"A student's Europe: The constructivist approach to multimedia learning about integration"

Mazzucelli, Colette. (2003) "A student's Europe: The constructivist approach to multimedia learning about integration" . In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 2003 (8th), March 27-29, 2003, pages 37, Nashville, TN.

Abstract

This paper reasons that in a global environment there is so increasing need to assess the relevance of constructivist approaches to teaching about European integration. By drawing on literature and constructivist learning environments, its analysis focuses on the potential in trasnational community building via education. The paper's findings relay on several years experience establishing a learning community with a focus on conflict prevention in the Balkans as a dimension of European construction. This topic is particularly significant as we contemplate the implications of the Union's enlargement. The rationale for choosing synchronous tools (traditional reaching, audio talking room and PC videoconferences) and asynchronous tools (email exchanges, listserv dissemination, and threaded discussion forum) to create a transcontinental multimedia seminar is explained. The paper also questions the effectiveness of these tools to sustain a quality learning experience. In this context, survey data available in numerous student evaluations is interpreted. As a European public space emerges, this paper's objective is to shed fight on the challenges and opportunities e-learning may present for the younger generations, Europe's future leaders. Its analysis questions the likelihood of a possible future for the European Union that Stanley Hoffmann identifies as "between regional enlargement and global irrelevance."