ϵ-LEARNING THEORY – COMMUNAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

A Paper

“UNDERSTANDING ONLINE LANGUAGE LEARNING”

(ELE 155 KJ – Dr Kshema Jose)

Composed by:

Wildan M Muttaqin

Hasbi

Adithya

Sardoebek T

THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY (EFLU)

HYDERABAD, ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA

2013

ϵ-LEARNING THEORY – COMMUNAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

A. THEORETICAL UNDERPINNING

Learning theory is prime for development. e-Learning takes the concept of “community of learners” a considerable forward by enabling less formal communities, that is, less formal than the organizational structure business enterprises or a school or university would imply, to create a self-sustaining communal learning environment.

We call this extension to the range of socio-constructivist “Communal constructivism”, a process in which individuals not only learn socially but contribute their learning to the creation of a communal knowledge base for other learners.

e-Learning has two limitations, i.e., the fixed times and locations for learning as it offers new alternative in which time and locations can be little bit flexible but can also be matter if ignored. However, e-Learning is simply an add-on in the technology itself. For example, webcam developments have not been driven by educational needs but educationalists have embraced the technology to use it in learning contexts.

The theoretical underpinning and the concepts of e-Learning have emerged from:

A number of different traditions and fields

Education

Psychology

Computer science

Sociology

In the last 100 years or so, learning theories have progressively taken centre stage, beginning with Behaviourism, developing through Cognitivism and through today’s Socio-constructivism. Taking it into application, e-learning has obvious overlapping process with those three theories, i.e., trial and error, as shown in the figure below.

Figure 1 Overlapping theoretical underpinnings for e-Learning

B. BEHAVIOURISM

Behaviorism is the oldest and most widely understood theory underpinning educational and e-learning theory. It regards all behaviors as a stimuli and a response. Among the best known proponents of the approach are Ivan Pavlov, Burrhus Frederic Skinner, Edward Lee Thorndike and John Broadus Watson.

Classical Behaviourism, proposed and researched by Pavlov, argued that certain stimuli will produce specific reaction in human or animal. It predicts that with sufficient repetition of experience, specific behaviours can be ‘taught’ by reinforcing the desired behaviours with appropriate stimuli.

In operant behaviorism, people learn to perform new behaviours through the consequences of the things they do. If a behaviour they produce is followed by a reinforcement then the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated increases in future (the behaviour is strengthened). A consequence can be reinforcing in two ways: either the person gets something good (positive reinforcement) or they avoid something bad (negative reinforcement). Conversely, if a behaviour is followed by a punishment then the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated in future decreases (the behaviour is weakened). Whereas classical conditioning only allows the person to produce existing responses to new stimuli, operant conditioning allows them to learn new responses (Sammons, psychlotron.org.uk).

C. COGNITIVISM

Cognitivism is a theoretical framework for understanding the mind that gained credence in the 1950s, as a response to behaviorism, which cognitivists said neglected to explain cognition. Cognitive development refers to the changes that occur in an individual’s cognitive structures, abilities, and processes. Marcy Driscoll defines cognitive development as the transformation of the child’s undifferentiated, unspecialized cognitive abilities into the adult’s conceptual competence and problem-solving skill (Driscoll, 1994 in Silverthorn, 1999).

The most prominent theorists of Cognitivism approaches are:

1. Piaget

Piaget formulates the cycle of human cognition as follows:

0-2 years : sensory-motor skills (reaching, touching and so on)

2-7 years: pre-operational (linguistic development, intuitive understanding of some simple processes)

7-11 years: concrete operations (organized thinking, problem solving with “real” contexts)

11-15 years: formal operations (abstract conceptualization and formal logic)

2. Bruner

Bruner viewed a learner’s development in terms of a series of steps of increasing learning capabilities which need to be climbed by the learner, implying that some learning capabilities are dependent on the consolidation of others before they come into play.

Two other cognitivists, David Kolb and David Wood, supported his theory. Kolb argued that learner must be experiential through the cycle of four developmental stages, i.e., a concrete experience, reflection on the experience, abstract conceptualization oh the experience and then the trial of the concepts in another situation (as supported by Kurt Levin’s action research).

Meanwhile, David Wood and colleagues introduced the concept of scaffolding, as part of the tutor’s role, implying the design of learning experiences which are tailored to the learners’ readiness to undertake any particular stage of a learning programme.

3. Vygotsky

Vygotsy’s thesis relates more to what the learner has the potential to do at any particular time focusing on the gap between what the learner can do now and what is just beyond their re ach. The gap is known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD).

In e-learning context, the learner may be offered problem-solving or strategic reasoning tasks, which palce them squarely at the centre of the learning activity with assistance in the ZPD either from software prompts or a more knowledgeable tutor or peer.

D. SOCIO-CONSTRUCTIVISM

Socio-constructivism requires a third dimension to the interaction between the learners and environment, that is, people (learners or tutors). It highlighted that learning should involve learning to learn from others and with others, and to mediate others’ learning not only for their own sake but also for a collective learning. Therefore, the main elements of socio- constructivism are social, reflective, authentic, scaffolded, progressive, and experiential.

The social dimension has led to the rise of concepts such as ‘learning organizations’, ‘learning schools’ and learning communities where learning is not only contextualized in the formal settings of schools or universities but also in the wider social community.

E. COMMUNAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

Communal Constructivism is an approach to learning in which students construct their own knowledge as a result of their experiences and interactions with others and are afforded the opportunity to contribute this knowledge to a communal knowledge base for the benefit of existing and new learners (Holmes, 2001).

‘A river and a pipe’

The analogy of water flowing in a river and in a pipe illustrates the basic tenet of communal constructivism: students pass through a learning program like water flowing through a pipe, with the tutors simply determining a goal, giving its direction and applying the pressure to get there. In communal constructivism, students contribute to the communal knowledge in a permanent form, leaving their own imprint on the course, their school or university, and possibly the discipline – like a river enriching its flood plain each year by adding nutrients and minerals to the soils.

Salomon, G. and Perkins, D. (1998) distinguish between learning with others (the individuals learn with and for the team) and learning from others (learning as a result of a process).

One model for the essential aspects of communal constructivism approach is the concept of PhD study in which students make a contribution to the field they are studying. Doctoral students attempt to expand knowledge in a discipline and are encouraged to publish their results so that their own work is recorded and helps develop the field of knowledge. The doctoral study is arguably one of the best learning experiences available, especially if it is undertaken in a team context such as a science research group.

F. TYPES OF LEARNING

Types of learning are formed by all the theories of learning, i.e., behaviourism, cognitive constructivism, socio-constructivism and communal constructivism, as discussed in the previous section.

Under behaviourism there are drill and practice (D&P) and simple non-interactive tutorials (N-I Tuts) linking the single-user modes and the behaviourism hopper. In an overlapping zone between behaviourism and cognitive constructivism, interactive tutorials (I-Tut) and intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) provide a link to the single-user stretch of the river. Simulations (Sim) and games (Game) make up cognitivism constructivism till the edge of the single-user section.

An overlap between cognitivism constructivism and socio-constructivism is filled with a virtual learning environment (VLE). Multi-user variants of simulations (MuSim) and games (MuGame) stand under socio-constructivism.

The next style is to communal constructivism exeplified by weblogs (blog), multi-user object oriented system (MOO) and multi-editor wiki systems (wiki). They represent a significant move forward for e-Learning, based on communities of users/ learners in a communal constructivist context.

For the form of e-Learning exemplified by weblogs (blog), visit:

http://languagepie.wordpress.com/; for e-Learning exemplified by MOO, visit:http://www.angelfire.com/ma/CasaDax/moo.html; for e-learning by wiki, visit:http://web20andlanguagelearning.wikidot.com/wikis.

G. SEEDS OF CHANGE

Some notions gained from this discussion are as follows:

To learn with and from others

Peer tutoring and project-based learning in a group

Conventional educational process will become increasingly vulnerable to change in the face of communal constructivist approaches stimulated by e-learning environments.

H. REFERENCES

Holmes, Bryan, and John Gardner. E-Learning: Concepts and Practice. New Delhi: SAGE Publication Ltd, 2006.

Holmes, Bryan, et al. Communal Constructivism: Students constructing learning for as well as withothers. Ireland: Trinity College Dubin. (2001),https://www.cs.tcd.ie/publications/tech-reports/reports.01/TCD-CS-2001-04.pdf as on 6 February 2013

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Paper. Seventh edition. New Delhi: EWP. 2006. Print

Onike, Rahaman,. Educational Implications of Theory of Communal Constructivism. (2010),http://searchwarp.com/swa596784-Educational-Implications-Of-Theory-Of-Communal-Constructivism.html as on 6 February 2013

Sammons, Aldans. Approaches to Psychology.http://www.psychlotron.org.uk/newResources/approaches/AS_AQB_approaches_BehaviourismBasicsas on 6 February 2013

Silverthorn, Pam. Jean Peaget’s Theory of Development. (1999)http://members.iinet.net.au/~aamcarthur/4_Mar_2008_files/Piagets_Theory_of_Development.pdfas on 6 February 2013