What is Learning

Definitions of Learning

There is no single accepted definition of learning, since it depends on one's point of view. Most commonly accepted learning paradigms suggest learning is:

a visible change in one's behavior which can be measured1) See: Behaviorism.

the active process of acquisition (including insight, information processing, memory, perception) of new knowledge and developing adequate mental constructions2) See: Cognitivism.

a natural desire of human beings, a mean of self-actualization and developing personal potentials3) See: Humanism.

an active, socially enhanced process of knowledge construction based on one's own subjective interpretation of the objective reality4) See: Constructivism.

the process of connecting to information sources containing actionable knowledge and maintaining those connections5) See: Connectivism.

Some other definitions of learning we found useful are listed here:

“acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information.”6) Wikipedia: Learning. Retrieved September 6th, 2011. Updated August 11th, 2011.

“all relatively permanent changes in potential for behavior that result from experience but are not due to fatigue, maturation, drugs, injury, or disease.”7) Lefrancois, G. R. Theories of Human Learning: What the Old Man Said. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning. 2000.

“a relatively permanent change in mental associations due to experience. This definition focuses on a change in mental associations, an internal change that we cannot observe.” 8) Ormrod, J.E. Human learning (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 1999.