Creating Distance Learning Courses
Lesson
Two
The Instructional Design Process
Part 3: The Constructivist Approach
This approach defines how learners should be able to think or solve problems differently when they are finished, as well as what settings, activities or interactions designers predict will lead to these new abilities. Constructivism suggests that real, lasting learning must come as a result of activities that are both meaningful to the learner and based in some social context (other learners, colleagues, instructors, clients, etc.). It places major emphasis on specifying the kinds of learner problems that would be addressed, the kinds of control learners would exercise over their environment, the activities in which they would engage and the ways those activities could be shaped by leaders or instructors, and the ways in which they would reflect on the results of their activity together. A typical statement of desired or intended constructivist learning outcomes for work in an online environment might look like this:
In a context where learners separated by physical distance see a need for improved communication and the development of multiple perspectives, they explore an online forum as a means for collecting, comparing, and evaluating information and proposed problem solutions. The group leader introduces the forum and demonstrates how it is used. All participants agree to submit a document, and to read and comment on others' submissions. Following the initial exchange of suggestions and proposals, participants discuss the process to be used in moving to the next stage. Several further rounds of discussion follow, and at the end, all participants comment on both the arrived-at proposals and also the ways in which their own understandings of the scope and significance of the problem itself changed as a result of the activities.
Note, (in contrast to the behavioral specifications), the salient features of this example are:
- learners have some opportunity to define for themselves the goals and objectives for the course,
- the focus is more on process and interaction, less on what is specifically to be accomplished as a result of the lesson,
- outcomes are defined more in terms of a new common perspective rather than particular tasks or actions that individuals will be able to carry out.
- learners are assumed to be motivated by a common interest in some problem or issue; therefore, the learning is defined in large part by the context in which it will occur.
Additional Resources
- The
Practice Implications of Constructivism. SEDLetter, Vol.IX, Issue
3, August 1996
http://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedletter/v09n03/practice.html
- An Electronic Textbook on Instructional Technology: Constructivism. Irene Chen. http://www.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/ET-IT/constr.htm
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