eLearning Design and Development: a journey through murky waters Denise M. Sweeney, Educational Designer, University of Leicester

 Accredited programmes in university teaching  Learning and Teaching in HE – legitimate field of study  What are the key concepts that inform this body of knowledge?  How do these ideas and concepts translate to specific accredited modules that deal with e-learning design and development?

Learning & Teaching in HE: field of study  Key concepts

Reflective Practice - Brookfield ‘Critical Lenses’ - View and reflect upon our practice:  Our own view (autobiography)  Our students  Our fellow professionals/colleagues  Theoretical perspectives in educational literature

Constructive Alignment - Biggs

 Surface and Deep approaches to learning  Learning is seen as:  A quantitative increase in knowledge  Memorising  The acquisition, for subsequent utilisation, of facts, methods, etc.  The abstraction of meaning  An interpretative process aimed at understanding reality  Changing as a person  Approaches to learning are relational or context- dependent. Student approaches to learning - Ramsden

Conceptions of teaching

Fragmented conceptions of e-learning (Gonzalez, 2009)  A source of information provided by lecturers  A medium for occasional online communication Cohesive conceptions of e-learning  Using ICT as a way to enable students to apply and reflect about what is being discussed  A medium to support knowledge building

(ED7035) Module D - E-Learning: Resource Development & Student Support Aims  Design, create, implement and reflect on an interactive online learning resource  Explore the practical skills and theoretical knowledge required to create online learning resources and teach online  Introduces both the theory and practice of ‘online’ teaching and learning.  Emphasises the interactive and collaborative nature of the medium  Does not require a high level of technical expertise  Emphasis is on the creation of ‘engaging’ learning tasks  Participant workload: 150 hours  Credits: 20 CATS  Level: 7  Criteria for Admission: Completion of Module A

Intended Learning Outcomes  Assess the impact on the institution, and the context within which it operates, of incorporating online learning experiences as part of the blend of both distance and face-to-face learning programmes  Demonstrate competence in choosing and using a variety of teaching and assessment and support strategies that meet the needs of a diverse and heterogeneous student body  Critically analyse theories and frameworks of online learning and assessment, and evaluate their relevance to the development and support of online learning experiences

Intended Learning Outcomes  Demonstrate their ability to provide online support to help students develop a reflective approach to their learning  Apply appropriate frameworks for the evaluation of an online learning experience

Assessment Tasks  Element hour online ‘learning experience’  Element 2 – Report and reflection of online ‘learning experience’ ( project planning, implementation and review) (2,000 words)  Element 3 - Evaluation of online ‘learning experience’ (2,000 words)  All elements = 33 1/3 %

Session 1Face-to face sessions (2 hours) Welcome Posing and addressing a learning problem – module specification/ learning context/module redesign Investigating models of learning Online Sessions Creating an online presence – blog/wiki/calendar/ /OER resources/readings Dealing with the literature – blog (6 key readings) Peer review of ‘online learning designs’ – wiki Building knowledge as a group - ‘learning design, development and evaluation’ - wiki Session 2‘drop in’ clinic/guided session – peer input OPTIONAL SESSION Session 3 Designing the learning process Reviewing your activity map and online design Session 4‘drop in’ clinic/guided session – peer input OPTIONAL SESSION Session 5 Evaluating the student learning experience – small group work Feedback on your progress Session 6 Presentation of online learning experience Peer evaluation Module Design

Learning Design

Online Questionnaire Participant Evaluation of the Module and Tutor (opinions, learning experience, feedback, ways to improve - the module and the teaching) Bristol Surveys Online End of module - after submission of e-portfolio Small cohorts (6-10 participants) 50% response rates Based on SeCaT, University of Queensland 19 questions 8 questions – evaluation of the module 6 questions – evaluation of the tutor Using 5 point Likert scale - (strongly agree/agree/neutral/disagree/strongly disagree) 4 questions - Open responses Participant Evaluation

Open Responses  What were the best aspects of this module? Give examples  What improvements to this module would you suggest? Give examples.  What aspects of the tutor's approach to teaching best helped your learning? Give Examples.  What would you have liked this tutor to have done differently? Give examples.

What were the best aspects of this module?  The use of the blog as a pre-session activity. The readings were very well chosen and highlighted a number of very interesting aspects of learning design and evaluation.  The blogging activity encouraged participants to engage with the relevant literature in advance of the sessions.  The practical (i.e the 'Learning Design') aspect of the module. This gave us the opportunity to apply many of the theoretical frameworks we had learnt about from the readings.  The pilot and evaluation of this resource provided a good opportunity to reflect on the learning design process and how it fitted in with our existing ideas.

What were the best aspects of this module?  The module introduced me to the theory and practice of eLearning and convinced me of its importance in developing learning, teaching and assessment.  … structured the module in such a way that I could keep up (or catch up!) despite a heavy teaching load.  …Blackboard was used brilliantly to make teaching resources available before, during and after sessions, so that I could catch up with work on the module whenever I had time.  … established a friendly and a collaborative atmosphere which gave us the opportunity to learn from and help each other as much as possible.

What aspects of the tutor's approach to teaching best helped your learning?  … was very open, approachable, and encouraging. I liked her emphasis on collaboration, regularly drawing on resources from other institutions and on each others' experiences.  … understood our different workplace contexts and offered us practical solutions to any obstacles we encountered.

What aspects of the tutor's approach to teaching best helped your learning?  … structured the sessions in such a way that the sessions were driven by interactivity and discussion. This made the contact sessions very enjoyable and productive experiences.  The online activities keep [sic] us engaged between contact sessions and allowed us to reflect on our existing thoughts as well as our thoughts on the readings.

Questions  Learning and Teaching in HE – legitimate field of study  What are the key concepts that inform this body of knowledge?  How do these ideas and concepts translate to specific accredited modules that deal with e-learning design and development?