Designing ICTbased Learning Scenarios for Special Target Groups

1
Designing ICT-based Learning Scenarios for
Special Target Groups - Meeting Senior Learner
Needs - Picture by Pim Rupert CC The Case
of the ICT4T Online Course
2
BACKGROUND / RATIONALE

• Average age of European population is growing
  steadily
• Increase of people 65 in the next 20 years
• Ageing workforce lifelong learning to maintain
  employability
• Need for learning programs taking into account
  senior learners particular needs
• gtgt ICT4T Project
• Enable trainers to design specific ICT-based
  learning scenarios for senior learning

3
SENIOR LEARNERS NEEDS

• Target Group of Senior Learners very
  heterogeneous (esp. term 50)
• Divesity of personal interests, competences,
  physical fitness, life situation, learning
  motivation
• gtgt flexible design of learning programs for this
  age group
• Transition with regards to ICT competencies
• Group joined by more and more people who have
  gathered IT competencies through profession or
  training
• However Internet usage still much lower than
  within younger age groups (N)ONLINER-Atlas 2007)
• 77,1 group 30-49
• 35,4 group 50
• 58,3 - 50-59
• 35,5 - 60-69
• 13,2 - 70

4
PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH I

• Basic characteristics
• Flexibility in the learning process
• Opportunities to determine their own pathway
  through the course
• Collaborative knowledge construction
• Elements considered successful in senior learning
• Self-guided learning Elderly learners should be
  able to set their own agenda within the framework
  of the course trainers support this process.
• Flexible approaches Heterogeneity of target
  group ?? wide range of abilities, prior learning
  histories, attitudes and aims to be taken into
  account.

5
PEDGOGICAL APPROACH II

• Participatory paricipatory approach to design
  that involves the learners in the process.
• Informal learning learning that has not been
  planned for in advance, and the kinds of
  processes involved in that can be more welcome
  and effective than courses with highly structured
  and rigid programmes.
• Reflection activities and those involving
  conversation and interaction are highly welcome
  and effective for many elderly learners.
• Active learning or learning by doing is similarly
  highly welcome. The use of project-based and
  problem-solving activities, particularly is seen
  as positive.

6
BRIEF COURSE OVERVIEW

• Main Objective
• Introduce trainers to the practical use of ICT
  in the context of senior learning
• taking into account Design-for-All principles
• raise awareness of the heterogeneous needs of
  senior learners
• promote reflection on own and participants
  experiences with target group
• Methodology
• Showcase the kind of approach that is most
  effective in working with senior learners
• individual/collaborative completion of tasks
  (e.g. course design project at the end portfolio
  work)
• experience senior learners needs (e.g. through
  simulations)

7
COURSE STRUCTURE

• Based on the pedagogical approach the ICT4T
  course was designed as a series of learning
  activities
• focus on interaction between participants
• require active contribution and reflection of the
  content
• Provision of clear guidance for learners
• 8 weekly modules on different topics and
  corresponding activities
• Module 1 Introduction and Experiences
• Module 2 Senior Learner Needs in the Context of
  ICT-Based Teaching
• Module 3 Accessibility Issues in the Context of
  ICT-Based Teaching of Seniors
• Module 4 Learning Theory in Senior Learning
  with ICT
• Module 5 ICT Tools Available for Use in Senior
  Learning
• Module 6 Activities Using ICT with Senior
  Learners
• Module 7 Teacher Roles in Use of ICT with
  Senior Learners
• Module 8 Course Design Project

8
MOODLE COURSE IMPLEMENTATION

• Open Source VLE Moodle
• Concept based on collaborative approach towards
  learning (reflected through Moodle tools)
• Meets basic standards of web-accessiblity if used
  appropriately
• Usability
• Simplification of navigation path - Consistency
  of navigation
• Reduction of available options
• Provision of help section (videos)
• Didactics
• Provision of guidance vs. self-guided learning
• Clear description of objectives, outcomes and
  assessment procedure on both module level as well
  as activity level

9
MOODLE TOOLS USED

• Tools to support collaboration between course
  participants
• Joint knowledge construction by participants
• Background materials primarily used to trigger
  collaborative learning activities
• Forums main communication channel
• Wikis joint document design
• Glossary collect and categorise information
• Chat synchronous conversations (e.g. role plays)
• E-portfolio tool reflection on own learning
  progress/process
• External tool Mindmeister to create concept maps

10
COURSE HOME PAGE
11
ACTIVITIES OVERVIEW
12
MODULE ACTIVITY
13
PROBLEM AREAS IN MOODLE I

• Consistency of navigation
• Breadcrumb and sidebar navigation
• Sidebar not visible throughout the whole course
  (e.g. in Moodle activities like Forums or Wikis)
• Standard Tools
• Forums unclear structure of threads limited
  moderation fuctionalities for tutors
• Glossary only author can edit entries
• Chat reliability, response times
• Wiki pre-knowledge needed to create page
• WYSIWYG uncomfortable/unreliable

14
PROBLEM AREAS IN MOODLE II

• Structure
• Not very suitable for modular structure or
  courses with lots of different learning
  activities
• gtgt results in scrolling pages of topics if
  implemented in the standard way
• gtgt lack of guidance for the learners
• Structure created for ICT4T courses is a
  workaround
• gtgt chosen in order to provide clear guidance
  avoid the presentation of too much information
  in one place
• gtgt same structure throughout the course
• gtgt reduce navigational elements
• gtgt group tools with actual activities

15
EVALUATION FINDINGS

• Collection and analysis of evaluation results
  from course participants
• Course participants appreciated the design and
  structure of the course
• Most saw it as not too much pre-structured,
  leaving room for individual initiatives
• Modules most positively rated ICT tools and
  activities in senior learning
• Reading comments/ideas was important for learning
  of many participants
• Most tools were considered appropriate and
  effective for learning gtgt Mindmeister was seen a
  bit critical by some
• Concept mapping activities were not regarded that
  important to individual learning

16
USABILITY ANALYSIS

• Further analysis of Moodle course and platform by
  accessibility experts
• Provision of feedback and formulation of
  recommendations from an accessibility perspective
• Usability
• Home navigation clear, well arranged
• Module Description only important links, no
  cognitive overload, compensated for change of
  navigation
• Links/Buttons large enough, well named, familiar
  appearance of buttons
• Content clearly structured, can be perceived
  quickly

17
USABILITY/ACCESSIBILITY II

• Accessibility
• Images have alt-attributes
• Links to the same destination have the same link
  text value and describe destination clearly
• relative values been used inconsistently to
  define the size properties of content that the
  user might need to change in size
• Invalid XHTML code and CSS markup
• Text structured without h1-h6 headings
• Graphical links blurr when reseized

18
ACCESSIBILITY RECOMMENDATIONS

• Accessibility Recommendations for Trainers
• Format headings in WYSIWYG by using h1-h6
• Use alt-text for images
• Provide additional description of complex
  graphics/ videos
• Make sure coulors differ also in greyscale
• Do not use tables for layout, bulleted list would
  be more appropriate (formatted with CSS)

19
DISCUSSION

• Senior learning vs. adult learning
• Is there a difference in the learner needs?
• Self-guided learning vs. pre-structured course
  designHow does it fit?

20
CONTACT

• Contact
• christian.petter_at_futurestudies.org
• kathrin.helling_at_futurestudies.org
• ICT4T Project Website
• http//www.ict4t.net