Supporting further and higher education

A template for describing instances of (e)learning

Supporting further and higher education

Principles

• Features of the learning scenario that are significant to:– Practitioners planning learning activities and approaches– Outcomes for learners

• Based around learning activities• Adaptable (selective and extensible)• Supporting communication rather than imposing a

standard– Mapping to existing templates, standards and schemas

• Three levels of representation:– Features (fields)– Alternatives (vocabularies/examples for each field)– Relationships (associations among fields and field

elements), e.g. in the form of• Mapping tables and toolkits• Diagrams/flow-charts• Ontologies/taxonomies• Research tools and hypotheses• Scenarios and use cases• Case studies with metadata tagging

Supporting further and higher education

Discussion points

• Benefits and opportunities?• Draw-backs and difficulties?• Existing examples (who should be consulted?)• Possible uses?

Supporting further and higher education

Who will do all this?

• Bid for consultants to offer a range of skills– Short-term working groups to produce specific

outcomes– Focus on synthesis, embedding and communication

• ITTs for LD tools• Over to you:

– What is missing from these proposals?– What should we prioritise?– How best to embed and communicate with different

audiences?– How could the experts’ group be involved?

Supporting further and higher education

Understanding my learning

• Research review – outline existing research into learner perceptions of

elearning – scope process for national consultation

• National learner consultation (Feb 2005)– capture learner perspective in detail – include observational/ethnographic work – focus on learner differences

• Investigate accessibility issues – in collaboration with TechDis– implications for personalisation of learning

Supporting further and higher education

Discussion points

• What is missing from these proposals?• What should we prioritise?• How can we ensure that the ‘designing for learning’ and

‘understanding my learning’ strands are integrated?– E.g. are effective tools for learning design also effective

tools for learner reflection and planning?– E.g. are the same features of the learning situation

relevant to learners as to practitioners?• How can we involve learners as users?

– And ensure the learner perspective is taken into account in the developing technical frameworks and tools?

• How could the experts’ group be involved?