1. Effective Practice in e-learning
Sarah Knight Programme Manager,
JISC Development Group

2. Key Questions
How can we enhance current knowledge about what constitutes ‘effective’ practice in e-learning?
How can we support practitioners with their developments in the use of e-learning?
How can we promote the development of terminology that will improve understanding and sharing of practice in e-learning?
What are the current approaches to the design of e-learning activities and how can these be developed in the future to ensure that we are using sound pedagogical models?

3. e-learning Programme
JISC works with post-16 and higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and opportunities to use ICT to support teaching, learning, research and administration.
The JISC Committee for Learning and Teaching (JCLT) is funding a new e-learning Programme to run until August 2007.
The overarching aim of the e-learning Programme is to identify how e-learning might be used to facilitate and support learning and to advise on how these approaches might be effectively implemented.
The Programme focuses on four areas: e-learning and Pedagogy; Technical Frameworks for e-learning; Innovation and Distributed e-learning.

4. Some Definitions Communities across post-16 and HE:
Practitioners – whose role it is to support, facilitate and direct student learning
ILT Champions, e-Guides, educational developers and learning technologists
Staff Developers
Researchers into learning and e-learning
Developers of e-learning related software, systems and standards
E-learning – learning facilitated and supported through the use of ICT

5. A view of e-learning
A Model of e-learning and e-living, Killen, Davies and Smith, adapted from the e-learning Fan, B Powell/J Scribbins,
Demonstrating Transformation,

6. Effective e-learning? …or effective learning? Relevance Accessible Fun
Interactive
Engaging
Range of materials
Stimulate
Encourage feedback
Motivate
Enthusiastic teachers and receptive learners
Encourage communication – peer-2-peer and peer-2-tutor
Work at own pace
Differentiation
Individualised learning
…or effective learning?

7. e-learning and Pedagogy
Overall aim: to ensure that e-learning as practised in UK post-16 and Higher Education is ‘pedagogically sound, learner-focused and accessible’.
What this means in practice:
To provide the post-16 and HE community with accurate, up-to-date, evidence- and research-based information about effective practice in the use of e-learning tools.
To promote the application and development of e-learning tools and standards to better support effective practice.
Practical outcomes which are relevant to practitioners, researchers and developers.

8. Two related themes Designing for Learning (Practitioner focus):
Models of learning and e-learning
practitioner planning perspective
Understanding and moving on practice
Case studies of effective practice (14-19, FE, HE, ACL)
Evaluating learning design tools
e.g. Coppercore, Eduplone, LAMS, mindmapping…
Practitioner consultation (14-19, FE, HE, ACL)
Understanding my learning (Learner focus):
learner perspective and learner differences
Exploring the potential of e-portfolios
Mapping effective assessment for e-learning
Peer learning, collaboration and vicarious learning
Learner consultation (14-19, FE, HE, ACL)

9. Models of learning and e-learning
Explore how different approaches to (e)learning can be represented and shared.
Develop a general framework within which approaches can be evaluated and compared.
Model/represent a limited number of approaches within this framework
Provide tools to evaluate these approaches in specific learning contexts
Advice and guidance for practitioners on effective use of e-learning

10. Understanding and moving on practice
Explore how practitioners make effective choices about e-learning
Develop an understanding of how different resources support practitioners, e.g.
Case studies, examples, ‘stories’, video-clips
Guidelines, staff development materials
Tools (e.g. LAMS) and toolkits/planners
Practices e.g. mentoring, workshops
Investigate which are effective in practice:
Broad (e.g. survey, review of existing materials)
Deep (e.g. interviews, personal case histories)
Influence the way in which information/advice and guidance from the e-learning Programme is disseminated

11. … potential outcomes
lesson plans/learning designs for different environments
representations (e.g. video) of different approaches in use
an e-learning planning tool
a database of activities indexed to specific learning outcomes, contexts, or needs
re-usable ‘activity sequences’ e.g. for use in a LAMS-type environment
an online ‘knowledge garden’ in which participants contribute, refine and link e-learning concepts
materials for use in staff development, e.g. integrated into FPP modules
publication ‘Effective Practice in e-learning’ with supporting video clips for October 2004
development of more effective learning design tools and standards
new digital library functions and services …

12. Case studies of effective practice
Describe and evaluate a range of different approaches to e-learning:
in a range of organisational contexts:
14-19, FE, ACL and HE
Blended, face to face and virtual
using a range of technical environments:
specific uses of Virtual Learning Environments
use of Learning Design tools (e.g LAMS, ReLOAD)
use of modular tools (e.g. simulations, scenarios, activities, discipline-specific tools…)
Publication ‘Effective Practice in e-learning’ with supporting video clips
for October 2004.

13. Further evaluation studies
Further evaluated case studies
different technologies and contexts
Review of existing case study resources
build links with repositories, e.g Ferl, Jorum
Regional workshops on ‘Designing for Learning’
Evaluation of learning design tools, e.g. LAMS
usability
learner impact
effective sharing of designs and approaches
Learner consultation
towards the second theme, ‘Understanding my Learning’

14. Practitioner consultation
Opportunities to participate
through the experts’ working group
through consultation exercises (see delegates’ pack)
through workshops and focus groups (forthcoming)
Impact on programme
Feedback on outcomes of individual projects and studies
Interpreting outcomes and developing recommendations
Identifying priorities
Building links with other ongoing work
Taking part in further studies

15. Activity
What are the key ingredients for effective (i.e. pedagogically sound)e-learning?
Give an example of effective e-learning in your community
3 Priorities for the e-learning and Pedagogy Programme

16. Designing for Learning
Helen Beetham Consultant, e-Learning and Pedagogy

17. What do we mean by… Designing for learning (broad term)?
Designing, coordinating, planning, orchestrating and managing learning tasks as part of a learning session or programme
A ‘practitioner planning’ view on a learning situation, e.g. resulting in a lesson plan or a LAMS design
Learning Design (narrow term)?
A new IMS specification for sequences of interaction between learners and system components (compare LOM for content, PDPs/LR for learner data)
A sequence of interactions specified according to LD
Does ‘Learning Design’ in this narrow sense provide a good framework for understanding and supporting the process of ‘Designing for Learning’?

18. Why the interest in learning design?
Widespread adoption of designed, standards-based learning environments and tools
Pedagogical issues… appear to have been of secondary concern until now. JISC/UCISA (2003)
First generation VLEs do not obviously support innovative or diverse learning activities… [They are] strongly based around information transmission .. with little consideration given to the activities that the learners themselves might engage in Britain and Liber (2004)
Convergence of pedagogical research and practitioner education around ideas of
learner-centredness, ‘active’, constructive learners, outcomes-based teaching with emphasis on relevant tasks
Note that practitioners themselves articulate a need for discussion, conversation, ‘common terms’, while the DfES e-learning strategy unit wants to focus on ‘design tools’. Interesting dichotomy which we will return to.

19. Why the interest in learning design?
Practitioner demand (from consultation):
‘curriculum design’, ‘practical examples of learning activities’, ‘designing activities within VLEs’
(note the popularity of Salmon’s (2003) e-tivities)
‘a means of describing practice’, ‘a means of mapping theory onto practice’ ‘a means of mapping activities onto outcomes’, ‘a common set of terms for all of this’
E-learning strategy:
Engaging teachers and lecturers through simple e-learning design tools would bring them closer to experimenting with pedagogical design DfES (2003)
Note that practitioners themselves articulate a need for discussion, conversation, ‘common terms’, while the DfES e-learning strategy unit wants to focus on ‘design tools’. Interesting dichotomy which we will return to.

20. What is effective practice in designing for learning?
a process that is acceptable to practitioners, i.e.
supports or enhances their approach to learning
makes acceptable demands on their time and skills
effective outcomes for learners, i.e.
planned learning outcomes are achieved and/or
the learner experience (motivation, participation, enjoyment, collaboration) is enhanced
a means of sharing (and reflecting on?) practice
e.g. through sharable sequences, ‘designs’ etc
or through more explicit representation of practice
Reason for focusing on this framework specifically is that it addresses a number of questions we have already opened up.

21. Key tasks (from Review: e-learning models)
Define a range of practice models, i.e. distinct but comparable approaches among which practitioners, working in a specific context, can make an informed choice.
Ensure any framework or terminology has recognition and usability in the practitioner communities
Consider theoretical (explanatory) models insofar as these provide general frameworks for discussing, comparing and evaluating practice models (especially in relation to learner experience).
Map practice models to technical standards and specifications to ensure that future systems are compatible with the needs of learners and teachers.
Evaluate tools to support designing for learning
Focus on learning activity/task as the basic unit of modelling:
fits with conclusions from UKeU, CANDLE, Dialog+ and work at the OU (eLTN)

22. Designing for Learning (1)
Developing models and frameworks
apply
specific instances of e-learning in context
Building case studies
Descriptive framework (modelling tool)
Evaluation framework (evaluation tool)
apply
Framework with examples of effective practice
analyse
review
collate evaluate
Practitioner consultation & needs analysis
refine
generate
Models/descriptions of different approaches
describe
evaluate
Evaluated and enriched models/ descriptions

23. Designing for Learning (2)
Reviewing interventions in practice
Researching/evaluating interventions
Review of resources, toolkits and guidance
Research into effectiveness of different interventions
define elaborate
Review of learning design tools
Series of evaluations of tools in use
support develop evaluate
Tools, resources & standards to support & communicate effective practice
develop
recommend
Framework with examples of effective practice

24. Outcomes to date Review of e-learning models
Review of learning design tools
Consultation events and online forum (eped-experts)
Draft framework for planning e-learning approaches and activities
completion by end July
Draft framework for ‘moving on practice’
Case studies and video case studies
published October
LAMS evaluation programme
outline available: training begins 7th July
Recommendations, and refined research/ development programme
ongoing

25. Key issues in designing for learning
Is ‘learning activity’ the best focus of e-learning research and development?
How should we describe, differentiate and share (e-)learning activities?
Need for a common framework of description
How do practitioners currently conceive and plan (e-)learning activities?
What tools, resources and opportunities for dialogue do they have?
What tools, resources etc are most effective?
Which approaches to designing for learning are effective in which learning contexts?
Does the LD specification offer:
a good fit with definitions of learning activity used by learners, practitioners and theorists?
a sound basis for design of supporting systems?

26. A specification for learning activities (H.Beetham, Feb ‘04)
Environment available tools, facilities, services, resources, environments etc
Learner(s) needs, motives, prior experience of learning, social and interpersonal skills, learning styles and approaches
Outcome subject/discipline area, target knowledge/ skills
Knowledge represented in specific media and formats; skills facilitated through specific tools; impact of learning environments on the meaning of knowledge and skills
Prior subject knowledge and skills of learner(s), prior conceptions, motivation to achieve specific outcomes, match of style/ approach to content
Prior experience of learner(s) with tools, environments, services; match of learning style and approach to affordances of learning environment
Activity
‘interaction of learner with environment, leading to planned outcome’
A specification for learning activities (H.Beetham, Feb ‘04)

27. Further information s.knight@jisc.ac.uk