Virtual LegoTM

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Virtual LegoTM other e-tivities Tony Churchill
(Staff Development Centre) tc40_at_le.ac.uk
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Introduction

• By the end of this session we will have
• Explored a range of development activities for
  staff addressing the techniques and pedagogy of
  e-learning
• Considered the relevance of Gilly Salmons model
  of networked learning
• Examined a framework to evaluate the outcomes of
  programmes addressing these needs

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Context

• University of Leicester
• 55 post-graduate
• Significant distance learning offer for
  post-graduate courses (65)
• History of e-learning innovations
• Blackboard adopted as the University's preferred
  VLE in May 2002

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Scale
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E-learning implementation
STRUCTURED
Dictated
ORGANIC
Disorganised
In any institution there is likely to be a
combination of these approaches.
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Staff Development Courses

• Blackboard FamiliarisationA one-hour session
  providing a 'hands-on' introduction to the
  features of Blackboard.
• Blackboard Workshops
• Regular, themed sessions to provide support in-
• Creating a course
• Communications tools
• Content
• Assessment tools
• Enhancing your course with a VLE

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Possible development stages
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Possible development stages
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Possible development stages
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What is an e-tivity?

• They are-
• motivating, engaging, purposeful activities
  developed and led by an e-moderator
• frameworks for active and interactive online
  learning
• in the hands of teachers themselves and promote
  active learning

Salmon, E-tivities (2002)
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E-tivity I - Virtual LegoTM
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The LegoTM exercise

• Adapting a task we had already used in course
  team training, participants were asked to
• Describe two pieces of Lego they had received
  through the post
• Work collaboratively online to design a model
  using all the pieces provided
• The only communication allowed was via a
  discussion board with no images or other
  attachments.

Jane Wellens, UoL, (2002)
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The LegoTM experience(a reminder of the student
experience)

• Lack of direction
• Where do we meet?
• How do we progress?
• Disorientation
• Familiarity with medium
• Common Language
• Wither structure?

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E-tivity II NASA Stranded in the desert
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The NASA exercise

• Adapting a task much used in management courses,
  participants were asked to
• Identify and rank the 10 most useful items in
  terms of their importance to their survival.
• State their final rankings with reasons for their
  choice.
• The only communication allowed was via the
  Virtual Classroom (or chat) facility.

NASA
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The NASA experience

• The key things we learned were that
• The expected differences (from f2f) did not
  materialise
• The spread of contributions was much more even
  than our expectations
• Culture could make profound differences to the
  nature of the interaction

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Teaching learning online
5
E-mod - supporting, responding Tech - providing
links outside closed conferences
Development
Knowledge construction
4
E-mod - facilitating process Tech - conferencing
Information exchange
3
E-mod - facilitate tasks support use of learning
materials Tech - searching, personalizing
Online socialization
2
E-mod - familiarization building bridges
(cultural, social learning environment) Tech -
sending receiving messages
Access motivation
1
E-moderating - welcome encourage Technical -
Setting up accessing
Salmon, E-Moderating (2000)
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Reflections

• A course to enable participants to become better
  online Tutors
• Over five weeks (one per stage) participants
  access-
• Discussion groups - a wide range of activities
  taking 15 minutes per day (on average)
• Virtual classroom (or chats) - weekly group
  'reflections' on the issues raised in each stage
• Materials - resources and web links exploring the
  issues addressed in the session
• and create their own e-tivities!

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STAGE ONE Access Motivation

• AIMS - effective induction address concerns
  (technical content) recognition of reasons for
  and benefits of participation
• E-tivity 1 introduce your surroundings
  welcome others
• E-tivity 2 agree a time for online chat and
  calculate time in other time-zones
• E-tivity 3 thinks of reasons for lurking and
  draft a message to encourage a lurker to
  contribute

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STAGE TWO Online socialization

• AIMS explore appropriate information exchange
  willing able to exchange information
  benefits clear
• E-tivity 1 create personal homepage
• E-tivity 2 dealing with inappropriate and
  misinterpreted contributions

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STAGE THREE Information Exchange

• AIMS feel in control of own learning enabled
  to support the learning of others clear what a
  learning community is
• E-tivity 1 evaluate e-learning materials
• E-tivity 2 consider effective (e-) learning

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STAGE FOUR Knowledge Construction

• AIMS able to create e-tivities able to guide
  effective e-tivities consideration of course
  structure
• E-tivity 1 create a group review of an academic
  article
• E-tivity 2 an exploration of online plagiarism
  (and how to avoid it)

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STAGE FIVE Development

• AIMS encourage group confidence reflection
  value interaction records as sources of
  reflection recognition of collective nature of
  learning for most learners
• E-tivity 1 planning evaluation of an
  e-learning project
• E-tivity 2 review of Reflections

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Evaluation Matrix

• Three phases
• Analysis design
• Development
• Implementation
• Also
• Institutionalisation (ie To what extent has
  innovation influenced the wider organisation?)

(after Dr Rob Phillips, Murdoch University,
Australia) http//www.ltsn.ac.uk/application.asp?a
ppresources.aspprocessfull_recordsectiongener
icid172
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Phase One Analysis design

• Curriculum analysis
• What are the learning outcomes, course objectives
  and institutional objectives for the programme?
• Teaching-for-learning analysis
• What are the existing strengths of existing
  provision in terms of achievement of learning
  outcomes and objectives?
• Specification of innovation
• What will be the impact on teaching and learning
  strategy? Can the focus on deep learning be
  maintained?

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Phase Two Development

• Formative monitoring of learning environment
• What are the attitudes of staff and course
  members to the e-learning tools?
• Formative monitoring of learning process
• Is the change contributing to deeper learning
  activities on the course?

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Phase Three Implementation

• Summative evaluation of the learning process
• Do course members feel supported?
• Summative evaluation of learning outcomes
• Have the e-learning tools enhanced course member
  understanding of the course content?
• Summative evaluation of learning appropriateness
• What are the costs and benefits of the change?

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Virtual Lego other e-tivities Tony Churchill
(Staff Development Centre) tc40_at_le.ac.uk