Evaluating Asynchronous Discussion as Social Constructivist Pedagogy in an Online Undergraduate Gerontological Social Work Course

Abstract

Our design-based research project used constructivist grounded theory methodology to determine if specific pedagogies used in an online gerontological social work course stimulated learners’ critical reflection and reflexivity. The purpose of our study was to describe the learning that occurred in response to an instructional design based on social constructivism and to identify strategies for improving the instructional design in future iterations of the course. Our analysis focused on two specific pedagogies that are grounded in social constructivism; the asynchronous discussion and the use of problem-based learning to better understand how learners construct meaning and to determine whether these pedagogies are effective means of stimulating critical reflection and reflexivity. Social work education scholars have suggested that critical reflection and reflexivity are higher-level cognitive operations that are conducive to learners’ developing capacity for anti-oppressive social work practice with older adults.    Â

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