Constructivism and Online Education

Peter E. Doolittle, Virginia Tech

pdoo@vt.edu

Constructivism is a theory of learning that has roots in both philosophy and psychology. The essential core of constructivism is that learners actively construct their own knowledge and meaning from their experiences (Fosnot, 1996; Steffe & Gale, 1995). This core has roots that extend back through many years and many philosophers, including Dewey (1938), Hegel (1807/1949), Kant (1781/1946), and Vico (1725/1968). Philosophically, this essence relies on an
epistemology that stresses subjectivism and relativism, the concept that while reality may exist separate from experience, it can only be known through experience, resulting in a personally unique reality. von Glasersfeld (1984, 1990) proposed three essential epistemological tenets of constructivism to which a fourth has been added in light of recent writings.

1. Knowledge is not passively accumulated, but rather, is the result of active cognizing by the individual;
2. Cognition is an adaptive process that functions to make an individual's behavior more viable given a particular environment;
3. Cognition organizes and makes sense of one's experience, and is not a process to render an accurate representation of reality; and
4. Knowing has roots in both biological/neurological construction, and social, cultural, and language based interactions (Dewey, 1916/1980; Garrison, 1997, 1998; Gergen, 1995; Maturana & Varela, 1992).

The four assumptions have led, indirectly, to eight primary pedagogical recommendations:

1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments.
2. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation.
3. Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner.
4. Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner’s prior knowledge.
5. Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences.
6. Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and selfaware.
7. Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors.
8. Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content.

The question then arises, can an online medium support this pedagogy that is based on the constructivist assumptions. Below, each of the eight pedagogical statements is briefly addressed based on this question and a “grade” is given to reflect online education’s ability to meet or implement these statements.

1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments. If authenticity were examined as an either/or proposition, then online education would fail miserably; however, authenticity is more a matter of degree than constitution. From this perspective, online education is potentially quite effective in providing virtual environments in which one can simulate real-world events. In order for online education to adequately satisfy this pedagogical statement the online environment must provide complex, culturally relevant, illstructured domains within which the user can operate and “live.” The use of virtual reality, simulators, and microworlds has focused on this concept. (Grade: A)

2. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation. Online education provides a unique opportunity for students to engage in social negotiation and mediation; unfortunately, until recently, social negotiation and mediation were constrained in the online medium. The use of both asynchronous (e.g., email, threaded discussions, listservs) and synchronous (e.g., MOOs, MUDs, IRCs, video teleconferencing) online communications allows for social negotiation and mediation to occur across both time and distance. (Grade: A)

3. Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner. Online education is capable of making vast amounts of very diverse information, knowledge, and skills available to the learner. In this sense, online education is quite capable of providing relevance as long as the learner is able to self-select a relevant topic, process, or skill. Where online education may have difficulty is in spontaneously adapting instruction to a change in student perspective. In a face-to-face meeting, when a student asks a question such as “How does this concept relate to my interest?” the teacher is able to adjusting the next response to the clearly fit the student’s query; however, most online education interfaces are not flexible enough to handle this type of tailoring. This type of immediate tailoring is more available through synchronous than asynchronous environments. (Grade: B)

4. Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner’s prior knowledge. This pedagogical statement is perhaps the most difficult for online education to handle. To address this statement requires a transaction to occur between the user and the online educational environment. In a synchronous environment mediated by an instructor, student’s prior knowledge may be probed at the beginning of instruction and instruction may then be adjusted based on the feedback from the student; however, in an asynchronous environment, this type of probing and responding is less fluid and flexible. (Grade: C)

5. Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences. While online environments are capable of frequently assessing students during instruction, difficulty arises in using this formative assessment to guide further instruction. The reason for assessing students formatively is to make adjustments to instruction that take into account the student’s currently level of understanding. Instructors will often provide students with “self-check” quizzes that assess students during various parts of instruction; however, the use of these quizzes is usually marginal, providing feedback to students so that students have a better understanding of their learning. Rarely is this knowledge used to alter subsequent instruction. (Grade: C)

6. Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and selfaware. In most online education environments, self-regulation, self-mediation, and selfawareness are requirements for successfully engaging in that environment. Online education typically requires students to be more involved and more persistent relative to the educational environment. One aspect of online education that is currently lacking is educating the student in the processes necessary to successfully engage in online education. Students often begin an online educational experience with no instruction concerning how online education differs from tradition classroom education. This pedagogical statement is attainable, but is currently not being addressed adequately. (Grade: C).

7. Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors. While it is still possible for instructors to lecture and to use direct instruction during an online educational experience, it is not nearly as easy as it is when one is teaching in a classroom. As a result, one is likely to find less “instructing” and more guiding and facilitating in online education. In addition, online education can be effectively constructed to emphasize a facilitating role for instructors while students engage in simulations, web-based data collection, and ill-structured problem solving. The self-regulatory and self-mediated nature of online education promotes the instructor taking the role of guide or coach. (Grade: A)

8. Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content. Online education, especially with a diverse group of students, is ripe for the presentation and experience of multiple perspectives. Online education has easy access to international and culturally diverse resources, including diverse populations. With the passing of time, a greater amount of diverse articles (published and pre-published) and presentations are accessible online, providing students with the resources for multiple perspectives. (Grade: A)