Towards a contemporary and comprehensive theory of learning

Towards a contemporary and comprehensive theory of learning

KNUD ILLERIS
Roskilde University, Denmark
Individual Word: The modern concept of competence is including personal qualities and ability to be flexibly in well-known and unknown situations. The concept of learning must to be understood broad sense. The contemporary theory, according Illeris, is based in:
• Firstly: a) External interaction process: between the learner and his or her social, cultural and material environment.
b) Internal psychological process: create news impulses with are results of prior learning.
• Secondly:
a) The cognitive dimension: of knowledge and skills.
b) The emotional dimension: of feelings and motivation.
c) The social dimension: of communication and cooperation.

The theory have the approach specifies which four levels of with what happens when intended learning does not occur. This new theory has been applied both inside and outside of the education system. The new theory is gaining adherents in the professional psychological, education and management circles. The starting point for definition of learning is to open a field so as to that fits all processes that become relatively lasting changes of skills, whether they of a motor cognitive, psychodynamic or social character, and which are not due to genetic-biological maturation. The first step for understanding the process learning is to know the interaction between the theories basic: external interaction process and internal psychological process. The process can to be taught separately, as most theories of learning.

The three dimensions of learning

Figure 1 – The fundamental processes of learning.
The individual dimension is represented by the horizontal arrow, linking cognitive and emotional aspects involved in learning. The social dimension, in turn, is represented by the vertical arrow that leads to an intermediate point in the individual dimension arrow, indicating