Piaget and Vygotsky

On this diagram we see the differences between the two schools of thought of constructivism. I chose this topic because I have been reading about these two psychologists for quite some time now and I had a hard time understanding ZPD and scaffolding. When I read Cognitive and Social Constructivism: Developing tools for an effective classroom I was able to recall the different contributions by each theorist and to understand the concepts mentioned above.

In my current experience with distance education I see how both, social and cognitive constructivism influence distance education.

Online learners come to contact with the content isolated from the rest of the classmates and the teacher. Piaget stated that each individual constructs their own knowledge. Secondly, when the students come together in the conference area is when there’s a social interaction between students. Each person reflects on the reading, analyzes different pieces of information and everything comes together topic by topic. Also, Piaget mentions the modification of schemas, each student in a online course has a different background therefore their schemas will not be the same. Every student highlights on the information that was interesting to that particular person and the rest are able to read and to learn from all students. Lastly, critical thinking is a must in distance learning. As a student one has to read, understand and synthesize the studied content. That’s one of the greatest advantages of online learning, that most the students participate and come together to learn the content.

Powell, K., & Kalina, C. (2009). Cognitive and social constructivism: developing tools for an effective classroom. Project Innovation, 130(2), 241-250.

Teaching Presence

September 19, 2011

During this second week we had two articles that mentioned the Community of inquiry framework. For me, this was new information. I have taken 4 classes prior to this course and I do not recall reading about this framework. I found it helpful because it defines 3 main components of learning: cognitions, social interaction and teaching presence.

Next year I will be teaching at a distance, therefore I would like to be informed of the current trends and expectations for online teachers. I have been teaching for 5 years but it has always been face to face. When I was reading about Anderson’s framework I knew I had to read more regarding the topic.

The Importance of Being Human: Instructor’s Personal Presence in Distance Programs is an article I read to find out more about the topic.

Some key points that interested me:

·         “While the personal and the professional are intertwined, by the personal we include instructors’ personality, identity, integrity, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, values, life experiences and background” (Palmer, 1998).

·         According to Reuper, Mayberry, Patrick and Chittleborough (2009) conclude that the interpretation and implementation of a teacher influences more on the student outcomes than the course materials.  In this case I agree that a teacher plays and imminent role because a teacher may have the tools to teach but he or she does not know how to use those tools it will be hard to accomplish the course’s goals and the student may not succeed.

·         The author of the article as mentioned on top, cite the COI Framework specifically teaching presence as the moment when the teacher acts as an instructional designer; the teacher administers instruction and offers student evaluation.  The second moment of teaching presence is the creation of a social environment; the teacher helps to reach agreement and establishes the environment for the learning. Lastly, the third moment is when the teacher focuses and summarizes the discussion and clarifies any misinterpretations with a variety of resources.

The authors also present the results of a mixed study that summarizes important virtues of an online instructor.

ü  Engaging

ü  Sense of openness

ü  Approachable

ü  Make content relevant

ü  Passionate

ü  Constant feedback

ü  Treating students as individuals

In this article the authors emphasize the idea that the personal presence of the teacher has to be related to the content. I believe this is an important piece of information; our experiences as teacher have to enrich the class and offer new insights into the content. Having personal presence does not mean to share our personal lives or to be teacher-centered.

I enjoyed reading this article because it offered the experts’ ideas and the study carried out by these particular authors which gives the reader an idea of how our future students may think about our roles as instructors.

Reupert, A., Mayberry, D., Patrick, K., & Chittleborough, P. (2009). The importance of being human: instructors' personal presence in distance education. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 21(1), 47-56.

Constructivism and distance education

Toward constructivism for adult learners in online learning environments

I found this article and I thought it would be interesting to read it since we read about the different theories that somehow are influencing distance learning.

The article provides general information about distance education. For example, the profile of online students, the type of communication and the valuable asset of being able to access the information at any time and from any place.

Secondly, the author reviews the key components of constructivism. As listed below:

·         The exponents of this theory were Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner.

·         The learner construct his own learning

·         Learning is an active process

·         The learner solves real-life problems

Andragogy is presented in the article, and the six principles of this theory developed by Knowles are the following:

1.       The learner needs to know how learning will take place and why it is important

2.       The learner is self-directed

3.       The learner has valuable prior experience

4.       The learner is ready to learn

5.       The learner is oriented to learn

6.       The learner is highly motivated to learn

On the second part of the essay the Hsiu Mei Huang the author, presents a series of arguments that show how constructivism cannot be applied completely in distance education.

The first arguments states that constructivism values humanity and in online learning communication occurs through the computer and the learner and the instructor are always isolated.  I would argue that this argument is right to a certain point. The student and the teacher are separated physically, however communication occurs through different formats e-mail, chat, message boards  just to mention a few. Sometimes in face-to-face education the teacher may not have the time for individual time with each student.

The second argument, affirms that the teacher should be a facilitator according to this theory. Nonetheless in distance education the teacher is busy with other roles such as resource provider, technology advisor and consultant. I believe for most teachers teaching online is challenging to provide help with other issues besides content. I would dare to say most of my instructors balance the different roles and does not interfere with the students’ learning process and outcome.

The third argument explains how teaching and learning should be learner-centered. In distance learning is very difficult to develop different curricula for each student. This argument is certainly true, is almost impossible to modify the curriculum for each student, in this case the teacher can compensate with different activities that can satisfy different learning styles and individual preferences.

In my opinion, the article was written in favor of constructivism but is also clear that there are some components that may not be so easy to employ in distance education. The author summarizes that constructivism provides clear ideas to promote collaborative and critical learning

 Huang, H. (2002). Toward constructivism for adult learners in online learning environments. British Journal of Educational Technology, 33(1), 27-37.