Developing Learning Design( Module 3)

Educational design refers to planning and designing a course. It can be undertaken at two levels.

1.      Curriculum Design: It involves the designing of the whole course. It deals with need of the learners, stakeholders and context. It is an overview of the course.

2.      Learning Design: It refers to designing activities, finding resources, deciding method of delivery and formative assessment. The curriculum is divided into unit which are learnt according to a certain learning design.

I have also developed an Open Education Resource for the School of Natural Sciences on Vermiculture. “Open learning is a term used to describe courses flexibly designed to meet individual requirements. It is often applied to provision which tries to remove barriers that prevent attendance at more traditional courses, but it also suggests a learner-centred philosophy.”(Rowntree, 1992, p.4 cited from Lewis & Spencer, 1986) Keeping in mind the different model for designing the OER, I found the most suitable model is ADDIE which is not only suitable to education design but also suits to the needs of businesses and other institutions like Armed forces.

What is ADDIE?

It can be well illustrated with the following figure:

Source: http://www.agiledocs.com/elearning/custom-elearning-solutions/#

 

                  

Developing the wiki site for a diverse range of learner was a challenge for any course designer. Fortunately, the goal of the course that I have designed is suitable to every level of learner. How does this development fit into the ADDIE model?

1.      Analysis:  I have prepared a plan to design the course. The goal of the learning design is to enable the learners to produce vemicompost by constructing the worm farm of their own. The learners can be of any level. They may range from illiterate people to highly qualified people. Accordingly the structure of content, method of delivery and assessment   strategies have been planned.  The content, the nature of assignments are suitable to attract the attention of every learner and they will remain engage in their learning.

2.      Design: Keeping in mind the potential learners, the learning design has been planned.   It begins with an index. Instructions about the course has been given in the beginning. The course has been divided into different units which follows the scaffolding technique.

3.      Development: It is the most important stage of learning design. As mentioned above it will fulfill the needs of every learner at any level. The content includes simple to complex explanation of worm farming. The resources also serve the need of the learners.  On one hand simple video lesson, ppt. slides, flexible format of submitting the assignments, compiling the portfolio and on the other hand scholarly articles, ppt. by teaching specialists, and videos has been included in the design.

4.      Implementation: Although the design of the course is for self directed learning in any corner of the world yet any educator can plan activities to teach by following the content and resources provided or by using his own resources. I have implemented a part of in face to face teaching in which my students learnt the preparation of worm farm. The session was a mix of interaction, reflection and feedback on the learning design.

5.       Evaluation: The implementation helped me to understand that the content and the structure of the course is for learning by doing. So the activities that have been designed guide the learner to learn most of the things by doing. The criteria for assessment also depend on practical and experiential learning.

Reflection:  Quality of learning design can be measured in terms of it learner-centered approach. Clark (2002) states, “A learner-centered approach suggests that we design lessons that accommodate human learning processes regardless of the media involved.”  I have designed the course to meet the need of learners who might possess a wide range of qualifications, culture, age, resources etc. The content and the design ofthe course are completely flexible. It is available to the learners at their convenience. There is no timeline for enrollment, discussion, completing theassignment. It has been kept in mind the use of audio –visual resources which are essential for experiential and deep learning. The following diagram shows the influence of resources in open learning.

          

         Visual and supporting auditory information maximize working memory resources.

The learners in open learning need support at different levels. Rowntree (1992, pp. 74-76) states, “Might your learners need help and support with:

1.      Before they begin: for example what they want from learning

2.      To do with tackling the work: for example planning a timetable

3.      To do with the content of the programme: for example relating the content to their own experience

4.      To do with their jobs: getting their employers to recognize their new competence.

5.      To do with their assessment: learning to assess their own progress realistically

6.      To do with them: coming to terms with new beliefs or values”

They will be supported through discussionforum where they can ask and share for the support required.

Assessment criteria is kept very simple and flexible to meet the nature of learners. There is a balance between formative and summative assessment and both ensure deep learning. Discussion, case studies and construction of worm farm will be counted for assessment.

 Suitability to my learners: Although the design is developed for open learning and it fulfills the requirement of learners at any level. The students in my learner profile mentioned in module 1 are of level 4.  The use of mix of text, audio, video and activity enhances the engagement of the learners. They have been given the opportunity to discuss and interact with others on the Google groups. Experiential learning has been ensured through observing the videos, case study of a farm and a commercial vermiculture industry and deep learning will happen through working and constructing their own worm farm for which instructions have been given in text, and video format. The different options are available to the learners to construct a wide range of worm farms. The option is given to keep the flexibility in learning.

Effectiveness: The effectiveness and evaluation is a continuous process. Discussions with groups of learners and other interested parties is a cost effective way of obtaining a lot of information about the strengths and weaknesses of the programme. So a forum has been kept for discussion on every topic.

References:

Clark, R.( 2002, September 10). Six Principles of Effective e-Learning: What Works and Why retrieved from http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/384/six-principles-of-effective-e-learning-what-works-and-why

Rowntree (1992), Exploring open and distance learning. Great Britain: Biddles ltd