The workshop will introduce participants to a new methodology for learning design, which aims to provide support and guidance to teachers in making decisions about creating learning activities. Our approach is predicated on the view that no one simple, narrow view of design is likely to be appropriate nor would such an approach meet the needs of the designer, because of the inherently messy and creative nature of design. We have developed a range of tools and resource to help designers/teachers make informed decisions about creating new or adapting existing learning activities.
Our methodology adopts an empirically based approach to understanding and representing the design process. This has included a range of evaluation studies (capturing of case studies, interviews with designers/teachers, in-depth course evaluation and focus groups/workshops), which have helped to develop our understanding of how designers/teachers go about creating new learning activities. Alongside this we have collated an extensive set of tools and resources to support the design process, as well as developing a new Learning Design tool, CompendiumLD, that helps teachers articulate and represent their design ideas and a social networking site, Cloudworks, for sharing designs.
At the end of the workshop, participants will have:
The workshop will be of interest to teachers and designers wanting to create learning activities or those with an interest in learning design as an approach. Previous knowledge of learning design is not necessary.
Gráinne is Professor of E-Learning in the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University in the UK. Previously she was Professor of Educational Innovation in Post-Compulsory Education at the University of Southampton and before that Director of the Institute for Learning and Research Technology at the University of Bristol. Her research interests include the use, integration and evaluation of Information and Communication Technologies and e-learning and the impact of technologies on organisational change. Current interests include exploring how learning design can help in creating more engaging learning activities and evaluation of students’ experiences of and perceptions of technologies. Updates on current research and reflections on e-learning research generally can be found on her blog www.e4innovation.com.
She has extensive research, development and project management experience across the educational and technical domains; funding sources have included the EU, HEFCE, ESRC, JISC and commercial sponsors). She serves on and chairs a number of national and international advisory boards, steering groups, committees and international conference programmes. She has published and presented over 300 conference proceedings, workshops and articles, including over 100 published articles. She is co-editor of the recently published RoutledgeFalmer book 'Contemporary perspectives on e-learning research'.
The session will be highly participative. Delegates will be given plenty of opportunity to discuss the relevance of the LD methodology to their own context. The hands-on sessions will give them a chance to use the CompendiumLD tool to create their own learning activity and exploration of the Cloudworks site. Ideally it would be useful if participants could come to the workshop with an idea of a design they would like to work on, however this is not essential as there will be an opportunity during the workshop to decide what to work on.
Workshop outline:
Introduction
- Workshop outline and delegates interests
Strategies for design
Different ways of thinking
Forms of representation
Representations in action
Resources and case studies
Sharing designs
Action plans
Numerous presentations and workshops have been run, including over 15 within the Open University, invited international workshops (in Canada, Cyprus, Portugal) and via conference presentations (for example Networked Learning, Eden, Edmedia and LAMS). Many of the presentations are available on slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/grainne)
Two tools have been produced one for visualizing designs – CompendiumLD (http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/workspace.cfm?wpid=8446) and one for sharing designs - Cloudworks (http://cloudworks.open.ac.uk)
A slidecast has been produced which provides a step-by-step account of how a deisgn was produced using CompendiumLD (http://www.slideshare.net/PerryW/using-compendiumld-to-design-a-learning-activity-435001/)
Brasher, A., Conole, G., Cross, S., Clark, P., Brasher, A. and Weller, M. (2008), CompendiumLD – a tool for effective, efficient and creative learning design, LAMS conference, 25th july, 2008, Cadiz, Spain
Conole, G. (2008) ‘Capturing practice: the role of mediating artefacts in learning design’, in Handbook of Research on Learning Design and Learning Objects: Issues, Applications and Technologies, in L. Lockyer, S. Bennett, S. Agostinho, and B Harper (Eds), 187-207, Hersey PA: IGI Global.
Conole, G. (2008), ‘Using Compendium as a tool to support the design of learning activities’, Chapter Ten, in A. Okada, S. Buckingham Shum and T. Sherborne (Eds) Knowledge cartography – software tools and mapping techniques, London: Springer
Conole, G. (2008), The student perspective: the ever-changing landscape of technology use, ReCALL, Volume 20, Issue 2, 124-140.
Conole, G. and Weller, M. (2008), Using learning design as a framework for supporting the design and reuse of OER, Special issue of JIME on Open Education Resources, available online at http://jime.open.ac.uk/2008/05/jime-2008-05.pdf
Conole, G., Brasher, A., Cross, S., Weller, M., Clark, P. and White, J. (forthcoming), Visualising learning design to foster and support good practice and creativity, Educational Media International
Conole, G., Brasher, A., Cross, S., Weller, M., Nixon, S., Clark, P. and Pettit, J. (2008), A new methodology for learning design, Edmedia Conference, July 2008, Vienna
Conole, G., Brasher, A., Cross, S., Weller, M., White, J., and Clark, P. (2008), A new methodology for learning design, Eden Conference workshop, June 2008, Lisbon.
Conole, G., Cross, S., Brasher, A., Weller, M., Nixon S., and Clark, P. (2008), A learning design methodology to foster and support creativity in design, Networked learning conference, Greece, May, 2008
Conole, G., De Laat, M., Dillon, T. and Darby, J. (2008), ‘Disruptive technologies’, ‘pedagogical innovation’: What’s new? Findings from an in-depth study of students’ use and perception of technology’, Computers and Education, 50, 2, 511-524.
Conole, G. and Oliver, M. (Eds) (2007), ‘Contemporary perspectives in e-learning research: themes, methods and impact on practice’, part of the Open and Distance Learning Series, F. Lockwood, (ed), RoutledgeFalmer: London.