Constructivism and DDD-E Model

Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog. This week I am going to talk about the Constructivism and DDD-E Model.

First of all let's say some words about constructivism. Constructivism learning theory is a philosophy which enhances students' logical and conceptual growth, which argues that people produce knowledge and form meaning based upon their experiences. According to social constructivism learning is a collaborative process, and knowledge develops from individuals' interactions with their culture and society.  Constructivist learning theory underpins a variety of student-centered teaching methods and techniques which contrast with traditional education, whereby knowledge is simply passively transmitted by teachers to students.

What is the role of the teacher in a constructivist classroom?
The primary responsibility of the teacher is to create collaborative problem-solving environment where students become active participants in their own learning. From this perspective , a teacher acts as a facilitator of learning rather than an instructor. The teacher makes sure he or she understand the students' preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them.
In order to have a constructivist classroom every teacher should follow these steps:
1) To provide experience with the knowledge construction process. That means that students determine how they will learn.
2)To provide experience in and appreciation for multiple perspectives . In other words the evaluation of alternative solutions.
3) To embed learning in social experience , so to collaborate .
4) To encourage ownership and a voice in the learning process.
5) To encourage the use of multiple modes of representation, (video, audio, texts ect)
6) To encourage awareness of the knowledge construction process. ( for example reflection etc).

The biggest disadvantage is its lack of structure. Some students require highly structured learning environments to be able to reach their potential. It also removes grading in the traditional way and instead places more value on students evaluating their own progress, which may lead to students falling behind, as without standardized grading teachers may not know which students are struggling.

The DDD-E Model of instructional design has it's basis in multimedia instructional design. The Model stands for:
Decide
Design
Develop
Evaluate.
The decide phase focuses closely on overall assignment development . The subject , the learning standards and roles of team members are determined.
The design phase takes into account the stuctural integrity of the assignement.
The develop phase is when actual hard artifacts are created to support the framework built in the design phase. This is where video, audio and imagery are created and assigned to aspects of the design plans.
The evaluate is focused on assessment. This includes assessment for student progress through the assignment , completed student work and student engagement levels.