Chapter 7: Engaging and Supporting Problem Solving in Online Learning

Why is innovation in online learning necessary? Because the conceptions of learning in formal educational contexts that online learning emulates and those in everyday and professional contexts (what some refer to as the real world) are diametrically opposed. In schools, universities, and corporate training contexts, learning is knowledge-(content-) based, highly organized and structured by rules and abstract formalisms. Learning is conceived of as “knowledge acquisition,” which depends on how much “knowledge” was transmitted from online instruction to the learner. The knowledge that supposedly is acquired by learners is determined by an examination of the knowledge that did not leak out of the heads of the learners. This knowledge transmission paradigm assumes an absolutist epistemology where content is assumed to represent the truth (Jonassen, Marra, & Palmer, 2004).