Development meeting - 3 10 08
Thanks for your comments in there Bron. Good to be reminded about the learning objectives, although it would be nice to review them some day (aware this is an admin hassle though). I suspect "learning design" is an area I am theoretically weak on and wonder what resources we would use to guide such a thing. I'm not sure learning design is something I would want to introduce in this course. Pedagogy or andragogy are areas I hope are covered in the other course "Designing for Learner Centredness" and so theories there can be applied (by the participants) here. Perhaps Instructional Design is the area you want to introduce so as to cover the learning objective with the word design in it? I wonder if there is a way we can have people consider the design in the weeks we look at examples. For example:
- The next 3 weeks we will look at 3 examples of flexible learning. In the final week you are to choose one example (or find another) and comment on the flexibility afforded to learning. The flexibility afforded to teaching. What might have been involved in developing the example you are considering (time, resources, training, etc).
Don't be afraid about the word "design" Leigh. I agree they should have done most of the general theory around learning/pedagogy in the "Designing for Learner Centredness" course but some will not have done this.
My thoughts for this section are to help them focus in more on design/learning theory which is related to their ideas for flexibility. It is something we asked for in 2008 for them to provide in the plan but they did it very poorly because they were not guided or given the opportunity and I do not think they knew what we wanted.
What I am meaning is for example...if a participant wishes to introduce video resources into their teaching, I would like them to look at the literature around the benefits of visual/video material for learning. If they wish to introduce authentic learning activities or problem-solving or gaming - I would like them to have the opportunity to explore the literature/research around gaming for learning. If they have predominantly kinaesthetic learners with low literacy they need to consider the best approaches for them. Some of it will overlap into the issues section but I want to get them started on thinking about strategies in their context and why they will work or not.
I just want them to have a theoretical basis from which their practical plan develops. There is no point in adding in bells and whistles etc if there is no evidence it is going to improve achievement, reduce attrition, enhance learning etc. Even if they did this in the other course they may not make the connection and see it as necessary to justify their plan with evidence. I am trying to get them to do some critical thinking about their design ideas. it is not so we cover the word design in the objectives but more to ensure we cover the necessary areas for them to have adequate knowledge so they can design and plan for an optimal flexible learning experience for their target audience.
