Interpretive analysis of an internet-based course constructed using a new courseware tool called Moodle

Abstract

In 2001, the authors conducted an Internet-based postgraduate course called “Constructivism” at Curtin University of Technology, for a diverse group of teachers engaged in professional development through distance learning. The defined learning goals for students of the course were: (i) to learn about constructivism; (ii) to reflect critically on their own learning; and (iii) to learn collaboratively by engaging others thoughtfully and empathically. The second author constructed the web site using a new open-source courseware system called Moodle, developed by the first author. This paper summarises an interpretive study designed to understand and represent the learning experiences of the students and ourselves. Our motivation was to investigate links between the participants’ experiences and the web site. Our intention is not only to improve the quality of this postgraduate course, but also to improve the ability of Moodle as a tool to create online courses that embody and further develop our social constructionist pedagogical framework.