Constructing Knowledge through Online Bulletin Board Discussions

Within the field of education, and in particular educational technology, dominant paradigms of instruction include active, interactive, constructivist, and student centered approaches as opposed to passive and teacher centered approaches to learning and teaching. There is hardly much argument as to the relevance of such constructivist approaches in the contemporary world. It is no more a question of whether we have enough information, but of what critical and analytical skills we need to sift out relevant information from the huge barrage of information churned out of the pervasive information communications technologies (ICTs) of our time, and how to construct meaningful knowledge to enhance human life. Within such constructivist learning environments, digital ICTs are deployed to enhance the best possible methods. This article aims to provide an overview of the meaning and theories of constructivism, and to further illustrate the concept with a case study of using an online bulletin board in a university undergraduate course.