are we ready for mass adoption of learning design? james dalziel professor of learning technology...
TRANSCRIPT
Are we ready for mass adoption of Learning Design?
James DalzielProfessor of Learning Technology and Director,
Macquarie E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE)Macquarie University
Keynote Presentation for the 2008 European LAMS Conference, Cadiz, Spain, 26th June, 2008
Overview
• A Vision for Educators of the Future• What is Learning Design?• Challenges to overcome• Challenges that remain• Some personal reflections
A Vision for Educators of the Future
• Educators agree how to describe sequences of educational activities (ie, lesson plans)
• Educators create “digital lesson plans” that make it easy to run educational activities on computers
• Educators share good “teaching ideas” (digital lesson plans) with their colleagues
• Educators are free to adapt, localise and improve good teaching ideas from others
• By collectively sharing and improving good teaching ideas, educators could revolutionise education
What is Learning Design?
• “Learning Design” (LD) has several different meanings:– A descriptive framework– A type of e-learning software– An approach to supporting effective pedagogy
What is Learning Design?
• Learning Design as a descriptive framework/language/notation system– Technical examples (IMS LD, LAMS XML, LDL, etc)– General examples (structured lesson plans, patterns, etc)
• Key concept: able to represent many different pedagogical approaches (“pedagogical neutrality”)
• Greatest potential, but hardest to understand
First page of the manuscript of Bach's lute suite in G Minor. Wikipedia.org
Date of manuscript unknown. Held in Florence, Italy. Photo by Asiir 17:00, 13 February 2007, Wikipedia.org
What is Learning Design?
• Learning Design as e-learning software– Arose from limitations with existing e-learning software,
especially Course Management Systems (CMS)– Focus on collaborative learning activities
• The missing dimension of SCORM/courseware
• Key concept: sequencing of activities– Learning Design systems are radically different to Course
Management Systems “under the hood”• Workflow engine vs groups-based website management
What is Learning Design?
• Learning Design as an approach to supporting effective pedagogy– Describing and sharing good ideas for teaching and learning– Helping educators to consider new approaches to improving
student learning (ie, taking some risks!)– Giving advice to educators on appropriate course design, tool
choice and activity structures to meet student learning needs
• Key concept: Not focused on pedagogical neutrality– Supporting educators with effective approaches to teaching
Sharing Effective Learning Designs
Learning Design Software
Learning Design Descriptive Framework
Educators
Challenges overcome
• Learning Design Descriptive Framework– Technical:
• EML, IMS LD, LAMS XML, LDL, etc give us real examples of a technical framework
• New work on mapping and underlying concepts/ontology– General descriptive;
• Structured lesson plans, AUTC Learning Design graphics, educational patterns, etc give us non-technical examples
– Early work on combined face-to-face + technology descriptions (eg, LAMS “offline activities” information field)
Challenges overcome
• Learning Design software– Far more difficult than anyone imagined, but…– Real examples in LAMS, Coppercore/ReLoad, etc
• Eg, LAMS Community has 3200+ members, 86 countries, 280+ sequences, 7300+ downloads, 3600+ forum postings
– LAMS integrations with Course Management Systems (eg, Moodle, Blackboard, WebCT, Sakai, .LRN, Microsoft Sharepoint)
– LAMS “Tools Contract” provides a framework for “LD aware” tools– V2.1 branching, optional sequences, new grouping – more flexible
• Some LAMS features that matter for LD adoption– Preview: Allows for iterative LD authoring by non-technical educators– Automatic tool instantiation: Allows sequences to run immediately– Progress bar: Loads next activity for students, so they don’t get lost
LAMS 2.1: Example of Branching (Interactive Whiteboards – Role play)
Challenges overcome
• Sharing Effective Learning Designs, eg:– LAMS Community – repository and discussion– AUTC Learning Designs website exemplars, etc
– Lessons from LAMS Community experiences:Direct re-use vs inspiration
– The affordances of Learning Design systems havefostered more activity-centric learning (vs content-centric)
Challenges that remain
• Learning Design Descriptive Framework– Technical:
• Still early days – much more work to be done• Tool setup/invocation• Global properties vs tool properties• Easy interoperability across different LD systems
– Descriptive• If you only have 1 or 2 pages, what is essential to convey
to another teacher? (cf music notation)
Challenges that remain
• Learning Design software– A very long list of desirable features…– “Deep” integration with Course Management System (ie, LD
authoring and sequencing engine, but CMS tools)– Basic tool interoperability for sharing designs across systems
– Looping and other non-linear structures• Including open game-like environments
– Role-based LD-aware activity tools• Eg, handing moderation of a Chat to a student
Challenges that remain
• Sharing Effective Learning Designs – the big challenge:– What mixture of learning platforms, activity tools, course and
activity advice, learner needs identification, design sharing communities, design templates and/or ready-to-use sequences will crystallise mass adoption?
– Or, is the problem elsewhere? (lack of teacher rewards for sharing and re-use; too focused on teacher control of learning; no clear evidence of educational benefits to justify teacher extra effort; IP concerns about sharing; other?)
LAMS Activity Planner
• New project (finally funded!) to explore implementation of an Activity Planner for LAMS
• Activity Planner components:– A library of templates– A decision process to help educators select a template
• Including advice– Easy content creation/editing for the chosen template
– (And features to allow experts to create their own planners)
LAMS Activity Planner: Selecting a template
LAMS Activity Planner: Filling out the key content for a selected template
Some personal reflections
• We have enough LD technology, although there is much more worthwhile work that could be done– But… radical ease of use remains critical
• Creating an activity planner for busy educators– Where choices are driven by timing, computer access and
collaboration constraints of the teaching context– Focus on small sequences that instantiate “good ideas” for
small group (class/tutorial) teaching and learning
Some personal reflections
• Would there be value in creating topic-specific activity planners?– Eg, a suite of sequences for the main topics of introductory
psychology – including easy editing to “tweak” content• (And full LAMS authoring is available if desired)
• Where are the textbook publishers?– They represent existing “re-use” of educational content on a
huge scale, but little work on prepared activities (vs content)– We don’t need all publishers – just one….
Some personal reflections
• Some approaches assume educational designers can “talk pedagogy” to busy educators “up front”– My sense is that normally designers need to earn trust first
• (Unless new course, major redesign or major problems)– One way to earn this trust is helping with a small, practical
implementation of a new teaching idea• A wider pedagogy discussion comes after a small
success
Are we ready for mass adoptionof Learning Design?
Yes…
No…
If only…