1 . Learning: a definition

2 . Classical conditioning

3 . Operant conditioning

Learning: a definition

  In the broadest sense, learning occurs when experience causes a relatively permanent change in an individual knowledge or behavior.

Some psychologists tend to emphasize the change in knowledge, they favor cognitive learning theories.

Others favor behavioral learning theories assuming that outcome of learning is change of behavior and emphasize the effects of external events on the individual.

Behaviorists argue that the environment controls behavior and ultimately shapes each person’s personality and character.

  J.B.Watson, father of behaviorism, stressed that inborn characteristics play no role in a person’s development, and, as a result, convinced many psychologists that it was important to study how changes in the environment influenced what was learned (Crawl, p.9)

Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning was discovered by I. Pavlov.

Pavlov repeatedly rang the bell at the same instant he fed his dog.

After a number of such stimulus-stimulus pairings (bell-food), the dog came to expect food when it heard the bell. The dog quite naturally began salivating to the sound of the bell even when it was not followed by food.

To the dog the bell became a signal that food was about to be served.

The important circumstance for classical conditioning was the contiguity of the bell stimulus with the food stimulus. They occur together, so they became mentally associated. Therefore classical conditioning is also called contiguity learning or stimulus-stimulus learning.

· Repetition

A number of learning principles evolved from Pavlov’s research.

He noted that the strength of the conditioned reflex – measured by the number of the drops of saliva – increased with the number of stimulus-stimulus pairings.

This was the first scientific demonstration that repetition systematically strengthens learning.

· Extinction

If the bell were repeatedly presented without the food, the conditioned salivation to the bell would diminish and eventually stop.

We would say that the response was extinguished. The process itself is called extinction.

The extinction is not the same as forgetting. The dog might have remembered that the bell used to be followed by food. However, after hearing the disappointing bell all day without receiving the meat powder, the dog learned to ignore the bell and suppress the useless salivation.

Extinction might include forgetting, eventually, but not necessarily.

· Overlearning.

Pavlov also noted that the greater the degree of original learning – the more times the food stimulus was paired with the bell stimulus the longer it would take to extinguish the well-learned conditioned response. Thus hatched the principle of overlearning. Overlearning is means of slowing the rate of extinction.

Operant Conditioning

The essence of operant conditioning is that reward strengthens behavior, while punishment weakens it.

We do not need to be a psychologist to understand how rewards and punishments control behavior. Parents, teachers, police and others have been dishing out spankings, threats, hugs, grades, praise, kisses, lashes, money for a long time in order to teach appropriate responses to the appropriate stimuli, whether it’s handing up a coat, paying attention, etc.

Edward Thorndike, one of the earliest American learning theorists, summarized the actions of rewards and punishments in his work “Laws of Effect”: Responses leading to satisfying effects (that is to rewards or satisfiers) will be strengthened. Responses leading to annoying effects (punishment or annoyers) will be weakened.

13. Define the term “academic mobility” and explain the influence of globalization on academic mobility of students and faculty members of HEIs.

Academic mobility - the transfer of students and teachers of higher educational institutions for a certain period of time to another educational or scientific institution within or outside their own country for the purpose of teaching or teaching.

The main barriers to academic mobility are cultural, socio-economic and academic barriers. The Bologna process is an attempt to reduce these obstacles within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

Students participating in academic mobility programs are usually divided into two groups: the so-called frimuvers — students who go to other educational institutions on their own initiative on self-financing conditions, and program students who are participants in student exchange programs on the basis of faculty, faculty, educational institution or organizations at the national level (for example, such as Erasmus, Nordplus or the Fulbright program). At present, the Erasmus exchange program, which has already become traditional for European students and teachers (which implies such movements), was supplemented with an element of virtual mobility, or Virtual Erasmus, thanks to which students from different countries can study together without leaving their homes.

Academic Mobility Programs

Ø Visby (Sweden)

Ø Fellowship Program for Studies in the High North (Norway)

Ø FIRST (Finland)

Ø Erasmus mundus

Ø DAAD (Germany)

Ø North to north

Ø Quota program (Norway)

Ø Tempus