These were developed by Grainne Conole, not me, but I ran four of the workshops. They were well received

1. Harnessing learning design… to create more effective learning activities Gráinne Conole, Stewart Nixon, Martin Weller [email_address] VLE LD Workshop 24 th April 2007

2. Introductions and aspirations: what do you want to get out of the workshop?

3. Outline What is learning design and why is it important? Activity: What you do currently Supporting the design process, summary of OU learning design work Activity: Applying to your own context: Using Compendium Case studies and tools for constructing learning activities Affordances Activity: looking at affordances Next steps

4. Learner Experiences Project LXP Student experiences Subject discipline differences Uses of technologies Effective e-learning strategies http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/lxp_project_final_report_nov_06.pdf Online survey Audio logs Interviews

5. Commonalities and differences Researching and retrieving information Google, Wikipedia, subject-specific sites Communication Multiple tools, peers/tutors… Assignments Generic tools: Word, Excel, Powerpoint Integrated learning Mixed views on VLEs, personalised learning

6. Potentially endless possibilities

7. The crucial issue… How can we design learning activities which make effective use of tools and pedagogy ? How can we capture practice? scaffold design?

8. What is learning design? Formally representing (and thus reusing) learning sequences Shift of focus from content to activity LD is a means of describing learning activities Provides a way of representing learning activities so that they can be shared between tutors and designers and a scaffold to the process of creating new learning activities

9. Why is it useful? Means of eliciting designs from academics common vocabulary/language and understanding of learning activities Way in which designs can be reused Guides individuals through process of creating activities Creates an audit trail of design decisions Highlights policy implications Guide learners through activities

10. Discussion What resources or support do you use? What issues do new technologies raise? How do you currently design learning activities?

13. Fundamentals Learning activities Tasks Pedagogies Tools Learning outcomes Assessment Context

15. OU case studies 44 Total 1 Reflective practice for tutors 1 Podcasting (by students) 1 ‘ near – synchronous’ collaborative group project 1 Synchronous audio based collaborative learning 1 Problem based learning 4 Resource based learning 3 Group project 3 ePortfolio (Journal) 7 Asynchronous discussion based collaborative learning 4 Interactive assessment 1 Online tutorials (for global presentation) 2 Online residential 2 Online icebreaker 1 Wiki based dialogue 3 Wiki group project 9 Multimedia simulation/ modelling/ case study

16. Recap How to best match pedagogical approaches, types of activities and use of tools Definition of the components of a learning activity and review of pedagogical approaches and key characteristics of learning Learning design as an approach to representing practice and scaffolding design A look at a selection of tools and resources for design New technologies provide new opportunities

17. Tailoring to your needs Reflect again on how you design learning activities Reflect on how you might use learning design tools and resources A lot of factors! Pedagogy, activities, tools, support, resources, … AND A lot of potential tools, resources and different approaches to design!

18. Capturing practice Existing Learning activity Abstraction Pattern Diagram Model Case study Vocabulary Mediating artefacts

19. Case study Narrative Textual description

20. The Pattern Approach Problem + Solution

21. Diagrams Collaborative group work in a wiki

22. Mindmaps and vocabularies

23. Models Rules Mediating artefacts Subject Object Community Division of labour Outcome Activity theory E-moderating Conversational framework Experiential Constructivist Learning Community Practice Identity Meaning Learning as experiences Learning as doing Learning as becoming Learning as belonging Social theory of learning Learning as social participation Legitimate participation Rarification Communities of Practice

24. Existing Learning activities Abstraction Pattern Iconic representation Model Case study Vocabulary Mediating artefacts Existing Learning activities Existing Learning activities Existing Learning activities Existing Learning activities Construction New Learning activity Toolkits Planners Repositories Meta mediating artefacts Tips and hints Guidelines FAQs Aggregation

25. Approaches to Learning Design From existing practice: OU case studies, AUTC Learning Design Pedagogical Patterns JISC effective practice case studies By scaffolding the design process: DialogPlus, Phoebe, JISC Pedagogic Planner, LAMS

26. JISC Effective Practice case studies

27. AUTC Learning Design Case studies

28. DialogPlus toolkit

29. JISC pedagogic planner

30. JISC Phoebe planner

31. LAMS Learning Activity Management System

32. Hands on Explore using Compendium to design a learning activity Identify a learning activity of your own to design or use one of the case studies Demonstration of using Compendium

33. Different ways of thinking No one approach to design Ideas for different ways of thinking about design Making connections Scaffolds for design

34. Affordances By tagging tools, activities and pedagogical approaches with their affordances for learning we might be able to make better decisions on how these are used in a particular context “ Affordance” refers to the perceived and actual properties of a thing, primarily those functional properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used

35. Affordances Creativity Dialogue Collaboration Reflection Authenticity Interaction Organisation Inquiry

36. Discussion Map on the key affordances for each of these tools Wiki Discussion forum MSN Chat Blog E-Portfolio Search engine Word Interactive DVD Video conference Powerpoint Spreadsheet E-assessment

37. Discussion Map on the key affordances for each of these activities Web search: Students search the web and collate resources against a given set of criteria Drill and practice: Students work through a set of resource, Then complete a formative self-assessment Debate: For and against arguments posted, Students choose sides and post their views, read and respond to other postings Portfolio: Student gather evidence against learning outcomes into a portfolio

38. Constraints Time consuming to develop Cost Difficult to use Assessment issues Lack of interactivity Time consuming to support

39. Tools, activities, problems Is there a relationship between tools and activities? Is there a relationship between tools and pedagogy? Is there a relationship between activities and problems? Tools Activities Problems/Pedagogy

40. Mapping problems to activities Discipline differences Addressing a real problem

42. Issues to consider What information will people find useful, in what format? Balance of abstraction vs. context Making connections across the themes: pedagogies, problems, tools and tasks Can we draw out key affordances? How do we populate and update the tool? How can we incorporate user adaptation? How do we combine with workshops, etc?

43. Next steps Feedback please! Work up of case studies Develop and testing of prototype tool Identification of additional support