CONSTRUCTIVISM, MEDIA AND LEARNING TECHNOLOGY

Technology is the most important media in teaching learning process. Technological era and demand imply world of education. Science and knowledge today are based on technological system that make the education system need technological application.

Teaching learning process will be more effective if there is technological application system. Haughey and Anderson state that the use of media for teaching assumes that learning, as both an individual and a social activity (Haughey & Anderson, 1998), may be facilitated by intentional interaction. 

Constructivism theory offers some principles for educational system, Constructivism suggests that Teaching and learning process must be integrative, holistic, collaborative, and learners centered.

Constructivism is a general term for the view that the world is often too complex for general principles to be useful in teaching, and that the best learning results when the learner processes and integrates new experiences into his or her existing constructs (Coleman, Perry, & Schwen, 1997). Constructivist teaching tends to be more holistic, more collaborative in method, and more encouraging and accepting of learner initiatives, including greater freedom and variety in assignments and assessments (Henriques, 1997). The role of the instructor also changes in constructivist teaching from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side,” or coach (Burge & Roberts, 1993; French, Hale, Johnson, &Farr, 1999). .

The uses of technology may vary, too, in different constructivist  environments. Social and radical constructivists view interaction as of greater importance to learning than mere access to information, while information processing and interactive constructivists view information, facts, and contact with a wide circle of informed people as critical to the student's development of a fully adequate construction of the world (Henriques, 1997).

In common, constructivists tend to use technologies for purposes such as those identified by Jonassen (1998):

•   acquainting and involving students with real-world problems and situations.

•   modeling the analytic and thinking skills of the instructor and other experts, which learners then apply, with appropriate feedback, to their own problems and constructs.

•   working within an authentic problem context that reflects as much as possible the problem's real context and characteristics.

Overall, the contribution online media often make to constructivist teaching is in expanding the range and variety of experiences usually available in classroom-based learning. Because online media are by definition linked to networks of external resources, they can provide access to people, ideas, and information beyond those found in the classroom. Whether the result is a nearly self-sufficient collaborative learning environment (Jonassen, 1998), or, more simply, a forum for problem-based learning (Bridges, 1992), the result is an opening-up of the learning space to a wider variety of ideas and points of view.

References:

Haughey, M., & Anderson, T. (1998). Networked learning: The pedagogy of the Internet. Montreal: Cheneliére/McGraw-Hill.

Coleman, S., Perry, J., & Schwen, T. (1997). Constructivist instructional development: Reflecting on practice from an alternative paradigm. In A. J. Romiszowski (Ed.), Instructional development paradigms (pp. 269-282). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Henriques, L. (1997). Constructivist teaching and learning. Retrieved April 29, 2004, from http://www.educ.uvic.ca/depts/snsc/temporary/
cnstrct.htm. Note: This URL was no longer active on May 7, 2004.

Burge E. J., & Roberts, J. M. (1993). Classrooms with a difference: A practical guide to the use of conferencing technologies. Toronto: University of Toronto, OISE Distance Learning Office.