Psychology

There are different learning theories that different people use in the process of learning. Moreover, an individual can have more than one learning theory depending on the learning abilities of the individual, the learning program employed in the learning institution the individual is enrolled to or the content of the knowledge to be learnt. Therefore, teachers and students as well as learning institutions administrators should understand that individuals do not learn in the same way. The educators should also understand that a style applicable to a student or a group of students may not apply to all students the educator is likely to encounter. My personal learning theories are the facilitation theory and the sensory stimulation theory.
    Among my personal learning theories is the facilitation theory. This theory was developed by Carl Roger together with other scholars in education psychology. The theory is based on the principle that in the event of learning, there must be a facilitator who is mainly the educator or any other person who can facilitate the learning process. The role of the facilitator in this case is to ensure that the learner experiences the best learning environment that will aid in the ability of the learner to absorb new ideas. The theory suggests that learning requires a favorable environment where the learner is comfortable and not vulnerable to external dynamics in order to put into consideration new ideas (Sinclair, n d).
    The facilitation learning theory is based on the fact that all human beings have a natural and very strong eagerness to gather new ideas and knowledge. With this believe in mind, the role of the learning institution and the teachers is to facilitate the learning process by providing the necessary environment. The other characteristic of the theory of facilitation is the natural resistance to give up the already held fact as true and the unpleasant effects of giving up what is held to be true. Therefore, based on this theory, the most fundamental aspect of learning is the process of changing the concept held by the learner.
    This theory has several strong points in that the educators who employ this theory are not as protective as other educators on their viewpoint and constructs. They give a room for learners to express their views and correct them appropriately and therefore facilitating the consideration of new ideas by the learners. The educators and teachers are therefore able to know their learners feelings which in turn increase the interpersonal relationship between the learner and the educator. This aspect is essential in any learning process. To facilitate learning, the educator should lay as much emphasis to the learner-teacher relationship as to the content being learnt. The facilitator should therefore be able to accommodate feedback and responses from the learner which are both positive and negative. The teacher can use these responses from the learners constructively in the improvement of his delivery as well as evaluation of the learners learning rate (Sinclair, n d).
    The facilitation theory of learning is learner based in that it encourages the learner to make efforts to learn while the role of the teacher is facilitation. The learner is encouraged to be responsible for his or her own learning such that he or she can learn in the absence of a teacher. Most of the learning activities therefore involve individual learners experiences and insights about the concepts being taught. The facilitator is therefore able to guide the learner from the known to unknown. The learner is also encouraged to evaluate themselves on the understanding of the concepts. In fact, self evaluation has proved to be the most important method of evaluation and should therefore be promoted among the learners. The learning process can only be effective if and only if the learner can solve significant problems related to the taught concepts and the intended results have been attained (Sinclair, n d).
    My other personal learning theory is the sensory stimulation theory. This theory is based on the principle that a learner is able to learn if his senses are stimulated. Research indicates that over three quarters of the knowledge accumulated by majority of the people is learnt through seeing, about a quarter of the knowledge is acquired through hearing while some good amount is obtained through smelling, touching or tasting. Therefore, stimulating the senses of the learner is a basic practice in any learning activity. The educator should therefore make attempts of stimulating as many senses as possible in the learning process. This can be done by the use of appropriate color varieties, variation of the volume and tones, use of strong and attractive statements as well as visual presentations.