ICT in Education

Concept map: Network based learning

Click for full sized version

Add comment August 19th, 2007

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

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.

Add comment August 17th, 2007

Thoughts on: Seven Principles of effective teaching: A practical lens for evaluating online courses (Graham, Cagiltay, Lim, Craner & Duffy 2001)

Graham, C., Cagiltay, K., Lim, B-R., Craner, J., & Duffy, T. M. (2001). Seven principles of effective teaching: A practical lens for evaluating online courses. The Technology Source Archives at the University of North Carolina: http://technologysource.org/article/seven_principles_of_effective_teaching/

This is one of the best guides to practical, across the board strategies for better online teaching I’ve ever seen.

It’s simple, doesn’t get bogged down in which philosophical approach beats which and offers clear guidelines for online best practice.

It’s based on a larger report available from http://crlt.indiana.edu/publications/crlt00-13.pdf

These are the key principles:

1. Instructors should provide clear guidelines for interaction with students. 

Establish policies describing the types of communication that should take place over different channels (e.g. send your technical support questions to FLS)

Set clear standards for instructors timelines for responding to messages (e.g. I will respond to emails on Tuesday and Friday afternoons)

2. Well designed discussion assignments facilitate meaningful cooperation among students

• Learners should be required to participate (and their grade should depend on participation)
• Discussion groups should remain small
• Discussions should be focussed on a task
• Tasks should always result in a product
• Tasks should engage learners in the content
• Learners should receive feedback on their discussions
• Evaluation should be based on the quality of the postings (not length or number)
• Instructors should post expectations for discussions

3. Students should present course projects

“Students presented case study solutions via the class website. The other students critiqued the solution and made further comments about the case. After all students had responded, the case presenter updated and reposted his or her solution, including new insights or conclusions gained from classmates. Only at the end of all the presentations did the instructor provide an overall reaction to the cases and specifically comment about issues the class identified or failed to identify. In this way, students learned from one another as well as from the instructor”

4. Instructors need to provide two types of feedback: information feedback and acknowledgement feedback. 

Acknowledgement feedback is simply a response that an assignment (or whatever) has been received.
As the semester gets busier and time is scarcer, this often drops off – maybe having a simple template to copy/paste or even an automated system might be helpful here. 

Information feedback is a fuller response to submitted content – “when constraints increase during the semester’s busiest times, instructors can still give prompt feedback on discussion assignments by responding to the class as a whole instead of to each individual student. In this way, instructors can address patterns and trends in the discussion without being overwhelmed by the amount of feedback to be given”

5. Online courses need deadlines

“Regularly distributed deadlines encourage students to spend time on tasks and help students with busy schedules avoid procrastination. They also provide a context for regular contact with the instructor and peers”
My personal experience makes me wonder if it might be useful to break assignment tasks down into a number of small milestone chunks with set deadlines – although these could be optional to avoid overloading the teacher – Perhaps the milestones could serve to provide learners with an indication of how long a part might take and whether they are on track or need to put in more time.

(Maybe this is something that learners should be able to do on their own but my personal experience is that I often forget about the breaking the task down into smaller parts/actions until afterwards)

Maybe some kind of personal tick box checklist

6. Challenging tasks, sample cases and praise for high quality work communicate high expectations

This is essentially about applying more relevant, more authentic, context oriented activities which offer higher levels of challenge.

It’s also about providing examples of past student work, “along with comments explaining why the examples are good”

7.Allowing students to choose project topics incorporates diverse views into online courses

“The instructor allowed students to research their own area of interest, instead of assigning particular issues… Instructors can provide guidelines to help students select topics relevant to the course while still allowing students to share their unique perspectives”

This seems largely about motivation but also about creating a more democratic learning environment.

3 comments August 16th, 2007

Defining: the web, the social web and collaboration (collaboratively) (915 NBL)

I was given the web and the social web to define, my partner Abdullah got collaboration.

Web:

The Web (short for World Wide Web) is a “space for sharing information” (Berners-Lee, 2005) which uses the global network known as the Internet. (Some people use the term interchangably with Internet but the Internet also offers other functions including email and file transfer.)

While it was initially intended to act as a space where information was collaboratively edited online, in the 1990s it was generally a one way source of information, where one person published and the audience passively consumed.

In a network based learning context, this was (and is) a useful way of making information more accessible.

Berners-Lee, T. (2005) timbl’s blog Retrieved August 5, 2007 from Decentralized Information Group website : http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/node/38

Social Web:

The Social Web (also commonly referred to as Web 2.0) is “a subset of … technologies that are highly interactive, conversational and participatory” (Wikipedia, 2007).

It includes websites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Del.icio.us and Wikipedia as well as tools such as blogs and wikis.

In some ways, it returns to Berners-Lee’s original intention of “a space for communal design, for discourse through communal authorship” (Berners-Lee, 2005) by creating communities of users with common interests who share their collective knowledge in a central space.

The social web has many potential applications in network based learning, offering tools for collaboration and communication, critical reflection and engaging learners by making them producers of content rather than just consumers.

Wikipedia – Social Web – Retrieved August 5, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Web

I made a couple of suggestions for Abdullah’s definition (I haven’t heard from him yet about any thoughts on mine) so it reads like this.

Collaboration:

Collaboration in network based learning involves “joint intellectual effort by students or students and teachers together” in “mutually searching for understanding, solutions or meanings”(Smith & MacGregor, 1992) using electronic technologies.

The relationship between e-collaboration and cognition. Stephen C. Hayne and C.A.P. Smith.International Journal of e-Collaboration 1.3 (July-Sept 2005): p17(18).
http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/teaching/toolbox/glossary.html

Add comment August 5th, 2007

Thoughts on: Elements of Effective eLearning Design (Brown & Voltz 2005)

Brown A.R., & Voltz B.D. (2005) Elements of Effective e-Learning Design, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/217/300

Annotation: Design elements to consider when developing e-learning materials. Paper provides examples of learning objects developed by The Le@arning Federation (TLF) to explain the design elements. (As you read this paper, see if you think they’re interpretation of e-learning relates to your interpretation of network-based learning.)

Abstract: Preparing and developing e-learning materials is a costly and time consuming enterprise. This paper highlights the elements of effective design that we consider assist in the development of high quality materials in a cost efficient way. We introduce six elements of design and discuss each in some detail. These elements focus on paying attention to the provision of a rich learning activity, situating this activity within an interesting story line, providing meaningful opportunities for student reflection and third party criticism, considering appropriate technologies for delivery, ensuring that the design is suitable for the context in which it will be used, and bearing in mind the personal, social, and environmental impact of the designed activities. Along the way, we describe how these design elements can be effectively utilized by contextualizing them with examples from an e-learning initiative.

Key Points:

• Text, images and sound can be combined to create materials that cater for several learning styles and allow a degree of interactivity on the part of the student.
• Six key elements of eLearning design: Activity, Scenario, Feedback, Delivery, Context and Impact
• Activity – the actions/challenges of clear tasks offer experiences leading to desired new understanding
• Scenario – a relevant, authentic context offers motivation to learners and adds meaning
• Feedback – experience becomes knowledge through reflection, which is enhanced by timely/appropriate criticism
• Delivery – horses for courses – use what best serves the other 5 elements
• Context – consider the eLearning activity in relation to the rest of the course/institution/platform/culture
• Impact – does the content/platform benefit the learner/teacher/wider community

In essence, prioritise the student experience.

I think that the first three points here are the key ones in learning design – the others are things that will be considered by default (as long as you respect the learner) and don’t necessarily have as much direct bearing on the effectiveness of the material.

Interesting and useful quotes:

“Effective design of electronic learning materials relies on instructional design processes that reflect the absence of or reduction in face-to-face instruction… by ‘design’ we mean the planning or working out of the e-learning resource. This combines tasks including lesson planning, instructional design, creative writing and software specification”

“In the modern world, language is not the only important communication system. Today images, symbols, graphs, diagrams, artefacts and many other visual symbols are ‘particularly significant’ (Gee 2003 p.13)”

ACTIVITY:

• “creating effective e-learning relies on having tasks for students to undertake that provide an experience likely to lead them to the desired new understanding”
• “a rich activity is one that opens up opportunties for action rather that directs students down a prescribed pathway”
• “the activity needs to be considered from the perspective of the actions and challenges it affords the student”
• “the use of an appropriate and clearly evident activity is fundamental to an effective learning outcome and ensuring that the integrity of the activity is maintained as focus shifts to the media-focused development stages is an ongoing challenge for the e-learning designer”

SCENARIO:

• “There needs to be a reason or motivation to undertake an educational activity if the learning is to be memorable and considered valuable. An interesting context or scenario can assist the activity to have meaning.”
  
• “Scenarios are usually provided by a story, role play, or simulation, within which the activity plays a pivotal role in helping the students to contextualise content”
• “An interesting scenario will make extensive use of humor, imagination, reward, anticipation or drama to enhance the activity. It will have topics and themes likely to be relevant and interesting to the target audience. It will  make the learning activity seem like an obvious or necessary thing to undertake, given the situation presented by the scenario”

FEEDBACK:

• “Experience becomes knowledge through reflection, which is enhanced by timely and appropriate criticism”
• “The range of available feedback strategies is vast, including reflective responses to prescribed questions, semi-automated responses by the system to student actions and work, shared comments in online forums and blogs, and personal responses via email, telephone and post.”

DELIVERY:

• “The appropriate delivery of e-learning should aim to maximise the engagement of the student with the activity, enable the communication of stimulating contexts and maximise opportunities for feedback and reflection”

CONTEXT:

• “Elements of activity, scenario and feedback need to take into account the users’ profile and the delivery element needs to consider the technical infrastructure. However, additional contextual considerations include the institutional objectives of the e-learning program, the role and skills of any instructor, longevity of the resources and cultural sensitivies”

INFLUENCE: 

• “Considerations about the personal influence of the e-learning design might consider… the extent to which the content benefits the user… the extent to which people other than the learner might benefit.. the extent to which the environment will benefit from the design”

CONCLUSION:

• “We encourage a participatory design and implementation approach, where the e-learning system is a two-way street, allowing early and ongoing communications betweeen designer and users.”

Add comment July 30th, 2007