David Jonassen (September 14, 1947 – December 2, 2012) was an educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in instructional design and educational technology. Although Jonassen is best known for his publications about constructivism, he also wrote about computer-based technologies in

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and learning with media as a 'mindtool', not from it.

Life and works

While attending the University of Delaware, he acquired a job as a television

cameraman A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not necessarily imply that a male is performing the task. ...

, which led to his interest in educational media, particularly how media technology affected instruction. He changed careers to become an academic and held professorships at

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, the

University of Colorado, Denver The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a public research university located in downtown Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. Established in 1912 as an extension of the University of Colorado Boulder, C ...

, and the

University of North Carolina, Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. It is accredited by the Southern Association of College ...

. From 2000 until his death he was professor of learning technologies and educational psychology at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

. He was named University of Missouri curators' professor in 2010. The title of curators' professor is a high honor for professors at Missouri. In his work, he became a leader in media and technology theories in instructional design by pairing it with constructivism learning theory. Jonassen was selected to become a Fellow of the

American Educational Research Association The American Educational Research Association (AERA, pronounced "A-E-R-A") is a professional organization representing education researchers in the United States and around the world. AERA's mission is to advance knowledge about education and ...

and was the first recipient of the AECT’s David H. Jonassen Award for Excellence in Research, an award established in his honor. He died on December 2nd, 2012, at the age of 65.

Constructivism

Jonassen was interested in media in learning and theorized that students learn "with media, not from media" and are in control of their learning, merging constructivism with educational technology.

Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in the Soviet Union in t ...

is founded on the idea that learning is an active process of exploration from multiple perspectives, resulting in knowledge being constructed from a personal interpretation of the experience. Jonassen believed this requires the learner to operate at a higher cognitive level. David Jonassen, ''Evaluating Constructivistic Learning'' (1991). He was also one of the first to envision technology as "mindtools," which posits that technology should be used to encourage individuals to learn "with" rather than "through" technology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonassen, David H. Educators from Missouri University of Delaware alumni Temple University alumni University of Colorado Denver faculty University of Missouri faculty 1947 births 2012 deaths