The Intersection of Theory, Tools and Tasks in a Postgraduate Learning Environment

This chapter describes the learning environment that the authors created for veteran teachers, graduate students in Teaching and Learning who are interested in developing professionally as designers and moderators of Information Communication Technology (ICT) learning environments. It is based on the assumption that learners construct knowledge and understanding when they are an integral part of the learning environment, when they are members of local and global communities where learning is conceived as acquiring the necessary skills for participation through participation. The program is structured as three concentric circles in terms of ICT use. In the first, the teachers learn about constructivism and socio-cultural theory while they collaboratively investigate their own school cultures with the support of ICT tools. In the second, they expand their acquaintance with ICT tools and learning environments and further develop their skills for learning and teaching in such environments. In the third, they design and moderate E-Learning environments, document them and reflect on the process. This chapter describes the activities and tasks in each of these circles with illustrations of how the students respond to these tasks both as learners who interpret and evaluate information and theoretical concepts and as teachers of relevant virtual communities who reflect on their practice.

Designing Asynchronous Discussions to Teach Critical Thinking

A central component of constructivist pedagogy at the college level is the modeling and practicing of critical thinking, and since Socrates, discussion has been the basic vehicle for accomplishing this. Advocates of online teaching have argued that the written and asynchronous nature of online discussions enhance its ability to teach critical thinking. Unless online discussions are properly designed, however, these apparent advantages may in fact have the opposite effect. This chapter sets forth six basic principles for designing online discussions that model and shape critical thinking experiences for students, and illustrates them with examples from two different online college literature classes.

Facilitating Students-Driven Learning of Computer Programming with Technology

This chapter discusses a case study of the application of technology to facilitate undergraduate students’ learning of computer programming in an Information Technology department. The authors review the evolution of the didactic of introductory programming courses along with the learning barriers traditionally encountered by novice programmers. The growing interest of the computing education research community in a transition from instructivist to constructivist strategies is then illustrated by several recent approaches. The authors discuss how these have been enabled through the use of appropriate technologies in introductory and intermediate programming courses, delivered both online and face to face. They conclude by discussing how the integration of technology, and the switch to online environments, has the potential to enable authentic student-driven programming pedagogies as well as facilitate formal computing education research or action research in this field.

Applying Constructivism to Online Learning

Based on constructivist principles, this chapter provides a new instructional design map for online learning environments. This instructional design map includes considerations of five elements, namely, learner, knowledge, learning environment, assessment, and technology. Considerations of these elements are based on analyses of the past and existing instructional design models, online learning models, and constructive principles. Applications of the instructional design map are also discussed in the chapter.

Critical Survey of Information Technology Use in Higher Education

Reception and use of information technology by lifelong learners within a “blended” learning environment needs to be articulated within a constructivist paradigm. Increasingly, the term reflective practice is appearing in the vocabulary of adult education discourse. Educators have become familiar with the concept of reflective practice through Donald Schön’s writings. Schön’s work is founded on a tradition of learning supported by Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget. As a learning group, lifelong learners are receptive to constructivist learning interventions where facilitated activities provide learners with opportunities to enact and collaboratively construct meaning as interventions unfold. This case study reviews learning enactments through an online discussion forum in an evening diploma in European Art History, University College Cork, Ireland.

Virtual Constructivism

Contemporary educators have been reassessing pedagogical frameworks and reevaluating accepted epistemologies and ontologies of learning. The age-old debate whether knowledge is gained or constructed seems drawn to a consensus in the 21st Century: those who seek knowledge are active participants in the learning process and they have uniquely 21st Century attributes. Web 2.0+ technologies, various social media (Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, YouTube) and online virtual reality environments (Second Life, World of Warcraft, Sims) have influenced today’s students in ways that constructivists should explore, embrace and exploit. This essay explores how Second Life (SL) effectively employs and distills the principles of educational constructivism. SL offers endless opportunities for immersion within user-constructed environments and activities. Educational use of SL may facilitate learner-led activities and yield learning that is prompted by desire and curiosity rather than learning for learning’s sake. By exploiting these qualities with constructivist pedagogies, educators create environments that challenge and enable students to engage in the deepest kinds of learning.

Online Learning Conversations

This chapter aims to perform a thorough analysis of students’ online learning conversations. Although offering a high potential for collaborative learning, successful online learning conversations are not easy to realize. After discussing the specific challenges of conducting conversations in general, conversations- for-learning and learning conversations online, the author uses this investigation to discuss ways to effectively facilitate them. Van der Pol demonstrates, then, that the context-creating effect of anchored discussion can effectively address some of these difficulties by turning opinion-oriented exchange of ideas into a more meaning-oriented processing of material, while increasing communicative efficiency.

Enhancing Authentic Assessment Through Information Technology

Constructivist education usually involves authentic assessment, which is affected by the media used to teach. Information technology can enhance or hinder the authenticity of assessment in key ways. This chapter provides a framework to analyze the opportunities to enhance authenticity when assessment is mediated by information technology, as well as the limitations of IT mediation on authenticity. The degree of authenticity possible is determined by several aspects of the competence being assessed: the chronicity of access to and use of information, the durability of the display, the use of written, oral and non-verbal communication, and computer use. This framework is used to identify IT tools that enable more authentic assessment, as well as sample approaches. It identifies aspects of competences that may not be authentically assessed via information technologies, limitations on the use of technology, and future trends.

Using Blogs to Foster Inquiry, Collaboration, and Feedback in Pre-Service Teacher Education

This chapter presents a critical case study on the use of information technology in a pre-service teacher education program. The authors integrated Weblogs (blogs) into two constructivist-oriented teacher preparation courses with the goal of helping students learn to think like a teacher through enhanced inquiry, collaboration, and feedback. The authors found that, through the use of blogs, pre-service teaching candidates grew in their abilities to reflect on their own teaching and to provide constructive comments to peers. The authors’ experience also indicated that while instructor and peer feedback via blogs was valuable, it functioned best when paired with face-to-face meetings between the instructors and students. They discussed design principles for combining online and face-to-face environments and offer possibilities for the expanded use of blogs in pre-service teacher education.

Constructivism and Online Collaborative Group Learning in Higher Education

As educators utilize an increasingly wide range of technologies for facilitating interaction between distant learning parties, there are concerns over the ad hoc use of technology in online course design and activities that are not grounded in sound pedagogical frameworks. This chapter presents a case of a hybrid undergraduate course that is shaped by sociocultural constructivist principles. Survey findings on student experiences of online collaborative learning and group work processes in two constructivist-based learning activities are reported. Results reflecting sociocultural constructivist concepts of scaffolding and appropriation of shared knowledge are presented based on student learning experiences during online synchronous tutorials and collaborative team projects. The conclusion discusses the effectiveness of the two course activities in facilitating collaborative group learning and recommendations are offered to enhance overall student experiences of online collaborative-constructivist group learning processes.