Best Practice in Designing Effective e-Courseware for Deployment with an LMS Partnership for Higher Education in Africa: Education Technology Initiative

This is a debate and not a lecture so you need to share your ideas of what constitutes ‘Best Practice’ Product: A best practice check list

Who is here? Have you experienced a course run on an LMS? Have you designed a course for deployment through an LMS Have you experienced a course (either electronic or not) that you felt created an effective learning environment? Yes to any of these means you qualify to contribute New to using LMS Experienced LMS User

Consider this Moodle Example Lecturer divides his Moodle course into sections (Topics or Temporal) Each section has a series of links to various digitised lecture notes. e.g. lecture 1.doc Occasionally if the lecturer is aware of a prescribed reading being available in digital format then he uploads this or links to it if it is on the Internet. The contact details (Room number and/or phone number ) of a tutor or the lecturer are made available. Obviously not ideal. So what then would we advise to create an effective learning environment that exploits the power of the LMS?

Best Practice Check List Technology should be used to support not replace good teaching. If you understand good teaching then you can use an LMS effectively Need to define what methodology we will use to support learning – only then can we effectively and appropriately use the new technological tools Technology is like the new “chalk” – a tool to facilitate basic practice. It does not replace serious planning and proper design: good content, learning outcomes devised, clear objectives, etc. Technology should be used if / where necessary. Inputs we generated during our discussion: 1 PEDAGOGY ISSUES

Best Practice Check List Training of lecturers in use of Moodle and how to link good pedagogy to the available tools Templates can be designed to support good teaching for those unfamiliar with the technology or with good pedagogy “Soft observation” by colleagues can support better use of available tools and encourage good pedagogy We need to recognise that the use of an LMS is not a one-man show. It involves a team. Content management expertise can support subject matter experts in use of the most appropriate tools 2 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Best Practice Check List 3 POLICY A balance between staff research and teaching responsibilities. In some instances, face to face teaching is ranked higher than eLearning – this could be addressed by new (gov’t / institutional policy) Persuasion and Policy: lecturers must perceive value in using new technologies if they are to adopt. Technology deployment: We need to start from where we are and be realistic about adoption rates. There needs to be a linkage between use of interactive tools / uploading of courses, to institutional recognition / reward systems

Best Practice Check List Continuous sensitization / awareness building: – lecturers need to believe that use of an LMS is actually valuable – and sometimes very exciting! – Lecturers need to believe that their students will be better equipped as a result of the investment 4 SENSITIZATION

Best Practice Check List Print based learning? In areas where connectivity is not ubiquitous, there are other creative uses for technology. Linking with others (e.g. private sector) to overcome challenges of funding and provide opportunities for students. 5 OTHER

Plan B These slides were created as an emergency ‘Plan B’ if the group was not forthcoming with ideas. They identify a completely different set of ideas drawn from an instructional design perspective. They are also worth reflecting on.

A Checklist Plan Instructional Design Instructional Design Quality Assurance Quality Assurance Monitor... map thoroughly Use ID elements to improve user performance Quality provides credibility Check to see if course performs as envisaged

Plan / Map Plan Context: Audience and Access Course Outcomes / Objectives Predominant Methodology e.g. Social Constructivism Assessment Strategy Content / Curriculum Select Moodle Tools: Forum, Chat, blogs etc Select Moodle Tools: E-docs, web pages etc Select Moodle Quiz: Essay, Short Answer, MC, etc

Instructional Design Structure: Moodle’s Topic vs temporal Activities Make Contextual: Case studies, Real world examples Illustrative Devices Student Support Devices: Help Diversity Issues e.g. gender Timing / Pacing Devices Select Moodle Tools: Forum, Chat, blogs, quizzes, readings etc

Quality Assurance Nominate a Team Determine Criteria Insert into Workflow

Monitoring & Evaluation Monitor User experience Staff Teaching experience Student performance against course Outcomes / Objectives Revise and improve courseware

Thanks

Nadeosa QA Example Materials are developed and reviewed in terms of the following criteria: There are clearly laid out aims and learning outcomes, and an explicit indication of study time (notional study hours per section of the material) which allow learners to adopt sensible study plans. The content and teaching approach support learners in achieving the learning outcomes. Learner-friendly introductions, linking and summarizing passages motivate the learners and provide coherence to the materials. The content of the course is accurate, up-to-date, relevant to aims and outcomes, free of discrimination, and reflects awareness of the multilingual and multicultural reality of South African society. The language level of the materials is appropriate for the target learners and the materials assist learners with the particular difficulties that learning-through reading and learning at a distance require. Care is taken to understand the contexts in which learners live and work, as well as their prior knowledge and experience. This knowledge is used in the design of the materials. Back

Workflow Example Content Expert: Content Pack Moodle Course Construction Q & A: Peer Review Content Edit Language Edit Production: Lesson Programmer: Objects Student: Deployed Materials Back