Designing For Learning: Lessons from the developers

13 August, 2004

This resource is derived from the “Designing for Learning – Lessons from the Developers” even held in the Community between 2 - 13 August 2004. It was moderated by Louise Housden and a panel of 20 experts – experienced elearning developers - provided answers and information.

This event was a chance for members to talk to people who have actually “been there and done that” in producing online content, but was also a chance for the developers to get together and share ideas. From creating short courses through to whole qualifications, these people have seen the good, the bad and the ugly and lived to tell the tale! Here's what they said...

On project management…

Elearning resource development projects can be very challenging. Project Managers manage teams of creative people working to strict deadlines and within technological boundaries, make sure stakeholders are happy, manage resources, schedule and budget, do peace keeping and negotiating.

One new Project manager complained that it can be difficult to manage people remotely.
Another said that it can be hard when writers have only ever written for paper resources and don’t understand the online medium.

Suggested links
Some other suggestions: an article from Learning Circuits, titled How to Build a Business Case for E-Learning. It gives a simple outline of the main points to consider.

Project Management Guide

On Instructional design…

Instructional designers deal with the challenge of creating a multi sensory, intellectually stimulating, appealing and engaging elearning resource. The way a product looks and works is largely the responsibility of these creative people, who work closely with the content expert and multimedia developers to come up with a design that meets the needs of all stakeholders while offering a rich, stimulating environment that supports active and experiential learning.

Participant Q&A

Q: Is my project doomed to failure because my team is small and members are taking on more than one role at a time?

A: No. This is a common situation. Some roles cross over nicely such as Content Expert and Instructional Designer. It can be good for people to crossover a bit, rather than sticking strictly within their specialist fields.

Q: Can you recommend any research papers that cover issues in the design of digital technologies for adult learning such as PowerPoint, video, CD ROM and Websites?

A: Instructional Design Models, Instructional Design in Elearning, Instructional Design

Q: How synchronous is the learning that others are designing?

A: Some organisations are running fully online programs with a high level of collaborative communication (via discussion boards, chat, voiced meetings etc) - while others are blending elearning into their face-to-face delivery and may or may not be using collaborative tools.

Suggested links
The Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams

TAFE Frontiers

Assessing Online - a guide for VET professionals

Assessing Online

Flexible Learning Toolboxes (choose "Preview a Toolbox" from the menu)

Open Office is a free version of MS Office that can make it easy to turn existing content into eLearning formats ready for online delivery.

We are using GROOVE Virtual Office which is a great tool.

Content experts & teachers

Quite often, the only person in an elearning resource development team that actually knows anything about the subject itself is the content expert. The team relies on them for advice about the target audience, the learners' needs, industry standards and workplace contexts, so that the resource developed presents a realistic and accurate learning environment. They are the much needed voice of reason, representing the trainer and the learner in all aspects of the resource development. For most content experts, their time on an elearning project is a huge learning curve.

Participant Q&A

Q: What do you think about content free courses?

As:

I have observed that students internalise concepts best if they have to source out their own information - and what better resource for this than the web?
When we put too much emphasis on content we run the risk of developing text books online. It takes a very skilled facilitator who can create and sustain the right environment...for a content free course
One benefit is that the content never dates making the course almost “maintenance free”
While a constructivist learning model is a good idea , but courses should not be taught all online. A blended approach is better.
It doesn’t suit all learning styles
It is definitely not the way most current teachers like to work.
Are content free courses harder to design?
Content has its place – but you’ve got to make dull content come to life!
The role of the content person is to understand the outcomes that are required by the learning eg specific knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviours and can provide a variety of learning options to achieve these.
Some learners like content free and others need content.
Is it really content free or are we just getting the learners to provide the content?
Content has to be acquired somehow. Providing learners with opportunities to develop research and analytical skills is important, but there is so much information out there that learners can get bogged down in the process of "sourcing" information.
We must consider the needs and abilities of the target audience, and design with that in mind.
While some aspects of eLearning are obviously new, content free is a pretty old idea. Neil Postman et al wrote a kick arse little book in the late 50's called "Teaching as a Subversive Activity".
Content free is great. Its exactly what we are all doing right now in this forum. As time goes by we are building a huge bank of content.
I think content free is likely to appeal to mature learners who have developed good learning skills and enjoy the type of free interaction this type of learning provides.
While content can be slow and tedious it can speed up the learning process.
I like the idea of having a "problem statement" up front and then some suggestions for how to approach a solution. Web-based resources are perfect for providing alternative pathways.
My experience is that some students will look at the problem statement, then take the shortest path through the content to address the problem. Others like a sequential approach - read the content then address the problem. Still others prefer to take it in "chunks" - address sections of the problem.
This brief discussion hasn't even touched on the role of collaborative learning, which is another huge topic.
The potential problem with flexible pathways are that some learners have come to expect a clear cut pathway. For them the choice can seem intimidating. This comes back to facilitation again.

Q: My institution contracted SME's (Subject Matter Experts/ Content Experts) who are well known people in their fields. They are totally inflexible and difficult – they’re divas! How can I motivate them?

As:

Make sure that the SMEs get a really good induction, and that someone takes the time to explain what's going on.
Just give them the applause they crave if it gets the job done (then don't use them next time!)
Have a respected SME/ Content Expert review their work.
Articles: Leadership Principles for Designers: Leading SMEs, Part 1 and Part 2. You will find it at http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage/sub_page.cfm?section=3.
Get SME's involved from the beginning of the project and invite them to take part in the planning process.
Overestimate the time commitment they will need to make and make sure they know what’s expected of them) of course it is very hard to estimate time commitments because of the fluid nature of elearning projects)
these projects tend to attract passionate and creative individuals, which means you have a dynamic team environment with plenty of sparks!
SMEs can feel out of their element and like the new kid on the block. Sometimes it can feel like the whole process is working against you getting the content right. Give the SMEs a really good induction and always make sure someone explain dot them whats going on.

Q: Do you have any references to competencies for elearning jobs?

Some suggestions
subject matter knowledge
learner focused
creative
adaptable/flexible
a finisher
Ability to meet deadlines
A good team player
It helps to have a good project manager.
Its good to have more than one CE working together.
Its good to have someone who doesn’t know anything about the filed proofread the content to make sure it makes sense.
Check with people in other RTOs and states – especially when creating national material.

Suggested links
Suggested article - Leadership Principles for Designers: Leading SMEs, Part 1 and Part 2.

Multimedia developers

Participant Q&A

Q: I’m looking for software that would help manage content – audio, video, images etc.

A: Free software is available at: http://www.reload.ac.uk/. There are a number of tools you may find handy in there. Especially the metadata tool, and SCORM LO authoring tool.

Pre-labelling your footage as you are editing video or audio is probably the best way to manage this sort of content.

Q: What can you tell me about storyboarding?

Technology should not play a major part in storyboarding. I believe the best tool is a large, blank sheet of paper.
I find PowerPoint is a good tool for story boarding. (I recommend using OpenOffice instead of MS PowerPoint for this by the way).
I'm in the process of building an educational multimedia operation using Flash and Cinema 3D, mounting them as learning objects on web pages. I've been using Macromedia Fireworks as the main workbench for much of my graphics, and I also use it for my Storyboarding.
We have a white board (and different colour textas), and we draw up our ideas, usually in screens or pages, then draw arrows all over the place and lines here and there while we try to figure out how it's all going to happen - the sequence of pages, the navigation, all that stuff. Eventually the team will split up and have to work remotely from one another so digital formats are very handy when this happens.
For the more non linear, hyper text oriented people I'd recommend scripting and story boarding with a concept mapping tool like cMaps (free).
... using PowerPoint as the capturing tool, and with myself as instructional designer, a content expert, and a developer we took 4 full days to script out about 3 topic areas each consisting of 3 units of work with about 3 - 4 tasks in each unit. This project will take us about 400 hours to produce and consists of highly designed, rich media content delivered in a reasonably linear fashion.

Q: Do any of you have experience designing with a geographically distributed team?

A: I strongly recommend intensive face-to-face meetings for the initial scripting.

Assessing online

Comments
There are so many strategies, tools and methods available now that give the learner a brand new method of demonstrating competence.

Some new and emerging ones include the use of:

voice over IP
digital video
digital story
SMS for mobile phones
Interactivity for PDAs

Some traditional methods such as file upload and online quizzes. Many current LMS-enhanced courses take advantage of these methods, why should they not continue?

Comments from one participant:

What do you think will be the future of elearning?

OpenSource, openCourse, openAccess and DIY online teaching and learning.

Powerpoint to ShockWaveFile with ability to import into Flash for further development.

Chill out on big gun LMS, more email based teaching and learning, a much simpler delivery, using openSource alternatives.

What will developers be up to in the next few years?

Still looking for a 'real' job.

Being replaced by freshies out of school with the latest wiz skill because managers didn't invest in staff development and directors don't appreciate implicit knowledge and real innovation.

What new technology might we be working with?

MicroFilm, ViewMasters, OverHead and Slide Projectors, audio cassettes, 8 and 16mm, teletext, bomb proof VHS. (What ever happened to all that stuff?)

At the bigger end of town - Flash Communication Server technology or similar.

How will future development teams be working?

Smaller (teams of 1 - 3), more experienced, more efficient, more professional, probably not in the ed institutions but as their own small businesses or companies, working directly with single entity private RTO or keen DIY lecturers.

What will be driving the future direction of elearning resource development?

DIY. Demand and use. Most of today's content developments will sleep on the shelves, remembered as a broken promise while the DIY starts coming back into teaching just like the photocopier enabled more than 15 years ago.

Other resources people wanted to share

The devil you don't know: The unexpected future of Open Access publishing
by Joseph J. Esposito
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_8/esposito/

Seeking an educational commons: The promise of open source development models
by Gary Hepburn
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_8/hepburn/

Ideology and policy: Notes on the shaping of the Internet
by by Katharine Sarikakis
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_8/sarikakis/

E-learning and language change - Observations, tendencies and reflections
by Henrik Hansson and Sylvia van de Bunt-Kokhuis
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_8/hansson/

Try Elliott Masie
http://www.amanet.org/books/catalog/0814407218_ch26.htm
So - he raises some interesting predictions... if he's right, what does that mean to elearning resource developers?? Or maybe you think he's wrong... ???

Web Standards
www.alistapart.com

Accessibility
www.diveintoaccessibility.org

Desktop publishing
www.desktopmag.com.au (print magazine)

Independent Publishers (blogs)
www.bloglines.com/public/abramwell

Contributors:
Chris Ainsworth, Jayne Bachelor, Leigh Blackall, Adam Bramwell, David Butler, John Dorbis, Filiz Ergec, Val Evans, Lee Forrest, Norm Henrickson, Louise Housden, Fernanda Ibarra, Fay Jubb, Waltraud Kostenzer, Trevor Learey, Ron Lubensky, Jennifer Macklin, Carole McCulloch, John Murphy, Annelieske Noteboom, Lyndall Owbridge, Richard Perdriau, Dannielle Phelan, Sebastian Porto, Kate Robinson, Robert Shillam, Tom Stanley, Tristenne Van Heythuysen, Lisa Wait, Cathy Wills, Deb Windram

Louise Housden