Running Head: INTEGRATING CONSTRUCTIVISM IN ONLINE CLASSROOMS

Integrating Constructivism in Online High School Classrooms to Motivate and Engage Students

Tara Rowland Boise State University

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Abstract This synthesis paper explores the constructivism theory in education and how it should be purposely used in the instructional design of online high school courses to engage and motivate students. Literature and research case studies are reviewed and synthesized to explain effective online course design with purposely integrated constructivism. The paper includes findings from studies that examine how online courses are too often designed with text-based content and lecture which limits student interaction with others, and provides little variation in the modes of content delivered. Specific topics are addressed for creating online courses embedded with the constructivist approach to motivate and engage high school students. Keywords: constructivist theory, online learning, motivation, engagement

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Integrating Constructivism in Online High School Classrooms to Motivate and Engage Students Online high school programs and courses are rapidly growing across the country; attracting students from a variety of academic experiences, student athletes, homeschooled, health challenged and at-risk students. Unfortunately, on average one-third of all high school students drop out of school before earning a high school diploma (Fall & Roberts, 2012). The majority of students provide attendance-related reasons (e.g., missing too many days to pass) for dropping out of school, while others report disciplinary or employment reasons. Nearly half of high school dropouts reported a lack of interest in their classes, and 69% stated they were not motivated or inspired to work hard academically (Abar, Abar, Lippold, & Manning, 2012). Many online programs enroll students but do not adequately serve to engage and motivate them, leading to unsuccessful academic success and withdrawals. Not all online course and high school programs are designed with constructivist student centered approaches. Participants in these courses find too often that their online experiences consists of text-based lectures, readings and writing assignments (Boling, Hough, Krinsky, Saleem, & Stevens, 2012). Many of these assignments limit students' ability to develop higher order cognitive skills and creative thinking. Constructivism theory in education can be used in the purposeful instructional design of student centered online high school courses to engage and motivate students, reducing the chances for dropping out. Motivating and engaging high school students in online courses should involve the following constructivist style embedded approaches; relevant, authentic and

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engaging tasks, collaboration, reflection, asynchronous and synchronous communication, and instructional and learner support (Majzub & Rais, 2010). Student Engagement and Motivation in Classrooms Almost one-third of all public secondary students in the United States each year drop out of school (Fall & Roberts, 2012). High rates of dropout affect individuals, families, and communities. Nongraduates are more likely to be unemployed, to earn less when employed, more likely to receive public assistance, to suffer poor health, and to have higher rates of criminal behavior and incarceration (Fall & Roberts, 2012). One of the strongest and most consistent factors found for predicting rates of dropping out of school relates to socioeconomic status. Also, adolescents from single parent families and those with high rates of residential mobility display a higher risk of educational failure (Pharris-Ciurej, Hirschman, & Willhoft, 2012). Additionally, studies have shown that children of parents who did not complete high school are more likely to perform poorly in school and eventually dropout, creating an intergenerational dynamic. Many students who drop out experience disengagement from school, but this ultimate decision has often been foreshadowed by other indicators of withdrawal, such as poor attendance and unsuccessful academic experiences (Majzub & Rais, 2010). It has been estimated that dropout rates for distance education are higher than those for face to face, or otherwise known as brick and mortar, high school programs and courses. Some studies have estimated that students enrolled in distance education are twice as likely to drop out as students in a brick and mortar high school (Willging & Johnson, 2009). Although there are many reasons why students drop out of high school courses and programs; there are some unique reasons for why students choose to drop out of online programs and courses. First, many students enroll in online programs with the belief that online school is a more convenient way to

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go to school and a softer, easier way to earn credits. This is most often not the case and surprises many students. Issues of isolation, disconnectedness, and technological problems also become more evident in an online classroom and may be factors that influence a student to leave. Online, students do not see or get to experience the presence of other students in the classroom; they are working from home or individually in a computer lab. One significant factor in online course completion is student motivation. From the results of a 2005 study to track student behavior, persistence, and achievement in online classes; students who withdrew after being in the course for a limited time were not sufficiently motivated to engage in online learning tasks to complete the course (Morris, Finnegan & Wu, 2005). In both face to face and in virtual environments, motivation is a main component of the learning environment and is found in two forms, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task itself or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on a task. For example, an intrinsically motivated high school student may work on a chemistry problem because finding a solution to the problem is an enjoyable challenge. Extrinsic motivation can be defined as external factors that stimulate learners, and the rewards provide satisfaction that the task itself may not provide. This does not mean that the learner will not get any pleasure from working on or completing a task. It just means that the pleasure they anticipate from some external reward will continue to motivate even when the task holds little or no interest. Extrinsic motivating factors can be seen in the behaviors of teachers, the interactions between teacher and students, learning topics, and teaching-learning strategies and processes. According to Selvi (2010), a questionnaire provided to participants in online courses examined what external motivating factors were present in those classes. The study found five important extrinsic motivating factors for students in online courses; the

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learning-teaching process, roles of instructors, participation and attention, online course environment/technical infrastructure, and time management. Other factors such as teacher’s enthusiasm and approachability, relevance of course materials, well-organized and planned class sessions, and teacher’s using effective instructional strategies, can extrinsically motivate students. The results of a study conducted by Majzub and Rais in 2010, that examined dropout prevention strategies, found several over-arching themes to engage and motivate students in online courses:      

developing safe and conducive learning environments relevancy and joy in learning developing challenging curriculum adopting a student-centered model focusing on important issues surrounding drop outs promoting active experiential learning

Many of these themes can be met through purposeful design of online courses with constructivism approaches to motivate and engage students; such as relevant and engaging tasks, collaboration, reflection, asynchronous and synchronous communication and support. Constructivism Constructivism is an educational theory about how people learn. It is based on a philosophy about how people come to know things. This theory asserts that students learn by constructing their own knowledge from understanding the world and reflecting from their own personal experiences. Thus, knowledge is constructed by the learner and is not passively absorbed from the textbooks and lectures. Both the learner and environmental factors are critical in the theory of constructivism because it is the specific interaction between these two variables that creates knowledge on the part of the learner (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). Implications for instructional design include specific strategies and methods that will move the

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learner into understanding and constructing their own meanings from the experience. Specific instructional design strategies utilized by constructivists include situating tasks in real world contexts, modeling and coaching students through assignments towards an expert performance, collaborative learning to develop and share alternative views, debates, discussions, relevant reallife examples in lessons and providing guidance through the constructive process (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). Effective Online Course Design to Engage & Motivate through Integrated Constructivism Online courses should be purposely designed to include constructivist characteristics in order to effectively engage and motivate learners and these need to include relevant, authentic and engaging tasks, collaboration, reflection, learner support, and synchronously and asynchronously participation and communication. In online course instruction students can actively participate, synchronously and asynchronously, in the given curriculum content or participate in learning activities at any time and at any place, where one only needs a computer connected to the internet. In addition, students in online courses potentially have more choices of their learning time and pace as well as objectives and learning outcomes (Chuang & Tsai, 2005). Learners in online environments are also involved in social interactions through asynchronous and synchronous communication tools. Social interactions can include modeling, coaching, debating, discussion, and collaboration; to explore, explain and create a sense of community and reflection on learning. These will lead to learner engagement and motivation within the online classroom. Constructivist based online learning environments should emphasize that learners draw from prior knowledge and share experiences with others through discussions and negotiations. Learners can justify and elaborate their meanings and share experiences with others through discussion, argumentation and negotiation. Instructional design of online courses should purposely integrate constructivism approaches into the curriculum

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lessons and include teacher support in order to provide meaningful, relevant, and engaging tasks as well as motivation for students. Participants in online courses that emphasized text-based content, individualized learning, and limited interaction with others, viewed these courses as being less helpful than courses and programs that were more interactive and incorporated the use of multimedia (Boling et al., 2012). In courses that offered little to no interaction with others, students reported feeling disconnected with their instructors, the course content, and their fellow classmates. These feelings all too often lead to disengagement and decreased motivation. Social activities such as texting fellow students and completing real-world assignments that require them to interact in their communities can increase a feeling of connectedness in the classroom and engagement (Bolin et al., 2012). Ways to foster a community within an online classroom includes building threaded discussion board assignments, group work, project based learning, and holding live lessons on webconference systems. Another approach to constructivism in the online classroom involves the use of relevant, engaging tasks for students. Constructivist instruction asks learners to use their knowledge to solve problems that are meaningful and realistically complex. The problems provide the context for the learners to apply their knowledge and to take ownership of their learning. Well-developed problems are required to stimulate the exploration and reflection necessary for knowledge construction. Teachers should be sure the online course curriculum has problems that include these principles; requiring students to make and test a prediction, the problem can be solved with inexpensive equipment, is realistically complex, benefits from group effort, and is seen as relevant and interesting by the students (Tam, 2000).

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The constructivist perspective relies heavily on collaboration among students. There are many reasons why collaboration contributes to learning. Students learn about learning not only from themselves, but also from their peers. Learners work and collaborate with each other and learn by combining their knowledge to solve problems and find solutions. When students review and reflect on their learning processes together, they can pick up strategies and methods from one another. Collaboration is another way to engage and motivate students in the online classroom. Students get a feeling for the presence of others in the classroom and this creates a sense of community. Collaborative learning also provides learners with the opportunity to test and refine their understanding in an ongoing process (Tam, 2000). Through student-centered learning, a constructivist approach, students control their own learning process, and they lead the way by reflecting on their experiences. This process makes them experts of their own learning. In an online classroom, the teacher should help create reflective situations where students feel safe questioning and reflecting on their own processes, either privately or in group discussions. The course can also be designed with activities that lead the student to reflect on his or her prior knowledge and experiences. Talking about what was learned and how it was learned is really important.

Encouraging students to pause and think

about what they're learning and why it's relevant to their lives is a critical piece to connecting the lesson objectives to what they observed in the lesson and part of a constructivist approach. This also connects the students to the classroom, engaging them in the process. In classrooms where students learn through individual reflection, interactions between the teacher and the students, and among the students themselves, are best practices in using constructivist design (Gordon, 2009). Teachers can use a variety of media and tools specifically made for reflective use within an online classroom, such as blogs, online classroom discussion boards, electronic journals, and

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audio interviews; asynchronous and synchronous communication tools. When students get to evaluate an online class, it is the interactions that they have had with the instructor and with other students that they often cite as the most important aspect of the class (Gordon, 2009). Similarly, when instructors are highly involved in the constructivist classroom through different modes of communication, students are engaged and motivated. Asynchronous tools allow people to connect together at each person’s own convenience and schedules. In a constructivist designed classroom, asynchronous communication can be conducted through email exchanges between student and teacher, questions written on assignments and submitted to the teacher, as well as discussion board and electronic journal postings. Synchronous communication tools enable real-time communication and collaboration and allow students and teachers to connect at the same time from different places. In online classrooms, tools used for synchronous communication include web conferencing programs (such as Adobe Connect, Blackboard Collaborate), web 2.0 tools, and instant chat programs.

In a study conducted by

Selma Vonderwell (2002) to explore asynchronous communication perspectives of students in online courses; students pointed out that the online environment gave them the opportunity to ask more questions to the instructor. Students mentioned that they worried about the way other students perceived them when asking a question in a face-to-face classroom. This was a deterrent factor for a lot of the students to communicate their questions or ideas in the face-to-face classroom. To continue supporting, motivating and engaging students; teachers should respond fairly quickly to email questions and exchanges and contribute to class discussion boards. For instance, teachers can motivate and scaffold instruction through email exchanges, respond within twenty-fours to student emails, and post feedback to the whole class and to each student on

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written assignments and discussion board postings. Instructor guidance and support as well as peer support are important for communication and learning in a constructivist designed classroom. Teachers need to help students construct meaning out of the lesson and their learning, and to design instruction so that students see the tasks as relevant and engaging. Instructors need to be aware of barriers that can create a communication gap in learning environments in the online classroom. These include time delays in responding to students in email communications and discussion board postings, and delays with providing feedback on assignments. Barriers can be overcome with effective, deliberate planning, and strategies for improved communication between instructors and students and between students and themselves (Vonderwell, 2002). Results from a study conducted by Fall and Roberts in 2012, found that when teachers show interest in students, praise their efforts, and contribute to community building within the school; they directly influence students’ perceptions of self and nurture students’ levels of school engagement. Conclusion Nationally a third of all high school students drop out. According to the Department of Education, the United States secondary school graduation rate is the lowest the rate has been since 2002 (Picciano & Seaman, 2010). Online high school courses and programs are attracting students in greater numbers every year. In a 2007 national study of school district administrators, the number of students enrolled in at least one online or blended course in American K-12th grade schools was estimated at 700,000. In a 2009 follow-up study, the estimate was 1,030,000 students (Picciano & Seaman, 2010) Unfortunately, research on high school dropout rates have found that students

taking online classes are twice as more likely to drop out of a class than if they were enrolled in a brick and mortar classroom (Willging & Johnson, 2009).

The reasons for academic failure and

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dropping out are similar between brick and mortar and online classes. However, more students drop out of online classes due to disengagement and poor motivation. This often happens because online classrooms are text based and lack variety in instructional tools and assessments. To combat this disengagement and dropout rate, online courses need to be designed away from text heavy readings and limited variety in lesson material and assessments. Online courses need to purposely include relevant learning tasks, a student centered environment, and social interactions to engage and motivate students. Selvi (2001) studied student motivation in online courses and found that the learning-teaching process, competencies of instructors, participants’ attention, online learning environment/technical infrastructure, and time management affected motivation in the online courses. Research studies and analysis have found that designing online high school courses with a constructivist approach will increase engagement and motivation for students, and lessens the chances for academic failure and withdrawals. To accomplish this, teachers and instructional designers must purposely embed constructivist, student centered approaches within online course curriculum, delivery methods, and communication tools.

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