Strategically, Flexible, Standardized Electronic Learning Environments to Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness Jennifer R Banas, MPH, MSEd, EdD Northeastern Illinois University j-banas@neiu.edu jenbanas@gmail.com; www.bluechalk.us

The Boom Online Education 2002 to 2005: Enrollment in 1 or more online courses increased from 1.6 million to 3.2 million 2009: Enrollment hovered at 5.6 million students. This represented 30% of all college students! 2010: A 21% growth rate for online course enrollment compared to < 2% growth in higher education as a whole! Allen & Seaman. (2006, 2010 ). Sloan Consortium reports.

Online Education Opportunities Criticisms

Opportunities Through chools can offer online degree programs and courses to a broader population, overcoming barriers such as time, accessibility, and sometimes cost (for both the school AND student).

On online masters in education student on her graduation day… “Being a mother of four children and having a husband that after so many years of marriage still doesn’t know where his socks are, I was able to study and get what I needed done when the kids were still sleeping. I didn’t have to worry about making sure I had a sitter or make sure my husband was home in time to watch the kids so I could run to class. I could do things that needed to get done when I needed to get them done. [If the degree program was not online], I would never have made it to this day, never.”

The Primary Criticism - Quality “Easy to use tools and inexpensive availability of server hosting makes it possible for anyone ….to uncritically shovel information onto the internet and call it instruction”(Merrill, 2007, p. 360). Consequently, some academics have yet to accept on-line education (Sloan Consortium, 2006). Additionally, poor design, inattention to varying learning styles, lack of a support system, and failure to recognize the needs of adult learners has turned away students (Frontline Group, 2001).

In the wake of this criticism, however, comes the opportunity to re-build instruction that is both effective , engaging and efficient.

A Course Design Model to Improve Efficiency & Effectiveness Superior learning and instruction can feasibly take place in an online learning environment when that environment is well-designed.

Effective & Engaging Instruction First Principles of Instruction instructional effectiveness consultant and professor emeritus at Utah State University. He currently teaches online courses at Brigham Young University Hawaii and University of Hawaii. M. David Merrill

First Principles of Instruction Is presented in context of real world problems Activates relevant prior knowledge or experience Demonstrates what is to be learned rather than merely tell information about what is to be learned Provides learners opportunity to practice and apply newly acquired knowledge or skills Provides techniques that encourage learners to integrate new knowledge or skills into everyday life

What might this look like in ….? Nutrition education? Alcohol, tobacco, & other drugs education? Mental health education? Death & dying education? Sex education? Bullying prevention education? Physical health education?

Efficiency Henry Ford, American industrialist and pioneer of the automobile said: “A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.”

Efficiency With the market’s emphasis on improved performance comes the necessity for improved design of blended and full mobile electronic learning environments. Standardization may help.

Transferability and Usability An efficient online course design model should maintain the ability to insert, replace, or remove selected learning objects. It should also be flexible in the sense that it can be reused over and over again to build different courses, with different learning objects.

Learning Objects Learning objects can be…. as small as a single image, a 30-second cameo video, or an exam question as large as 20-30 minute video lectures, a series of PowerPoint slides, or a collection of readings. used once, twice, or many times in different courses or different degree programs.

Reuse Recycle If a course design model remains consistent from one course to the next, it is easy to “slide” learning objects in and out, without the need to rebuild a learning management system.

` An example

Building Modules Develop a 4 week module for health education that includes the following learning objects: Lectures/demonstrations Resources Discussion questions Application assignments Progress monitor quizzes Reflection prompts

l Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Content lecture and demonstration: video, podcast, scripts, etc. (Principles 1 and 3)   Resources: Video, podcast, readings, websites, etc. Discussion Questions (Principles 2 and/or 4) Application (Principles 4 and/or 5) Progress quiz (Principle 4) Reflection Prompts (Principles 1 and 5)

Effective Engaging Efficient A standardized, course design model rooted in the first principles of instruction can lead to the consistent development of superior courses that are: Effective Engaging Efficient