E-Learning: Pedagogy and Practice

1
E-Learning Pedagogy and Practice

• Dr Robert Newton
• School of Information and Media
• The Robert Gordon University
• Aberdeen

2
Basic Assumption and a Consequent Issue

• Distance learning students and campus based
  students should have an equal learning
  experience
• What is the nature of the learning experience

3
The learning experience

• Defining what we mean by education
• Transfer of a body of knowledge and skills
• the institutional basis for assessing and
  accrediting key skills and competencies in a
  cognate subject discipline
• the manuring of the mind Francis Bacon
  (Essays on Education

4
Assistance with definition

• Developments in Theory -
• approaches - behaviourist, cognitivist and
  constructivist
• models of education e.g. Laurillards
  Conversational Framework
• Application of models in evaluation frameworks
  e.g. Draper, Gunn, Biggs

5
External influences

• QAA benchmarking and audit
• SQHE framework for qualifications
• Implementation of learning outcomes and criterion
  based assessment
• Quality enhancement - move towards student as
  customer culture

6
Major Challenge for VLEs

• Contextualising definitions and assessment of
  outcomes within the larger sphere of defining and
  measuring education and educational outcomes

7
HOW?

• By integration within framework for curriculum
  development and design
• By ensuring that communication in distance mode
  is as effective as in F2F teaching

8
WHAT IS NEEDED - CONTENT?

9
WHAT IS NEEDED - CONTEXT

• Without integration into course aims any
  additional content is not going to make any
  difference to achieving our goal of developing
  student learning
• Experience which shows this - TLTP, Gateways
  developments, local library skills programmes
• Assessment-driven culture requires integration

10
EXAMPLES OF COMMUNICATION

• Students develop their own gateway site to
  share information on (usually) web based
  resources
• Students have to précis and evaluate literature
  and post findings on a discussion list
• students engage in a real life information
  enquiry exercise interacting with enquirer via
  e-mail
• Innovative online assessment of students
• Innovative strategies for problem based and case
  study based assessments on-line

11
HOW TO DEVELOP THIS CULTURE

• Debate which still needs to be properly developed
  research on communications vital
• TALiSMAN model for IT skills needs to be followed
  up by an Information and Communication Literacy
  initiative for academic staff

12

• It IS about technology
• but its also about people.