2 Responses

1. Constructivism
   Frank
   Try this site for a more straighforward explanation of constructivism:
   http://www.artsined.com/teachingarts/Pedag/Dewey.html
   Guided constructivism is when the trainer/facilitator guides someone towards meaning, often by a series of questions or carefully crafted experiences.
   The term constructivism has become popular again recently with academics and in some educational circles but isn’t widely discussed, in my experience, in the training context. So well done for raising it!
   I used to cover these ideas in a programme on adult learning over ten years ago, so the concept isn’t new. There are a number of areas of cognitive learning theory (and social learning theory) that perhaps deserve more prominence, especially in relation to training design and the facilitation of participative learning.
   All the best
   Graham

2. Reponse to Graham
   Graham,

   Thanks for the info and the well done!

   I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently on both guided constructivism, collaborative learning, Bloom’s Taxonomy & other philasophical, phsychological and educational learning theories.

   My conclusion so far (and it ay seem a bit cheeky) is that all the hours spent by academics to come up with complicated ways of saying things and ways to disect approaches, amounts to one thing…

   … a good trainer should be using a combination of approaches dependant upon delegate mix, material, time and available resources.

   Infact, I’ve spent some time relating the theories to my own practice on one particular course I delivered repeatedly over a 12 month period. I was in and out of a numer of different theories often in one session because it helped develop the skills, knowledge & attitude of the delegates.

   Anyway… thanks again for the response.

   Kindest

   Frank