The Open University's Institute for Educational Technology Using ICT for curriculum design,...

The Open University's Institute for Educational Technology

Using ICT for curriculum design, development and delivery:

design for active and interactive networked learning

NADEOSA, Pretoria, 2006Professor Mary Thorpe

The Open University


ICTs for effective teaching and learning

Conceptualising ICT for curriculum design, development & delivery

Action and interaction – the goal of ICT use

Learning from good practice examples

Learning design & designs for learning: design contingent on context

Re – use: design & content can be re-used: what’s the challenge?

OU OCI - Open Educational Resources & partnership projects with Africa


Networked learning is learning in which Information and communications technology

is used to promote connections between one learner and other learners,

between learners and tutors and between a learning community

and its learning resources.(Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technologies, Lancaster)


Overall theme: more interactivelearning, more discussion & dialogue

We want the current dominant focus on information rich resources to shift towards greater attention to the processes which support interaction & dialogue

ESRC seminar series manifesto, 2002

We want the current dominant focus on information rich resources to shift towards greater attention to the processes which support interaction & dialogue

ESRC seminar series manifesto, 2002


A social constructivist approach to learning

The learner: constructs meaning through engagement in relevant learning activities

The teacher: constructs an integrated system where all aspects of the teaching and assessment work together to support active and interactive learning

Mathemagenic activities – activities the learner can carry out that will result in their learning

(Laurillard, 2002)


Learning design Knowledge is relational, situational, probabilistic

Learning outcomes

Learner characteristics

SettingCharacteristics

Mediacharacteristics

Learning Design


Learning design knowledge – from theory, best practice, & designs Derived from theories of learning and instruction

Identify best practice examples of teaching and learning

Identify the design of the learning activities embedded within best practice examples

learning designs are more generic than

the teaching episode/unit, &can be used/adapted elsewhere (Koper & Tattersall, 2005)


If…then…

If you understand why my best practice works, then you might be able to learn from it & apply that learning to your own designs for learning

If you see the design of teaching and learning activity in my example, you may be able to adapt it

If your context matches mine, then you might be able to apply my best practice to your own teaching context

Context: university study, Environmental ScienceNamed degree, level 3 course, 60 points,

distance teaching, adult learners,networked learning,


Web-based course, up to 50% of study is online

Study led by around 10 online activities per block/4 blocks

Students alternate between independent study of online activities, using external websites, CDROM resources & tools, and

interaction with peers, using asynchronous conferencing, whichis assessed; they attend one day school

Course is skills focused and students learn how to debate online, use climate modelling tools, write environmental web-journalism,

complete a project, and submit assignments as web pages

U316 – The Environmental Web


The Environmental Web: Context

Four main themes – governance, uncertainty, globalization and sustainability – inter-disciplinary teaching approach

Pedagogy of active involvement and participation delivered through a variety of forms of interaction

Research explored how students and tutors perceived what the course delivers, from their perspectives

‘Our overall aim is to provide you with the skills needed to develop your own environmental literacy and to take part

in informed environmental debate and action, rather than to expand your environmental knowledge as such.’

Course Chair, introduction


What evidence for good practice success?

Rates of completion (base = all students at HEFCE return)

2003 2004 2005

The Environmental Web

78.6% 74.0% 77.6%

Science Faculty average for all level 3 courses

69.2% 68.5% 66.5%

Social Science average for all level 3 courses

76.4% 77.3% 76.5%


What are the challenges in achieving active & interactive learning, in this context?

Engagement – can’t be assumed, need to create a context

Participation – won’t happen by asking; need structure to encourage learners to interact & participate online

Independence – learners need support to work independently

Workload – can learners complete the work in the time available? Learners need help to manage workload

Assessment – fit for purpose, constructively aligned

Support – high social presence and access to help required to reduce drop out


Engagement: Authentic tasks Biodiversity data collection activity

Use detailed field notes on a sample of birds, dragonflies and woodlice Students observe their area, noting what species they find

Complete field notes and upload to the U316 Biodiversity database

This creates a geographically referenced map of all the students’ data, enabling students to see where there are species ‘hot spots’ and to work out what might be good strategies for nature reserves

Submit an assignment based on this activity, for credit

The OU data is submitted to the national biodiversity database and so adds to ‘real’ knowledge


tutorThe fact that it reflects what is happening today…It makes it something completely

different…from a lot of science courses…it’s very alive… The sort of study…where they count woodlice and things like that…they

feel most of them very much part of a bigger whole.. It’s all very immediate, it’s real research, it’s actually useful for the

scientific community and there are people all over the country feeding into this and …

for many of them it captures their imagination – although they do complain a bit about sitting outside and not finding any

dragonflies for example.


Participation: design the organisation, the task & the environment/resources

Course team commitment – no compromise on conferencing - and tutor support. Tutors contact all students by phone/correspondence to make sure they’re online from week 1 .

Conferencing is structured – there is a phased design for the activities and tasks are clearly specified, integrating individual & group learning.

Assessment includes the work done in online conferencing groups, and is graded.


Research your Island’s data

Using websites

Complete Short report on your island & upload to the group conference

Complete Short report on your island & upload to the group conference

Role play meeting of AOSIS, Representing your

Island’s needsFor environmental

protection

Group decides on a set of demands from AOSIS to the UN

Group decides on a set of demands from AOSIS to the UN

Assignment- Student Reports onRole play

& uses dataon their island

To supportthe consensus

reached35% marks

Blue= individualGreen= report to groupcream= group work

AOSIS conference activity


Intellectual tasks required to achieve understanding through interaction

Describe Explain Find out/search/research Reason/justify Predict Argue/debate Critique/evaluate Define Calculate Articulate Reflect


Research &Evaluate dataOn your island

Articulate your island’s Vulnerabilities& set out someClaims to UN

Articulate your island’s Vulnerabilities& set out someClaims to UN

Discuss and evaluateDraft UN proposals;

Articulate the needsof your island in

debate

Argue for & agree on a set of demands from AOSIS to the UN

Argue for & agree on a set of demands from AOSIS to the UN

Explain your Demands,

justify them,Explain how

you Reached a Consensus & Reflect on

your role35% marks

Blue= individualGreen= report to groupcream= group work


Task and roles enabled interaction without knowing other students

Interviewer: So did you find it difficult to contribute…because you hadn’t met these people first?

Student: No no not at all. Because in there we had an aim, we had a target so I didn’t mind at all that I did not know the fellow students. We just exchanged views...


Interaction promoted reasoned discussion & argument

Interviewer: did you find it possible to disagree?

Student: Oh very much so – people did disagree a lot and managed to put forward their points of view a lot, which I really liked, and backed it up with examples…most people’s decisions were informed and you could see that.


Student:(we used a)…spread sheet to see what kind of opinions were coming forward, and it was quite clear that three issues were coming forward from most people, so you…thought …if you weren’t in that consensus you would be in a minority and probably you’d have more sway if you felt able to join the majority…on most of the issues I could but there was one or two issues where I said no there’s no way I’m going to compromise on that…I was Haiti, so I was very poor…there was a lot of wealthy islands, so some people didn’t have the issues that Haiti did so there was some things that I just couldn’t compromise on.

Interaction promoted reasoned discussion & argument (2)


Student:…from what I’ve heard on the conferencing and the website in general, people put different opinions on and it’s been discussed by quite a few members of the group and people have either changed their minds ‘cos they’ve seen an argument from a different perspective, or they’ve said no I still think the same thing.

Interviewer: Did that happen in your group?

Student:…it did to some extent. We had a discussion about tourism…and that was one of the points that we’d agreed on the Sunday and then after some more of the comments the following week it was changed to not stopping tourism at all but going for eco-tourism and going for high taxes on air flights…so that opened up a separate debate in that area and that was one of the things that we altered the opinion on.

Students provide evidence for views, Change their views through debate


Social presence increases through onlineinteraction student

It’s a lot better because you feel a bit more supported…you put your mails on the website and get your replies and you start talking to people and you do build up some sort of rapport with them, and so far its quite enjoyable and not as difficult as I was expecting it to be. I thought it was going to be a bit impersonal and its not like that at all.


Assessment tasks - test understanding

not memory Develop criteria to evaluate information obtained from websites,

Summarise online debate: what were the main views and minority views, what were the main arguments and sources of evidence cited, did some people’s views change and if so why, what was the consensus or range of views at the end ?

Submit a web page with a news story based on your own research on governance and sustainability; submit your ‘activity log’ of the research and the references you used and why; vote on the best stories

Complete a project on own topic choice, and submit report as web pages


Evidence: Student learning outcomes

Student response on the Course Experience Questionnaire shows above average achievement on generic skills

Helped me develop problem solving skills

Helped my ability to work as a team member

Sharpened my analytic skills

More confident about tackling unfamiliar problems

Helped me develop ability to plan my own work

…and appropriate assessment: strong disagreement with

This course was more to do with testing memory than understanding

To do well on this course all you need is a good memory


Support: keeping learners studying

tutor

Without question the computer conferencing aspect of the course offers so much support both at a

national and tutor group level…the overwhelming feedback from that…

was that it had been a huge help. And the students are very supportive of

each other…so I think from the support point of view it’s unparalleled really. I

spend more time with my online students than I do with my

conventional students.


Support (2)

tutor Email makes a huge difference to the speed you can communicate without

being intrusive because you don’t want to ring people up

all the time…it’s a lot quicker for me too

I think they’re more effectively supported

because I’m checking the conferences and my email everyday…they could get day to day support on the

course.


tutor It feels much more like – how can I put it – more like genuine teaching if you see what I mean. I have a lot more contact with students…the

level of interaction is much higher, much more enjoyable. Certainly the students say that to me and I find it

much more enjoyable


Tutor perspective – interview comments

Definitely interactive – probably the most interactive course I’ve come across

Creates a buzz – comparable to face to face Works better than other courses: gets all

students conferencing Students enjoy it – even if they’re compelled to

participate Students don’t feel alone; gives a role to student

experts to help other students Students definitely better supported than a

conventional ODE course


BUT…

Time spent studying – 54% say ‘a lot more than expected’ (higher than usual)

Lack of choice over how to study – and impact of increased deadlines – difficult for some students


Student perceptions (1)

Enjoying the course…finding it a very heavy workload but find the

biggest drawback is not being able to tailor my studies to fit in with other ‘life events’ – so many deadlines/conference etc to meet

all the time adds quite a bit of pressure


Student perceptions (2)

Whilst thoroughly enjoying the content of this course, I find the restrictive timetable quite stressful. Conferenceswithin specific dates, data collection allgo against the flexible ethos of OU study.

While I like (the course) in general I find the workload overwhelming and having to do specific tasks at specified times can get in the way of trying to get ahead


Evidence of success: EPIWAS

Challenge areas √x

Engagement √

Participation √Independence √Workload/flexibility x

Assessment √

Support √


Design does not guarantee outcome

Design specifies the context, the learner works within a setting specific to them

Design specifies the task; the learner carries out an activity as they see fit

Design specifies the organisation; the learner chooses whom to work with, whether to collaborate, build a community, etc

But we can reuse and improve designs & we canreuse and version content


Good Content – reusable, versionable

Learning objects – content that is digitally created and stored, portable and easily reusable

‘Grain size’ varies - chunks of content should be free standing – not integrated with other material

Debate continues over how much teaching can be included in a learning object; depends on ‘grain size’


‘It’s the context stupid’ (Saffo, 1994)

‘A grab-bag of unrelated stuff’ - Wiley, (2003)

You need mortar as well as bricks – if you’re going to build understanding

Learning objects need a context and narrative for learners to make effective use of them

OU reuses material extensively and has good reason to make versioning and reuse easier – for annual updating, for repurposing materials and finding new markets

Moving ahead with structured authoring and a new content management system


Academic attitudes

OU academics tend to reuse/version the material produced by themselves and departmental colleagues

This is because they see opportunities where material they know well might be usefully developed for new learners/new purposes

Research with Cambridge and MIT showed similar picture

77 respondents to an online survey of teachers of CMI(masters) classes: 92% report some sharing within own organisation; three quarters were less willing to share with others – even CMI colleagues


60 point Science

FoundationCourseS103

Edited extracts fromStudy Guide & block 1

WraparoundMaterial

S103 video

CDROM

S103 Block 2

10 pointGlobal

WarmingS190


Students able to disagree, used reasoned argument


Open Content Initiative

£5.65m with funding also from William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Open Educational Resources will be open source and freely accessible, providing access to selected course materials from all faculties and on study skills

The Repository – for learners 900 learning hours from October 2006. Tools will be

available to support learning and development of communities

The Depository – for creators a ‘lab site’ for any educator or designer to re-use or version

materials, which must then be made available to the community

Leading edge contribution to both the method and the scale of OERs available globally


OU partnership projects involving Africa - TESSA, Open Door

Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2005-2015

A bank of teacher training resources in literacy, numeracy, Primary science, personal & health education: OU working with a

consortium of African & other organisations

Open Door

OU course materials licensed to African Universities freeA pilot funded by DfES is underway in Fourah Bay College,

University of Sierra Leone, OU of Tanzania and Zambia University - All areas of Internet scarcity


Open University partnership projects (2)

International Fellowship Project

Digital Education Enhancement Project

Bursaries 3-6 months at OU UK, for interchange on direction of ODL: Fellowships awarded to applicants from Kenya,

Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland & Zambia

DEEP worked in Eastern Cape and Cairo with 12 schools each,Exploring ICT for literacy, numeracy and science at primary Level. Successful use of laptops shows positive impact on

Curriculum & learning. Scaled up 2006 integrating with N.MandelaFoundation & University of Fort Hare’s Unit of Rural Schooling

And Development.


Networked learning - Learn and Live

Learning Designshave to fit with

Learners’ own contexts &Learning settings

Engagement, enjoyment& effectiveness

Are key to learning

learning

HOME WORK


How widespread is the issue of study time?

Evidence over decades that students find it difficult to manage study workload

When under time pressure, they prioritise tasks and do what is required for assessment only

For some the pressure is too great – and they drop out/stop studying


Students who withdraw from their courses

I fell behind with my course work

46%

General person/family or employment responsibilities

43%

46%


Students who complete their courses

Between one third and two thirds of all students are studying for longer than the recommended study times of our courses

23% say the amount of time spent studying was ‘a lot more than expected’ 25% ‘a little more than expected’

40% say amount of time spent studying was ‘about as expected’

57% fell behind the study calendar

Falling behind is the majority experience


Do these pressures affect other lifelong learners?

A study of full-time undergraduates found significant term time working (CHERI, 2005)

Over half did paid work: average hours worked – 12 to 14 a week, even in final year

The impact strongest on students over 25 – two thirds said term-time work meant they sometimes produced poor quality assignments

We can’t stop term-time working – can we do more to help students make more effective use of their study time?


OU strategy to address study workload issue (1)

Course models being developed, specifying media usage and study time

Workload identified as a key element in the quality of courses

Research into student study time ongoing


OU strategy to address study workload issue (2)

Course teams mapping study time week by week

All elements in study are ‘counted in’ – including studentship

Strategies used to help students catch up and not fall behind

Clear weeks before an assignment, no work over national holidays, break week, review time

Clear communication of workload to the student


Study time breakdown - Level 2, 30pt course

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Stu

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(hou

rs)

Student-directed

Studentship

Review/consolidation/revision

Assessment

F2F tutorials

Online tutorials

Online resources/services

Studying learning materials


Independent study – scaffold learneractivity

Provide a clear structure

Explain the link to learning outcomes

Tell learners why they should do the activity

Suggest a time frame

Explain ‘what you will do and why’

Provide ‘hints and tips’, ‘what to do if…’

Give them feedback on actions

Use this list as a proforma – reduce cognitive load by giving learners a predictable structure

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