Design for Online and Blended Learning

 

This fourth topic Design for Online and Blended Learning has been such an interesting topic! I would have liked to spend at least twice as much time on the subject!

During my career, there has been a few occasions, where models/ways of working has affected my way of thinking/doing things profoundly for a long time. I found one of these basic principles while studying logistics; when making a change in a process, always start with analyzing what you can stop doing and after that analyze how to change the process. Almost twenty years have passed since I read the book and took the course but evaluating which steps can be eliminated is still a guiding principle for me when I want to make changes or simplify ways of working.

I believe that Martin Weller´s method for learning design will have the same type of impact on me. Learning design is “the practice of planning, sequencing and managing learning activities, usually using ICT-based tools to support both design and delivery” (JISC Design Studio). It is applicable at all levels of learning: activity, unit, module, curriculum, qualification. The aim with the learning design is to aid the course design process by providing a set of tools that support a student-activity based approach.

As a base for the learning design, Martin Weller divides student activities into six categories plus assessment:

Assimilative, e.g. Read, Watch, Listen, Think about,

Finding and handling information, e.g. List, Analyse, Collate, Plot, Find, Discover,

Communication, e.g. Communicate, Debate, Discuss, Argue, Share,

Productive, e.g. List, Create, Build, Make, Design, Construct, Contribute

Experiental, e.g. Practice, Apply, Mimic, Experience, Explore

Interactive/Adaptive, e.g. Explore, Experiment, Trial, Improve

Assessment, Include summative (graded) assessment only here e.g. Write, Present, Report, Demonstrate, Critique

He suggests to use an activity planner to map the course activities and how much time students are expected to spend on each activity. Thus, it becomes possible to evaluate if there is a mix and balance between the different types of activities in a course. The tool is also used to map workload in order to, either re-design the course for a more even workload or informing students in advance about variation in workload. To explicitly map course content based on activity is something I will bring with me for the future.

One conclusion in the video with Martin Weller is that it really doesn´t matter which model is used for mapping the course, what´s important is to start the dialogue with colleagues about course content and course structure. Another important aspect he mentions is that in the dialogue; discover what are the hidden assumptions about the course, and to agree on a common view on the course. I also found his idea of ranking skills in a course very useful.

(In our small group work, we also discussed the ABC-learning design, and Gilly Salmon’s model and Community of Inquiry.)

Martin also addressed developing courses based on personas. I find that to be a very interesting way of working and I could see how using several different personas to evaluate if the course will match different personas or will exclude some would be extremely useful when developing a course.

Don´t miss Martin Wellers´s lecture on Youtube!  (link below)

References

Webinar Design for online and blended learning, Martin Weller

#ONL212 Topic 4 webinar recording with Martin Weller - YouTube

https://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html 

ABC Learning Design – Sprint design your courses and programs in just 90 minutes (abc-ld.org)

Kommentarer

  1. Alastair Creelman4 januari 2022 kl. 02:39

    Course design has really come into focus as a result of the pandemic as we realise that traditional design does not meet the demands of today's increasingly online learning environment. As you write, there are many models to choose between but all of them state that the model is a framework for discussion rather than a magic answer. The models force us to re-examine our assumptions and redesign by taking a wider range of perspectives into consideration.
    Martin Weller has a very interesting blog, The ed techie http://blog.edtechie.net, that combines his reflections on his field with more personal posts. I have been inspired by many of his posts.

    SvaraRadera

Skicka en kommentar

Populära inlägg i den här bloggen

Learning in Communities - Networked Collaborative Learning

  The third topic is on Learning in Communities – Networked Collaborative Learning . In our course material, Kay Oddone discusses personal learning networks (PLN), online learning communities and personal online learning networks. According to Kay Oddone, there are quite a few definitions of PLN; but she also says that, in reality, it really is a personal experience. The term PLN started to appear in the late 1990:s, in 1998 Daniel R. Tobin published a web article Building your own personal learning network. Tobin´s definition of a learning network was “a group of people who can guide your learning, point you to learning opportunities, answer your questions and give you the benefit of their own knowledge and experience”. According to Kay Oddone, the definition is still valid, although how we learn and what we learn through our networks have changed, partly due to new technologies. The power of online PLN:s come from the interaction that occurs. PLN:s are based on social lear...
Läs mer

Lessons Learnt and Future Practice

As a final task on this course, we are to define our key lessons learnt. The course has been different from what I expected, but it has been very interesting, and I have gotten a lot of new ideas and references. Below you find my personal reflections. I hope you find them useful!   1.      IT is a skill/competence that needs to be developed and nourished a.       Students and young people are just like older people with regards to IT skills. Some are really good with IT and some are not, some are natives and some are not. IT and learning new IT solutions quickly, is a skill and a competence, necessary for finding information, when preparing presentations, taking online courses etc. So why don´t we have courses that focuses on how to learn IT skills? We wouldn´t dream of expecting students to know grammar in their native language without ever having had a grammar class. IT is similar to grammar; one has to understand the structure a...
Läs mer

Online participation and digital literacies

Bild
  This is my first blog post in the course Open networked learning focused on teaching at universities in an open networked environment. I am attending the course as an open learner, not affiliated to any university.  There will be five blog topics and this topic is the first one, Online participation and digital literacies . In the course we always have a group task and in addition, write a blog post individually, so sometimes I will be referring to my own reflections and sometimes to discussions in our group as well as literature, which of course can be recordings on Youtube 😊 . Part of the literature studies, was to watch David Whites presentation on visitors and residents. It made me reflect on if students should share their point of view publicly early on in their academic studies or wait. Is it in the best interest of students to share their point of view early on or should they await further into their academic studies? It is a decision students should take actively a...
Läs mer