Who is Vygotsky?

Quote from SimplyPsychology, http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html:

The work of Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) has become the foundation of much research and theory in cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly of what has become known as Social Development Theory.

Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning."


Quote from Wikipedia:

Vygotsky was a pioneering psychologist and his major works span six separate volumes, written over roughly 10 years, from Psychology of Art (1925) to Thought and Language [or Thinking and Speech] (1934). Vygotsky's interests in the fields of developmental psychology, child development, and education were extremely diverse. His philosophical framework includes insightful interpretations of the cognitive role of mediation tools, as well as the re-interpretation of well-known concepts in psychology such as internalization of knowledge.

Vygotsky introduced the notion of zone of proximal development, an innovative metaphor capable of describing the potential of human cognitive development. His work covered such diverse topics as the origin and the psychology of art, development of higher mental functions, philosophy of science and methodology of psychological research, the relation between learning and human development, concept formation, interrelation between language and thought development, play as a psychological phenomenon, learning disabilities, and abnormal human development (aka defectology).

The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) definitions and discussion

The EQF defines "learning outcomes" as meaning "statements of what a learner knows, understands and is able to do on completion of a learning process, which are defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence".

These definitions make good sense, but it is difficult to be sure of exactly what the influence of a learning process may have been on "what a learner knows, understands or is able to do". It makes more sense to focus on intended learning outcomes. The ENQA (the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) use the term "intended learning outcomes" and not just "learning outcomes" in their Standards and Guidelines document [ESG].

Given intended learning outcomes, it is possible to make judgements about whether learners have achieved any particular intended outcome, much more easily than finding out just what a particular learner knows, or can do.

Source: Guidelines on European learner mobility: intended learning outcomes
http://wiki.teria.no/display/EuropeanLearnerMobility/Guidelines+-+intended+learning+outcomes

The Start: Tasks and Topics

Tasks for the summer

•Start building your PLE (DP)
•Write & publish your PSP
•Start preparing for the study sessions with your group
•Start looking for a teaching practise place
•Read Chapters 14, 15 and 16 from the book:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/AboutUs/Publications/TeachingEng/index.html

Topics to my DP

•My most memorable learning experiences
•My formal studies & learning history (classroom and virtual)
•My personal teaching history
•How do people learn the best in vocational settings?
•My preferred learning styles
•The traits of effective teacher
•How the curriculum directs the development of studies?
•What methods of assessment can I use and in which contexts?
•How do I use technology in my field of pedagogy?
•Analysis of my competences in teaching