Week 2: Designing for learning

We spent the previous week discussing the contexts in which our courses take place (our learners and available tools) as well as engaging with the notions of quality and readiness. This week we turn to our purposes and intentions for our courses - that is, our learning outcomes. How can we design tasks that will enable our learners to achieve the intended learning outcomes?

As educators we design activities based on methods we commonly use and which we derive from personal experience and rules of thumb. Often these are in line with the plethora of literature which provides us with a number of tips and tricks of how we should interact with our learners. However, the student experience is largely determined by the way in which we structure these activities and how we choose to use resources and technology. This in turn is determined by the theories and conceptions of learning and teaching that we hold (for example, whether we believe that ‘learning’ is more a process or a product?).

The concept of ‘learning design’ provides us with a systematic approach to developing learning experiences and it encompasses a number of deliberately planned tasks which aim to assist learners in achieving the intended learning outcomes. A useful analogy for learning design would be to consider the act of learning as being similar to a dance which we ask learners to perform individually or collectively. The concept of learning design is akin to the choreography of that dance as it outlines the steps, the sequence, and the props that are needed. As such a learning design will include a description of the learners, the space in the environment in which they learn and the tools they use to interact with others.

There have been two main developments in the provision of practical guidance for teachers in producing learning designs: frameworks and toolkits.

First, have been frameworks for describing the learning designs. Such frameworks encourage teachers to consider all the variables that might influence their design (Beetham’s Figure 2.1 might be a simple example of such a framework). Such explicit and detailed structuring could have benefits in clearly specifying what the learners will actually do, what problems might arise at which points, and the resources that will be required. They also provide a focus for discussion and debate within course teams. This week we would like you to explore two such frameworks:

Second have been learning design toolkits that guide teachers through a series of decisions related to the variables that might influence their design, and make suggestions for tools and activities. We will not cover these toolkits on this course, although we have provided some links in the Background Resources if you want to explore them later.

Our focus then this week is the decisions we need to make in preparing for an online course which will influence what the student does. It is about designing for learning activities which are achievable, motivating and enjoyable for students and which use technologies in ways that support rather than restrict their learning. Next week, we will go on to look at evaluating learning activity designs.

Tutorial to start groupwork (1 hour)

At the beginning of this week, we will split into two subgroups: the Red Group and the Blue Group. Each group has been allocated a tutor and a time for an initial tutorial in Wimba Classroom.

The purpose of the tutorial is to:

Groupwork (3 hours, split over the week)

In your group you will design a learning activity which will enable learners to achieve some defined learning outcomes. In order to do this you will need to

You can present the output of your groupwork in a format of your choice e.g. as a powerpoint show or diagrams and supporting text on the wiki. You should make available the representation of your design no later than 4 pm (GMT) on Sunday 11 November 2012 and email your tutor the link.

Week 2 reflections (1 hour)

As usual, we suggest that you spend some time at the end of the week reflecting on and recording your learning from the week's activities. In addition to noting what you have discovered about learning design, this week, you might also want to share your reflections on your experiences of working collaboratively online.

Key readings this week (1 hour)

Background resources