A Constructivist Approach to Teaching Web Development in Post-Secondary Vocational Settings

Abstract

Vocational education by its nature has a need for delivery methods that place a strong focus on the relationship between school and work and seeks to deliver instruction in a manner that bridges the two as seamlessly as possible. This paper presents a curriculum and constructivist-based in- structional delivery approach, designed to emphasize a strong school-work relationship, for a four-year degree in Web Development developed for a vocational training institution. The in- structional outcomes for such a program are distinctly different from traditional software engi- neering and other computer -specific programs and require a different approach to curriculum development and instructional delivery, which focuses on the unique needs of vocational stu- dents. At the same time, such programs should strive to emulate the best practices, educational values, and, to the extent possible, the curriculum of traditional programs. The educational pro- gram presented here employs a spiral sequencing of course material, presented using the con- structivist approach of goal-based scenarios, in order to emphasize the applied, skill-building na- ture of vocational instruction. Many authors have discussed the benefits of a constructivist ap- proach to vocational education (i.e. Brown, 1998), while others have called for its increased use in computer science related education (i.e. Connolly & Begg, 2006). The current program adheres as closely as possible, given its vocational mission, to the latest rec- ommendations and guidelines concerning four-year degree programs in software engineering from the ACM/IEEE Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula.