Systematic design and development for open learning using self instructional materials

Introduction

In this paper the term open learning package refers to a combination, or package, of self instructional materials and tutorial support. The term open learning scheme refers to all the elements of an open learning course, including relevant materials, tutorial support, management, marketing and administrative systems.

The paper introduces a model for the systematic design and development of an open learning scheme using self instructional materials and then looks at each of the stages in the model in greater detail. The model explores two routes which an organisation might follow when developing an open learning scheme using self instructional materials. These are

• buying an open learning package off the shelf, possibly adapting it to suit the organisation's own needs;
• developing an open learning package from scratch.

Why open learning?

Examples of the many benefits of open learning are listed below. Open learning schemes

• are designed to overcome the constraints such as shift systems which prevent an organisation from training its workforce by more traditional methods;

• provide access to courses available in Australia but not available in the student's own locality;

• help the workforce update its skills on a continuous basis;

• can be designed specifically for an organisation;

• increase the range of courses available to an organisation, since distance education, a form of open learning, provides a wide enough market for colleges to find it economical to develop specialist courses;

• are more efficient than traditional methods because they take into account the fact that trainees will have different learning patterns and training needs. Trainees can work at their own pace and can select the part of the course relevant to their needs;

• provide effective training. This is because schemes need to be planned systematically since there is no training officer present to make ad hoc adjustments to the programme as the student progresses. Open learning schemes benefit from the fact that it is easier to criticise a scheme, and therefore to improve it, rather than to criticise a training officer.

• can reduce the unit costs of training.

• The open learning scheme can be developed and run by an outside organisation, eg TAFE.

• It can be developed and run by the organisation (often outside consultants are involved).

• A combination of the two, for example where an organisation buys a package from elsewhere but runs the scheme itself.

Figure 1: Developing an open learning scheme using self instructional materials

Analysis, planning and management

When analysing the situation, a variety of factors need to be taken into account. For example, these may include the politics within your organisation, the target audience, the budget, results of any training needs analysis, and whether self instructional materials are appropriate at all.

A plan for all the stages of the scheme should be drawn up at this point, and after careful research, a decision made as to whether an existing course or package can be used or whether you have to do all the hard work yourself. The planning stage must involve management decisions about allocation of resources such as budgets, equipment, storage space and staff. Responsibility must be taken for evaluating the scheme. Plans should take into account any weaknesses in the scheme. For example, it may be necessary to organise an open learning promotion within your organisation since without the active support of the potential trainees and tutors the scheme will not succeed.

Objectives and assessment

Select existing package, adapt if necessary

The features to look for when evaluating an open learning package are covered later in this paper. When selecting an off the shelf package it is important to determine exactly what additional tutor support and administrative arrangements you will need to provide. Even though you have bought the package rather than developed it yourself, it is important to evaluate the whole open learning scheme, and to ensure that the final assessment is designed to match your organisation's objectives. Later in this paper we will look at the infrastructure which has developed in the UK to help with all stages of selecting and adapting a package.

Design and develop your own package

In order to design your own package you will need to make decisions about content, methods and media. These should be linked to the achievement of the objectives. Once these decisions have been made the development process involves

• authoring or drafting;
• editing;
• artwork and graphic design;
• piloting and validation;
• production management.

Piloting and validation

Administration

Support and tutoring

• providing trainees with advice about how to study on their own;

• helping trainees plan their work and set goals;

• working with each trainee to determine exactly how much of each programme they need to follow and whether it will lead to a qualification (not all open learning courses are accredited);

• agreeing on a plan about what, when and where the trainee should study, eg own time, in a quiet time at work, etc. Sometimes training is made part of the contract of employment;

• checking that the trainee meets the pre-entry requirements for the scheme;

• providing demonstrations, assessing practical work, providing feedback, marking assignments and the final assessment, clarifying the criteria for performance assessment;

• helping trainees with learning difficulties, commenting on their learning styles;

• improving motivation;

• sensitivity.

Marketing

Evaluation

Features of an open learning package

• the pre-entry requirements for the students;

• a clear statement of objectives. Depending on the circumstances, these may be specific for the trainer and less detailed for the students;

• a final assessment designed to test competence in carrying out the objectives;

• a pretest. If the material does not involve a pretest, you should administer one yourself, since it may not be necessary for all trainees to work through the entire course;

• a description or diagram explaining how the course is structured, whether the trainees must start at the beginning and work their way through everything or whether there is flexibility, and if so, how this works;

• general guidance concerning study skills. If you consider this inadequate, then provide more;

• materials which are organised into units of work which can be handled in one go. Some will even indicate the time involved;

• appropriate media;

• layout and style which aid clarity. For example, key information may be highlighted or boxed, symbols might be used to indicate when to switch on the video;

• an informal style of writing;

• an attractive uncluttered page which will help to make the user want to read the material;

• information provided in a variety of ways, eg diagrams, pictures, case studies, demonstrations;

• activities at regular intervals, when the student practises different sub objectives until full competence is achieved;

• clear instructions for each assessment together with all relevant information. If relevant, a demonstration or good model should be provided;

• immediate feedback for self assessed activities;

• clear directions to sources of additional help, eg a more basic unit, further reading, a telephone link to a tutor;

• clear instructions telling the students when they should arrange a tutorial with their tutor or get together with other students;

• built in evaluation, eg a questionnaire asking for the student's comments.

Training the trainer

In the UK an infrastructure has developed to train trainers in skills relevant to developing and running open learning schemes. The main sources of help are

• Trainer Support Services, established by the Institute of Training and Development (ITD)

• British Association for Commercial and Industrial Education (BACIE);
• SCOTTSU International Ltd (Scottish Training and Support Unit), specifically set up to provide a support service to producers of open learning materials and now supporting any organisation involved in open learning;

• Open University;

• Open Techs are some of the main producers of open learning materials for industry;

• the National Extension College (NEC) The NEC has a 25 year history of running adult education courses by distance learning and has long offered a wide range of services in the field of adult training;

• Open Learning Delivery Centres. These were established all over the country to market and support the packages produced by Open Techs;

• a range of tertiary institutions offer courses leading to post graduate qualifications in educational technology. Some have developed these courses into distance learning schemes and require work based projects for the various assessments, eg Northern College of Education, Dundee.

• MARIS-NET (Ely) Ltd (Materials and Resources Information Service) is the national online information service for training and education. MARIS offers access to four data bases, one listing over 9000 open learning packages, one listing key providers of training and open learning services, a bibliography of key articles on open learning and one listing short courses;

• the Open Learning Directory, published by the Training Agency (formerly the Manpower Services Commission), lists over 1500 open learning packages, as well as details of services and organisations available to help with open learning skills;

• the Open Learning Federation, formed in 1981, describes itself as primarily a practitioner support group for those involved in Open Learning;

• the Training Agency (formerly the Manpower Services Commission) provides a range of publications aimed at improving the quality and standard of open learning. They also produce a quarterly magazine on open learning, Spotlight;

• the National Council for Educational Technology also produces a regular journal on open learning, OLS News.

Help in selecting an open learning package

Organisations producing open learning packages in the UK include Open University, National Extension College, Open College, Open Techs (eg Highways Open Tech specialising in highways construction), industrial training boards (eg Road Transport Industry Training Board), television stations (eg BBC Enterprises), management colleges (eg Henley Distance Learning), training departments of large corporations (eg ICI), private individuals and small training companies, educational publishing companies, correspondence colleges (eg Pitman Tutorial College), polytechnic and university departments, and computer companies.

It is very difficult for organisations to identify suitable packages to meet their training needs without help. It is not sufficient to rely on the producer's publicity, especially since open learning may become quite competitive as in the UK. When selecting an existing package, it is necessary to consider the reputation and relevant experience of the producer, but not all organisations are familiar with the various package producers.

Information in such publications as the Open Learning Directory or in the MARIS database are essential to help organisations identify what is on the market. But the packages still need to be inspected and evaluated. In the UK this can be arranged at an Open Learning Delivery Centre. There are delivery centres throughout the UK, many with additional access points in their region. They have a wide range of open learning packages available both for inspection and for sale. Not only will delivery centres help identify an appropriate package, they will also help evaluate and adapt it as necessary. Many delivery centres are able to help an organisation design its entire open learning scheme. Some offer tutorial support and study guidance, depending on the package selected.

Help with developing a package for your own organisation

Most organisations will need to use outside consultants to help them develop and produce an open learning package designed especially to meet their training needs. Even when using outside consultants, the best way to ensure the quality of the final open learning scheme is to have as many open learning skills as possible in house. It is important to find out the track record of any consultant organisation that you employ. The consultants should have experience in designing and developing all aspects of open learning schemes, even if your organisation does not need the full service. They should adopt a systematic approach to the process similar to the one outlined earlier in this paper. Beware the consultants who offer particular media such as computer based training as the solution on the first meeting. Check that package validation and general evaluation will be built into the scheme.

UK organisations offering consultancy services in the design and development of open learning packages and schemes include National Extension College, Open Learning Delivery Centres, Open University's Educational Technology Department, and Training Support Services. OTSU Limited (Open Tech Support Unit), originally set up to provide consultancy to open techs themselves, has developed a network of consultants throughout the UK which will help any organisation develop and implement open learning systems. Consultants have a proven track record before being included on OTSU's list. Various private training companies and a range of freelance open learning consultants also provide services.

To summarise, although it takes a great deal of work to develop an open learning package specifically for your own organisation, most of this work can be carried out by outside consultants. It is best to obtain as many skills as you can in house in order to ensure the quality of the final scheme. The consultants should adopt a systematic approach to the design of your package similar to the one outlined earlier in this paper.

Conclusion

In order to be effective, all open learning packages and schemes need to be developed systematically. This can only be achieved if trainers in any organisation considering open learning receive training in relevant design and delivery skills. Even if they do not undertake much of the work themselves, this should help to ensure that they can control the quality of work carried out on their behalf.

Organisations also need help to guide them to the most relevant open learning package to meet their needs. They need help to evaluate and adapt existing packages or if necessary to develop new ones. Many will need help to develop their entire open learning scheme, including the administrative and support systems.

Western Australia needs to consider how it will ensure the quality of the open learning packages likely to appear on the market, how it will train the trainers in open learning skills, how it will help organisations select existing packages, and how it will help organisations develop their own high quality open learning schemes.

References

*Manpower Services Commission. (1988). Ensuring quality in open learning: A handbook for action. Sheffield, UK: Manpower Services Commission.

Manpower Services Commission. (1988). Open learning directory 1988/89. Sheffield, UK: Manpower Services Commission. (*The current edition is published by the Training Agency, Sheffield, UK).

* Manpower Services Commission. (1986). Support for open learning. Sheffield, UK: Manpower Services Commission.

*Trainer Development Section of the Manpower Services Commission. (1985). Open learning toolkit: A development aid for managers of open learning schemes. Cambridge, UK: National Extension College.

*Training Agency. (1989). Standards of performance for open learning staff: An interim framework. Sheffield, UK: Training Agency.

Training Agency. (1988). Towards an open learning strategy. Spotlight, 7. Sheffield, UK: Training Agency. (article reporting on speech by Kevin Whitehead, head of Training Agency Learning Systems and Access Branch).

Twining, J. (1984). Getting Started. Section 8 in Open Tech Programme: Concepts and strategies. Open Tech Paper No 3, Sheffield, UK: Manpower Services Commission.

Author: Rachel Hudson has recently emigrated to Australia from the United Kingdom. She has a postgraduate diploma in educational technology and has specialised in open and distance learning for several years. Whilst working as the Training Officer for the Law Centres Federation she developed a distance education course for the management committees of law centres throughout the UK. Most recently she has worked on a freelance basis for the National Extension College, transforming texts by subject matter experts into open learning materials. Please cite as: Hudson, R. (1990). Systematic design and development for open learning using self instructional materials. In R. Atkinson and C. McBeath (Eds.), Open Learning and New Technology: Conference proceedings, 218-229. Perth: Australian Society for Educational Technology WA Chapter. http://www.aset.org.au/confs/olnt90/hudson.html