Environmental Education Research

Abstract

As online courses become increasingly popular, course designers are searching for ways to create learning experiences that move beyond content acquisition to incorporate meaningful interactions among learners and between learners and instructors (cf. Alexander, Schallert, and Reynolds 2009; Illeris 2007; Sfard 1998). Interactive theories of learning would support such experiences, including theories focusing on how students construct knowledge through processes of assimilation and accommodation (Piaget 1952) and how participants move from an inexperienced to skilled member of a community of practice (Lave and Wenger 1991; Rogoff et al. 2003; Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder 2002). Related theories focus on the social, cultural, and historical contexts of learning (Lemke 2001), and on the importance of reciprocal interactions among learners’ behaviors, capabilities, and surrounding environment (Bandura 1977).