Ashford 2: - Week 1 - Journal

Learning Theory Research Activity

A peer reviewed journal or article is an article or journal that has been reviewed by experts in the
field and deemed to be worth reading by other professionals. Typically this is an extensive
process in which reviewers are carefully vetted for expertise and professional experience. In this
assignment, you will have an opportunity to examine a peer reviewed article and apply what you
have learned to a professional scenario or activity.
Please refer to the following tutorials for guidance on conducting scholarly research at the
Ashford Library:
About Scholarly Journals and Online Databases
How to Conduct Research Using the Ashford Library
For this activity, you will be researching a learning theory that is of interest to you. You will be
going to the Ashford University Library to find a peer reviewed article that describes best
practices or a study about that theory. However, you may wish to first browse a wonderful
resource on learning theory to get a feel for all the great theories that support instructional best
practices. If you find a theory in this database, you can then research it in the Ashford University
Library:
Learning Theories.com Data Base and Webliography
Your next step in this activity is to find a learning theory from a peer reviewed article in the
Ashford Library by clicking the Library link in the Navigation menu to the left. In the Search
Field type in your key words for your search string. You may want to search on a particular
learning theory that you found in the Learning Theories Database above, or you may want to
search for a learning theory connected with an instructional technology that is of interest to you.
Here are some search strings that may be useful as you look for interesting studies and best
practices surrounding learning theory: (Notice how we put quotation marks around phrases. This
ensures that the exact phrase such as learning theory is used rather than the words in the
phrase being present, but not necessarily side by side)
Learning Theory Search strings in the AU Library

You should then use this article(s) to support your response in the weekly discussion. Please
specify the database where you located the article(s) as part of your APA citation.
Once you have identified an article, respond to the following questions:
1. Provide the APA formatted reference (often there is a tool next to your article that
allows you to create the citation in APA format)

Hanna, R., Crittenden, V., Crittenden, C. (2013). Social learning theory: A multicultural study of
influences on ethical behavior. Retrieved from http://jmd.sagepub.com.proxylibrary.ashford.edu/content/35/1/18.full.pdf+html

2. Provide the name of the learning theory you found and describe it in some detail.
The name of the learning theory I selected for this discussion is the Social Learning
Theory. The social learning theory is based on a hypothesis that learning occurs primarily
through social interaction at home, school, work or in the general public if it is happening on a
continuous basis. According to Hanna, Crittenden and Crittenden, (2013).
The impact of cultural variables, particularly East versus West, has been studied
somewhat extensively in the business literature. Hofstede (1980, p. 21) defined culture
as the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one
human group from another. (p.20).
In other words, we are products of the environment in which we nurture/live and learn from
experiences with people, places and things within one's environment.
3. Describe the types of educational activities that this learning theory might support.
Social learning theory could support community learning and collaboration because social
learning occurs within a social network comprised of members of a distinct group with similar
social characteristics. Thus, through social learning knowledge transfer would be transient and
communicable due to the lack of having to face barriers such as cultural differences and
languages which would make community learning and collaboration more efficient and
feasible.
4. Describe in detail a real or imagined learning activity that would incorporate this theory
including types of technologies that you could use in teacher and student activities, and how
the theory would support acquisition of skills and knowledge.
Our discussion boards in EDU 649 at Ashford University Online is a form of social
learning. Interaction between instructors and students through a discussion board create a
social learning environment fostered by discussions which involve questioning, response and
feedback. Thus, the interaction creates a social learning framework in which members trade
information and synthesize efforts to obtain most useful information for solving an

educational/instructional need. In turn the social learning theory supports the acquisition of
knowledge and skills through collaborative discussion boards online that create a learning
community within the online class even though we may be from different culture based on
common subject matter/ learning objectives. Technology such as online classrooms, social
networks and wikis, etc. would be employed in social learning activities made possible through
collaboration and over distance and time through Web 2.0 software.