Implementing constructivist approach into online course designs in Distance Education Institute at Eastern Mediterranean University

Change and development in work settings for better working practice through projects has become essential. My work-based research has a significant role to contribute innovative practice of Distance Education Institute at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) by European University Association (EUA) norms. The research is aimed to investigate implementing constructivist approach into online course designs to develop learning and skills of the online students based on teamwork inspiration within the institute. Action research approach was employed in this qualitative research in order to provide insights on how to prepare and design online courses based on the constructivist approach. Training, in-depth interviews, documentary analysis, focus group, research diary and semi-structured interviews, self-report based on scaling were employed as data collection techniques to gather large amount of data from online tutors, students and core members of institute in relation to their collaborative efforts and experiences within the process. Furthermore, triangulated data was analyzed based on content analysis in this inductive journey. The results revealed that members and the tutors had no prior knowledge and experience on team work culture and the principles of constructivist approach into online course designs. As a result of this research process, team work culture was developed within the institute through participatory action research process. In this respect, implementing constructivist approach into online course designs based collaborative efforts and synergy power of the tutors developed reasoning, critical thinking, team work, communication skills of students. My project supported the quality improvements in online education practices within higher education institution.