It needs to be re-emphasized that constructivism is a theory of knowledge acquisition, not a theory of pedagogy; thus, the nexus of constructivism and online education is tentative, at best. Constructivism posits that knowledge acquisition occurs amid four assumptions:

1. Knowledge involves active cognizing by the individual.
2. Knowledge is adaptive, facilitating individual and social efficacy.
3. Knowledge is subjective and self-organized, not objective.
4. Knowledge acquisition involves both sociocultural and individual processes.

These four assumptions have led, indirectly, to eight primary pedagogical recommendations:

1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments.
2. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation.
3. Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner.
4. Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner's prior knowledge.
5. Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences.
6. Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware.
7. Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors.
8. Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content.

The question then arises, can an online medium support this pedagogy that is based on the constructivist assumptions. Below, each of the eight pedagogical statements is briefly addressed based on this question.

1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments. If authenticity were examined as an either/or proposition, then online education would fail miserably; however, authenticity is more a matter of degree than constitution. From this perspective, online education is potentially quite effective in providing virtual environments in which one can simulate real-world events. In order for online education to adequately satisfy this pedagogical statement the online environment must provide complex, culturally relevant, ill-structured domains within which the user can operate and "live." The use of virtual reality, simulators, and microworlds has focused on this concept. (Grade: A)
   
   
2. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation. Online education provides a unique opportunity for students to engage in social negotiation and mediation; unfortunately, until recently, social negotiation and mediation were constrained in the online medium. The use of both asynchronous (e.g., email, threaded discussions, listservs) and synchronous (e.g., MOOs, MUDs, IRCs, video teleconferencing) online communications allows for social negotiation and mediation to occur across both time and distance. (Grade: A)
   
   
3. Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner. Online education is capable of making vast amounts of very diverse information, knowledge, and skills available to the learner. In this sense, online education is quite capable of providing relevance as long as the learner is able to self-select a relevant topic, process, or skill. Where online education may have difficulty is in spontaneously adapting instruction to a change in student perspective. In a face-to-face meeting, when a student asks a question such as "How does this concept relate to my interest?" the teacher is able to adjusting the next response to the clearly fit the student's query; however, most online education interfaces are not flexible enough to handle this type of tailoring. This type of immediate tailoring is more available through synchronous than asynchronous environments. (Grade: B)
   
   
4. Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner's prior knowledge. This pedagogical statement is perhaps the most difficult for online education to handle. To address this statement requires a transaction to occur between the user and the online educational environment. In a synchronous environment mediated by an instructor, student's prior knowledge may be probed at the beginning of instruction and instruction may then be adjusted based on the feedback from the student; however, in an asynchronous environment, this type of probing and responding is less fluid and flexible. (Grade: C)
   
   
5. Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences. While online environments are capable of frequently assessing students during instruction, difficulty arises in using this formative assessment to guide further instruction. The reason for assessing students formatively is to make adjustments to instruction that take into account the student's current level of understanding. Instructors will often provide students with "self-check" quizzes that assess students during various parts of instruction; however, the use of these quizzes is usually marginal, providing feedback to students so that students have a better understanding of their learning. Rarely is this knowledge used to alter subsequent instruction. (Grade: C)
   
   
6. Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware. In most online education environments, self-regulation, self-mediation, and self-awareness are requirements for successfully engaging in that environment. Online education typically requires students to be more involved and more persistent relative to the educational environment. One aspect of online education that is currently lacking is educating the student in the processes necessary to successfully engage in online education. Students often begin an online educational experience with no instruction concerning how online education differs from tradition classroom education. This pedagogical statement is attainable, but is currently not being addressed adequately. (Grade: B).
   
   
7. Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors. While it is still possible for instructors to lecture and to use direct instruction during an online educational experience, it is not nearly as easy as it is when one is teaching in a classroom. As a result, one is likely to find less "instructing" and more guiding and facilitating in online education. In addition, online education can be effectively constructed to emphasize a facilitating role for instructors while students engage in simulations, web-based data collection, and ill-structured problem solving. The self-regulatory and self-mediated nature of online education promotes the instructor taking the role of guide or coach. (Grade: A)
   
   
8. Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content. Online education, especially with a diverse group of students, is ripe for the presentation and experience of multiple perspectives. Online education has easy access to international and culturally diverse resources, including diverse populations. With the passing of time, a greater amount of diverse articles (published and pre-published) and presentations are accessible online, providing students with the resources for multiple perspectives. (Grade: A)

Overall, online education provides the resources necessary for students to engage in rich and effective construction of knowledge. The key to online education and constructivism is not whether or not the potential exists, but rather, whether or not the potential will be actualized.

This presentation is available in a short version (MSWord or Acrobat pdf) or a longer version (MSWord or Acrobat pdf). The longer version of this presentation contains an extended bibliography that is not present in the online form or the short text version.