Designing and developing flexible courses at Deakin: Overview

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Designing and developing flexible courses at
Deakin Overview

• Developing a profile of your learners (PART 1)
• Developing a profile of your teaching attributes
  (PART 1)
• Designing and operating flexible teaching and
  learning courses (PART 2)

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LEARNER PROFILING (PART 1) PREVIEW

• Who are our learners?
• Where do they learn? What resources can they use?
• What do they bring to their learning?
• How do they experience learning?
• What are Deakins key learning commitments?
• How can we enable quality learning?

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LEARNER PROFILING AIMS

• To understand your learners characteristics
  learning contexts
• To understand learning processes learning
  outcomes
• To appreciate Deakins key learning commitments
• To identify key factors which enable quality
  learning

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LEARNER PROFILING DEMOGRAPHICS

• Age
• Gender
• Ethnic origin
• Educational qualifications
• Financial support
• Geographic location

• Employment type, position, occupation,
  organisation size, industry, sector, type of
  service, employer support
• Physical disabilities sight, hearing, movement,
  other

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LEARNER PROFILING Learning contexts

• On-campus vs off-campus
• Mixed mode
• Off-campus local, regional, national,
  international
• Off-campus workplace, home, local public
  educational establishments

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LEARNER PROFILING Situational factors

• Access/ownership of equipment, e.g. computer
  Internet access
• Use of private study area
• Access to local public, organisational or
  educational libraries

• Access to local students, local course
  graduates, local tutors, supportive professionals
  within employing organisation

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LEARNER PROFILING Beginning of learning
experience

• General considerations
• Subject related considerations

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BEGINNING OF LEARNING EXPERIENCE General

• Learners orientation to study, e.g. learning vs
  grading
• Learners styles of learning
• Learners anxieties about learning
• Learners views of teachers (as authority
  figures)
• Competing demands on learners time
• School-based generic attributes development
  expectations

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BEGINNING OF LEARNING EXPERIENCE Subject related

• Understanding of key concepts ideas in subject
• Understanding of nature of subject
• Prior conceptions of learning
• Prior approaches to learning

• Expectations of subject
• Interest in subject
• Ability in subject
• Practice experience

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LEARNER PROFILING KNOWING THE EXPERIENCE

• Learner approaches to their studies deep vs
  surface
• Learners conceptions of learning about the
  subject reproductive vs constructive
• Learning outcomesachieving desired learning

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LEARNER PROFILING Deakin key learner segments

• School leaver vs mature aged
• Full-time vs part-time
• Undergraduate vs postgraduate
• Commencing students, e.g. first year
• Fee paying, e.g. postgraduate professional
• On-campus, off-campus, e-campus
• International, home abroad

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PROFILING DEAKINS LEARNING COMMITMENTS

• Discipline-specific student attributes
• Generic student attributes personal skills
• Generic student attributes citizenship
• Key aspects of learning environment for quality
  learning
• Attributes of an excellent teacher

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DEAKIN LEARNING COMMITMENTS discipline

• Acquisition use of systematic body of knowledge
• Understanding of professional, industrial
  social contexts
• Ability to gather, retrieve operate on
  different types of information

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DEAKIN LEARNING COMMITMENTS Personal

• Oral written communication
• Teamwork collaboration
• Critical thinking problem solving
• Organisational personal management
• Information technology literacy
• Lifelong learning

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DEAKIN LEARNING COMMITMENTS Citizenship

• Ethics, social responsibility
• International perspective competence in global
  environment
• Principles applications of sustainable
  development

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LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR QUALITY LEARNING

• Manageable workload
• Clear understanding of learning outcomes
• Diversity of teaching methods
• Helpful, prompt clear feedback
• Variety of assessment methods
• Appropriate student choice of content and method

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DEAKIN EXCELLENT TEACHER ATTRIBUTES

• Adopts an inclusive learner-centred approach
• Supports students and their learning
• Incorporates sound principles of teaching
• Underpins practice by scholarship

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PROFILING EXCELLENT TEACHING

• Learning oriented characteristics of excellent
  teachingwhat the literature tell us
• Teacher oriented characteristics of
  excellentwhat the literature tells us

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EXCELLENT TEACHING Learner oriented

• Clear learning goals objectives
• Clear standards of work
• Assessment to demonstrate desired learning
• Appropriate assessment feedback

• Appropriate use of media/technology
• Development assessment of generic student
  attributes

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EXCELLENT TEACHING teacher oriented

• Knowlegeable
• Well prepared organised
• Clear explanations
• Enthusiastic
• Dedicated

• Concerned
• Challenging
• Trusting
• Respectful
• Rapport

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LEARNER TEACHER PROFILING TASK

• Develop a profile of your learners
• You can target your learner profile at the unit,
  major or program level
• On the basis of your profile, consider its
  implications for your teaching approaches,
  processes, learning resource selection usage
  assessment practices

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Designing and operating flexible teaching and
learning courses (PART 2)

• Overview
• Preparing printed learning resources Preparing
  and using online learning resources
• Online communication, collaboration and community
  building

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WORKSHOP AIMS

• Understanding of flexible teaching/learning at
  Deakin
• Features of good print and online learning
  resources
• Processes of developing good learning resources
• Strategies for establishing and supporting online
  communication environments

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ASSUMED UNDERSTANDINGS

• Sense of personal teaching vision
• Learner profiling
• In-person smaller group teaching dynamics
• In-person larger group teaching dynamics
• Approaches issues relating to assessing
  learning evaluating teaching

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FLEXIBLE TEACHING AND LEARNING

• Definition
• Dimensions
• Pressures, aims purposes
• Key aspects
• Functions, types uses of learning resources
• Functions, types uses of communication

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DEFINITION OF FLEXIBLE LEARNING
An approach to education which emphasizes
variations in mode, place, time and pace of
study, the forms of interaction between and among
teachers and learners, the resources available to
support study and communication and assessment.
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KEY DIMENSIONS OF FLEXIBILITY

• Place of learning
• Time of learning
• Pace of learning
• Periods of learning

• Content of learning
• Methods of learning
• Choice of media/technology
• Choice of assessment methods

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PRESSURES ON UNIVERSITIES

• Changing learner cohorts
• Student-centred approaches to learning
• Improvements in teaching quality
• Demands/opportunities for use of IT
• Curriculum internationalisation
• Cost reduction
• Broadened funding base

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AIMS AND PURPOSES OF FLEXIBLE LEARNING

• Quality of learning
• Accessibility of learning
• Efficiency of learning
• Satisfaction of learning

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KEY ASPECTS OF FLEXIBLE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

• Creating using learning resources
• Using various forms of communication

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KEY FUNCTIONS OF LEARNING RESOURCES

• Arouse interest
• Link with previous knowledge
• Tell students what they will be learning
• Present material to be learned
• Relate material to experience

• Activate learning
• Encourage practise in using material
• Enable them to check progress
• Promote learning to new situations
• Help them do better

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FUNCTIONS IN A NUT SHELL

• Learning resources should be.INFORMATIVE
• Learning resources should beATTRACTIVE
• Learning resources should beUSER FRIENDLY
• Learning resources should beDOING ORIENTED

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IDENTIFICATION OF KEY LEARNING RESOURCES

• Deakin created learning resources traditional
  electronic
• Commercial other educational content
  traditional electronic

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DEAKIN CREATED LEARNING RESOURCES

• Unit guides
• Study guides
• Readers
• Monographs
• Problem-based materials
• Audio video cassettes

• Software packages
• CD-ROMs
• Websites
• Specimen past examinations
• Lecture notes
• Tutorial Lab materials

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COMMERCIAL AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

• Textbooks
• Case books
• Instructors manuals
• Student study guides
• Library databases
• Publisher websites
• Other websites

• Multimedia CD-ROMs
• Instructional software packages
• General purpose software applications
• Test item banks
• Audio video cassettes

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KEY DEAKIN LEARNING RESOURCES

• Study guidethe tutorial/lecture-in-print
• Unit guideacademic adm. orientation
• Readersecondary source content materials

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FUNCTIONS OF DEAKIN STUDY GUIDE 1

• Guidance on using finding materials
• Learning objectives
• Introductions overviews
• Advice on sections to be studied/omitted
• Summaries, indexes glossaries

• Clearer explanations of difficult concepts
  issues
• Contrasting viewpoints or locally relevant
  examples
• Activities self-tests plus feedback

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FUNCTIONS OF DEAKIN STUDY GUIDE 2

• Instructions for practical work or projects
• Suggestions about working with other people
• Assignments for discussion with tutor, colleagues
  etc

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FUNCTIONS OF UNIT GUIDE

• Aims
• Objectives
• Skills attainment generic discipline
• Contact details
• Study timetable
• Assessment criteria

• Examinations
• Assignment topics
• Assignment preparation advice
• Assignment deadlines
• Assignment extensions
• Computer access

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FUNCTIONS OF READER

• Case studies
• Illustrations examples
• Theoretical perspectives
• Opinions controversial viewpoints
• Contemporary trends developments
• Workplace issues applications
• Transcripts of interviews debates

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ASCERTAIN LEARNING RESOURCES IN USE

• Identify learning resources
• Locate learning resources
• Match learning groups/learning resources
• Colleague briefing on resource purposes how
  resources work together
• Carefully work through resources
• Develop strategies for using resources

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USING STUDY GUIDES ON CAMPUS 1

• Teacher directed Lectures focus on introducing
  overviewing topicsfollowed by detailed reading
  in guide
• Teacher directed Lectures focus on depth of
  understanding of key or difficult areasguide
  reading expected before lecture

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USING STUDY GUIDES ON CAMPUS 2

• Student-directed lectures respond to
  difficulties expressed by students or used to
  work through complex problems
• Lectures involving guest speakers for special
  academic academic or practical perspectives

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PURPOSES OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION

• Task orientationintellectually sustaining
  support networks
• Maintenance orientationsocially emotionally
  sustaining support networks

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STAGES IN DEVELOPING ONLINE COMMUNICATION

• Formingtesting
• Storminginfighting
• Norminggetting organised
• Performingmature closeness
• Adjourningbringing closure

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SOME SPECIAL ONLINE LEARNING ACTIVITIES 1

• Review journal articles
• Team critiquing of papers
• Collaborative development of assignments
• Team questions allocated by teacher

• Workplace simulations role plays
• Debates
• Brainstorming
• Guest lecturers practitioners
• Course unit evaluation

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LEARNING ACTIVITIES 2 Forum discussions

• Study guide activities
• Case studies
• Problem-based learning scenarios

• Completed assignments
• Assignments in progress
• Assignment feedback

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LEARNING ACTIVITIES 3 Experiential learning

• Developing sharing learning journals
• Developing sharing learning portfolios
• Supporting workplace learning placements

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SKILLS OF ONLINE TEACHING HELPER

• Steer discussion
• Pre-moderate messages
• Set objective of discussion
• Set tone procedures for contributing
• Set expectations for contributing

• Review pick-up important points
• Keep discussion on track
• Restrain those who dominate elicit from the
  reticent
• Conclude discussion

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ASSIGNMENT FEEDBACK AS LEARNING RESOURCE

• Clarity of grading criteria
• Timeliness
• Individualised
• Personalised
• Sensitive caring

• Affirming supporting good
• Educative future-oriented for improvement
• Teacher accessible for follow-up
• Multiple modes