Basic Principles of Constructivist Instructional Design (1 of 5)

A constructivist design process is guided by some general principles or guidelines that are based on a constructivist theory of learning. Constructivism believes that each individual learner is responsible for constructing their own knowledge (Jonassen, 1994). A basic assumption of constructivism is that people are active learners that manipulate information and interact with others to construct what they learn and understand. Jonassen believes that "purposeful knowledge construction may be facilitated by learning environments which present authentic, real-world, case-based learning environments, rather than pre-determined instructional sequences"… Constructivism believes that learning outcomes are not always predictable, and that 'instruction' should foster, not control, the processing of the learner". (p. 35)

This type of instructional design model does not include an explicit model for prescribing the sequence of instructional events because the designer assumes that the knowledge construction process is very much dependent on the context; thus, the experiences, perceptions and specific context that each individual brings to the learning opportunity provides the structure for how knowledge will be accessed and constructed. (Jonassen, 1994).

Researchers have spent the last decade attempting to outline explicit guidelines for instructional designers that foster constructivist learning. Most recently, Willis (2000) suggests a set of three general principles or guidelines for instructional design that are based on a constructivist theory of learning. Like Jonassen (1994) and others, Willis explains that knowledge is dependent on context and "trying to follow detailed specific rules of design is discouraged because each context is unique" (p. 9). To achieve a constructivist model, the designer should work from these three flexible guidelines or principles "that are subject to change and being overruled, from cases and exemplars we find in others, and from our base of experience" (p. 9)