Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSS] Constructivist features of APRTC's agLe@rn courses
From: Rob Raab (robert@APRTC.ORG)
Date: Fri 23 May 2003 - 10:39:03 MEST
Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 15:39:03 +0700 From: Rob Raab <robert@APRTC.ORG> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSS] Constructivist features of APRTC's agLe@rn courses
Thanks to Martyn and others who took the time to visit and comment on APRTC’
s Website and agLe@rn courses on sustainable natural resource management.
The common question seems to be why we consider these courses to follow
constructivist design principles even though they appear to be quite linear
and structured.
To our way of thinking, a defining feature of the constructivist approach is
that the learner is encouraged to construct their own understanding of the
topics covered in the course. There are no universal “right” answers.
Participants are given access to a range of informational resources (some of
which may be contradictory) and given the opportunity to critically evaluate
the information and draw conclusions based on their own experience and
circumstances. Another important feature of this approach is that it is
supported by encouraging intensive interactive dialogue with other students
in the class and comments from subject matter expert facilitators. This may
be difficult to see without being able to access what is going on in the
discussion boards and email exchanges which are considerable. If anyone
would like to “sit in” and observe one of our courses please let me know.
And yes, our courses do appear quite structured and linear. We have found
that this is good for a number of reasons. One, it tends to ensure that
students are thinking about and discussing the same topics at the same time.
This is important for being able to share views and ideas. Another benefit
is that busy students (all our participants are working adults) do not have
to spend too much time thinking about what to do next. In earlier versions
of these courses we had given participants more freedom to work outside of
the structure but the feedback we received was overwhelmingly in favor of
more structure. For a discussion of some of our experiences listmembers
might want to take a look at "Making e-Learning Work in the Asia Pacific:
Lessons Learned".- http://www.aprtc.org/occasional_papers/itirapr.htm.
I look forward to hearing more ideas on constructivism and issues associated
with good online course design.
Cheers.
Rob.
http://www.aprtc.org
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