This course will provide an introduction to the various theories that have been developed to help us understand how people learn, form personal understandings and construct knowledge. It will consider the ways in which understanding of the processes of learning can inform the practices of teaching, exploring the potential for online approaches to alter the social and interactional aspects of learning. The course will cover themes including ‘mind and understanding the processes of human cognition’, ‘learning and the nature of knowledge’, ‘the notion of distributed cognition’, ‘communities of practice’ and ‘learning and identity’. Teaching will take place through guided reading and structured online discussion.
