Transcript Bringing Theory into Practice

A holistic approach to designing
courses for delivery online
Dr Panos Vlachopoulos, CLIPP
[email protected]
Online Learning Pedagogies at UEL
June 28 2013
Learning Outcomes
For participants to:
Become aware of learning design approaches for online
learning implementation
Get away with at least 2 ideas of how pedagogies and
tools can be implemented in your own discipline and
teaching context
2
Our working definitions for today
Distance learning : Modules, programmes or short courses
where students are, for the most or the whole part, of their studies
physically distant from the tutor and institution.
Online learning :The use of the Internet, particularly the world
wide web , to support teaching, learning and assessment.
Before we start….a first thought
Education, as opposed to informal learning, is when someone or
some system sets out to arrange for learning - and may partly do so
by arranging for interactions of certain types and with certain
purposes, between learner and learner, or learner and teacher.
I suggest it's important to keep that distinction clear in our minds!
Can we all see that power issues are important in such learning
settings?
A second thought….
A key assumption in the literature of online learning is the desired
expectation that students will adopt a student-directed approach to
their learning.
If learning is to be truly student -directed, then there should be a
period of learning activity during which the activity, the decisions
which matter, the interpretations placed on sourced material and
experiences, should be the sole responsibility of the learners,
free at that time from pro-active inputs by people who set out
to teach, however they define that word, and with whatever
benevolent intent .
Vlachopoulos, P. & Cowan, J. (2010) Choices of approaches in e-moderation: conclusions from a
grounded theory study, Active Learning in Higher Education, 11, (3), 1-13)
Who are the key stakeholders in online
learning design?
University
as an
Institution
Students
Teachers
Where are some of the areas for
development/improvement that need attention?
The Institutional Policies (including Teaching and Learning, IT
Strategies, Finance, Protocols and Standards etc)
The Institutional Infrastructure (including tools for staff and
student, key learning and teaching and assessment platforms, but
also robust tools for registration payments etc).
The reconceptualisation of the pedagogical models (including
academic development support for promoting transformation)
The reconceptualisation of the ‘student’ as a partner in the online
learning journey (including challenging the students’ own
assumptions of how they learn)
Today’s Focus will be:
The reconceptualisation of the
pedagogical models (including
academic development support
for promoting transformation)
The reconceptualisation of the
‘student’ as a partner in the
online learning journey
(including challenging the
students’ own assumptions of
how they learn)
Let’s remind ourselves about the key ways in
which we learn...
For each of the following ways of learning, think what can
constitute evidence of learning.
We will then explore if/how this can be translated into an online
learning experience for our target student population. That’s for
the first discussion activity.
Also…what devices are ‘mostly’ available?
Scanner
Smartphone
Computer
Tablet
Digital
Camera
Multimedia
Software
programs
Think!
So where does this
leave us as
practitioners?
We could look into some very useful books for
ideas…
A Learning Design Theoretical Framework
PROGRAMME
AIMS
TASK(S)
PRINCIPLES
E-moderator’s
purpose
E-moderator’s
style
ROLES
Significant
event
CRITERIA
Learning
position
FACILITATION
Response
DESIGN
Student-centred
learning
NEGOTIATION
ASSESSMENT
Vlachopoulos, P. & Cowan, J. (2010) Reconceptualising e-moderation of asynchronous online
discussions: a grounded theory study, Distance Education, 36 (1), 23-36
A Learning Design Implementation Framework:
3E, from Edinburgh Napier University
Enhance: Adopting technology in simple and effective ways
to actively support students and increase their activity and selfresponsibility
Extend: Further use of technology that facilitates key aspects
of student’s individual and collaborative learning and
assessment through increasing their choice and control
Empower: Developed use of technology that requires higher
order individual and collaborative learning that reflect how
knowledge is created and used in professional environments
http://staff.napier.ac.uk/services/academicdevelopment/TechBenc
hmark/Documents/3E_Framework_Nov_2011.pdf
Activity idea 1: Encouraging timely
engagement in key concepts
Enhance: Have students using the wiki tool to define each one or
two key terms or concepts from each week’s lecture for inclusion
in an online class glossary
Extend: Have students work in pairs to create an online guide to a
particular topic (for example a ‘scavenger hunt’ of places on the
web for their peers to explore)
Empower :Use of e-portfolio that students can use in case and
problem based learning tasks
Activity idea 2: Seminar participation
Enhance: Provide an e-porfolio form for students to fill in followup comments (queries, issues that are still not clear) to that week’s
seminar to be picked up during first part of the next week’s lecture
Extend: Encourage more equal engagement in seminars by
having students take turns (in pairs or small groups) to produce a
summary of that week’s seminar to be posted online, perhaps with
a follow-up question to be tackled
Empower : Have students work in pairs or small groups to design
and lead seminars for particular units, with guidance from tutor on
their proposed topic and approach using the commenting tool in
the e-portfolio
Activity idea 3: Preparing for and undertaking
laboratory and/or field work
Enhance: Provide links to video or narrated visual tutorials of
safe laboratory and field work procedure as a means to prepare
effectively. Consider linking these to a short online self-test to help
students gauge their readiness for practice
Extend: Make lab and field work more engaging through the use
of mobile applications including: QR
codes(http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ ) for ‘point of use’ information and
explanation of equipment and field samples; personal
technologies such as cameras, video and mobile phones to record
lab and field work
Empower: Have students work in small groups to prepare a
‘virtual field trip’ or ‘virtual lab tour’ that will bring together a range
of relevant resources (e.g. documents, websites, video clips) that
can be assessed as an output of their lab or field work and used
as a learning artefact for future students on the same module
An example from my current teaching
A fully online Professional Development
Course
Technology-enhanced (fully distance)student
directed learning: examples from two
Universities
What are other key considerations for
effective learning design?
Time: fix and
variable time
Cost: fix and
variable costing
A Emerging Reflective Framework
Vlachopoulos, P. & Wheeler, A. (under review) Avoiding Paralysis, Empowering
Phronesis: a roadmap to reflective practice for early career academics, Studies in
Higher Education.