Reflection of Session 1 on Learning Environment

I have learnt the follow lessons:

BIG PICTURE OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The big picture of Learning Environments can be divided into People and Measurement/Assessment

People
It starts with the question "Who am I?", which will reciprocate into "What are my immediate needs?". This will eventually lead them to behaving in a certain manner that will fulfil their immediate needs. Learning environments will either support or hinder the fulfillment of their needs. Hence, learning environments have great influence over the behaviours of people in fulfiling their personal needs or goals. For example, if a person has a need to become rich, the learning environment that is able to give him the opportunity to do so will influence or encourage him to take the path of becoming rich.

Measurement/Assessment
There are 2 ways of assessing a Learning Environment: Internal (Beta press) and External (Alpha press). In Beta press, the assessors (i.e. participants) can either be a single person or group of people or participants from within, participating in the assessment. In Alpha press the assessor is usually a detached observer (i.e. neutral party).

DESIGN OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
In the design of learning environments, we nedd to consider 4 perspectives of the learning environment namely :

1. Learner-centred environments
Here the learner is given opportunities to practise self-directed learning by which they explore the answer themselves thereby making learning effective. The teacher plays a facilitative role to the learner.

2. Knowledge-centred environments
Here the learner is provided with sufficient relevant knowledge for him to develop an understanding of discipline by himself thereby enabling him to transfer the acquired learning.

3. Assessment-centred environment
Here the learner is being assessed either by way of written or oral tests or feedback to determine whether the learning outcomes have been sufficiently met.

4. Community-centred environment
Here the learner will apply what he has acquired and most importantly perceived, into the community at large. It usually involves cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills that have been acquired during the learning process.

Summary
I have learnt about the big picture of Learning Environment and to appreciate the links between each node.