Exploring media blends for constructivist learning in open and distance and e-learning (ODeL) environments

Abstract

There is a paramount need for online university education to effectively contribute in the development of students' ability to construct and create new knowledge. Online learning should thus go beyond the production of knowledge for knowledge's sake, but should result in relevant and meaningful learning on the part of the online learner. In addition, online learning ought to result in the application of knowledge to practice. While gains made by constructivism and observational learning are well documented, research addressing online media blends that best encourage constructivist and observational learning in open and distance and e-learning (ODeL) contexts is limited. In addition, guidelines that can be used by online learning facilitators and policy makers regarding media for constructivist and observational learning were lacking when this research was conducted. The research was deemed significant in contributing to the development of an online learning framework that could be used to guide policy formulation and practice in the area of online course implementation in ODeL institutions.

Using an explorative qualitative approach, this study explored online media blends for constructivist and observational learning. The study comprised three phases. The first phase was a meta-ethnography study whose objective was to synthesise previous research theses in order to gain an understanding of lecturers' and students' experiences of online media, constructivism and observational learning. The second phase consisted of a phenomenological study conducted at the University of South Africa, to explore lecturers' experiences of online media in the facilitation of constructivism and observational learning. The final phase of the research was the development of a framework based on constructivism and observational learning to guide online teaching and learning.

The findings of this research study revealed that lecturers did not use media blends to a large extent in their interaction with students. The study indicated that some cognitive processes need

to be exercised on the part of the facilitators when online learning is offered. It is concluded that during the curriculum planning phase, lecturers should decide on methods and media to arouse the students' attention during online courses. This also implies a more reasonable lecturer­ student ratio because large numbers of students per lecturer is not feasible in online learning.