We are sure that if we had a discussion on the question, "What is learning?" you would have many responses. Ask a couple of your peers what they understand learning to be, and write their answers down. When we asked our colleagues this question, a number said, "It seems like a simple question but when you actually think about it, it involves many things". Here are some responses from the people that we work with:

Learning is:

• the difference between what I did not know and what I now know. (Shervani)
• new information or new knowledge that I have developed which I can use in different ways. (Nelva)
• a process in which one enriches oneself in terms of knowledge, which is also a tool for survival. (Neera)
• the process of gaining knowledge which leads to changes in behaviour. (Regan)
• a regular day-to-day experience which is not limited. To learn something one has to be teachable. (Patty)
• when someone incorporates or appropriates something, be it an experience, a formal instruction or a vague memory into one's reservoir of knowledge or sets of beliefs. (Cass)

Compare these responses to the ones you collected from your peers – look for similar ideas, and for ideas that may be different. As we read each of the responses we have listed above, we can identify certain elements. These can be used to form a simple definition of what learning is. Can you pick these out?

This is what we identified from each response:

Learning:

• brings about a change (Shervani)
• involves new knowledge (Nelva)
• is a process (Neera)
• changes in behaviour (Regan)
• happens daily, is not limited (Patty)
• requires someone who is teachable (Patty)
• incorporates experience (Cass)

Drawing these aspects together, we might then say that learning is a process that leads to a change in an individual’s knowledge, sets of beliefs or behaviour, based on the person’s experience.

A more simple definition of learning is:

A change in an individual which results from experience.

We will come back to this definition of learning a little later.

Often, educators believe that their greatest challenge is to get learners to learn. What they fail to realize is that learners are learning all the time. As you continue to read about learning in this unit, you are engaging in learning. The topic learning is not all you are learning about. As you read, you will think about the material and decide whether the information presented here is either interesting and useful or dull and useless. You are also learning where certain information can be located on this page or another page in this text. Learning can be intentional, as is the case when an educator presents a lesson to learners. Learning is often also unintentional, like when a child learns to link pain with an injection needle, because of a previous experience of having had an injection at a visit to the local clinic. The real challenge for educators is to help learners learn particular information, skills and concepts that will prepare them for a purposeful and productive adult life.

The above principles present a very optimistic view of a learner’s potential to learn. We will look at the interaction between the educator and learner in teaching and learning with ICT, and consider the importance of the relationship in enhancing learning. First, we will consider cognitive development, which influences our planning of lessons appropriate for the levels of our learners. Now we need to think about the ways in which we as educators can enhance learners' learning. In order to do this we need to understand learning and the learning process.