I really enjoyed this article. Before reading it, I was a strong believer in Constructivism/Inquiry Based Learning because on the surface, it seems as though Constructivism allows the students to perform their own research on a topic and reach conclusions together. As pointed out in the article, this is an assumption that can easily be made, but most often is not true. When students participate in a classroom using Constructivism, they are having to create meaning on their own. This can be a daunting task, when the teacher could just share information with the students instead of waiting for them to discover it. The Reflexive Pedagogy allows teachers to share the knowledge they have, but also provided students the opportunity to share what they know. Commenting on post by others allows for the sharing of ideas. Finally, peer reviews allow for constructive feedback on assignments before submitting the assignments to instructors for grading. This collaborative approach allows for student growth, as well as, the growth of students for evaluating the work of others.

• Christina Mitchaner

Mary and Bill, I enjoyed reading this article about the shift towards reflective pedagogy. It is truly fascinating to me to witness how technology-supported learning has revolutionized the educational landscape and profoundly transformed the role of teachers in supporting learners to be active creators and contributors within their educational journey.
The main takeaway for me is that this new paradigm highlights the importance of personalization of learning by allowing learners to become architects of their own knowledge and experiences. Furthermore, this approach emphasizes co-designing learning, recognizing learners as active partners in shaping their educational pathways according to their interests, pace, and unique strengths. Additionally, the connection between reflective pedagogy and higher-order thinking connects the application of knowledge in real-world contexts.
As we navigate this era of digital learning, we're witnessing a metamorphosis in education where learners evolve from mere consumers to active generators of knowledge. I look forward to reading more about this topic.

• Raquel Acedo Rubio

Raquel,

I think you captured the essence of the article and of CG Scholar. This is the second class I will be taking using CG Scholar and after taking many online classes, I cannot say enough about how much I enjoyed the class and the opportunity to personalize my learning to topics that interest me. I initially struggled some with navigating the website, but once I figured it out, things went smoothly. I am looking forward to learning more through this class!

• Christina Mitchaner

Thanks Raquel, glad you found this useful!

• William Cope

Post pandemic has been a turning point in K-5 schools and beyond worldwide. Education is no longer within the boundaries but also within our communities. Cope and Kalantzis mentioned crisis leads to the evaluation of practices. There needs to be a more formal plan in place for schools to be better prepared for something like this situation in the future. Although, is the world more prepared for future wars, disasters, and pandemics? Are our educators ready and prepared for future crises? Are educators really preparing students to be active learners who harness collaborative intelligence, and celebrate differences for a better future? To be ready for the challenges ahead of us, we need to rethink how we adjust and observe.

• Nancy Rafati

Nancy,

I think elementary teachers are doing a better job of preparing students because they are more aware of what might happen should another crisis occur. Most classrooms now use Google Classroom as a way to share some assignments with students. Many online platforms are being used to provide students with differentiated instruction. Although I agree that using a platform like CG Scholar would be ideal should we need to resort to remote learning again in the future, I believe it will take a great deal of teacher training to prepare students for that type of learning. I am not saying it is not possible, but many teachers would need to shift their mindset before it could happen.

• Christina Mitchaner

Is this resource available in digital format?

• Pablo Florez

Yes it is Pablo, see the PDF embedded in this update.

• William Cope

Hi Mary and Bill,

A fascinating summary of how to look at what is going on (and what isn't) in today's digital education. As I think about the transition required from my own discipline of medical education, the following statement you made stuck out to me:

Reflexive pedagogy recommends a repertoire of instructional practices, didactic in some moments, constructivist or connectivist in others. None of these approaches is simply wrong; they just need to be supplemented. Reflexive pedagogy sets out to balance a range of learning activities, designing learning sequences where activity orientations are alternately experiential, conceptual, analytical and applied (Cope & Kalantzis, 2015b). This is the basis for what we call “complex epistemic performance,” or learning that goes beyond factual answer and correct application of procedures—creative thinking, critical thinking, and design thinking for instance.

So, as content-rich disciplines like the biological and medical sciences evaluate the societal need to move from didactics which, more often than not, focus on conveying the necessary content underpinning the discipline, and, perhaps because of its sheer volume (estimates are that medical knowledge doubles every 70 days!), the *fear* of those involved in instruction is that we will *leave something out.* Yet, what it should be evoking in us medical educators is the need to prepare the future physician, veterinarian or dentist, etc for the day when the content we taught them is no longer valid. What should remain though is the ability to rediscover information, judge its quality, and use the same skills learned and modelled in a more constructivist learning environment to solve the clinical problems of the future, and also to function in the collaborative environment of a professional clinical practice and community. Learning about giving and taking peer critiques, collaborating on the best patient care, etc. is all a part of that.

The challenge in a medical curriculum is finding the time for this seemingly imprecise and so far, tough to measure, type of learning. Well, while you know I personally believe that such students should be introduced to the professional version of such constructivist and connectivist approaches early in their curricula, there are those who might argue that there is just too much basic knowledge that a future medical professional needs to understand before engaging meaningfully in more constructivist and connectivist experiences. As someone who taught both early and late in veterinary curricula, I could see though that, left to just long-standing didactic approaches (the lecture, and test cycle, as you note), the understanding is, at best, fleeting, minimal, and often, left of the context of more practical experiences later in a medical education.
Duncan Ferguson

• Duncan Ferguson

Thanks for these insightful comments, Duncan - a change is gonna come, as the song says.

• William Cope