ETEC 530: Constructivist Strategies for E-Learning (elective course)

DESCRIPTION

This course provides the opportunity for participants to examine teaching that aims to learners’ learning. It will examine literature on current research and practice concerning contemporary constructivist instructional strategies considered to be canonically effective. It will provide the opportunity to examine personal beliefs/worldviews about the nature of knowledge and truths and how these impact or influence our pedagogy of teaching and learning. Key instructional approaches and methods including project-based teaching/learning and cooperative learning will be critically discussed. The principles employed in these strategies will be considered and applied to practical experiences of designing and delivering online instructions. Existing learning sites will be critically examined through constructivist theories of teaching and learning.

GOALS

The course is aimed at offering opportunities for participants to:

1. Critically examine the tenets of constructivism as an epistemology of how knowledge is acquired, and as a theory of learning in relation to constructivist principles that apply to major face-to-face instructional strategies.
2. Recognize effective constructivist principles in online teaching and learning situations and be able to use them in designing online teaching and learning environments.
3. Evaluate and critically incorporate constructivist principles in the development of lessons intended for online use.
4. Critically evaluate online lessons prepared by peers and others in terms of the major tenets of constructivism.

COURSE OVERVIEW

This course provides opportunity for participants to examine teaching that aims to involve learners in the learning process. Strategies proffered in literature as canonically effective will be examined critically. The effect of learners’ socio-cultural background on teaching and learning will also be critically examined through the view that what learners already know influences what they learn (Kelly, 1955, Ausubel, 1968, Bodner, 1986). Readings that are topically organized will form the basis of some, but not all, individual and group activities and tasks. Online seminars that will involve the experienced analysis of instructions will form a significant component of the course. Many of the course readings will be online. Learners will be required to purchase a package of related readings.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course is divided into six (6) major units. The six ETEC 530 units are:

UNIT 1. Introduction: Unpacking Assumptions

This unit is all about understanding who you are as a learner in this course, what assumptions and prior knowledge do you bring forward to this course and your personal epistemology about truth, knowledge and learning.

UNIT 2. What is Constructivism?

This unit will identify the main categories of constructivism and their main advocates and describe the characteristics of each category.

UNIT 3. Promoting Active Learning

This unit discuss learning activities that are consistent with the conceptual change mode, provide learners with the opportunity to identify from their experience cases of collateral learning and help to evaluate instructions in terms of conceptual change model.

UNIT 4. Constructivist Strategies

This unit provides learners with the opportunity to identify the principles, characteristics, and researchers behind each of the main constructivist strategies.Learners will also learn to recognize effective constructivist principles in online teaching and learning situations.

Thus unit is longer than other units. There are 7 “stations” and learners have to stop in at least 4 of those stations and doing the activities associated with that station. Some stations are group activities and some are individual explorations.

UNIT 5. Evaluating Constructivist Activities

This unit provides learners with the opportunity to identify and apply the principles and characteristics of constructivism in the design of an instrument used to evaluate constructivist plans or activities/tasks. IT discusses the development and use of a set of criteria for evaluating constructivist online instructional. Learners will also evaluate and discuss the value, need, and appropriateness of each of the criteria elements.

UNIT 6. Evaluating Constructivist Activities

This unit covers effective constructivist activities that engage learners in testing their pre-existing models of the world, challenging those models and engaging the learners in the search for more satisfactory models. It provides learners with the chance to use proposed constructivist instructional models to interpret instructions, to develop and implement instructions using CIM, POE and CCM and to discern the connections between CIM, POE and CCM.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Assignments

Assignment 1: 40% due end of Week 8

Select an issue or area of interest within the situated teaching/learning paradigm and constructivism and write a paper in which you critically discuss the issue or area in not more than 2,000 words. The paper should draw on existing literature on constructivism, situated learning, basic principles of constructivist instructions, e-learning, etc.

Assignment 2: 35% end of week 13

Prepare an online lesson or set of lessons for teaching a student-chosen topic and using one or more of the teaching strategies (35%). A lesson should not be less than 1hr or more than 1hr 15min.
Note: 5% of the course grade comes from completing a concept map and set criteria for constructivist activities.

Discussion Forums

There are several online Discussion Forums woven into ETEC 530, and your insightful, active participation in these will be evaluated as 15% of your overall grade in the course. You will be expected to demonstrate excellent knowledge of the course material, as well as the ability to think critically about the issues arising in discussion, course readings, and in the contributions of your peers.