The cornerstones of constructivism are student participation and the social interaction of learners. How, then, can a constructivist teacher create opportunities for students to interact with one another in courses taught entirely via the World Wide Web? The instructor of the on-line courses listed below found that the key to building this constructivist on-line classroom was to structure the assessment of the course in such a way that student participation and interactions were required. Within this poster session, this constructivist instructor demonstrates the use of Net Forum discussion pages within several on-line courses. These Net Forum pages were utilized by students to post critical reviews of professional literature, present topics and hold discussions during on-line conferences, and to create solutions to problems of authentic practice within the health care profession. The pages enabled students to exchange information, brainstorm ideas, and contribute to othersâ learning. At the same time, the forum pages helped build collegiality among the course participants.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR THE ASSIGNMENTS

Critical Reviews:

• Encourage students to read text information and provide a check to see if students did perform the assigned readings
• Replace in-class discussions of course topics with on-line discussion groups
• Stimulate higher-order thinking about course topics by asking students to reflect upon past experience and to apply knowledge gleaned from text readings

• Promote class discussion on an instructor-selected topic OR
• Promote class discussion on a student-selected topic

• Encourage students to discuss topics beyond the scope of the course text
• Enhance the research skills of the students
• Enhance the web search skills of the students

• Enhance student skills in separating relevant from irrelevant information
• Enhance the research skills of the students
• Enhance the web search skills of the students Promote cooperative learning (distribution of labor, consensus-building