Constructivist Pedagogy in Asynchronous Online Education: Examining Proactive Behavior and the Impact on Student Engagement Levels

摘要

Asynchronous learning environments have gained popularity over the past decade and have rapidly gained acceptance in both the academic and business worlds. This study investigates the impact that student characteristics of proactive behavior and learning style preference have on student engagement levels when a collaborative learning process such as a constructivist pedagogy style is employed by a professor. Results indicate that gender plays a significant role as proactive behavior directly impacts the level of engagement for women but not for men. When this factor interacts with a preference for active experimentation learning style the effect is significant only for men. An analysis of the findings and their practical implications are discussed.