Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

Constructivism is a theory of learning that states that past knowledge is the base on which new ideas will be built. This is in direct opposition to instructivism, which states that students have a ‘clean slate’ that must be filled with new ideas, mainly through instruction. 

The phrase ‘active learning’ is key when it comes to constructivism, rather than ‘passive learning.’ Constructivism allows students to focus on real-life scenarios, not only giving them live context, but also enabling practical application of new ideas to familiar situations. 

For constructivism to work, dialogue must be enabled and encouraged. The application of new ideas will present its own errors and experiments, and you should always give your students time to stop and assess what they are doing. 

Groupwork is a valuable part of a student’s experience as it gives them the opportunity to work with peers and develop more confident teamwork and communication skills (amongst many other skills). In the classroom this activity can take place by asking the students to sit together in groups or if in a lecture theatre type classroom form groups of pairs by row and then one pair turn around to form a four with the pair behind. You might ask the groups to find a space of their own and return to the classroom after a set time. In these smaller groups students can be asked to work on a problem, engage in discussions, or any other activity they can work on collaboratively.

Teaching in a hybrid in-person/remote model requires significantly more planning than teaching in the traditional classroom model. Tasks that were once quick, such as monitoring students’ progress during class and following up on late and missing assignments, have become laborious, and everyday activities like making sure that students have access to material from the school library and determining the best technology tools to meet students’ needs take a tremendous amount of planning. More than ever, it’s important that I use my time efficiently and allow myself time to recharge.