Title:	CONSTRUCTIONIST TEACHING IN THE DIGITAL AGE – A CASE STUDY
Author(s):	Éric Bel , Myriam Mallet
ISBN:	972-8924-22-4
Editors:	Kinshuk, Demetrios G Sampson, J. Michael Spector and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2006
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Blended learning, digital technology, constructionist teaching.
Type:	Short Paper
First Page:	371
Last Page:	375
Language:	English
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Paper Abstract:	This paper reports the action-learning development work of a team of Higher Education teachers, who designed a postgraduate module of learning, part of a professionally-oriented Computing Masters programme, to focus the teacher’s role on creating the conditions for a constructivist learning experience to take place within a digital-technology rich environment. Whilst there has been real enthusiasm for so-called ‘blended’ learning methods amongst the academic community, learners seem not always to understand the resulting structure of delivery, how to use digital technology in the most effective way to support their learning, and the value of face-to-face learning sessions. Their engagement with content is therefore often lukewarm and ‘distant’, leading to their rating what they are asked to learn as almost irrelevant to their future professional needs. These issues and the outcomes of the case study based on this programme are discussed in this paper, with an emphasis on some key aspects of constructionist teaching supported by online resources. Thus, the teacher’s role in such a digital-technology supported learning environment is analysed, and pedagogical considerations and suggestions made about teaching practices that are likely to enhance the students’ learning experience in this and other similar active-learning situations, not only at Masters but also at undergraduate levels.
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