• Spring Lectureship: the entire week was seemingly one large social learning experiment. It would be something good to go through the questions above with.

What are the benefits of a case study? :
• Tangible results that can be seen
• It was a real life situation
• Helps derive strategy and main focus of the learning
• Reveals positive and negative aspects learned

Negative aspects to Social Learning:
• Somewhat intangible: within the classroom there seemed to be nothing that was concrete in respect to developmental education. An example of this is the lack of handouts within the class time for social learning or the absence of visuals (e.g. a drawing/diagram on the board).

Goal: Bring out key content through questioning and modeling the learning process. Teaching socialization. Equipping students to learn on their own.

Learning process: Learning needs to happen on a team. It attempts to build a conceptual framework for the subject matter. It takes place through research and evaluation.

Key Elements: Community and small-group learning environment. Lots of outside prep is necessary for students to have intelligent interaction. The teacher asks stimulation questions that are multi-dimensional and require research and group interaction to answer.

What is believed about the student: The student is emotional, relational and personal. He/she is self-motivated and aware of their learning community. The student's self-image is built up by being given responsibility. The student first needs to have a love for learning and a love for the subject before he/she can effectively engage with the learning community. Every student has an important role.

What is believed about the teacher: Teacher is prompter. He/she is a humble learner who is still in process.

How do you evaluate if learning has taken place: The degree to which the student can formulate fruitful questions on their own. Future success is more important than present performance.

That's cool! Here is what I have been thinking about with a question:

On the first day of covering social learning we wrote down some key questions that would be helpful to ask about this theory, or others for that matter. One of those questions was, “How does motivation work?” I was really intrigued by this question and thought about what motivates me to be involved with the conversation in the classroom or with a small group of friends. One of the only reasons that came to my mind was “fear.” I never truly thought about how much fear has to do with how we interact with one another. In the classroom I speak up out of fear of not wanting to be seen as the silent person who never talks. I’m afraid that other students, or even the teacher, will think that I am stupid for not talking. This is quite often the same result when I am in a group of friends.
It’s also interesting to think that this could have the opposite effect with fear being a reason for not participating in social learning. What do you think about the fear as a motivator in social learning?

That is a very interesting question. I'm not sure how fear can be a motivation to learning in S.L., but I think it can be a hindrance. If learning takes place through socilization, then anything that hinders students from interacting and expressing themselves is a hindrance to the collective learning of the entire group. Even those students who speak up out of fear of being thought studid are not fulfilling the goals of S.L. Rather than expressing themselves for the collective learning of the group they are still preoccupied with themselves. Students need to overcome their fear to effectively participate in Social Learning.

How should teachers help students to overcome their fears?

In S.L. I think that one of the most important tasks of the teacher is to help the students overcome fear and self-consciousness. One way that a teacher can do this is by creating an inviting and friendly learning environment. Couches instead of classroom chairs for example. The teacher’s attitude towards the students is also very important. If the teacher is supportive of the student’s comments and is sensitive to them when they say something incorrect, then they will be more inclined to communicate in the group.

Those are just a few of my thoughts. What do you think?

Hey Aaron I've got an idea, what if we used this blog discussion for our proof. Blogs are like the new e-social learning environment. People get online, and they discuss important issues. Moderators are like the teachers who help the bloggers to learn without actually giving them all of the answers. Discussing these issues with you has been a great help, I've always been an independent learner but maybe this social learning stuff isn't that bad.

Yeah Osh, I definitely agree with you on that one. I also believe that the teacher needs to verbalize and promote the friendly environment so that it invites people out of their fear and into dialogue with the learning process.

Yes, that is a great idea man! This has been a great help for me as well, I think that I have a better understanding of what is going on now. Thanks man. This has truly seemed to be a great example of social learning. I think that I can now view people in the classroom as people who could help me learning or share in the learning experience instead of competing in it against them. I'll talk to you later! See you in class.