Research

Design Principle 2

Design Principle: Social Constructivism

Summary

Social constructivism emphasises the importance of culture and context in understanding what occurs in society and constructing knowledge or technologies based on this understanding.

Authors

- Herrington, A, Herrington, J and Mantei, J,

- Kim, B.

- Williams, R, and Edge, D

Reference frameworks

The instructor is a facilitator; to enable learners generate knowledge based on their socio-economic realities. Thus, in our Covent Garden project, we learners have generated knowledge to design the project. On the other hand, the design of the project is that through multiple technologies and devices, Covent Garden is open to multiple interpretation of varied users regardless of time and space.

Tips (Challenges, Limitations, Trade-offs, Pitfalls)

- Based on this, social constructivism, technology does not develop according to an inner technical logic but is instead a social product, patterned by the conditions of its creation and use. Thus, the justification of the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT).

- Technology is dynamic and different, it thus changes as interests or interpretations change. Williams, R, and Edge, D. (1996) argues that possibilities of `interpretative flexibility' (i.e. of `choice') seem endless…. actors create the world anew and implying that technologies (and social systems generally) are highly malleable to local actors.

Connections

Higher level principles

- Provide multiple representations of reality, which avoid oversimplification

- Focus on knowledge construction, not reproduction

- Present authentic tasks (contextualising rather than abstract instruction)

- Provide real world, case-based learning environments rather than pre-determined instructional sequences

- Foster reflective practice

- Enable context- and content-dependent knowledge construction

- Support collaborative construction of knowledge through social negotiation, not competition

Lower level principles

- The project should identify social constructs (diversity among users)

- The project should identify central constructs (Priority among users)

- The project should identify various usages (to the varied users)

- The project should identify the actual problems and strategies

- The project should identify appropriate/ user-friendly technologies (Interactive technologies and mobile learning technologies, online and offline technologies)

References

- Herrington, A, Herrington, J and Mantei, J, Design principles for mobile learning, in Herrington, J, Herrington, A, Mantei, J, Olney, I and Ferry, B (editors), New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, 2009, pp, 129-138. https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1089&context=edupapers retrieved 27/June /2019

- Kim, B. (2001). ‘Social Constructivism’ In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Zurich: Jacob’s Foundation. Posted on: https://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf Retrieved 25/June/2019.

- Williams, R, and Edge, D.,‘The Social Shaping of Technology’ In Research Policy Vol. 25, (1996) pp. 856- 899. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222482133_The_Social_Shaping_of_Technology Retrieved 27/June/2019