Learning Twigs

E-Learning Design Matters (2): Facilitating discovery learning and supporting language/ literacy needs

 

In the learning material featured below (from a Physical Education course unit) you may notice and react to two key features--ones I personally think are extremely important--the notions of interactive discovery learning and embedded language support to cater to variable levels of literacy proficiency (in what is essentially content-based learning material).

 

 

 

Admittedly the facilitation of both discovery learning and language support in this particular resource is (at this early stage of development) a bit simple and limited (less kind readers with deep instructional design experience might even call it a little crude and one-dimensional). Then again, being geared at about Certificate II level, it's supposed to be reasonably simple and have an approachable 'rhythm' in terms of what learners are asked to do and show.

 

It is interesting (to me at least) how authoring tools for what are essentially 'pre-programmed' learning resources can be applied in ways to help the learners build and document their own learning about complex concepts from initial guesses to edited reports.

 

This online application, created in Articulate Storyline, was adapted from a more traditional paper + powerpoint resource at the request of the colleague who authored the core (content) material.

 

It was already set up as a limited 'discovery learning' activity, with learners looking at a table with three columns. The first column listed nine key aspects of fitness. The learners were asked to complete the second column (alongside each key aspect/term) with their initial guesses as to what they meant. They then watched a simple powerpoint presentation in class (or accessed it in self-paced mode from their Moodle course page) and wrote down the more formal/technical definitions for each term alongside their own initial guesses.

 

The online version applies this as well, with some important variations.

 

First, it begins with a visual guessing activity where the learners make as many attempts as they need to apply the nine fitness terms to appropriate pictures. I often like to start with something that is visual, guessing/trial and error, (inter)active and 'failproof.' Get the learners seeing things, doing things and experiencing simple success right from the outset.

 

Secondly, I thought there was too much pressure in terms of the request to 'punt' and then compare that punt to a very technical definition. I was also somewhat worried that learners might initially develop a 'relevance' resistance factor. So I built in some 'help' explanations to take the potential sting out of what the learners were being asked to do, and two more layers: (1) a chance for the learners to edit and improve their own definitions for the terms, and (2) a challenge to think about how the various fitness aspects could be relevant to their own work/work roles.

 

Third, there was the challenge of the technical definitions being not only miles away from learners' initial guesses, but also potentially intimidating based on the level of language used. From the language and literacy angle, rather than just 'dumbing it all down', I felt that--on the condition that the language was adequately explained and supported--this could be a chance to extend and consolidate language and literacy. Hence mouseover functionality was applied to difficult words to trigger simple definitions and explanations, drag-and-drop activities were added to reinforce those words and their meanings, and a help prompt added to the edit/improve layer to remind them yet again of those complex words (and to encourage the learners to try and use them).

 

So exploring ways to cater to variations in language and literacy proficiency or confidence was a priority, with the important condition that those who need it can access help and scaffolding, while those who don't can basically 'get on with the job.' There was also some deliberate restraint: despite all the different language and literacy highlights and interactive activities possible, it was important to keep things reasonably quick and short. Leading the learners into a forest of literacy with/after every slide could not only cause them to lose all sight of the fitness aspects, but also erode their willingness (or belief in their ability) to try and complete the overall resource.

 

Finally, I wanted more in the way of overall consolidation to show the learners their own work and development. A 'Learning Stage' summary was added after work was completed with groups of three fitness aspects. This summary lists the learners' own input in a sort of report documenting initial guesses, edited/improved explanations and their thoughts about how that particular aspect of fitness applies to real working life.  This in turn becomes excellent outlining/drafting material for a follow up written report.

 

 

So there you have it: some simple content and activities to address basic applications of discovery learning and language/literacy support and/or development. If you haven't already done so, you might like to work through the sample embedded above and look for some of those features in the learning material.

 

There's also a YouTube video about somewhere (at the time of writing, currently lost in the lands of uploading and processing) which demonstrates how I built out this particular resource and what I was thinking with each stage/tool. If you're interested, leave me a comment and I'll come back to the post later and embed that particular screencast.

 

 

 ;-D

 

 

Interested in (E)Learning Design and want to connect? Find me on LinkedIn 

 

 

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E-Learning Design Matters (1): Creating an Experience using Scenery, Sound, Self-Awareness and Scenarios

Taking your course online? Beware the belittling 'information dump'!

Just how important are well-designed course headers?

 

Above you can see three new headers I just completed for new 2013 courses to be launched on a Moodle platform. After playing around with several different designs, I settled on this one because--for whatever reason--something inside me just suddenly said: "That's it! That's the feel and look we're after for these courses."

 

Looking over them (even now, above this text as I type) in some ways I can't really decide whether I love or loathe this particular design, and that got me thinking about what must seem to many people a rather innocuous issue. How important are good course headers, anyway?

 

And why am I particularly passionate about getting them right, willing to spend any/all hours fiddling and tweaking, discarding and starting them over anew?

 

With E-Learning courses, there is of course a sequence of very important things that have to take place well before the course header design ever factors into the equation. Objectives, mapping, samples and trialling, building in the 'back end' of a course in terms of grading and administration, etc.

 

But for me personally, when you get to that stage when you are going to start actually loading up the materials and tasks into Moodle courses, I have an almost obsessive insistence on not doing anything until those course headers are... just so. I will take as much time as I need to get them right.

 

Perhaps it stems from the experience (a long time ago now) of using Moodle for the first time and applying the basic text editor to create a header title and description, perhaps with some pics thrown in. For want of a more eloquent way of putting it, basically the course page made me get a serious YUCK sensation every time I visited it. It screamed amateur, and no style! And, very importantly, the learners are going to find this thoroughly uninspiring...

 

Or perhaps it's because now, as a learning designer, that sense or feel of a course, starting with immediate first impressions (layout, colours, pictures, textures, titles, wording) really matters a lot more to me. And I want to design and feature course headers that sort of say something to the people who are going to be using that course. Until I can get that right, or very close to right (in my own mind), most other parts of the course development go on hold.

 

The design above (and I'm still not entirely sure I'll go with it yet) represents and attempts to say something.

 

Does it say anything to you?

 

Let's put it to the test: Why do you think I would design course headers in the way I have above? What am I trying to evoke? Who for?

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

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E-Learning Design Matters (1): Creating an Experience using Scenery, Sound, Self-Awareness and Scenarios

 

 

 

When it comes to E-Learning, there are certainly levels and layers in terms of how well the material and activities add up to become a memorable experience for learners.

 

For many developing E-Learning Designers you can almost follow a trail that begins with downloadable assignments, works through the introduction and integration of rich media and quizzes, moves on to more in the way of interaction and personalisation, and then onwards and upwards towards the creationof more intricate and genuinely absorbing online learning experiences.

 

It's true that any E-Learning activity is, in some way or another, an 'experience'. However, how rich and meaningful that experience becomes for the learners depends a great deal on the layers of design underlying the resource and the versatility of the tools drawn on to facilitate the final product.

 

In terms of tools, getting your hands on (and head around) a tool like Articulate Storyline (generally my tool of choice) or Adobe Captivate can make all the difference. It's also worth looking at options for image and sound purchasing (I'm pretty happy with what I get access to with a service like iStockphoto and iStockaudio).

 

From the design perspective (when it comes to generating a richer overall experience), I like to remind myself of four 'experiential' Ss:

Scenery, Sound, Self-Awareness and Scenarios.

 

Below you can watch a presentation of an E-Learning resource that demonstrates both the tool (Articulate Storyline) and the four Ss of experiential design.

 

 

 

Please note that I am not pretending that these four Ss are the only aspects or criteria for creating richer online learning experiences. But personally, I find it helps to remind myself of those four considerations in the design process.

 

Note also my point in the video that generating the extra wrapping and framework for a richer overall experience takes as much (if not more) time as putting together the basic core material and quiz items. It does for me, anyway, and it can be an interesting quick assessment tool: if I haven't invested as much time into these aspects, I could very well be detracting from the overall experience for the learners - even if I might be checking the boxes in terms of basic content objectives and performance criteria.

 

 

 ;-D

 

 

Interested in (E)Learning Design and want to connect? Find me on LinkedIn

 

 

 

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Some good Instructional Design reads

 

 

Instructional Design. Learning Design. Educational Design.

They're terms that are cropping up more and more in multiple education settings and sectors. Are you an Instructional Designer? Or a Learning Designer? Or an Educational Technologist?

Chances are, if you have anything to do with designing and implementing learning activities with some sort of technology-based facilitation, you're one of those terms above or (more likely) a bit of all of them, but perhaps not all the time.

In any case, this whole notion of instructional/learning/educational design is a rapidly emerging and growing field. You may feel (as an educator working in a world increasingly surrounded or embedded in technology) that you could certainly benefit from knowing more about it all.

And while it may sound quaint, given this whole topic, one of the best things you can do to help you get your head around it all is... read more books!

I recently invested in a number of e-books on the topic of instructional/learning design. Here are three I'd recommend (depending on your relative level of entry into the field).

 

 

45 Elearning Tips and Tricks

John Araiza (Amazon/Kindle $2.99)

 

I purchased this one as part of a permanent belief I hold personally that, irrespective of experience and expertise, you can never really not benefit from looking over the basics again from multiple points of view. At $2.99 (and based on the quick 'inside' review) I thought: what the heck?

I wasn't let down: this is a great little book. Whether you are just starting to foray into the realm of E-Learning and want to start with some practical concrete tips and examples, or consider yourself to be something of an expert, you're very likely to find some useful stuff here. Each of the tips is well explained and rationalised, written by someone who really does know what he's talking about (and, just as importantly, knows how to get that across to others).

A good example of something I picked up from it was the tip about using images in learning design proposals. As in, if you're doing the right thing and purchasing the rights to any images you may use in an online learning product, don't go actually buying anything until you know for sure it can be used in the end product. At the proposal and sample stages, use the watermarked versions in any examples. Later, when you know what will and won't end up in the final product, go ahead and order (and pay for) the ones you'll actually use.

That might sound like a no-brainer, and it was something I used to do but have somehow sort of overlooked in the last couple of years.

That's a simple example; there are a whole range of very relevant and practical tips there and (as I said) while it would be particularly useful for self-confessed 'newbies' to E-Learning, there are potentially some useful gems for the 'veterans' as well.

 

 

A Brief Overview of Instructional Design

John Araiza (Amazon/Kindle $0.99) 

 

I probably didn't really need this one, given I (feel I) have a pretty solid grasp of many of the instructional design models out there, but at that price (and based on the good impression of the author and his approach in the above review) again I kind of thought: what the heck?

What turned out to be a pleasant concise review for me would, I think, be an excellent read for people starting to enter the field. John defines the term Instructional Design, provides some history, rationalises the use of ID, describes who is involved in ID processes, and some of the more compelling advantages of it. He then does a bit of a tour through some of the more popular models (ADDIE, ARCS, Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction, Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory, the Kemp Design Model).

It's a very short book and doesn't dip very deeply anywhere as a result, but this could be just what the ID Doctor ordered for emerging learning technologists out there. It's approachable and covers some of the main areas and points to pay attention to if this is an area you would like to check out and become more involved in.

 

 

Design for How People Learn (Voices that Matter)

Julie Dirksen (Amazon/Kindle $17.59)

 

Okay, we're going up the price scale here, but we're also getting a lot more pages and ideas to really sink our teeth into.

This book is an absolute gem. I'm only about a third of the way through it, but so far it has been that riveting, relevant and clearly useful that I have no hesitation in thoroughly recommending it now to any educator out there thinking about learning design (whether for e-learning or face to face educational settings).

As the title suggests, this gets right into the whole notion of learning and how people learn, identifying and building out the design principles from those central tenets. Delicious detail and concrete exemplification is applied to the whole notion of learning 'gaps' based on knowledge, skills, motivation and environment. It explores the central importance of how things are noticed, remembered and facilitated into longer term memory (or not).

If you've caught yourself thinking that too much of the learning design chit-chat out there has become mired in bells and whistles, Learning Management Systems, rapid authoring tools, (and the list goes on) then I think you'll really appreciate this expert's insistence on getting back to what really matters: the what, why, how, where, when (and which) of learning itself.

The E-Learning aspect is still certainly there, but in its rightful role as a medium and mode built around that central prioritisation on learning.

I also found it interesting (and impressive) how Julie's approach in the book really exemplified her own expertise in this area: the learning design of the book itself is evident to anyone who knows a good teacher when they see/hear/read one. She makes everything crystal clear and the transition from principle to real world application and relevance (or vice versa) is seamless, non-threatening and respectful of audience even as it stamps the author's own firmly held beliefs about learning very clearly on the scene(s).

I was in the middle of designing an online resource when I started reading this book. It's added four days to the design process and production already as I get reminder after reminder and rationale after rationale about what different learners (potentially) really need. I guess I did already know about these priorities, and have certainly seen or put them into action in one training/learning scene or another, but the book and its content have been a very timely reminder to put greater effort into seeing that more of the little things that matter actually happen in an online learning experience.

Excellent read and bursting with potential to change the way you both perceive learning and go about facilitating it.

 

 

 

So, hopefully there's something there for the budding and/or busy instructional/learning/educational designer to think about!

 

More reviews to come...

 

 

;-D

 

 

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Technology - write way up or down?

 

 

I had a bit of a two-step epiphany recently as I was developing and experimenting with an online resource for a Year 12 literacy course, with emphasis on composition.

 

Putting Articulate Storyline through its paces, I found that I was able to set up a series of text input boxes (small ones, lined up next to separate parts of a video documentary) that sent any of the information the learners typed in individual text entries to a single slide that put all the entries into order in one text.

 

So, in other words, the learners could type six separate summaries as they worked through the six parts of the documentary, and this would all end up as the six paragraph body of a report text. They could then enter an introduction and a conclusion and this would also automatically adjust the combined overall text.

 

This is potentially very useful for the sort of cohort I teach. Ask them to write a page and they'll either give up on the spot or rebel.

 

Ask them to complete a smallish textbox (of about average paragraph size) and they're much more likely to give it a shot. With a task broken down into stages like this, they are both much more amenable to working through it and also pleasantly surprised to see a final result with multiple paragraphs and, overall, a significant amount of writing they wouldn't initially have believed themselves capable of.

 

So that's all good, except for one small problem: editing the final combined piece of writing.

 

I couldn't combine the input texts into another input text box (which would have allowed the learners to work with the combined text and send it along to another combined summary box). I also couldn't get all this input text into a summary text that could be copied and pasted (for example, to a MS Word document - where it could then be edited). And in a sort of 'three strikes and you're out' sort of way, I couldn't get the input text sections to drop into a quiz or survey essay box, from where they could then be submitted with one click into the LMS for a teacher to check and respond to.

 

No, if I wanted the learners to edit their overall composition in a format that could actually be submitted, it was going to have to be retyped from start to finish.

 

RETYPED?

 

I could almost hear the gasps of shock and dismay. Why on earth, given the wonders of modern technology, would you create a writing 'tool' which forced learners to completely retype something, when clearly with all the common programs out there you should be capable of simply clicking in and just editing the parts that need it?

 

That's when it hit me.

 

I remembered what I and everyone I went to school with had to do. Writing was pen and paper. You wrote out an essay, and generally it got feedback from a teacher. You would then re-write the whole essay as a second draft. And then possibly a whole third/final draft - or even more than that, if it was something you cared about doing well.

 

We certainly never had the option of just writing over the indicated mistakes with whiteout and a quick flourish of the pen (essentially the pen and parchment days equivalent of what something like a modern word processing program does).

 

Now I'll admit this process of re-writing whole essays multiple times had a negative impact on certain kinds of students when it came to motivation to write. The feeling of heaviness (associated with having to come up with a long essay) combined with the common 'where/how in heck do I start?' reaction didn't do wonders for some student's confidence and willingness to engage in a writing task.

 

But it also ensured that--with good teaching to help overcome the outlining and getting started gremlins--all writers, from poor through to outstanding, became better writers. You were careful about what you wrote, mindful of mistakes (perhaps thinking out your full sentences in advance before you wrote them down). You paid attention to feedback--at sentence, paragraph and whole text level--as you wrote out your second draft, and usually found a few others things you wanted to change based on thinking your way through the whole idea a second time around. The good paragraphs and sentences were retained and written again, solidifying them in your writer's brain.

 

Overall, writing something out from start to finish multiple times was what helped us become better and better at this whole writing and thinking gig.

 

Current learners don't want this, feel they don't need it and (increasingly) are never asked to go anywhere near such a process. Just type your essay out once and simply edit the words or sentences pointed out to you as being problematic. You probably won't even have to think about the whole text anymore--just the little parts of it that require corrections.

 

It is certainly convenient. Some would even say it is important for learner 'motivation.'

Perhaps because, in today's world, written communication is predominantly tiny fragments in the form of text messages or fashionably imperfect Facebook or microblog comments of 1-5 lines (lines according to Facebook's feed column width, anyway)? And that's the real world and all the real world really needs from them now and in future, right?

 

Unfortunately, given the bleak levels of overall literacy I see in today's teenagers, I can't help but conclude that there's no genuine convenience or motivation in reinforcing what are--overall--sub-standard literacy skills and awareness. Nothing I've seen in written Facebook interactions or text messages so far comes even remotely close to convincing me that these are the literacy skills that will suffice when it comes to producing informed and articulate members of a progressive, patient and thoughtful society.  

 

So many teenagers can't think or reason beyond a short paragraph anymore. It becomes too tiring or boring for them. Literacy and things like essays are only a symptom here of a broader malady. If you want a full scale topic, it will need to be a movie (or at least something in video format), because a written story or article will exhaust them too easily. If you want their attention or critical thinking for anything beyond 20 minutes, it had damn well better be visual and entertaining. Until all of the classic texts and stories come out as movie adaptations or comic e-books, then they couldn't possibly be relevant or useful...

 

So as a modern day literacy teacher, I have to admit this represents a quandary for me.

 

I know what they want/prefer and I do want them to feel capable and motivated. I also know that this current state of reading/writing is seriously dumbing them down and/or out. And I know the processes that helped my generation become at least reasonably literate across a larger percentage of the student population.

 

Perhaps a compromise could be forged here: I'll work the technology in a way that helps you build up larger compositions without the process feeling so heavy and impossible at the start. Then you'll retype a full second draft with changes and edits because I bloody well know that this is a process that helps you become a better and more capable writer over time.

 

Funnily enough, the bizarre epiphany here on my part was that it was a 'failure' in the technology to complete a process of convenience (the text boxes gathering into new text input boxes that can be edited, copied/pasted or directly submitted) that opened my eyes to something important I feel the learners are seriously missing out on.

 

And being convenient certainly doesn't automatically correlate to being conducive.

 

Or am I just be(com)ing unreasonable and old-fashioned?

 

 

;-D

 

 

Learning: A New Year's Dream

 

 

2012 was a relatively quiet one for this blog, which is either logical or suprising considering how tremendously busy I was for the whole year. I've always been a 'busy' person, but 2012 was massive in all sorts of ways. Quite aside from all the teaching, there was a Cert IV TAE (in Training and Assessment), two diplomas (in Vocational Education and Training, and Training Design and Development respectively), and some quite mammoth developments in our team when it came to e-Learning facilitation and professional documentation of delivery and assessment plans for close to 40 largish units of coursework.

 

Considering the e-Learning angle alone, this summary page in a report I produced demonstrates just how busy we were - all of us (coordinator, teachers and especially students):

 

 

 

In a humbling finale to the year, I got to walk out in front of a couple of hundred teaching colleagues to accept the Gordon TAFE 2012 Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (often just referred to as The Teacher of the Year Award). As much as I felt a little awkward accepting an award for work that was really more of a whole team effort, I have to admit there was a little satisfaction there, knowing how hard I had been working (and more importantly: completing things) on multiple fronts from quite low down on the institutional salary scale.

 

I couldn't help but think back to an interview with Jeff Lebow in Korea in 2011, when I expressed the need to step back from ELT and try my hand at something new, challenging myself by 'starting at the bottom' again (so to speak). Accepting the recent award and thinking about all the project work I had initiated and completed, I did get an impression that I was sort of making good on that promise to myself. And it was nice to get recognition based on the hard yards done in classrooms and with colleagues 'at the chalk/Moodle face' rather than the automatic (and I think usually undue) respect that comes from having your name on some glossy, smartly marketed textbooks. 

 

 

2012: A busy year indeed...

 

 

But enough already of the skiting and self-satisfied back slapping! 2012 (in the pace of this day and age) is already old news.

 

2013 is here and it's time to learn a new year's dream...

 

For me personally, I think this year is about 'stepping back' again and embracing a whole new challenge. That challenge has already begun to coalesce for me over the short Christmas and New Year's break, and it sort of goes like this:

 

Think you have a handle on this whole educational/instructional E-Learning design thing?

Think again, mate.

 

 

Welcome to 2013, everyone - and I wish you well with learning your own New Year's Dream!

 

 

 

;-D