EXPLORATION

In any kind of activity be it an online learning activity or any other kind of study, understanding ones context and all that is involved in it is very crucial because am drawing on constructivist and situative learning theories which involve exploring and negotiating meanings. In this section therefore, I will present the context, lecturers, students, content, theories of learning and the learning design model that I have adopted for this online learning design.
 * Exploration **

**Context, lecturers and students.** The present day Makerere University started in 1922 as a Uganda Technical College. In 1935, it became the center for higher Education in East Africa, 1949 saw it becoming an affiliate college of the University of London. Fourteen years later, it became a constituent college of the University of East Africa on June 1963 and thereafter an independent U niversity on 1st July 1970 (cf. Siminyu, 2007). The vision of Makerere University is to be the leading institution for academic excellence and innovations in Africa, and her mission is to provide innovative teaching, learning, research and services responsive to National and Global needs. Makerere University being the oldest and most prestigious university in Uganda, it is the first choice of university applicants. As a result, there are increasing student numbers annually. In in 1992, Makerere university had 6352.Eight years later, the students population was at 23000 (Centre for Basic research 2002/3:2), and the Observer news paper reports that, the figure stand at 40,000 in 2011(Observer May 2001). According to the acting Vice Chancellor of Makerere, Prof. Baryamureeba, the figure is likely to go up to 100,000 students by 2015.When it comes to the department of Religion and Peace Studies, when I lecture, the numbers are not any better. According to Hajji. Abdu Katende, the head, department of Religion and Peace Studies, by the end of the last academic year (2010/2011), and the department was serving a total number of about 2000 students with 14 staff members on ground. In my class of the Old Testament 1: The Pentateuch, I have about 600 students who are divided into three groups of 200students each. Such large numbers have lead to unrealistic learner educator ratios and this also has come with a package of challenges. One among others is that, educators are overwhelmed with big numbers and humanly speaking find it hard to interact with their students. Therefore, there is limited interaction between fellow learners and there are also low levels of interaction between learners and educators. Besides, the Mujaju report stipulates that everyone must possess a PhD in order to be given the title of a lecturer, besides that, publications are a must as it is in all other institutions of higher learning (publish or perish). This has seen many members of staff turn into globe trotters as either PhD students or paper presenters at conferences. This only affirms the point I have made before that interaction between educators and learners is limited mostly to official class hours. As a result, students end up being frustrated because they most of the time do not manage to grasp concepts in class yet even after class no one is very available to guide them through.The niche I have identified however is that most of my students are active on different social networks such as facebook and twitter. As a matter of fact, we have a Face-book group at URL: [], where we discuss issues related to class content and results in the New Testament course. A survey has also indicated that my students have access to internet through their mobile phones and relatively cheap internet cafes. On the side of the educators, most Makerere university lecturers have access to a computer either in their offices or at least in a general computer pool restricted to educators. In most cases, those who are PhD students are given project laptops and in most cases their internet dues are paid for by their funders. The lecturers normally use internet services for reading emails and in some cases for socialisation through social networks like facebook. Out of the 14 members of staff in my department, 7 are my FB friends and time and again we have interacted using the page. This is a good sign that actually the lecturers are familiar with the use of internet for social purposes. Therefore the fact that both lecturers and learners have access to internet connected computers or phones, an online learning design becomes a worthwhile venture. This position is informed by Dabbagh and Bannan-Ritland who acknowledge the importance of the vast knowledge and experience possessed by an online developer towards a successful online learning (cf. Dabbagh and Bannan-Ritland 2005:113). Therefore, based on my vast experience within the context and content, I have provided a web-based space of blogs for interaction between students and their peers plus the lecturers of Old Testament. This initiative is also in line with the Makerere University ICT policy [], which encourages lecturers to adopt the use of ICTs in their teaching.**Content**The discussion is centered on the theme of creation in an Old Testament studies 2nd year course at Makerere University Uganda. Students will first be introduced to the two biblical creation accounts (Genesis 1-2). The students will also be introduced to theories of creation according to science, myths of creation from African Indigenous knowledge systems and the Ancient Near East e.g. Mesopotamia. The aim of this course is to help students understand creation from multiple perspectives. At the end of the course, ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍students should be able to take a position on what they think creation is from their context.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ cf. Course Outline: [] Given the challenges of large student numbers and consequently inadequate interaction between learners and educators, ICTs specifically the tools of blogs and wikis to mediate learning have been adopted. The blog will be used to provide the platform for more interaction and consultation and the wiki will make available multiple sources and content for students to consult from and engage with. In the end, students should be able to take a position on whether creation is a mere myth or a reality and also explain the processes it underwent from the perspectives of religion, science, African beliefs and the ancient near eastern beliefs.

The theories of learning informing this Online learning design are both constructivist and situative. **Constructivist** Even though the constructivist theory dates many years back, as a learning theory, it is said to have received attention in about the past ten years (Phillips 2000, Richardson 2003). Whether it is a theory or simply a model of learning remains a point of debate which will not be followed up here in this work (Phillips 2000, Thompson 2000). Since it has guided many constructivist pedagogies, in this work, the constructivist is considered as a theory of learning and not a mere model and therefore its definition will also be in that view. Richardson quotes Resnick as defining Constructivism as a “theory of learning or meaning making, that individuals create their own new understanding on the basis of an interaction between what they already know and believe and ideas and knowledge with which they come into contact.” (Richardson 2003:1623-1624). According to Piaget (1985) the mechanism of learning is the process of equilibration, in which cognitive structure assimilates and accommodates to generate new possibilities when it is disturbed based on human's self-organizing tendency . For Piaget therefore, “knowledge proceeds neither solely from the experience of objects nor from an innate programming performed in the subject but from successive constructions.” (Fosnot 1996). The constructivist approach is premised on the view that “whatever gets in the mind has to be constructed by the individual through knowledge discovery” (Hung, 2001 citing Piaget, 1960 and Bruner, 1990). Hung quotes Dewey who argues that “Knowledge is not a mental state; rather “it is experience relational of things; and it has no bearing outside such relations’” (Dewey, 1910/1981:185 in Hung, 2001: 282). Human knowledge is socially constructed, and its interpretation depends on socio-cultural context through which it was constructed (Hung, 2001). Thus in an authentic context, ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍learning happens in stages, it proceeds from assimilation, accommodation and finally reaches equilibration.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Similarly, I want my students to reach a point of equilibration by being able to construct their own Knowledge with regard to creation. To help them do this I have opened a blog spot using the word press tool at http://bit.ly/qTFrqG. This space will be used for interaction and exchange ideas on creation making reference to multiple perspectives which are presented in a wiki-space:[] Situative learning theory is a social theory of learning in which “communities of practice” are formed by people to engage in collaborative learning and in a shared domain of interest through interacting and learning together. Communities of practice are referred to as groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (Wenger, 2006:1). The theory is also referred to as a Community-based learning theory. Situated cognition is premised on the views that there is no absolute truth and that there are multiple interpretations of knowledge (Dabbagh 2005). According to Hung “Situated cognition implies that the activities of person and environment are parts of a mutually constructed whole (Hung, 2001: 284). As a theory, it draws from Vygotsky, Leont’ev, and Dewey. The basic tenet of situated-cognition is that it emphasizes the notion of participation in social practice that is not restricted to face-face interactions with others (Cobb, 1995:5) In situated learning, learning takes place in the same social context in which it is applied. With regard to this course, as a community of practice i.e. second year Old Testament students, of Makerere University we seek to understand what creation is. Thus, in this case we are a community of practice situated in a particular university context. The learning design model ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍adopted ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍in this online learning design is the <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Integrate Learning Design Framework (ILDF) by Dabbagh and Bannan-Ritland (2005). <span style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The ILDF is structured in three major phases which include the exploration, enactment and evaluation phase. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In the exploration phase, I have investigated and documented issues concerning context, content and all this has been done in consultation with others who have been involved in the creation of this online learning design such as my follow lecturers and the students. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In the Enactment stage I have mapped out information and data gathered in the exploration stage to the existing pedagogical models. Based on the characteristics for the ILDF, I have identified and implemented effective instructional strategies online. Such has included the decision to the choose blogs and wikis as the ICT tools that can mediate a successful interaction between the educators, content and the learners.Lastly, in the evaluation phase, I have considered the relationship between available results and desired results. Consideration for this will also inform the need for revision cycles that will in the end results in effective implementation and informative results. Say in this case, the questions will be: How has the online learning environment provided the space for learners’ conception of the concepts on creation? These among others will be considered. My design has therefore followed the three phases of the systematic development of online learning.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍My choice‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ of this integrate Learning Design Framework for online learning by Dabbagh and Bannan-Ritland is because the design provides a clear approach to the whole process a clear approach to the whole process of developing online learning environments (2005.110).Secondly, the ILDF for online learning is “a systematic and iterative constructivist based design process that can be used not only to develop meaningful instruction, but also to prompt a learning situation” (2005:114) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Thirdly the view that this ILDF has been successfully used in the development of university courses and single courses, I find it appropriate for my initiative to (2005:114) []
 * Theories of Learning **
 * Situative **
 * Learning Design Model **


 * References **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Centre for Basic Research, //2002/3//: “Makerere University Reforms: The Model and the Experience”, //Annual Report.//

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Cobb, P and Bowers, J. (1995) Cognitive and Situated Learning Perspective in Theory and Practice. //Educational Research,// Vol. 28 (7), 4-15. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Dabbagh, N., & Bannan-Ritland, B. 2005: //Online learning: Concepts, strategies, and application//. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Fosnot, C. T. 1996 (Ed.): //Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice//. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Herrington and Oliver (nd) Critical Characteristics of Situated Learning: Implications for Instructional Design of Multi-media Accessed 6 September 2011 @http://bit.ly/nu8Eua.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Hung, D Theories of Learning and Computer-Mediated Instructional Technologies. //EMI// Vol. 38 (4), 281-287.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Phillips, D. (Ed.) 2000: //Constructivism in Education//. Chigago: University of Chicago press.Piaget, J. 198: //The equilibration of cognitive structures//. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Richardson, V. 2003: "Constructivist Pedagogy". //Teachers College Record.// Columbia: Teachers College, Columbia University Press, Volume 105, Number 9, December, pp. 1623-1640Thompson, P. 2000: "Radical Constructivism: reflections and directions." In L.P.Steffe and P.W. Thompson, (Eds.), //Radical Constructivism in action: Building on the pioneering work of Ernest von Glaserfelt//, (p. 412-448), London: Falmer Press.Siminyu, 2007: Deployment of e-learning in a University: the case of Makerere University. [On line], [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The African Higher Education Project, 20011:http://bit.ly/ocQNyi, visited 8th September.//The Observer, Newspaper, May 2011 accessed 9th September 2011.//