The link between particular VLEs and pedagogies is an interesting area,
and one which could be explored empirically.
It's certainly the case that Moodle can be used, and is being used, in
ways far removed from the social constructivist ideal - it is, as you
say, all down to the blend between comms and content.
I don't know enough about webCT and Moodle, but for me one of the areas
in which Moodle's unashamedly social construcitivist underpinning comes
to the surface is the provision of tools which allow users to create
course content, like its glossary, in which learners can add material
such as definitions, weblinks, pictures, FAQs etc, and its wiki, where
groups or cohorts can co-create and edit mini-website exploring aspects
of the course - do the 'pedagogically neurtral' tools provide this
functionality?
The schools situation may develop differently - the current thinking
from Becta is more concerned with 'Learning Platforms' as technology for
making content available, perhaps with some degree of personalization,
rather than providing communication and collaboration tools. For further
details, see
http://www.learningplatforms.org.uk/docs/learning_platforms_regime.pdf
and
http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/learning_platforms_leaders.pdf
Miles.
Sam Brenton wrote:
> "As Philip says Moodle does come from a constructivism background
> (which existed for some time before Moodle even was a gleam in the
> developers eye.... )"
>
> I've never bought this. PHP content management systems typically have a
> range of modules, and some of the better modules are associated with
> communications. But I cannot see how Moodle is more natively 'social
> constructivist' than, say, WebCT. In both you can have discussions, chats,
> surveys, feedback mechanisms... the balance between comms and content is the
> choice of the designer in both. The navigation and structure are similarly
> flexible. The teaching methods are not constrained by one system more than
> another.
>
> WebCT used to say (maybe still do) that they were 'pedagogically neutral'.
> This is edu-marketing speak for "appealing to the whole market" but is in
> fact closer to the truth of any e-learning system.
>
> I'd be very interested to hear the arguments for the constructivist nature
> of the system, over any others. What can one do in it that is
> 'contructivist' that one can't in WebCT?
>
> Hello to list members by the way. I rejoined the other day after BB-WebCT
> takeover was announced so am very interested in all the options.
>
> - Sam
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