Learning Processes and Problems

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

85 hours

This subject may be taken by 312AA Master of Educational Psychology and G02AA Master of Educational Psychology/Doctor of Philosophy students only.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject reviews contemporary theories of learning, individual differences in learning, competence versus performance, cognitive and social influences on the means by which individuals display knowledge, the development, implementation and evaluation of appropriately-referenced instructional procedures, developmental trends in the acquisition of knowledge in the areas of literacy and mathematics, the psychology of learning disabilities, the assessment of learning disabilities and the design and implementation of effective intervention. Throughout the focus is on how these issues can inform the work of the educational psychologist.

On subject completion students should be able to

• critically analyse and evaluate selected contemporary theories of learning and development in terms of their relevance to the work of educational psychologists;
• evaluate assumptions, practices and procedures used in contemporary educational psychological work in terms of current theories of cognitive processing, cognitive development and learning;
• develop and implement relevant knowledge assessment procedures, intervention and instructional procedures across the life span, that are supported by current research in learning;
• diagnose, recommend appropriate instructional and management procedures and report the nature of specific academic learning disabilities; and
• evaluate the effectiveness of assessment and education programmes intended for use with learners who have a range of academic learning disabilities from a contemporary research base.

Written assignments of not more than 4,000 words (100 per cent).

Attendance at all classes (tutorial/seminars/practical classes/lectures/labs) is obligatory. Failure to attend 80% of classes will normally result in failure in the subject.

Eggen,P &Kauchak, D. (1999). Educational Psychology : Windows on classrooms. Upper Saddle River, NJ : Prentice Hall

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject students should be able to

• critically analyse selected contemporary theories of learning and approaches to the assessment of reading disabilities;
• develop a problem solving approach to the diagnosis of learning contexts and of specific learning disabilities;
• develop skills in communicating effective learning criteria and the nature of particular cases of reading disabilities to teachers, parents and students;
• use the model of learning developed in lectures to implement effective intervention and instructional procedures and the model of literacy knowledge to plan a schedule for implementing a literacy support program;
• work in a team with other educational psychologists to analyse instructional and management procedures, assessment and education programmes;
• display positive attitudes to the implementation of effective instruction and to the diagnosis and remediation of reading disabilities.