Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Psychology of Education

On the need for an individualistic educational psychology emphasizing on the central role of the learnerEducation and psychology are related in more than just one way and the psychology of education could be related to educational principles in psychology or how education as a discipline is taught within psychology as a subject and how these two disciplines merge. Psychological education would be completely focused on learning methods as structured or imparted according to psychological and individual needs of the students. Education would differ according to culture, values, attitudes, social systems, mindset and all these factors are important in the study of education in psychology.Educational psychology is the application of psychological objectives within educational systems and psychological education as I distinguish here is application of educational objectives in psychological processes. The first focus of using psychology in education is more general and the second approach of using education in psychology is more individualistic. However as far as present study of educational approach to psychology is concerned, there is no difference between individualistic educational psychology and general educational psychology and all interrelationships between psychology and education are considered within the broad discipline of educational psychology.However a distinction between the more general educational psychology and more specific psychological or individualistic education could help in understanding the nuances of individualistic study and give a subjective dimension to the study of psychology in education. This could also help in making learning systems more student based and according to the needs of culture, society, individual or personal factors. This sort of study with a focus on personal/psychological aspects of learning is not just about social objectives and objectives within educational systems but also about personal goals and objectives and the psychological processes involved in learning. There has to be a clearer demarcation between education in psychology as a general study and individualistic education in psychology as a more specific and subjective discipline.There could be two ways in which this branch of knowledge could evolve - either by strengthening psychological education or individualistic approach to the psychology of education or by having two distinct branches of general educational psychology and individualistic educational psychology.As in client centered approach to psychology, a psychology of education should also include further research that would highlight the need for individualistic dimensions in learning. Learning psychology is the use of psychological theories for example that of Jean Piaget and Kohler in the study of learning techniques, especially among children. This focus on personality patterns brings out the central role of understanding psychology in educational systems.Educational psychology studies both the personal approaches to education as in giftedness, disability, learning theories applied to children and adults, and the more general objective approaches to learning as the role of schools as social or cultural systems.
The Future of Educational Technology and Education 3.0
I quickly discovered that using improved tools would translate into improved craftsmanship. Woodworking is a great metaphor for shaping and molding students. Tracking a student means having the ability to target education toward weaknesses and strengths. Current educational curriculum and individual assessment is arbitrary at best. Further, imagine that every student can access all the knowledge of humankind freely at any moment in time. Imagine the curriculum being automatically targeted to the user through an intuitive educational platform that knows every strength and each unique weakness. New technology will not only allow us to receive an education, but also develop an education. To make this a reality we will need a standardized platform from which to develop a student's unique education. Learning will become a reciprocal experience between the teacher, the student and the machine.The student will be the user, gathering resources, skills and knowledge in an efficient and measured sequence. The machine will do the work of data gathering and analysis, which will assist the teacher and student in refining the curriculum. In our current educational paradigm, the teacher is in charge of arbitrarily constructing curriculum. Education 3.0
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