In Richardson’s article he also mentions Roger Saljö, who in 1979 came up with five conceptions of learning:

1. Learning as the increase of knowledge
2. Learning as memorising
3. Learning as the acquisition of facts or procedures
4. Learning as the abstraction of meaning
5. Learning as an interpretative process aimed at the understanding of reality.

Marton in 1993 added a sixth conception to the list which he called “Changing as a person” and he argued that the six conceptions represent a hierarchy through which students proceeded during the course of their studies. I found this theory very attractive, as I had had similar thoughts earlier in the course when we were asked to define “learning”.

In A2 of week 12, we’re asked to comment on which of these definitions best fits our own definition of learning.

Well, when I posted my own definition of learning earlier in the course, I wrote:

For me, learning means to broaden one’s horizons, to get to know new perspectives and viewpoints - and to include this input into one’s own framework knowledge. I still very much favour the acquire metaphor because it takes some effort, some process or development before one has truly acquired new knowledge.

Looking at Saljö’s five definitions, it seems as if definition #1 and definition #5 best fit my understanding of “learning”. But also Marton’s “new” definition #6 seems highly significant for me.

On the one hand, learning for me is fact-based, meaning that I still regard it very important to actually extend one’s knowledge – especially in times when skill-based learning seems to be so highly regarded. But I think it’s not enough to just know where to find answers in case you need some; there should in any case be some basic framework which helps taking in new knowledge.

On the other hand, however, learning means developing and also eventually changing. I’d like to remind us of the lovely metaphor the play “Educating Rita”, which I saw recently in Vienna. Learning in this piece of literature is shown as having a huge impact on the protagonist, Rita. It actually turns her whole life upside down and she changes as a person drastically. I think when you’ve undergone years of deep learning and hence transformation, there’s no way back to your earlier life.