Alan Holzl (a.holzl@mailbox.uq.edu.au)
Tue, 06 Apr 1999 12:32:38 +1000
Date: Tue, 06 Apr 1999 12:32:38 +1000 From: Alan Holzl <a.holzl@mailbox.uq.edu.au> Subject: Re: IFETS-DISCUSS Digest - 2 Apr 1999 to 3 Apr 1999
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Muhammad,
As one of the "trendies" who have been advocating a constructivist model
over a transmission model, I feel I must answer your question , "For whom
is the instruction/teaching/learning intended?" My target audience are
university students who we are supposed to be developing into "independent,
life-long learners". I feel that a "social constructivist" model is more
likely to achieve this outcome than a "transmission model" however, I do
concede that we may have to start out with a transmission model in the
first year and gradually change towards a more constructivist model in the
later years.
As a "born-again" constructivist who started out as a devout "behaviourist"
while a military trainer, I also agree with you that constructivism is not
a "model for all seasons" and there are even aspects of a university
curriculum which may be better taught within alternative models whether
they be behaviourist or information processing.
We must not forget that universities have a duty to ensure that graduates
from certain professions are "competent" and the consequence of
"incompetence" in some of these professions such as medicine and
engineering can be catastrophic. For this reason we must place some limits
on the degree to which students choose what content they study and how they
conduct self and peer assessment.
Regards
Alan Holzl
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1999 14:42:54 -0600
>From: Muhammad Betz <mbetz@sosu.edu>
>Subject: Constructivism
>
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>Details of current discussion: http://ifets.gmd.de/discuss.html
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>
>Fellow Educators:
>
>It is trendy and easy to say that the "old transmission" model of teaching
>and learning should be abandoned for the "social constructivist" model. But
>that type of assertion leaves many questions, not the least of which, For
>whom is the instruction/teaching/learning intended? If we are discussing a
>public school classroom in the state of Texas, where teachers and school
>administrators are held to a rigorous standard on yearly achievement tests,
>which primarily measure knowledge and skills related to that knowledge,
>social constructivism just might get you fired. On the other hand, if we
>are talking about a different area of the curriculum in a non-traditional
>setting with a different set of students with unique characteristics, social
>constructivism may make for superior pedagogy. The setting, the people, and
>the constraints of the proximal bureaucracy: all these concerns should be
>influence the model of pedagogy.
>
>I personally still find the Information Processing model of teaching and
>learning based on Robert Gagne's model that I learned as a graduate student
>efficacious in my teaching endeavors. Yes, I have composed my own
>application of the "Events of Instruction," but the model could still be
>classified as Direct Instruction. Students are oriented to the prescribed
>learning challenge, informed of its specifics, guided through an initial
>exposure, and then required to independently practice and/or apply their
>learning in any of several different formats. The independent practice is
>evaluated and the revised learning tasks are supplemented in, again, any of
>several different formats.
>
>It seems to me that the question of traditional v. social constructivist
>learning is not quite the given that many infer it to be.
>
>Muhammad Betz, Ph.D.
>Associate Professor
>Southeastern Oklahoma State University
>mbetz@sosu.edu
>
Alan Holzl
Research and Development Officer
Learning Resources Development Unit _--_|\
The Teaching and Educational Development Institute / *
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND 4072 \_.--._/
07 33811265 Fax 07 33811252
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