Educational technologies are pushing academicians to construct alternative theories for learning. The paradigm shift in higher education institutions (HEIs) refers not only to the departure from the traditional pedagogy, learning and education-management to modern; it also characterizes the changes within the e-Learning environments for teaching, learning and administrative purposes. This dimension of paradigm shift is described in terms of the progress from old-ICTs (information and communication technologies) to new-ICTs in three stages of traditional e-Learning, blended e-Learning and contemporary virtual e-Learning. The technological advancements in e-Learning are linked with the theories of learning like behaviourism, objectivism, constructivism and cognitive and social constructivism.
Objectivism believes that everything related to learning is predictable therefore; one learning-model fits all. Likewise, behaviourism gives priority to the stimulus response relationship in learning and underplays cognitive role therefore sees the learning environment as in objectivism. This is exactly like behaviour of scientific management where worker is taken as a part of a big machine called organization.
Constructivism advocates that reality does not exist out there objectively rather it is constructed by the human beings subjectively. It is not predictable in total rather most of it depends on the human interaction with the situation resulting into human perception (giving meaning), which in turn draws the picture/image of reality. The moves towards constructivism in higher education have been pushed by the emergence of universal connectivity through ICTs , which enabled the masses to globally communicate and most importantly access to the world knowledge resources through the advent of internet after 1990s. Given the access to broader sources of knowledge, contemporary theory suggests that collaborative learning is the most effective means of facilitating teaching and learning in digital environments.
Social constructivism is gaining foothold in higher education around the world because teaching and learning can now easily be undertaken as a social and community activity thereby propagating collective learning (social) along with individual (cognitive) with the help of traditional email/chatting and modern wikis, blogs, v blogs, RSS feeds and the list continues. For example, RSS is a format used to publish frequently updated works like blog-entries, new headlines, audio and video.
One can see that technology paradigm shifts have changed not only the computing practices but also the perceptions of society about technology. In this techno-economic paradigm, the user is increasingly seen as the origin of innovation. At the broader level, the paradigm shifts in e-Learning are characterized by objectivism, constructivism and social constructivism indicating different levels of “e-Maturity and progress in scholarship.
Objectivism / behaviourism
Traditional-computer-based learning is built around the realist/objectivist theories of knowledge, which assume that reading, watching videos or operating the digital gadgets refers to 'active learning'. In objectivist mode, learning occurs through the “instructor presenting the learner with the required stimuli along with the required behavioural responses within an effective reinforcement regime. The degree of learning is assessed through observable measures such as tests, assignments and examinations.” As a psychological theory, behaviourism emerged as a reaction to theories of mind in the late 19th Century, suggesting that mental processes cannot be understood without objective scientific methods like observational and quantifiable investigation as in the stimulus-response experiments. The objectivist teaching gives complete control of materials to the teacher who manages the pace and direction of learning thereby making learning a sequential process where there is a single reality about which the “learners display an understanding through declarative, procedural and conditional knowledge.”
Traditional e-Learning aims at promoting technical rationality grounded in objectivism. Under this paradigm knowledge is seen as a repertoire of actions elicited in response to specific environmental stimuli and does not exist in any sense outside this. In terms of knowledge delivery this often implies question and answer exercises with gradual increases in difficulty and frequent feedback, mainly positive and encouraging.
Constructivism
The constructivist theories of learning dominate today and propagate that learning is achieved by the active construction of knowledge supported by various perspectives within meaningful contexts and social interactions. These environments create engaging and content-relevant experiences by utilizing ICTs and resources to support unique learning goals and knowledge construction. The constructivists believe that there is no single version of reality, rather a multitude of realities situated within each learner. As such, learning is dependent upon the “learner’s ability to analyse, synthesize and evaluate information to create meaningful, personalized knowledge.”
With the emergence of collaborative technologies, it has been recognized that behaviourist models do not fit with contemporary teaching and learning environments, therefore current research is focusing “to develop models of constructivist computer-based instructional development. Constructivists contend that ICTs should not be guided by a technologically deterministic approach rather in the context of social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of using technology (Macleod, 2005). The effectiveness of the behavioural approach is questionable in areas that require comprehension, creativity and 'gray' answers.
The strength of constructivism lie in its emphasis on learning as a process of personal understanding and the development of meaning where learning is viewed as the construction of meaning rather than as the memorization of facts. Learning approaches using contemporary ICTs provide many opportunities for constructivist learning through their student centred environments based on their context. Given, that knowledge is constantly advancing; the design and development principles need to be aligned with teacher and students emerging requirements. The current trend in e-Learning is to provide cognitive tools, which can be adapted for intellectual partnerships among teachers and students and facilitate critical thinking and higher-order learning.
Cognitive constructivism
The cognitive constructivism gives priority to the cognitive powers of an individual. For example, the ‘learning-style’ of every learner indicates his/her cognitive trends. The developers of e-Learning face the challenges of producing systems, which accommodate individual differences such as nationality, gender and cognitive learning, style. The ICTs can play a supplemental as well as central role in learning by providing digital cognitive or adaptive tools or systems to support constructivist learning .
The design of computer-based learning environments has undergone a paradigm shift, moving students away from instruction that was considered to promote technical rationality grounded in objectivism, to the application of computers to create cognitive tools utilized in constructivist environments. Consequently in terms of instruction while there is still a requirement for memorizing and behavioural activities, there is a great emphasis on the instructor encouraging the student to appraise their own beliefs, challenge them in the light of new evidence and acquire new theories of the world which better fit the facts presented .
Since students vary in their cognitive or learning styles, they also benefit from those teaching techniques that appeal to their individual styles. Similarly, the rapid development of digital technologies in the emerging information society forces the individuals to command and employ cognitive skills in teaching and learning process. Thus cognitive learning is a product of the learners creating and testing their own hypotheses about the world realities, where data are processed according to the learners’ learning-style, preferences and “a dynamic process of personal trial and error” through the active engagement of the learner and cognitive participation of teacher.
Social constructivism
In contrast to cognitive-constructivism, ‘social constructivism’ emphasizes ‘collective-Learning’ where the role of teachers, parents, peers and other community members in helping learners becomes prominent. Social constructivists emphasize that learning is active, contextual and social; therefore the best method is ‘group-learning’ where teacher is a facilitator and guide. Social constructivists explain the technology-adoption as a process of involving social groups into the innovation process where learning takes place on the learners’ experiences, knowledge, habits and preferences. In contrast to traditional classrooms where teachers used a linear model and one-way communication, the modern learning is becoming more personalized, student-centric, nonlinear and learner-directed.
While cognitive constructivists believe that learning takes place through interaction with environmental stimuli alone, social constructivists argue that culture also influences the design and development of the learning models. It is necessary to move e-Learning beyond learning management systems and engage students in an active use of the web as a resource for their self-governed, problem-based and collaborative activities like using social software. The concept of social constructivism has been around since 1990s when research started on the interpretive in the design and development of computer-based information systems.
Furthermore, researchers argue that human-computer interaction (HCI) is social (users treat computers as other human beings) and not Para-social (users covertly interact with imagined others through the computer terminals as they do with the characters in mass media). Very few studies have investigated the student-computer interaction (SCI) and very little is known about the social aspects of SCI. This is a variant on constructivism founded on the premise that learning could not be separated from its social context therefore, while cognitive constructivists theorized that learning took place through interaction with environmental stimuli alone, but social constructivists felt that culture and language heavily influence the way the learners update their world models.
Along the continuum of objectivist/realist to constructivist modes of pedagogy, learners find changing learning environments. Under behaviourist model, students have to depend on teachers only. There is one-way communication and actions of teachers rather than their interaction with the students. On the other extreme of social constructivist learning environments, learners follow self-designed, self-controlled and socially collaborative learning-tracks. The middle stages of this continuum are characterized by a mix of both the absolute positions. Teachers still plays the dominant role but student is given the liberty of apply his/her cognitive powers to construct knowledge along with learning from teacher. Figure 1 gives a picture of this evolution and learning environments for the learners.
From transmitted to harvested knowledge
The journey from behaviourism to constructivism also characterizes the change in the way students acquire knowledge and skills. Objectivism transmits knowledge from teacher to student; cognitive constructivism gives negotiated knowledge, while social constructivism provides an environment where learners harvest knowledge through self-controlled learning platform (Gray et al., 2003). E-Learning encompasses a continuum of integrated educational technologies. At one end are applications like PowerPoint, which have little impact on learning and teaching strategies or the organization.
At the other end are virtual learning environments (VLEs) and managed learning environments (MLEs), which can have significant impact upon learning and teaching strategies and upon the organization.
Transmitted knowledge (traditional/objectivist)
Traditional e-Learning programmes are “didactic in approach - a form of transmitted knowledge” with “passive acceptance of well-cooked teacher’s knowledge” where teachers used “a linear model.” Transmission refers to one-way communication such as, radio transmission. Radio-listeners are on the receiving-end with the broadcaster in full control of whatever is transmitted. Similarly, those learning environments where there is teacher-led pedagogy, the students are the listeners and have to capitalize on whatever is transmitted because teacher has absolute control of the learning dynamics with a sequential process of transmitting knowledge.
Negotiated knowledge (blended – objectivist + constructivist)
The research tells us that by the 1990s e-Learning began to be supplemented by new media, particularly e-Mail and discussion groups/forums. For example, the existing e-Learning models of course ware were accompanied by a discussion forum where participants could read and post messages to involve in mutual support and debate – a kind of “negotiated knowledge.” Given the reported failure of traditional e-Learning, constructivist thinking emerged. In constructivist thinking, knowledge is created through active and collaborative involvement of the students where there is ‘negotiation’ on the content and context of knowledge thereby every individual creates or constructs his/her own knowledge-cache and integrate it with prior experience. There are four main mechanisms to motivate and encourage student participation in e-Learning environments, including personal access, personal reputation and social altruism and negotiated tangible rewards.
Harvested knowledge (social constructivist)
Soon after 1990s, Lemke (1993) predicted that “very soon all the libraries of the world will be one virtual library, all the databases on every subject will be available through a common interface and they will contain not just numbers and texts, but every visual and auditory form of information.” The contemporary e- Learning environments are loaded with very powerful digital models and devices particularly, the internet, which has revolutionized the way people, used to interact, exchange messages, teaches and learns. The web is increasingly equipped with millions of web-pages, site archives, portals, databases and much more for ascertaining a kind of “harvested-knowledge” where learners can learn by themselves by constructing or harvesting knowledge . At the moment, e-Learning is facilitated by web technologies and delivered through end-user computing, which creates interconnectivity between teachers, students and information thereby creating opportunities for social learning approaches.
In recent years, it has been recognized that e-Learning is not merely another medium for the transmission of knowledge but that it changes the relationship between the teacher or trainer and learner. It requires new skills, competencies and attitudes amongst those planners, managers, teachers and trainers who are going to design and develop materials and support learners online like blogs and wikis.
(The authors are with Veerayatan Institute of Pharmacy, Mandvi-Kutch, Gujarat.)