Social+Constructivism

I like it when you are re-introduced to something you have read about before. At the MoodleMoot the idea of social constructivism was re-introduced to me. I think it came from Thom Cochrane's presentation on Mobile Moodle.

I have always been a fan of constructivism theory - whereby learning/understanding is a process of construction.

Some of the theorists include: **John Dewey** (which links to one of my favourite books of all time - To Kill a Mockingbird), **Piaget**, **Lev Vygotsky**. I read a lot of Piaget and Vygotsky during my MEd in relation to reading and learning.

What I like about **social constructivism** is that it reinforces the idea of learning __together__, that is - not as an isolated person. The best thing about teaching Yr 13 English is the discussions on what we have read/watched. They are social constructivism in action - we come to conclusions and understandings by pasting together our individual understandings. This is why I don't like the concept of 'learning guides' where learners work alone and there is no (little?) place for interaction with other thinkers/earners. If you think about reading, a child can not learn to read on their own - they need an expert to help them. If you think about trade apprenticeships, you can read all you like about building, but it's not until you are on the job with someone more expert than you that really learn about building houses.

Collaboration is emphasised as an important 21st century real-world skill so it seems to me we should be giving more not fewer collaborative learning opportunities in our schools.

Social Constructivist Theories Theories of Learning What I did not get from the MoodleMoot were many examples of Moodle as a facilitator of Social Constructivism. Most of the examples were of Moodle being used a repository of knowlegde/resources by teachers. (Yes, I agree that's a starting point.) Only Thom from Unitec showed examples of learners contributing to the knowledge using Moodle. (I suppose the Forum function also allows/encourages collaboration). So, at the moment it's hard for me to see that Moodle is going to meet my needs better (and more important from my POV, more easily) than the wiki the class is already using.
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