Working Paper:
Constructivism or instructivism: Which online pedagogy?
By Kazue Masuyama
Written for Sensei online benkyookai on September 15, 2005

PowerPoint Presentation: Full Version
PowerPoint Presentation: Short Version

Introduction

     The integration of technology into teaching has been increasingly recognized as a powerful way to enhance learning among students. Many university classrooms have been transformed into “high tech” rooms equipped with a variety of multimedia devices. A number of venture companies have produced not only high quality software programs for education, but also various course management tools such as WebCT and Blackboard. As a result, instructors have begun to incorporate multimedia presentations and Internet resources into their daily teaching. Course management software programs have enabled instructors to develop web-based curricula, perform assessments and grading, moderate synchronous and asynchronous discussions, and develop multimedia and interactive resources.
     What types of technology are likely to be beneficial to learning foreign languages? What sort of learning has been taking place by the use of technology? What are effective pedagogical approaches in order to maximize the learning? The quest for seeking out the answers began in the summer of 2002 at California State University, Sacramento. I was highly motivated to integrate technology especially into the first year language courses because of its class size and student demography, where I had to accommodate more than twenty-five students, whose ages range from late teen to seventies, with diverse socio-economical, cultural, linguistic, and academic backgrounds.
     In this online presentation, I mainly focus on online instructional approaches since we practitioners are always interested in seeking out ways to deliver the content to the learners. These days, the terms such as “constructivism” and “Instructivism” are commonly used when people discuss the teaching and learning in various fields of study. First, I would like to discuss how the terms constructivism and instructivism have been used in online teaching and learning environment. Then, I describe online instructional approaches that I have implemented in my daily teaching in the past couple of years. Lastly, I would like to share my students’ comments and survey data.

My introduction

     I grew up in a little town called Sagamiko, a border town of Tokyo, Yamanashi, and Kanagawa. After having a MA at the University of Oregon, I worked at four universities and two US based school districts as a language instructor and specialist. After obtaining a doctoral degree at State University of New York at Buffalo, I have been teaching at California State University at Sacramento (CSUS). My journey of using technology began in the Spring of 2002, when I had very little knowledge and skills in computer technology. So I participated in a number of university-sponsored training workshops and began to work with Ms. Andrea Shea, online specialist at CSUS. I converted all my courses (elementary to advanced courses) into web-enhanced Japanese language courses using a course management system called WebCT. This attempt has been actually working very well especially for the first year Japanese language classes where I usually have an average of thirty students in each session. We also developed “Usagi-chan’s page” to enhance WebCT courses. For more info, please visit my web page.
     In this benkyookai, I would like to share some thoughts on online pedagogy. I am a new explorer of online pedagogy and my report is a work in progress. For those who know a lot of online pedagogy, please join this benkyookai. The title of the working report is: “Constructivism or instructivism: which online pedagogy?“ Any comments and suggestions are all welcome. At SenseiOnline 44th Benkyookai (Study forum), Harrison sensei presented social constructivist approach in detail in his presentation “Online Communities for Teaching Japanese”. I highly recommend you go back to his well-written article and discussion script.

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