Online Learning Pedagogies at UEL June A holistic approach to designing courses for delivery online Dr Panos Vlachopoulos, CLIPP

2 Learning Outcomes For participants to: Become aware of learning design approaches for online learning implementation Get away with at least 2 ideas of how pedagogies and tools can be implemented in your own discipline and teaching context

Our working definitions for today Distance learning : Modules, programmes or short courses where students are, for the most or the whole part, of their studies physically distant from the tutor and institution. Online learning :The use of the Internet, particularly the world wide web, to support teaching, learning and assessment.

Before we start….a first thought Education, as opposed to informal learning, is when someone or some system sets out to arrange for learning - and may partly do so by arranging for interactions of certain types and with certain purposes, between learner and learner, or learner and teacher. I suggest it's important to keep that distinction clear in our minds! Can we all see that power issues are important in such learning settings?

A second thought…. A key assumption in the literature of online learning is the desired expectation that students will adopt a student-directed approach to their learning. If learning is to be truly student -directed, then there should be a period of learning activity during which the activity, the decisions which matter, the interpretations placed on sourced material and experiences, should be the sole responsibility of the learners, free at that time from pro-active inputs by people who set out to teach, however they define that word, and with whatever benevolent intent. Vlachopoulos, P. & Cowan, J. (2010) Choices of approaches in e-moderation: conclusions from a grounded theory study, Active Learning in Higher Education, 11, (3), 1-13)

Who are the key stakeholders in online learning design? Students Teachers University as an Institution

Where are some of the areas for development/improvement that need attention? The Institutional Policies (including Teaching and Learning, IT Strategies, Finance, Protocols and Standards etc) The Institutional Infrastructure (including tools for staff and student, key learning and teaching and assessment platforms, but also robust tools for registration payments etc). The reconceptualisation of the pedagogical models (including academic development support for promoting transformation) The reconceptualisation of the ‘student’ as a partner in the online learning journey (including challenging the students’ own assumptions of how they learn)

Today’s Focus will be: The reconceptualisation of the pedagogical models (including academic development support for promoting transformation) The reconceptualisation of the ‘student’ as a partner in the online learning journey (including challenging the students’ own assumptions of how they learn)

Let’s remind ourselves about the key ways in which we learn... For each of the following ways of learning, think what can constitute evidence of learning. We will then explore if/how this can be translated into an online learning experience for our target student population. That’s for the first discussion activity.

Also…what devices are ‘mostly’ available? Computer Scanner Digital Camera Multimedia Software programs Smartphone Tablet

Think! So where does this leave us as practitioners?

We could look into some very useful books for ideas…

A Learning Design Theoretical Framework Vlachopoulos, P. & Cowan, J. (2010) Reconceptualising e-moderation of asynchronous online discussions: a grounded theory study, Distance Education, 36 (1), 23-36

A Learning Design Implementation Framework: 3E, from Edinburgh Napier University Enhance: Adopting technology in simple and effective ways to actively support students and increase their activity and self- responsibility Extend: Further use of technology that facilitates key aspects of student’s individual and collaborative learning and assessment through increasing their choice and control Empower: Developed use of technology that requires higher order individual and collaborative learning that reflect how knowledge is created and used in professional environments hmark/Documents/3E_Framework_Nov_2011.pdf

Activity idea 1: Encouraging timely engagement in key concepts Enhance: Have students using the wiki tool to define each one or two key terms or concepts from each week’s lecture for inclusion in an online class glossary Extend: Have students work in pairs to create an online guide to a particular topic (for example a ‘scavenger hunt’ of places on the web for their peers to explore) Empower :Use of e-portfolio that students can use in case and problem based learning tasks

Activity idea 2: Seminar participation Enhance: Provide an e-porfolio form for students to fill in follow- up comments (queries, issues that are still not clear) to that week’s seminar to be picked up during first part of the next week’s lecture Extend: Encourage more equal engagement in seminars by having students take turns (in pairs or small groups) to produce a summary of that week’s seminar to be posted online, perhaps with a follow-up question to be tackled Empower : Have students work in pairs or small groups to design and lead seminars for particular units, with guidance from tutor on their proposed topic and approach using the commenting tool in the e-portfolio

Activity idea 3: Preparing for and undertaking laboratory and/or field work Enhance: Provide links to video or narrated visual tutorials of safe laboratory and field work procedure as a means to prepare effectively. Consider linking these to a short online self-test to help students gauge their readiness for practice Extend: Make lab and field work more engaging through the use of mobile applications including: QR codes( ) for ‘point of use’ information and explanation of equipment and field samples; personal technologies such as cameras, video and mobile phones to record lab and field workhttp://qrcode.kaywa.com/ Empower: Have students work in small groups to prepare a ‘virtual field trip’ or ‘virtual lab tour’ that will bring together a range of relevant resources (e.g. documents, websites, video clips) that can be assessed as an output of their lab or field work and used as a learning artefact for future students on the same module

An example from my current teaching

A fully online Professional Development Course

Technology-enhanced (fully distance)student directed learning: examples from two Universities

What are other key considerations for effective learning design? Time: fix and variable time Cost: fix and variable costing

A Emerging Reflective Framework Vlachopoulos, P. & Wheeler, A. (under review) Avoiding Paralysis, Empowering Phronesis: a roadmap to reflective practice for early career academics, Studies in Higher Education.