Most recent post

The powerful in the era of displacement

-
Image
  The powerful in the era of displacement The era of manual effort has become obsolete, overshadowed by a new phase where thoughts can be transformed into reality. The gap between an idea and its execution has vanished; you simply envision an outcome, and the system brings it to life. However, the true limiting factor is no longer skill, resources, or time, but rather human discipline . The world is now divided into two distinct paths: those who harness the system for their benefit and those who are controlled by it. For those who surrendered to frictionless ease , the sudden lack of a demanding workload plunged them into a collective waiting room, stripping away the "busy-ness" they once used to hide from themselves. In removing the friction of the daily grind, they traded their collective armour for convenience, and their edge vanished. Seduced by a " slow, insidious luxury ," this programmed class melted into a soft, passive hedonism. They became mere consumers ...
Post a Comment

Constructivist Learning and Moodle

-

According to Dougiamas (1998) as shown by the diagram above, the learning theory we call constructivism is a collection of several learning theories that continue to be developed.  Some of these theories (Critical (Kincheloe, 2008) and Cultural (Hutchison, 2006))  are more connected to the idea of constructivism as a philosophical/epistemological concept. 

Moodle is built on the constructivist theory of learning and in general, this aspect of Moodle is ignored. It is easy to overlook the theory and focus on Moodle as an object or a tool. Designing “how to” Moodle courses are easy to manufacture, easy to measure, and easy to assess but they are deficient in the development of a constructivist learning environment. It is important that online courses are not “content dumps” with little application to learning processes other than reading and remember.
The following slide “Future of eLearning Moodle Moot 2011” offers some insights to enabling a constructivist learning environment
Ignoring the theory of constructivism and focussing on the tools, places the "what you can do" over the "how to apply". In the end ignoring the constructivist theory, which is the platform of Moodle, diminishes the possibilities of a learning environment. Ignorance is dangerous as poor learning environments affect learning. This is a concern as many teachers who wish to move into eLearning place the learning of Moodle tools over the theories of digital pedagogy.

The “How to” approach to Moodle Tools results in a learning environment that sits within the lower realms of the revised Bloom's digital taxonomy. 



Moodle and Constructivism:


It is important that educators focus on the design of a constructivist learning environment as the first step into eLearning rather than focus learning on the Moodle tools as the first step into eLearning.

Dr. Seymour Papert
"Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Lab" by Dr. Seymour Papert is a good starting point when designing of a constructivist Moodle learning environment. I have employed the outlining points of Papert's 8 Big Ideas and applied them to creating a Moodle learning environment. This mashup is as follows;
  • Learn Moodle tools whilst creating the desired learning environment.
  • Use the Moodle technology as the building material and constructivism as the architectural design.
  • Learning is hard fun so is designing an online course.
  • It is important to apply learning to learn principles when employing Moodle to create an online course.
  • Anything worth learning takes time and the application of constructivist theory to an online course is well worth the time.
  • You can’t get it right without getting it wrong. Take a risk when applying Moodle tools and reflect on the risk.
  • Change your learning style to how we expect students to learn. Take on the learning expectations and practices of the 21st Century.
Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Lab by Dr. Seymour Papert can be accessed via http://stager.org/articles/8bigideas.pdf
Seymour Papert on Learning how to Learn









You Tube

Portrait of an ambitious artist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd5lX43Vr1Y&list=PLXaHuXMcUMrjaPAqivadtvlfkum9Qfe0G Read more: One-off sponsorship: https://www.paypal.me/bennettJJFB

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Toxic Weight of Waiting

-
Image
  The Toxic Weight of Waiting The atmosphere has thickened. What was once a room defined by walls and chairs has dissolved into a toxic haze, an environmental manifestation of a mind under siege.  She no longer sits; she kneels, anchored to the floor by an invisible gravity. Above her, the "toxic air" takes shape as a looming, jagged shadow infused with high-velocity greens and burning volcanic reds. It feels less like smoke and more like a predator, a towering silhouette of anxiety that has finally outgrown the space. The colours vibrate with a sickly, chemical heat, turning the very oxygen into something thick and sharp. In this room, the silence has become deafeningly loud. The fractured light from the previous moment has bled together, creating a suffocating shroud that blurs the line between the physical world and an internal fever dream. The momentum hasn't just stalled; it has been swallowed. She has diminished, huddled in the eye of this psychic storm, a solitary ...
Read more

The Ethereal Ascent

-
Image
  The Ethereal Ascent The air in the room is violently still, creating a heavy pressure. She has long stopped looking at the clock, realising that time here is not a sequence but a weight. The waiting room has fractured; the mundane reality of plastic chairs and linoleum flooring splinters into a jagged, stained-glass fever dream. High-pitched frequencies of burning red and sickly blues vibrate as if hardened walls, echoing the frantic noise of a mind that has run out of distractions. Every sharp edge of colour feels like a spiritual siege, a sensory reminder that her momentum has been forcibly halted. There is no use in pacing. There is no use in resisting the authoritative hand of the "in-between." To survive this stall, she must stop fighting the current and become part of the stagnant water. She looks out, as if just awakened, and does the only thing left to recollect. She breathes. She waits. She waits for the shards to align once more. Be Creative and Innovative wit...
Read more

I am sealed in this capsule

-
Image
  I am sealed in this capsule The transition from the static concrete of that waiting room to the pressurised cabin of this jetliner changes the entire physics of my wait. I’m no longer pacing floors or slouching into plastic seats; I've been sealed inside a capsule, and soon to be hurtling through the sky toward China. Now that I'm finally buckled in, my restlessness hasn't disappeared, but at least I’ll soon gain altitude. I look around and can see exactly how this emotional shift plays out in other lives. There is an initial sense of order and quiet relief. I see the neat rows of seats, the soft symmetry of the aisle, and the steady, reassuring presence of the flight attendant, offering the illusion of control. The ceiling washes into soft, atmospheric blues and teals. I imagine the sky outside. I can feel the collective breath of a hundred passengers all transitioning into the same forced pause. For a moment, my world feels structured, clean, and neatly aligned. I know ...
Read more