An extended Cyberhunts strategy: Learner centred learning-by-design

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to introduce to the education community to a newly developed 'Learner Centred Learning-By-Designing Extended Cyberhunts' (LCLBDEC) strategy for teaching and learning in schools. The main focus of the strategy is to enable learners to become designers of an educational tool which assists them to learn during the design process, and also can be used by other learners or students to get a better understanding of a topic. It is suggested that the strategy assists learners to clarify misconceptions that they might have and that it allows them to address aspects in the curriculum when there is not enough time to do so in class. During the initial stages of the strategy, learners are exposed to teacher designed Cyberhunts, a strategy that can be used to introduce learning by design to novices. As the learners become more computer literate, they become the designers instead of the teacher. Learners search for information online on a topic or theme and then are not only required to create questions on as many different cognitive levels as possible, but also to compose a complementing memorandum. The strategy is not meant to be in competition with WebQuests and other similar approaches, but should be seen as an additional information communication and technology (ICT) strategy to complement those that already exist.