Can Social Constructivism Theories underpin Elearning?

Within this approach there are many slightly differently held perspectives and I am endeavouring here to identify those ideas that I feel support the online learning within a community. I believe that when learning is taking place in the educational courses, communities are formed for learning; the scaffolding and meaning making taking place though interactions; lend to some of the ideas on which social constructivism is based. The understanding gained from the two approaches, Communities of Practice and Social Cultural Learning theories (explained in earlier blogs), show learning embedded in practice while under the social constructivist approach the focus is more on knowledge. When reflecting on use of technology in learning both theory and practice need to be addressed to ensure holistic approach to learning.

In a knowledge-building community, there is a culture of learning which seeks to advance the collective knowledge, as well as support the growth of each individual within that community (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 1994). Adopting this knowledge-building approach leads to a shift from learning to construction of collective knowledge (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1999) where students are participants in a learning organisation and not clients who receive knowledge. ‘The students are therefore engaged in producing knowledge objects that also lend themselves to being discussed, tested, and so forth, without particular reference to the mental states of those involved, and where the students see their main job as producing and improving those objects (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1996).’ (De Laat 2006, pp 22) The knowledge-building process is explained by Scardamalia and Bereiter (1994) as:

•                 Focus on problems and depth of understanding

The focus is on problems, where the community members engage in producing an advanced theory to explain increasingly diverse and seemingly contrary ideas which come to light while they are trying to solve these problems.

•                 Decentralizing, open knowledge building communities focusing on collective knowledge

Social interactions need to be constructive responses to each another’s work to ascertain that the community is working at the forefront of their collective understanding.

The situated and participative view of learning raises problems for understanding the teaching and learning of general thinking skills. Wegerif (2007) and Wegerif and De Laat (2006) have addressed this issue with a conception of general critical and creative thinking skills as aspects of dialogues. Critical and creative thinking embedded in dialogues can be taught through participation and individual learning. This notion can be understood in terms of social trajectories of identity, specifically a shift towards a more dialogically engaged identity (i.e. increasing identification with the space of dialogue itself). Online learning tools need to allow for the development of thinking skills. Therefore we would need to understand how the tool itself impacts on this? Does the linear text display of discussion have a different impact on how thinking takes place when compared to graphically and spatially displayed text tools?

When we study learning at an interpersonal level we are looking at learning embedded within social interactions. Sometimes, people undergo or undertake learning together, but without any actual or intended collective outcomes. Then, the learning processes are collective, but the learning outcomes may be only individual ones. In other cases, however, actual or intended outcomes of learning (in terms of learning and / or in terms of changes in work processes or outcomes) are collective. Thus, there is a distinction between learning in social interactions (with and from others) and collective learning (where the members consciously strive for common learning outcomes). These forms of collective learning are also called “group learning”. Wegerif et al (2008) prefer to use the term “collective learning” for ways of learning where the intended outcomes (and maybe, but not necessarily, the processes of learning) are collective. This collective learning can be an element in the way online discussion takes place, whether synchronous or asynchronous.

Using computers as communication tools people are increasingly sharing, discussing and negotiating knowledge. This can also be termed networked learning. ‘By networked learning we mean how internet-based information and communication technologies are used to promote collaborative and co-operative connections: between one learner and other learners; between learners and tutors; between a learning community and its learning resources, so that participants can extend and develop their understanding and capabilities in ways that are important to them, and over which they have significant control’ (Banks et al, 2003, p.1).

In relation to e-learning Garrison and Anderson (2005) take the collaborative constructivist view of teaching and learning. They explain that personal meaning making and social influence impact on the education transaction. They also identify that this transactional approach was proposed by Dewey (1938 cited by Garrison and Anderson 2005) who opined that society and the individual cannot exist separately. Interaction and continuity are the two principles which allow the personal and social worlds to unify and meaning to be constructed and shared which leads to further learning as the prior learning forms the basis of new meaning construction. There is a close link between teaching and learning roles and so education needs to be viewed as a unified transaction process.

Reflecting upon the meaning of learning, from my readings (see previous blogs) so far, it can be seen that learning can be explained in terms of:

•                 the process (for example, experiential learning cycle),

•                 types (for example, cognitive, psychomotor and affective),

•                 individual or group (for example, reflection, community of learners);  

Consequently online learning is the process where individuals bring to the discussion their personal experiences and understanding, make links with the discussion topic, read others contributions and reflect on how this fits into their understanding, after which they comment on others ideas. This kind of collaborative discussion should show the agreements and disagreements to the contributions with an explanation of why these agreements or disagreements are being made. This aspect has not so far been specifically addressed with the theories reviewed but come under the umbrella of argument theories which will be explained in the next blog..