ACETS and the ‘Semi-structured Learning

Design Statement’

Rachel EllawayThe University of Edinburgh

UNFOLD, Berlin, November 2005

Welcome to the graveyard shift

LearningDesign

The ACETS Project

Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) have been a topic of debate for several years

But what happens when teachers use other people’s materials in their teaching?

… not just as an adjunct (textbooks, libraries etc), but in their teaching

UK JISC ‘Exchange for Learning’ Programme X4L - RLOs (mostly content and

tools: RELOAD etc)

ACETS: “Assemble Catalogue Exemplify Test and Share”

Multi-dimensional, detailed case studies of reuse in situ

Real students, real activities

Healthcare focus: anatomy or communication skills

ACETS + 36 months = ?

Research methodology

21 exemplar case studies

Ethnographic evidence base

Focus on underlying issues

Recommendations

21 Exemplar Case Studies

Medicine

NursingDentistry

Biomedical science

Other healthcare

21 Exemplar Case Studies

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UKEL 5 UKEL 6 UKEL 7 UKEL 8 UKEL 9 UKEL 10 UKEL 11 UKEL 12

UKEL/SCQF level

Number of exemplars

ACETS SSLD

5-part exemplar

– Baseline survey

– Reflective diary

– Closing interview

– Semi-Structured Learning Design

– Materials

ACETS SSLDSemi-structured Learning Design: SSLD

Based on IMS Learning Design

‘to achieve these outcomes and given these preconditions, these individuals perform these roles within the following activities using these resources and services in this environment’

Rendered as a pro-forma

Uses natural language but remains sufficiently formalised for cross-comparison and analysis

Creation is part of closing interview - post hoc holograph

Thematic analysis

Using the SSLD in ACETS

Teachers had major problems doing an SSLD themselves, so ..

Initially rendered by ACETS Project Officer

Iterative validation and clarification

Blank pro-forma bad - completed pro-forma good

Clearly identifies the RLOs (push-button map)

But many emergent issues …

SSLD Issues

Scope - from whole courses down to using single artifacts?

Granularity - stepwise or overview, too much detail, too little?

Focus - algorithms, elements, stories … pedagogy?

Implicit vs explicit environmental factors?

“on or off?” - blending online and offline activities - when does technology become invisible?

Sequencing non-contiguous (or otherwise different) kinds of activities?

SSLD Issues

Key importance of triggers - but often not ‘triggers’ in an activation sense

Domain-specific terms need expanding (teaching and learning is highly culturally and politically situated)

Objectives/outcomes need expanding: procedural objectives vs terminal outcomes (context again)

Dependent activities outwith current activity - e.g. assessment (activities are often not self-contained - context yet again)

Difference between ‘teaching design’ and ‘learning design’ (what the teacher thinks happened) - issues of ‘hidden curricula’

ACETS SSLDsCommon analysis framework for v.different activities

SSLD in ACETS is 1 of 4 case study components - triangulation, dimensioning etc (methodology …)

IMS LD very useful as basis for an evaluation framework but not perfect

Complex for teachers to create, but less so to read (validation step)

Issues of representativeness - emergent craft vs algorithm

Later cases used SSLDs from earlier cases as starting point - not as a whole but as ‘licks’ or ‘riffs’

Many issues: scope, detail, focus, context, borders, perspectives …

But it helped us to generate a number of recommendations

Recommendations (i)

• Reuse is not in itself a good or bad thing and it should not be encouraged

or discouraged as a matter of dogma.

• Reuse is not particularly dependent on upfront technological support; the

needs of teachers are often highly specific, contextualised and related to

their personal approaches to teaching.

• If educational institutions and supporting bodies wish reuse to become

mainstream then they must deal more directly with the issues and needs of

teachers.

• Appropriate resources for teachers’ needs need to be made available, with

conditions of use and the facility to obtain them for local applications

made clear and simple.

LD

LD

LD

Recommendations (ii)

• Web and multimedia skills, although interesting and useful, are far less

important than good pedagogical and instructional skills.

• The technology that the exemplars used was mostly Google for

searching and local VLEs for delivery. As such, infrastructure is mostly

in place and frequently used.

• Local support is very important but it should be focused on what can be

done as well as how it can be done.

• Without motivation and clearly perceivable benefits teachers will be

unlikely to overcome the difficulties associated with using existing

third-party materials.

LD

Exemplars online at:

www.acets.ac.uk

Reports from:Rachel.Ellaway@ed.ac.uk

ACETS and the Semi-structured Learning Design Statement

Rachel EllawayThe University of Edinburgh

UNFOLD, Berlin, November 2005