Introduction:
John Dewey is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential educators of the twentieth century. His beliefs that education must engage with and enlarge experience (Smith, 1999) can be found as an ideal around which Constructivist educators rally. His concern with interaction and environments for learning (Smith, 1999) are echoed in contemporary education as well. This paper will explore some of the learning issues originally identified by Dewey, and examine them in light of Constructivist thinking. Finally, applications to adult learning on-line will be identified.
John Dewey:
John Dewey was an educational reformer and philosopher whose prolific writings have widely influenced twentieth century educators; his work has frequently been misrepresented and misunderstood, as well. (Smith, 1999).
Dewey saw education to be a necessity of modern life. “As societies become more complex in structure and resources, the need of formal or intentional teaching and learning increases.” (Dewey, 1916a, p.5).
He also foresaw the need for reality and meaning in learning, for, “there is the danger of creating an undesirable split between the experience gained in more direct associations and what is acquired in school. This danger was never greater than at the present time.” (Dewey, 1916a, p.5).
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Dewey (1916b) appreciated the importance of experience in the processes of thinking and learning. Experience…”involves change, but change is meaningless transition unless it is consciously connected with the return wave of consequences which flow from it.” (Dewey, 1916b, p.1).
He emphasized that experience could not be considered separately from one’s environment, especially the social context of the environment. “I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child’s powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself” (Dewey, 1897, p.1).
His pragmatic view of education claimed “an essential feature is to maintain the continuity of knowing with an activity which purposely modifies the environment” (Dewey, 1916c, p. 6).
This ongoing experience of interaction with one’s environment is the basis for growth and renewal of the individual across the life span. Perhaps one of the earliest proponents of lifelong learning, Dewey observes, “the most notable distinction between living and inanimate things is that the former maintain themselves by renewal” (Dewey, 1916a, p. 1).
Constructivists:
A contemporary framework for change in education comes from Constructivists. One foundational principle of this viewpoint involves the premise that learners actively construct their own knowledge (Kearsley, 2000a).
Their approach to learning involves the actual experimentation or manipulation and testing of ideas that promotes a self-motivated experience and process of learning reality (Strommen & Lincoln, 1992).
This seems a refinement of Dewey’s earlier emphasis on the importance of experience in the process of learning. “His work lays… the foundations of a constructivist epistemological program, which starts from the relation of knowledge to action” (Vanderstraeten & Biesta, n.d., p. 4).
Furthermore, constructivism echoes Dewey’s recognition that the learner’s experience must be drawn from within his/her known environment. As the dominant paradigm shifts to a post-positivist view, Dewey’s pragmatic philosophy and the Constructivists’ blend. “There is no reality without experience. And there is no reality which is not affect by this experience. Every act (also an act of knowing) creates a new reality” (Vanderstraeten & Biesta, n.d., p. 3).
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An additional principle guiding Constructivists recognizes the importance of sociocultural aspects in the experience of learning, for “powerful gains are made when children work together” (Strommen & Lincoln, 1992, p. 2).
Learners benefit from the interaction with others in the process of creating and developing their learning, determining its accuracy and exploring various applications (Palloff & Pratt, 1999).
This also seems to reflect Dewey’s concern for the impact of the social interaction within the experience of learning.
Finally, modern educators recognize and emphasize the importance of an attitude that values lifelong learning. Though not restricted to any particular pedagogic stance, when one examines the tenets of the constructivist approach to learning, this ideal is certainly implicit. From Dewey in the nineteenth century, to futurists such as Drucker (1994), ongoing relevant learning throughout life is acknowledged as a necessity.
Dewey’s concerns for democratic values, his interest in reflective thought in learning, and philosophic work on social conditions have implications for all educators, though they are not as directly related to the framework of constructivism. However, we are able to find seeds of Dewey’s ideas coming to fruition in the fields of constructivism, and must realize that many of his concerns at the turn of the last century remain unresolved at the turn of the next century.
On-line Learning:
Dewey endeavored to change education beginning in the late nineteenth century. And yet, the process of teaching has not changed substantially since that time (Strommen & Lincoln, 1992); in fact, “education practices are woefully outdated” (Negroponte, Resnick & Cassell, n.d., p. 1).
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When considering the education of adults specifically, “these classes, for the most part, remain untouched by new visions that revitalize education in the younger grades” (Weber, 1999).
As on-line learning develops, especially for adult learners, ideas from John Dewey and from the Constructivists seem valuable to consider.
On-line learning is characterized by the physical separation of instructor and students, connected and mediated through computer technology, and in which the process of learning is centered in the learner (Chapman, 1998; Palloff & Pratt, 1999).
Adult learners are typically described as preferring to learn experientially and when the topic is of immediate value; they also prefer to approach learning as problem solving (Kearsley, 2000b).
The needs of adult learners are encompassed in the constructivist approach to learning and reflected in Dewey’s concerns for relevant, active learning. On-line learning may serve the adult learner well, if it designed from a constructivist orientation that employs both active and interactive learning (Palloff & Pratt, 1999).
The adult learner is the embodiment of the lifelong learner, envisioned by Dewey and advocated across contemporary society.
Conclusion:
“The shaping of a future for education depends on the choice of a past” (Chou, McClintock, Moretti, & Nix, 1993).
Understanding past approaches to learning not only assists the contemporary educator to learn from “past mistakes”, but fosters an understanding of the depth of modern issues. Dewey called for changes in education that remain relevant, and under-addressed in the 21st century. Some of his ideas have been developed and refined by constructivist thinkers, and have direct application to adult learners undertaking on-line learning.
References
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