Vygotsky goes online: Learning design from a socio-cultural perspective

Abstract

Student centred online learning courses are often designed according to a socioconstructivist approach. Socio-constructivist approaches are proposed to be a blend of the theories of constructivism as well as those of socio-culturalism. Although this is a commonly held view, Vygotsky proponents believe that the two approaches are fundamentally different. According to Vygotsky environment should be the starting point for learning, and that the student-centred learning should be designed within the Zone of Proximal Development. Vygotsky theories are the basis of problem based learning, cognitive apprenticeships which are frequently used in online courses, but there is very little in the literature that provides practical examples of how fully online courses can be structured based on these sociocultural theories. This paper proposes how this can be done and provides examples from an online course.