The virtual session Learning Theories and Principles of Learning provided information about the three most influential approaches, behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism with their basic ideas and theories.

Behaviorism can be seen as the oldest approach which was on the daily programme in schools of the past. Especially in foreign languages teachers took and still take their preferred method drill and practice for vocabulary learning. In this case the teacher gives input and the pupils have to repeat it. In my school time this approach was used a lot and I really liked it because it was helpful for efficient vocabulary learning. For me it is important to hear vocabulary more than once to remember them and therefore the drill and practice is the best method for me. Unfortunately, this approach is regarded as obsolete today and rarely used in today’s schools. One argument for that is that it cannot be used for all kinds of learning.

Today’s teaching methods are mostly based on the cognitivism approach, in which the learner himself is responsible for his learning process by searching for information in order to solve problems. Through explorative learning the pupil exposes himself understandable information which assumes the curiosity and interest of the learner. I also like this approach, because the pupils become active and learn by doing. They gather information by themselves which makes them learn facts and strategies. Explorative learning takes real problems drawn from life, which arise the pupils’ interest, and the learner has to research information himself. But in this case, too, I think it cannot be used in every lesson and for every topic discussed in class.

The third approach, constructivism, focuses on primary concepts instead of isolated facts. For constructivists learning is a search for meaning, in which the pupils construct their own meaning. As a result the meaning is never objective as it is created by the individual. Therefore knowledge is constructed by the learner and not instructed by the teacher. I like the idea about the teacher being a coach cooperating with the students. But as far as I am concerned this approach as the pupil is regarded as an individual who searches for his own meaning does not leave space for the correct answer or solution to a special problem. Another problem is the time that this approach demands being put into practice. I think the curriculum does not leave enough time to use this approach often in German classrooms.

All three approaches offer different definitions of learning and knowledge. In my opinion, it cannot be said which approach is best to do in class. Therefore I think successful learning can be gained by the combination of all three.

Moreover the virtual session Learning Theories and Principles of Learning was about the important facts of lifelong learning, which is a form of pedagogy often accomplished by distance education. Further, lifelong learning means all learning activity undertaken throughout life with the aim of improving competence, skills, and knowledge. As distance education is mostly based on new media, e.g. the internet, I think it is indispensable to acquire media competence. This competence includes methodological (to obtain, structure, store, format, edit, interpret, evaluate and present information), scientific (professional proficiency, knowledge, and experience), and social skills (to communicate, to cooperate, teamwork, fairness, commitment, independence, self-confidence, compassion, knowledge of human nature, and critical faculty).

Looking at these various types of skills it becomes obvious how important it is to introduce the pupils in the new media and to help them with their use. Therefore it is necessary for us, the future teachers, to have media competence in order to teach our pupils the right use of new media, as they are regarded as the basis of distance education and lifelong learning.