Constructivist Learning on the Web

Brent Wilson and May Lowry

Revised version: May 30, 2000

For inclusion in Liz Burge (Ed.), Learning Technologies: Reflective and Strategic Thinking. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2001. Web: http://ceo.cudenver.edu/~brent_wilson/WebLearning.html

The underlying principles of learning and cognition are the same for all media and learning environments, including the Web. In this chapter, we illustrate how effective learning can happen on the Web, applying a few key principles of information design and learner guidance.

The World-Wide Web is the second major wave of the digital revolution that began with the advent of the personal computer in the 1980s. Like many technologies, the Web brings into being the ideas of early innovators--in this case, ideas about hypertext and universal sharing of documents and texts. But the Web can also be a vehicle for realizing the vision of educational thinkers like Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky who long ago advocated a constructivist or meaning-centered approach to learning and teaching. Constructivism, which stands in contrast to mechanical conceptions of thinking and action, emphasizes the learner_s role in constructing meaning_as opposed to simple transmission from teacher to student (Duffy & Cunningham, 1996). Learners do more than process information--they build an understanding through interaction with their environments. Recently, some educators have seized upon computers and the Web as a means of realizing that constructivist ideal--the computer because of its number-crunching and data-presentation capabilities; the Web because of its connective and communicative resources.

A number of metaphors have been used to describe the Web--information highway, digital library, cyberspace, global village. All of these are compatible with learners constructing meaning through self-directed inquiry, guided activity, or community-based co-participation. The term _web_ itself suggests a vast, complex network of interrelated strands, forming a resilient fabric made strong by the densely interweaving threads, not by any individual end point. Because of its uniquely distributed nature, the Web continues to be seen as a stimulus to innovation, placing more control in the hands of individuals, workgroups, and people with shared interests and goals (Brown, 2000).

Yet the Web is a young and immature technology_frustratingly slow, often unreliable in content and access, chaotic, with content increasingly dominated by commercial interests. The hype exceeds the reality, and will probably continue to do so in the foreseeable future. It is even possible that the Web is meant to be messy and chaotic, and that it will always be that way. But it is the marriage of the technology_s raw potential with exciting ideas for learning that generates such keen interest among educational innovators. As we try to move from promising potential to proven practices, a key question remains: After all the hype, where is the constructivist vision really found on the Web?

This chapter takes a look at the ways the Web can be used to help adults build meaningful understandings and competencies. Our stance is colored by our professional experience as instructional designers, but we want to explore how adult learners themselves can make use of the vast resources available on the Web. We hope to show, as our title asserts, that people use the Web all the time for self-directed purposes. The best way to understand the Web_s power is by appreciating how people constantly construct meaning through its use.

What is Constructivism?A Definition Exercise

Constructivism is one of those slippery words--one that pops up often, but whose meaning is often taken for granted. Rather than consulting a dictionary, we can go to the Web for a definition. A Lycos search shows more than 23,000 hits on the term! Most look like academic sites, although a few commercial sites show up. Our own research site, IT Connections (http://www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/constructivism.html, maintained by colleague Martin Ryder), is the first recommended link. We go there, and true to the Web, we see nothing but further links. We shoot off to the first link and see a clear description that conveys the basic idea--learners "construct their own knowledge", often with help from a teacher-coach or guide. The second link is dead, but the third link offers a very similar notion:

Constructivists view learning as the result of mental construction. Students learn by fitting new information together with what they already know. People learn best when they activle [sic] construct their own understanding. (http://hagar.up.ac.za/catts/learner/lindavr/lindapg1.htm accessed 3/22/00)

Also provided at this site are bulleted lists of attributes, key words, and phrases. All of these resources help convey a good solid idea about constructivism.

In many ways, our search for a definition illustrates many key features of the Web as a learning resource:

_ The Web is a fairly powerful source of information, especially valuable to self-directed learners. Cognitive approaches to learning give emphasis to information processing. The Web is a rich source of information to be processed and understood.

_ Some places provide detail, others provide comparison or synthesis. The Web can accommodate different purposes--sometimes to get the big picture, other times to find very specific information.

_ Content and links are both valuable. IT Connections provides nothing but well-organized links. This can be as valuable as a highly interactive, multimedia site.

_ Commerce is mixed in with academia. People approach the Web with different interests, including profit-making and market interests. When reviewing Web resources, users should always ask about motives--Why is this material up here?Who wants me to use this resource, or believe its contents?

_ The Web accommodates considerable variability in answers and perspectives. The idea of a single, authoritative answer is hard to reconcile with the multiple, competing voices on the Web. Although it contains massive information like an encyclopedia, the Web as a whole is unedited, un-refereed, and always changing.

_ Judging content is a critical task the user cannot easily delegate. Users of the Web quickly learn they must judge the quality of conflicting sources. This requires our best reasoning that draws on pertinent background knowledge--along with specific information literacy skills for interpreting and evaluating information (Hancock, 1993; Kerka, this volume).

_ Following links is an important way to learn on the Web. In any reading situation, author and reader share the load of constructing meaning. Because of its hypertext environment, Web users exercise much more control over the learning experience than listeners of lectures or readers of books (Landow, 1992). Thus a person_s individual purposes and goals play a critical role in determining the quality and character of the learning experience--true in any learning situation, but especially so on the Web.

Let us now turn reflexively and analyze our exercise from a constructivist point of view.

Where was the meaning being constructed? At every point of inquiry and problem definition. Even during relatively free-form browsing episodes, the reader is an active participant and determiner of next steps. Along the winding road of Web-browsing, meaning is continually being constructed.

Did our activity constitute a significant alternative to traditional forms of learning and instruction? Yes and no. Web searching is a significant departure from a simple lecture, but educators have always included inquiry as a part of a course of study. The Web exercise was a lot like browsing library stacks--in some ways a departure from classrooms, but certainly consistent with a venerable tradition of self-directed inquiry.

There seems to be a certain redundancy or awkwardness about the term _constructivist learning._ It_s like saying, "active learning" every time you want to say "learning." Learning by its nature seems inherently active and constructed. But that_s our point exactly: Constructivist learning happens all the time on the Web and in classrooms. Meaning construction is not reserved for high-tech, multimedia, project- or problem-based experiences. It happens all the time as people try to make sense of their environments, and of information presented to them.

It appears that we can look at constructivist learning in different ways:

_ To some people, constructivism implies specific learning activities or instructional strategies, e.g., case- or project-based learning, working within authentic contexts, etc. (Savery & Duffy, 1996).

_ To others, constructivism is a theory of learning. This theory includes the notion of schemas or mental models, and emphasizes qualitative changes in understanding based on prior knowledge (Mayer, 1996).

_ To still others, constructivism is an underlying way of thinking that informs instructional decisions and activities--but does not imply specific strategies (Wilson, 1997). Teaching from a constructivist viewpoint may include a drill, or a lecture, or a prepared reading assignment without sacrifice of principle. A constructivist would ask, what are the fundamental aims?How is meaning construction best facilitated in this case? Strategies are then placed opportunistically in the service of these worthwhile ends.

There are pros and cons to each position above, but we favor a deeper view that leaves open choices in method. Any strategy--including problem-, project- and case- based learning--could result in poor learning if used in the wrong way.

Our open stance toward strategies leads us to a similar view of the Web: Web-based learning must be evaluated in the context of its use. No particular type of use is absolutely forbidden; everything depends on surrounding conditions (cf. Greeno et al., 1998). As our search exercise illustrates, low-tech, plain-vanilla strategies (info searches; browsing links; research projects) can be just as valuable as highly-packaged and carefully designed presentations or interactions.

Three Core Principles

Greeno offers what might constitute a mission statement for constructivist learning:

We need to organize learning environments and activities that include opportunities for acquiring basic skills, knowledge, and conceptual understanding, not as isolated dimensions of intellectual activity, but as contributions to students_ development of strong identities as individual learners and as more effective participants in the meaningful social practices of their learning communities in school and elsewhere in their lives. (Greeno, et al., 1998, p. 17)

In other words, learners need to develop individual competence, but within a context of effective participation within groups and communities. Following Greeno, we introduce three core principles for effective use of the Web for learning:

_ Provide access to rich sources of information.

_ Encourage meaningful interactions with content.

_ Bring people together to challenge, support, or respond to each other.

These principles, while hardly unique, will provide below a simple framework for analyzing how constructist learning happens on the Web.

Providing Access to Rich Information

The Web is most noted for making information more widely available to people. A frequent first thought about a subject is, "I wonder if it_s on the Web." The example used in the search exercise above used the IT Connections website to find information about constructivism. The homepage includes a title, an email link to the webmaster, a search box, and twelve categories conveying theory, research, literature, and discussion opportunities. The simplicity of the page is deceiving, however. Following the first link, _Theory and Philosophy_, for example, takes us to a new series of seventeen linked topics.

The scope of theories included is broad, but a learner can detect from the range of topics that the site deals with cognition, culture, and technology. Clicking on Constructivism leads to a two-page list of resources, beginning with ten links to definitions; then an alphabetized list of more than twenty papers; then specific links on Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky; then a list of corollary sites. And remember--We are following just one set of links; the site contains hundreds of additional links organized in this fashion. Adult learners with research interests in the areas of cognition, culture, technology will likely find these links extremely valuable.

Depending on learning preferences and background knowledge, some people will find a list of links like this overwhelming. Too many links! Not enough illustrations or guidance! Other information-seekers, however, can spend hours exploring a rich set of links. These learners can learn more effectively from well-organized links than from an introductory lecture or textbook reading. While some learners will lack the metacognitive skill and self-defined objectives, many others will find resources like IT Connections to be treasure troves of exploration and inquiry.

Here are some additional sites that offer rich, high-quality information--which in today's world, seems to be our essential currency:

_ Examples of Web learning (http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tl/about.html). Maricopa Community College in Arizona has a well-earned reputation within the United States for learning innovations. This website presents more than 700 examples of the Web being used for learning--courses, activities, etc. The site serves as a mini-browsing environment with some quality screening, but lots of room to explore. Other good collections of Web-based learning can be found at the World Lecture Hall (http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/); the Blue Web_n collection of Blue Ribbon learning sites (http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/); and the Telecampus directory of online courses (http://courses.telecampus.edu/). All of these sites are valuable for what they bring together--that is, their links--rather than the specifically new content that they present. This is a notable feature: Juxtaposed links serve to make information more accessible, but they also help users synthesize or compare diverse information sources.

_ Top tips for increasing online interactivity (http://www.learnscope.anta.gov.au/display_stories/1-90000/1501-1800/display_stories_1660.html).  Marie Jasinski of the Australian National Training Authority reports thirteen practical tips distilled from an online game hosted by a worldwide conference. These tips are drawn straight from experienced practitioners. We have them bookmarked because of their value for distance education--and as a reminder of how games can generate worthwhile content.

_ Searching the Web efficiently (http://edweb.sdsu.edu/Courses/EDTEC532/search.html). Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University is a leading innovator among American educational technologists. Here is a simple job aid he created to help people improve their use of search engines on the Web. No big deal, but by bookmarking this two-page job aid, Web learners can avoid buying (and reading) a book, avoid the hard knocks--rather, they can efficiently learn a procedure and a concept by a short procedural form and explanation.

_ Grabbing graphics (http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss98/grabbing_graphics.htm). Web authors know something that not all browsers know: Grabbing graphics is super-easy to do on the Web. This job aid is very well-designed and shows you exactly how to do it.

_ Guide to business success in Japan (http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/research/japan/). This UCLA site provides a number of short, focused guides to doing business in Japan--very similar to culturegrams (http://www.culturgram.com/), except Web-based rather than paper-based.

Beside their American origins, what do these examples have in common? All include well-designed presentations of information that could be very useful to the right person. None include high-tech glitz and multimedia, but they easily could if the content warranted. Multimedia can grow on the Web as the technologies develop. The point is that information of all kinds can be placed on the Web and made available for convenient access, bookmarking, and use. A site_s value lies partly in the design of the information presented, but remains largely in the hands of the users. If a resource is accessed by a person skilled at self-directed learning, with clear learning goals, then the resource will likely be an effective aid to constructivist learning.

Encouraging Meaningful Interactions

Some websites guide users through an activity or presentation, thereby encouraging new learning of the material as any instructional resource would do. However, good instruction does more than present information--you get guidance, advice, coaching, feedback (Merrill, 1991). These are features that we are more likely to find in well-designed computer-based instruction than on the Web. This is especially apparent when the Web is used by learners independently, without instructor involvement. The examples below provide good levels of guidance and prompting, but do not all include high levels of task-specific interactivity and feedback.

_ Higher-ed Webquest. (http://edweb.sdsu.edu/Courses/ED810/wq3.htm). This webquest, developed by Allison Rossett and Jim Marshall for a doctoral seminar in educational technology, poses a problem and then directs learners through a set of activities that address the problem. Webquests are guided Web activities following a structure similar to that above (see http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html). They constitute a pleasant compromise between open inquiry and controlled instruction, appropriate for the Web.

_ Another good Webquest is Guess Who_s Coming to Dinner: A French Revolutionary Dining Experience (http://www.lubbock.k12.tx.us/quests/FrenchRevWebQuest/ ). In this activity, students prepare to assume the identities of one of four people (King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Rousseau or Robespierre), then prepare for dinnertime conversation. The site includes instructions for the activity as well as links to help students study up on their chosen character.

_ What is Really True? A lesson on constructivism (http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/faculty/lprieber/constructlesson.html). We did find a little instructional module on constructivism, designed by Lloyd Rieber, another Web activist from the University of Georgia. The lesson begins with an audio clip from the film, A Few Good Men, where Jack Nicholson angrily tells Tom Cruise, "You can_t handle the truth!" The movie tie-in and audio clip provide an inviting hook to learn more about constructivism. And the structuring and guidance of a short lesson like this adds value to the information, helping Web users learn content in a more targeted way.

Other examples of guided activity abound on the Web, for example:

--a case study presented as a soap opera (http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec685/685.html/azhome.html);

--five problem scenarios on learning needs assessment, calling for team solution (http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/it/edit186/needsact.html)

--an online course on "matter," organized as a Sherlock Holmes mystery (http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/it/edit186/needsact.html)

--Virtual Calculus, a set of online learning modules (http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/)

--modules on meteorology and weather forecasting (http://meted.ucar.edu/modules.htm)

--A series of virtual biology labs (http://www.biointeractive.org/grants/lectures/biointeractive/vlabs.html)

--A free course sponsored by Intel on the Pentium chip (http://developer.intel.com/design/intarch/training.htm)

--Learning to Learn, a comprehensive course and website devoted to thinking and learning skills for students with disabilities (http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/ITForum/home.html).

All of these sites are distinguished from simple information sites by their instructional features--guided activities, interactions, feedback. Adult learners lose some flexibility by the added structure, but they gain some additional processing of information that can lead to solid understanding of the material. Resources that help learners build meaningful understandings of difficult material will be valued from a constructivist perspective.

Bringing People Together

When faced with a formidable learning challenge, many learners turn to other people for help. We all think of ourselves in terms of groups we belong to, and very often we set out to learn new material in order to keep up with certain groups, or qualify for entry into others. People provide scaffolding, encouragement and support for our learning forays. They provide alternative perspectives on material. Many constructivist theorists call attention to the social and cultural aspects of meaning construction (e.g., Resnick, Levine, & Teasley, 1991). We believe the Web will increase its value as a learning resource to the extent that it can bring people together rather than isolate them.

There is significant loss of information between face-to-face communication and virtual communication. While acknowledging the serious limitations of online communication, we believe that some actions are afforded online that are not easily accomplished face-to-face--e.g., checking your email at a convenient time, rather than answering the doorbell upon demand. While it is still too early to fully assess this potential of the Web, we mention below a few sites that serve to bring people together through collaborative work, discussion, and common interests:

_ Instructional design case studies (http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/ITcases/). For three years running, Mabel Kinzie and students at the University of Virginia hosted a competition open to students in instructional design throughout the world. Each year a new, complex, well-mediated case study was presented online, requiring collaborative problem-solving and written response from student teams. A process involving proctors and judges was established to respond to and judge team solutions. All team responses were published to allow further comparison and discussion among participants. Our students participated in these competitions and benefited from the realistic case studies and the cross-program participation. Unfortunately, the work involved in sponsorship and authoring wore down the sponsors, who now are looking for partners to keep the competition going within the instructional-design community. The case studies remain a valuable instructional resource, and can be used very effectively within a single site.

_ ITForum, a listserv for instructional-technology professionals (http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/ITForum/home.html). Last year Brent was asked to contribute a paper for discussion on a professional listserv, ITForum. Since then, Brent hasn_t been able to unsubscribe--the list discussion has become a staple of his daily professional life. Subscribers discuss a short contributed paper about once a month. Over the past five years or so, the archive of papers has become a valuable source of thinking and scholarship related to instructional technology--not quite the consistent quality of a peer-reviewed journal, but more diverse and often more relevant. In addition to paper discussions, the list provides a public forum for discussing professional issues. It also is a popular place for to get answers to practical questions that arise in one_s work. Discussion groups like ITForum are one of the strengths of the Web, and illustrate the capacity to bring people together to learn (see Wilson & Ryder, 1996 for more discussion of listserv groups as learning communities).

_ Corporate University Exchange, Inc. (http://www.corpu.com/). This site is nearly a complete Web portal, with links to bookstore, consulting services, conferences and workshops, and bulletin board--in short, just about everything related to corporate universities. Note also its commercial character: Commerce gets mixed in with learning goals all the time; the same is true on the Web. The chatting or conferencing that people would do at a site like this depends on a shared common interest to sustain their interactions.

_ Click2Learn.com_s E-learning portal (http://www.click2learn.com/c2l/). Click2Learn.com sponsors another Web portal, this time devoted to learning and career development within the information technology industries. Links are provided to online courses, learning resources, service providers, discussion lists, and chat rooms on a wide variety of IT topics. Again, people come together in a limited way within the context of a commercial venture directed at very targeted learning competencies.

Future Directions

The tone of this chapter has been optimistic and affirmative: The Web is indeed a place where constructist learning happens all the time. Even so, we do not wish to leave the impression that Web use is without its problems. It is no surprise that learning impasses commonly happen on the Web--broken links, ornery technology, untrustworthy content, slow speeds, English bias, etc. Moreover, Web activity may not be a good fit with every learner_s cognitive style or preference.

These difficulties, however, are not usually reasons to quit using a resource altogether. Users of the Web need encouragement to solve their own problems and overcome whatever barriers they encounter--a worthy constructivist goal in itself (Wolin & Wolin, 1993). Future efforts will surely focus on helping users acquire needed skills to manage their own learning on the Web.

At the same time, designers of Web resources are working to better adapt learning resources to the needs of individual learners. For example, the learning objects movement (Farance & Tonkel, 1999) seeks to standardize the indexing of media elements (video and audio clips, text segments, etc.) to allow on-the-fly assembly of learning experiences.

Some barriers are not easily overcome by the best efforts of users and designers--poor access in poor and rural areas of the world, lack of assistive technologies, or resources designed for exclusive or commercial interests--These are larger ethical issues to be addressed before the Web can truly become a universal resource. These limitations also underscore the need to fit Web use within a larger matrix of learning activity.

The future of the Web_s impact on learning will hinge on all these levels of use--individual, classroom or workgroup, and societal or cultural appropriation. The Web will continue to support constructivist learning as people fall into the habit of turning to the Web to solve learning problems. Classrooms and workgroups need good access and opportunities to publish their own work and contribute to the Web_s content base. The cumulative effect of individuals and group practices begins to change a culture. In the last ten years, we have only glimpsed the cultural changes at work through the Web and related global exchanges.

We do know that the Web, as a major breakthrough innovation, is here to stay. It is already a potent tool for learning for those who have access to it and make use of it. Our best hope is that we come to adopt the Web appropriately into our everyday learning pursuits, as we actively seek to make sense of our worlds and continue in a lifelong commitment to learning.

References

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Savery, J. R., & Duffy, T. M. (1996). Problem Based Learning: An Instructional Model and its Constructivist Framework. In B. G. Wilson (Ed.), Constructivist Learning Environments: Case Studies in Instructional Design (pp. 135-148). Englewood Cliffs NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Wilson, B. G. (1997). Reflections on Constructivism and Instructional Design. In C. R. Dills & A. J. Romoszowski (Eds.), Instructional Development Paradigms (pp. 63_80). Englewood Cliffs NJ: Educational Technology Publications. Available: http://www.cudenver.edu/~bwilson/construct.html [May 16, 2000]

Wilson, B., & Ryder, M. (1996). Dynamic Learning Communities: An Alternative to Designed Instruction. In M. Simonson (Ed.), Proceedings of Selected Research and Development Presentations (pp. 800-809). Washington D. C.: Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Available: http://www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/dlc.html [May 11, 2000]

Wolin, S., & Wolin, S. (1993). The Resilient Self. New York: Villiard Books.

Authors

Brent Wilson (Web: http://www.cudenver.edu/~bwilson) and May Lowry (email: may_lowry@ceo.cudenver.edu) are both professors of Information and Learning Technologies, University of Colorado at Denver.