Psychology is defined as the mental or behavioural characteristics of an individual or a group.” It affects the learning of the individual and their perception about the phenomenon and happenings around them. http://www.itadlearning.com/blog/educational-psychology-psychology-learning/

1. itadlearning.com http://www.itadlearning.com/blog/educational-psychology-psychology-learning/
Educational Psychology: The Psychology of Learning
According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary,
“Psychology is defined as the mental or
behavioural characteristics of an individual
or a group.” It affects the learning of the
individual and their perception about the
phenomenon and happenings around them.
Learning on the other hand refers to the
change in behaviour or attitude based on
acquiring new knowledge, skills, opinions,
and values. However, it is not necessarily
linked to performance, which is the
application of ‘learning’ in one’s daily life.
Educational psychology plays a vital role in
the eLearning industry. It is the study of how
human beings learn and inculcate their
learning’s in their daily lives. Understanding the psychology of learning carries its own importance. The courses that
are being developed for the target audience (be it adults, children, professionals, mid-sized workers, or
entrepreneurs) carry a zero value if the behaviour of the latter is unaffected.
The educational psychology takes into account the various domains of learning and links it with the human
experiences in order to facilitate the learning process.
The eLearning industry relies primarily on the goal of making its target audience learn. Until and unless, we
understand what human educational psychology is all about and apply it while designing and developing training
materials, we won’t be able to achieve our goal of making the learner learn. Keeping this in mind, all training
materials should be developed considering certain key features.
Some of the key features are:
State the benefits of the training to motivate the learner to learn
Provide specific, observable and relevant objectives
Present the content in an interesting manner using a variety of media
Provide adequate and relevant interactivities to keep the learner involved and engaged throughout the course
Give frequent opportunities for practice and provide guidance
Ensure that the new skill/knowledge is absorbed and transferred in their daily lives
These features are framed keeping in mind the universal need of learners, – although some of the features might be
tweaked to suit the geographical, cultural, and chronological needs of the learners.
Nowadays, with the increasing competition and raised industry benchmarks, new ideas are being employed to make
a course “different” from the rest. Most of the times these courses which appear very rich graphically, have very less
content and the information is not laid according to the basic rules of educational psychology. This results in the end
user feeling ‘amused’ rather than feeling ‘learned’. This kind of knowledge fades away within a very short time span

2. and doesn’t reap long term benefits. Yes, making a graphic rich course is a cherry on top of the cake; however, it is
the responsibility of the instructional designers/content writers to create a course that follows the theories of learning.
Hence, it is necessary for everyone involved in the eLearning industry (primarily those who deal with the content) to
keep themselves well versed with fundamentals of educational psychology and its effect on human pedagogy. At the
same time keep an eye on the new market trends and seamlessly blend it with educational psychology to create
effective courses.