CONSTRUCTIVISM IN MASS HIGHER-EDUCATION - A CASE-STUDY

Constructivist educational principles suggest that educational environ ments should provide learners with personal control, authentic learnin g contexts, and diverse personal interactions including collaboration, How can such constructivist values be applied to mass Higher Educatio n! Traditional methods cannot achieve it with large student numbers bu t computer-based media are scaleable and may support constructivist le arning. A new course for nonscience undergraduates provided an opportu nity for a constructivist design using the World Wide Web, email, and video. The design of the course, its implementation and evaluation are described. Authentic assessment was critical. Web forms and e-mail su pported some necessary personal interactions, but collaborative work w as problematical.