Welcome to the HE 527 Unit 6 Seminar!

1. Welcome to the HE 527 Unit 6 Seminar! We’ll be starting our one-hour conference shortly…

2. Let’s start out with a fundamental question: what is the difference between “instructivism” and “constructivism”?

3. Instructivist approaches are: teacher-centered focus on content delivers mainly by lecture assesses mainly via exam or high-stakes papers motivation is primarily external, not internal

4. Instructivist Approach to Teaching and LearningStudents learn as a result of instruction, so they should be instructed in what to learn. Instruction should include regular lectures and structured textbooks, with sequential development and graded exercises and problems. Learning is a stimulus-response association that shapes desirable behaviors. Teaching strategies include feedback, reinforcement, review and practice. For example, drill and practice exercises or computer based training. Goal oriented learning: goals are structured into a learning hierarchy from lowest (memorization) to highest (analysis and synthesis). Learning tasks reduced into individual components. Tasks must be mastered independently and then assembled (task and skill analysis is carried out to break down skills into their component parts). Fardouly, N. (n.d.). Principles of Instructional design and adult learning. Retrieved from http://www.ferris.edu/fctl/Teaching_and_Learning_Tips/Teaching%20the%20Adult%20Learners/PrinciplesofInstructionalDesign.htm.

5. Constructivist approaches are: student-centered focus on process delivers mainly by student “construction” of their learning assesses mainly via project, exercise, or student research motivation is primarily internal, not external

6. Constructivist Approach to Teaching and LearningLearning is both an individual and a social process. Students decide what they need to learn by setting personal learning goals. Students construct for themselves meaningful knowledge as a result of their own activities and interaction with others (cognitive psychology). Learning strategies include: library research, problem and case-based learning, doing assignments and projects, group work, discussions, and fieldwork. Classroom teaching is a stimulus to the student’s real learning that mostly takes place outside formal classes. Unstructured classes with individualized activities, leaves for much discussion and optional attendance. Students engage actively with the subject matter and transform new information into a form that makes personal sense to them and connects with prior knowledge. Students are placed immediately into a realistic context with specific coaching provided as needed. Fardouly, N. (n.d.). Principles of Instructional design and adult learning. Retrieved from http://www.ferris.edu/fctl/Teaching_and_Learning_Tips/Teaching%20the%20Adult%20Learners/PrinciplesofInstructionalDesign.htm.

7. With the adult learner especially, a movement to higher orders of thinking and the involvement of the learner in his or her own learning is imperative. Experts like Malcolm S. Knowles were already exploring this philosophy and practice, called andragogy, in the 1960s and 1970s. (We explore this in HE 521.) This loosely maps to constructivism.

8. Learner-focused teaching involves concentrating on: the teacher as a guide, a resource, and a facilitator, and not as a source of power/authority learning as a process, not a product how to enhance learning the connection between the “real world” and classroom studies and activities learning as the primary responsibility of the student incorporating student ideas into the learning process cooperation, rather than competition among students the development of a learning community, rather than a competitive contest among isolated individuals motivation is primarily internal, not external

9. Here’s another question:How do instructivism and constructivism affect our assessment strategies?

10. Instructivism assesses via:homework or assignments examsquizzespop testsformal presentationsmajor papersThese are often in the form of “high-stakes” summative assessments.

11. Constructivism assesses via:discussionsprojectsportfoliosstudent-designed/-selected research or inquirycase studiesproblem-solving exercisesassignments with direct relevance to a career or profession or an applicationHigh-stakes” assessments are generally avoided, or broken up into a number of smaller, less threatening formative assessments, to encourage learning.

12. For discussion:Between the two of these approaches, which do you favor? And why is that?Or should there be a balance?

13. Finally: Is the Internet-based future of online education going to shift to…Connectivism??http://ryan2point0.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/instructivism-constructivism-or-connectivism/

14. Time for a brief discussion of your Course Project: do you have any questions, problems, or comments on that topic?

15. Thanks to all for your thoughts. Do any of you have any final questions or comments?

16. Thanks for attending the Kaplan UniversityHE 527 Unit 6 Seminar!See you online!