PL  |  NL  |  FR  |  ES  |  PT  |  IT  |  DE  |  DK  |  NO  |  SE  |  FI  |  GR  |  JP  |  CN  |  KR  |  RU  |  AE

  Report this article

More information

Why MBA in Operations Management

The Five Most Complex Languages to Learn

Ten Ways Learning Languages Can Improve Your Career Prospects

Important Factors to Consider to become a Preschool Teacher

Career in Teaching

Which unit for democratic self governance

The public perception of comprehensive schools

How to Choose a Cooking School

Drawbacks to Career Institutes

Choosing the Right Preschool Requires Parents to Get Educated

10 ways to maximize your guitar playing

Vocational Training in Pakistan and how to overcome its shortcomings

Two perspectives emerged in a critical analysis of research concerning perceptions of constructivism in an online environment: (1) the context of constructivist design in online teaching and learning, and (2) the application of Vygotskian constructivist theory in online learning communities within higher education.

Context of Constructivism in Online Learning

Palloff and Pratt provide evidence for their argument for a constructivist approach to the online classroom based on an analysis of interviews with teachers and students for support of their positions. However, other studies suggest that students who are experiencing a constructivist approach for the first time may be different, "where they were expected to be active learners and problem solvers, they clearly floundered at first ... and found wading through multiple resources online group work, defining and conceptualizing the problem, and using past experience to be overwhelming at times. Several studies, including those of Tan and Hung and O'Reilly and Newton, also emphasize the constructivist change of the faculty role to a facilitator, rather than a lecturer and the subsequent change to content and process. These studies support the idea that simply presenting information to learners in an online environment is not an optimum approach, rather the preferred approach is one that includes situated cognition, critical discussion, establishment of social communities, and self-directed learning.

Application of Vygotskian Theory in Online Learning

The research indicates that support for student learning through Vygotskian social constructivist theory using ZPD has been extended immensely through technological applications. A variety of evolving research focusing on the specific nature of supports, especially online scaffold functions in specific contexts of online learning, has been reported. Studies reviewed include the following findings:

1. The use of quickly evolving and sophisticated online technologies requires the construction of more complex practice.

2. When presented with quality real-life experiences, students can make bridges between concepts and applicability.

3. Distance educators are incorporating active, collaborative, and constructivist learning strategies rather than taking a traditional directive tutorial model found in 20th century online offerings.

4. A collaborative asynchronous (time-independent) online learning milieu where structure and dialogue are optimized can produce results comparable to those in a face-to-face traditional milieu.

5. The instructor's primary responsibilities are becoming constructing and maintaining focus on the core issues of the course, articulating a supportive knowledge maps, and ensuring the integrity of knowledge resources.

Role of Content

Several studies have examined the concept of scaffolding as described by McLoughlin as a form of temporary support offered to content learning to assist in the process of becoming a skilled practitioner. Traditionally, one of the most common forms of scaffolding learning has been apprenticeship, where a novice learns through active participation in a content task, initially only peripherally, and then assuming more control and ownership.

The research reviewed indicates that the concept of scaffolding is a focus of constructivist technology-based content. However, existing studies indicate a need for a redefinition of the use of scaffolding as it is used in online communities, since it is not readily translated into contexts where the teacher is not present. While research in this area is still sparse, studies led by the work of McLoughlin and Collis indicate the following range of contexts where technology may be used to mediate the teaching interaction for content:

1. Reducing the scope for failure in the task that the learner is attempting

2. Enabling learners to accomplish a task that they would not be able to achieve on their own

3. Bringing learners close to a state of independent competence

Role of Instructor

Squires discusses the constructivist uses of educational software in distance learning and the importance of the instructor's role in choices of usage. Jonassen's examination of how technology in the online classroom can be used within a constructivist framework, again emphasizing the role of the instructor. Further, Odin demonstrates a clear and direct relationship between well-designed teaching activities and the quality of student online collaborative learning. Specifically, Odin's study indicates that multimodal teaching activities define the social presence of the teacher who serves as a guide to promote self-motivation and selfdirection. The study concludes that the instructor's expert guidance manifested through multimodal teaching activities is indispensable in creating a shared context of learning where students are engaged in both constructing knowledge and applying it to other contexts. The diverse teaching-learning activities promote a complex mode of multilevel interaction among the learners, the instructor, and the content of the course, which creates a social context for constructing, exchanging, and transforming knowledge.

Role of Student

In defining the role of the student from a Vygotskian perspective, the research repeatedly reflects the need for the student learner to assume active responsibility for the acquisition of knowledge, to accept the complexity of the process of learning in a social milieu, and to understand the online learning environment as one in which self-directed, authentic academic problem-based activities and reflective practices are opportunities for learning.

The research also notes that for students, opportunities for collaborative learning and scaffolding are needed. These opportunities are suggested as needing to be characterized by:

1. Self-responsibility for thinking and learning

2. Awareness of social responsibility

3. Thinking and acting on scientific processes

4. Relating group process and product with professional practice Vat also lists the following "enabling" roles that are the responsibility of the student: "goal setting, management of own learning activities, and committed contribution to peer learning." In a Vygotskian approach to online learning, Vat concludes that not all learners can respond to the "high cognitive demands" that include the testing of previous concepts with new knowledge, resulting in "a sense of dissatisfaction (that emerges) from online learning experiences that threaten existing conceptual structures".

Vat proposes that the subsequent adjustments for the learner in the structuring concepts and the needed exertion for social negotiation and testing new structures can be challenging for some learners. The literature also describes difficulties for some students in assuming responsibilities in such an online setting. For example, Bull and Greer focused on the following in a problem-based online environment: (1) students may not understand their social role in a problem-based group setting; (2) students may lack the social skills to make group interactions work; (3) students have different social interaction preferences; and (4) students have different cognitive styles.

Synthesis of Research Literature

The literature so far illustrates how constructivist theory has expanded to include many new forms of support, including Vygotskian applications such as (1) increased responsibility for students for their learning; (2) faculty responsibility for providing multiple resources and providing opportunities for focused discussion; and (3) less directive aspects of the constructivist approach in online design that previously had connected constructivist coursework with behaviorist principles found in more directive instruction.

Future Considerations for Research

A consideration for continued research of online social constructivism is suggested by the research studies reviewed. While the use of a Vygotskian perspective provides the theoretical constructivist online anchoring needed for making explicit connections between social interaction and cognitive development online, relevant and specific forms of support and design components must continue to be emphasized. As distance learning becomes both a realistic and rigorous alternative to traditional settings, design considerations have become more sophisticated. For example, as the research continues to discuss asynchronous communication as supporting the constructivist approach of reflective thinking and Vygotskian perspectives of teaching and learning, such practices must be informed by research that considers its complex implications in online environments. Ortiz suggests that 21st century communication theory includes technologically based learning along with Wertsch's assertion that current educational thinking considers not only action but thought is "reshaped by tools that support interaction". This suggestion also reflects that 21st century instruction online has gone beyond McLuhan's advocacy of the importance of media in the delivery of messages to suggest that now "media shape(s) their participants" and that "infrastructures shape civilization." The literature reviewed reflects an international understanding that communication technology "has a deep impact on the structuring of the knowledge production process" and suggests the profound impact of constructivist principles in a global community of learning with the benefit of multiple perspectives.

This background discussion has also served as an introduction to the authors' investigation of perceptions of Vygotskian approaches from both faculty and student perspectives, an area of scant specific study in the body of research reviewed. The findings from the literature were used to inform both the researcher/instructor design of online coursework and their investigative inquiry concerning perspectives of the roles of both instructor and student.