MacVenture: An iPad Application Design for Social Constructivist E-Learning

Abstract

Several countries are beginning to introduce computer science education at an elementary school level in response to the increasing demand of technologically skilled workers. In the transitionary period of establishing the curriculum and expectations, there is an opportunity to revolutionize certain aspects of the teaching and learning process within the classroom. In many ways, we can use technology to enhance this experience. For teachers, it can automate repetitive tasks, as well as provide immediate feedback on class progress. For students, it can offer engaging interfaces, helpful hints and innovative ways to collaborate with one another. To put this challenge and opportunity into context, we review what is known about learning theories, and survey existing applications. A large majority of these applications support behaviourist learning styles, what most would call "traditional" teaching methods. Much like pen and paper drill exercises, they reinforce information previously presented to the user for passive consumption. This is in spite of the fact that academic researchers strongly favour constructivist and especially social constructivist methods. In fact, this perpetuates a known gap between theory and practice in education, and may be contributing to the lack of adoption within the classroom. MacVenture is an iOS application designed to facilitate social constructivist teaching styles by allowing students to create gamebooks for themselves and for their peers by incorporating material from across the curriculum. This work outlines the structure and design of MacVenture, presents examples to illustrate the range of uses it supports, and discusses proposed future developments to enable new methods for collaboration among peers, and new motivational and analytical tools for teachers.