Philosophy

Like others CMS's, the design and development of scorm.ro is guided by a particular philosophy of learning, a way of thinking that you may see referred to in shorthand as a "social constructionist pedagogy" (soft education mumbo jumbo.

We explain in simple terms what that phrase means by unpacking four main concepts behind it: constructivism, constructionism, social constructivism, connected and separate. Each of these is summarising one view of an immense amount of diverse pedagogical research so these definitions may seem thin if you have read about these before.

If these concepts are completely new to you then it is likely that these ideas will be hard to understand at first - all I can recommend is that you read it carefully, while thinking about your own experiences of trying to learn something.

Once you are thinking about all these issues, it helps you to focus on the experiences that would be best for learning from the learner's point of view, rather than just publishing and assessing the information you think they need to know. It can also help you realise how each participant in a course can be a teacher as well as a learner. Your job as a 'teacher' can change from being 'the source of knowledge' to being an influencer and role model of class culture, connecting with students in a personal way that addresses their own learning needs, and moderating discussions and activities in a way that collectively leads students towards the learning goals of the class.