The Constructivism Approach

When working on my Masters in education at Roosevelt University, most of the class was
grounded in a "constructivist perspective. The class was taught in a traditional method, but
I thoroughly enjoyed the class. Most professional development workshops I attend are
focused on a constructivist perspective. In this course, I appreciate being responsible for my
learning. Learning in the 21st century is dramatically changing. The constructivist approach
holds the learner accountable for contributing to his or her knowledge and experience
through active participation in learning and reflection.
Even more, the constructivist approach values the students point of view, motivates the
student to think outside the box, and problem solve. In addition students become part of a
learning community who welcome the opportunity to share their differences, and
experiences with peers.
I think the ' constructivist' approach is popular in the online environment because its a
learning strategy. With the absent of the traditional instructor High Touch definitely comes
into play. Online learning calls for instructors to meet the needs of the individual student.
The 'constructivist' method uses the teacher as the online facilitator and emphasis is shifted
from the traditional teacher who lectures the lesson to the students who is learning thru
discovery and consistently active participation. Even more, this approach of learning
involves enabling the teacher to facilitate a variety of learning styles which are adaptive to
the knowledge of the student. In my opinion, the constructivism method is popular in online
learning because the traditional teacher is absent physically. The student must focus on
construction of their knowledge thru collaborative learning on blackboard, weekly posting
and engaging with peers by posting to others posting, and problem-solving, etc.
Online learning must be able to compensate for the absent of the teacher by inevitably
holding the attention of its students in different geographical locations. Online students
must be challenged, kept active, catered to in terms of learning needs, and driven to engage
by application engagement, reflection, trial/error and discovery most importantly. Without
the ' constructivist' approach, I dont think online learning could exist or achieve much
academic success.