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Subject: social constructivism

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Vanessa Scholes
Posts: 3
29/05/2007 10:08  
I noted David's comment in the chat session that he thought social constructivism probably underpinned the set of assessment principles that are suggested.

My understanding is that social constructivism sees learning as constructed across a group, at the level of a group understanding (rather than the level of the individual understanding - thus distinguishing it from constructivism); is that right? In which case, I wondered whether appropriate peer assessment would involve one group assessing another group's learning, rather than individuals assessing each other?

Just a question that occurred to me but that I wasn't quick enough to post up in the chat! :-)

Vanessa
David Nicol
Posts: 18
29/05/2007 10:14  
Thanks Vanessa, I said I was influenced by social constructivism and vygotsky but my real focus was on the development of learner self-regulation or autonomy in learning. Regarding your question - even if one grouup assessed another groups' learning they would still have to confer within their group therefore interacting and dialoguing. Hence this would also be a cross group scenario. Regarding peer assessment I know there are difficulties here but I am keen to promote peer feedback which is less threatening.
Mary Welsh
Posts: 12
29/05/2007 11:05  
Students may be
helped to dvelop self-regulation by comparing another group's response with their individual response and also that of their group (Boud's Closing the loop). Does the form of communal constructvism described by Holmes (2001) in which participants not only construct knowledge for their current group, but also leave 'evidence' for future groups, not allow for autonomy and a feeling of 'self worth' to grow as participants are creating something lasting.
Alice Lau
Posts: 2
29/05/2007 11:18  
Interesting, Mary. So it is a kind of feedforward for the group? But how would we do this in practice?
Mary Welsh
Posts: 12
29/05/2007 13:42  
The course on which I teach uses an e-portfolio system to support small group work. Students post responses in two stages. During the first stage individuals post a "thought asset" (comment) to a small group of peers and receive feedback. A small group synthesis response is then created out of the individual responses with responsibility for collating this taken on a rotational basis. The group response is then subjected to tutor feedback which all individuals may examine and reflect on. Group responses are archived for the year. We intend to use archived responses to provide exemplasr for students in successive years.
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