ICT in Education

Thoughts on: Moving beyond instructional comfort zones with online courses (Oliver 2004)

August 17, 2007

Oliver, R. (2004). Moving beyond instructional comfort zones with online courses.. In R.Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (Eds), Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference (pp. 713-723). Perth, 5-8 December. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/oliver-r.html

This is another one of those papers that I liked and got a fair bit from because it looks at teaching & learning from a practical perspective – examining some of the weaknesses of designing online courses based on traditional (read – directed/behaviourist) lecture/content-presentation approaches and offering concrete alternatives.

It breaks the design process up into three key areas:

1. Appropriate description of course objectives
2. Using course content more as a resource to support the development of capabilities
3. Designing assessment that measures capabilities

Oliver advocates the “development of learning objectives which focus on performance and capabilities as intended learning outcomes” because these can “provide opportunities for problem and task based learning designs… that support higher order learning outcomes”

It begins with a quick look at instructional design:

“Instructional design is the process of planning and creating learning environments for students that will cause them to engage with the course content and resources in ways which facilitate learning”

It makes the point that:

“Whereas in conventional courses, much of the course planning centred around the activities of the teacher, contemporary views argue that what is more important in a learning setting is what learners are doing rather than what the teacher is doing (eg. Schuell, 1992) ”

In looking at the design of online courses, Oliver advocates:

“Group based activities and tasks providing contexts for learners to learn through the application of their knowledge”

and

“Assessments based on products and artefacts developed (by the learners) from the course materials and content”

In essence, this is about using the content as a resource while you are developing skills rather than learning the content in it’s own right. (Which raises the question, what if the content is in the form of how-to guides?).

It seems to me then that Education is about the design of good activities.

Oliver also makes the point that you have to get the learning outcomes right in the first place if you are to have any chance of building an online course that will succeed.

“Biggs (1999) argues the need for learning aims and learning objectives to be the starting point for effective learning design. The objectives typically indicate what the students will learn, to what extent it will be learned and by what means learning can be assessed”

“Mager argues the need for three elements in any meaningful learning objective: a statement of the terminal behaviour or performance sought; conditions under which this performance must be exhibited and the standard to which the performance should be performed“

(Oliver repeats this point another 3 times in different ways so it’s clearly something he feels strongly about :0) )

He reiterates:

“It is insufficient in the statement of course objectives to stop merely at descriptions of the scope and extent of knowledge gained. The specification needs to include some form of capability or performance and these elements are the critical components of the course objectives. Where knowledge is to be gained, the objectives need to indicate how that knowledge is to be used, under what conditions and by what means achievement can be assessed“

From here he moves on to assessment strategies.

“The assessment strategies that are associated with courses and units in higher education play prominent roles in influencing what students learn and the scope and extent of their learning”
(Presumably because students focus on the assessments to get a real sense of what is valued by the teacher and the institution in their course)

Multichoice tests/quizzes/examinations (and I would add, some games) are useful for measuring knowledge acquisition.
To measure “the student’s ability to apply the knowledge in more meaningful ways” however, you might consider “case studies and problem solutions, collaborative projects and portfolios“.

He moves on to a big chunk about useful assessment strategies which is worth quoting in full:

“Tasks used in performance and outcomes based assessment include essays, oral presentations, open ended problems, hands-on problems, real world simulations and other authentic tasks.

Such tasks are concerned more with problem solving and understanding than in measures of knowledge acquired and retained.

The essence of authentic and performance based assessment is that students produce evidence of accomplishment of curriculum goals. These assessments are characterised by meaningful and authentic problems and often involve students assuming responsibility for self evaluation.

Students involved in self evaluation are more interested in the criteria and substantive feedback than the grades achieved. The interest is piqued by the need for honesty in the application of the criteria for others (peer assessment) and to their own work as well as being able to defend options through evidence over subjective judgements. Self assessment holds students to higher standards because the criteria are clear and reasonable (Wiggins, 1992) ”

Oliver moves on to a general look at re-structuring courses for online delivery, emphasising the need to reshape course objectives and consider the desired outcomes.

“The strategy for re-engineering (eg. Collis, 1997) such courses is to take the course objectives and to re-express them in ways which give context, purpose and meaning to the knowledge”

“Outcomes based approaches require developers to determine what students will be able to do with the acquired skills and knowledge at the end of the course”

This is emphasised with a question that designers should ask themselves in this process -

“What are some examples of real life cases and instances that students should be able to deal with this information?”

Oliver acknowledges that some teachers might question the application of this problem based learning approach in their subject area if they feel it deals too much with “higher levels of formal reasoning” but finds a quote from Jonassen which puts this approach in the context of a continuum, allowing for different levels of use:

“Jonassen describes problems ranging from those where learners simply apply rules to effect a solution, through problems where learners model solutions on existing cases to higher level problems requiring strategic and logical thinking”

He then offers a set of guidelines for a structure to such an environment

• The learners can be cast with roles in a virtual workplace and where they are required to undertake some tasks and responsibilities;
• The learning setting can provide them with access to a variety of resources of an authentic nature which they can access to gather the information needed to carry out the tasks;
• The students can be supported by a variety of means including workplace mentors, collaborative teams comprised of peers and others;
• Assessment of learning can be based on the successful completion of the tasks and problems;
• Assessment can comprise elements of self assessment and peer assessment;
• The learning setting can be scaffolded in a number of ways to support learners as they develop the necessary skills and knowledge to complete the tasks being set and the support can be faded as the learners develop these skills;
• The setting can develop a raft of associated generic skills including capabilities to work in teams, to monitor their own progress etc; and
• The setting can assist learners in learning how to learn as they take responsibility for their own learning.

Entry Filed under: 915, General, collaboration, constructivism, education design, strategies. .