Comparison of International Baccalaureate (IB) chemistry students’ preferred vs actual experience with a constructivist style of learning in a Moodle e‐learning environment

Purpose Constructivism is a way of knowing where learners collaborate, reflect and use their own experiences to construct new knowledge. This paper aims to evaluate whether an open source Moodle e‐learning can deliver an instructional model using constructivist learning theories in an International Baccalaureate chemistry class. Design/methodology/approach A review of the literature shows that students’ learning outcomes online are likely to be better when their actual learning environment closely matches their preferred or ideal learning environment. An online learning survey was administered to the students towards the end of their two‐year course and the Wilcoxon signed rank test used to measure the difference between the student's actual and preferred experiences with the online activities that used constructivist theories. Findings The findings showed that the activities provided by Moodle do foster a constructivist approach to learning and can provide students with the types of learning experiences they desire. However, their effectiveness is to a large extent dependent on the teacher's role in designing and directing the online learning experience. This is significant because it implies that for an online learning environment to be successful, a strong pedagogical strategy that emphasizes a constructivist approach needs to be consistently emphasized and practiced; having the technology tools available does not guarantee this. Originality/value This paper's findings show that constructivism as a learning theory can be translated into practice, and used to design and deliver online learning experiences that provide students with a style of learning they prefer. However, the extent to which this is successful depends on the teacher's role in designing and directing the online learning experience. This is significant because to be successful a strong instructional strategy shaped by the beliefs of the teacher emphasizing a constructivist approach needs to be consistently emphasized.