Understanding design for learning

1
Understanding design for learning

• Dr. Rhona Sharpe
• rsharpe_at_brookes.ac.uk
• Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

2
Previous projects

• Rich descriptions of existing practice and
  theoretical approaches Models projects
• Some suggestive taxonomies and tables to
  describe/model practice Practitioners project
• Range of evaluation tools, with common rationale
  LAMS and LD tools projects, case study projects
• Planning and evaluating tools, case study
  template Effective Practice publication and
  workshop materials
• Evaluated case studiesEffective Practice and
  Innovative Practice case studiesWork on case
  studies with HEA subject centres
• Evaluated examples of specific tools in useLAMS
  and LD tools projects and associated examples
  of practice

3
Design for learning is

• a systematic approach with rules based on
  evidence and/or tacit, diverse, complex decisions
  which are rarely expressed.
• a set of contextualised practices that are
  constantly adapting to circumstances.
• a skilful, creative activity which can be
  improved on with reflection and scholarship
• a highly valued activity in the new information
  economy
• a discipline that has come into its own

4
We have seen that there is demand for

• guidance on how to make best use of the available
  technologies, and blend them productively with
  established modes of teaching.
• a tool that can help practitioners to think in
  terms of learning activities, and to orchestrate
  these as part of their planning process
• examples of good practice that have been proven
  to work which show learners experience

5
We have seen that there is demand for

• guidance on how to make best use of the available
  technologies, and blend them productively with
  established modes of teaching.
• a tool that can help practitioners to think in
  terms of learning activities, and to orchestrate
  these as part of their planning process
• examples of good practice that have been proven
  to work which show learners experience

6
Blended learning includes

• Wide scale use of virtual learning environments
  to provide supplementary course resources
• Radical, transformative course (re)designs to
  improve learning
• A holistic view of technology, including use of
  own technologies to support learning and
  sometimes in unexpected ways.

7
Learning activities

• The job of the educator or instructional
  designer then is not simply to create materials
  in which concepts are clearly explained, but to
  create learning situations in which students find
  themselves actively engaging with the concepts
  they are learning..

Gary Alexander (1998)
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Outline of a learning activity
Identities preferences, needs, motivations
Competences skills, knowledge, abilities Roles
approaches and modes of participating
learner(s)
specific interaction of learner(s) with other(s),
using specific tools and resources, oriented
towards specific outcomes
learning activity
learning outcome(s)
learningenvironment
New knowledge, skills and abilities Artefacts of
the activity process Feedback (intrinsic or
extrinsic)
Tools, resources, artefacts Affordances of the
physical and virtual environment for learning
other(s)
Other people involved and the specific role they
play in the interaction e.g. support, mediate,
challenge, guide
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The learner perspective

• HEIs need to move from an inside out approach
  where those on the inside know what is best, to
  an outside in position where we research and
  evaluation students perceptions and attitudes to
  learning
• (Lea, Stephenson Troy, 2003)
• Students are making use of their own technology
  as well as those provided for them and they are
  doing this in ways that are not planned for,
  difficult to predict and may not be immediately
  visible to their teachers and researchers.

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Challenges for the D4L programme

• Linking together and analysing many examples
  collected with developing models of practice
• Encouraging practitioners to share and reuse
  learning designs
• Communicate the insights from the theoretical and
  case studies projects
• Influence the standards and systems that will
  support practice in the future
• Making use of the findings from the learner
  experience studies.
• ..

11
We will hear from..

• Existing projects
• LADIE reference model supports Learning Activity
  Authoring - the design and construction of
  learning activities and the discovery,
  specification, sequencing and packaging of
  content through use cases of learning activities
• Unfold adoption of open e-learning standards for
  multiple learners and flexible pedagogies through
  creating communities of practice
• New projects
• Models of practice project will describe
  exemplary practice models of learning activities
  with technology
• Two pedagogic planning tool projects will develop
  online planning tools (wiki LAMS) for designing
  learning activities with technology

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• Different communities need different
  representations, focus on target audience
• Artefacts need communicative facilitates
• Supporting communities can build capacity
• The value of communities talking to each other
• Flexible tools are needed to suit all
• Successful tools reflect current practices of
  real practitioners
• Designing is an iterative and a social process
• Practice is contextualised, how can we abstract
  generic tools, resources, models out of such
  practice?