elearning - critical success factors curriculum development tim hall emrc-educational media research...

eLearning - Critical Success Factors

Curriculum Development Curriculum Development Tim Hall Tim Hall

EMRC-Educational Media ResearchEMRC-Educational Media Research University of University of LimerickLimerick

[email protected] +353-61-202294+353-61-202294

My Background

• Involvement in:– CE & Post –experiential Learning– EU and International Projects– eLearning– EMRC-Educational Media Research

eLearning - Critical Success Factors Curriculum Development

• What is curriculum development?

• Is it different in eLearning than for a traditional face-to face approach?


• What is it ?– Define appropriate learning objectives– Establish useful learning experiences– Organise learning experiences to maximise

cumulative effect– Evaluate the process and revise to improve

effectiveness (Tyler 1949)


• What is it?• A continuum from macro to micro

– Schools curriculum– Curriculum for a degree programme– The Syllabus for a course (module)– A Lecture plan

• In our context the content and style of an eLearning course


Is it different?Resource commitment

– Recent IFETS survey of procatitioners found that the development time for eLearning was in excess of 110 times delivery time

– For face-to-face its less than 10 times– This implies a much more “careful” process

must be adopted


• What’s involved?– People– Needs Analysis/Required Outcome– Methodology– Management & Resource Provision


• People: Consider fully the needs of a wide constituancy

• Owners (University, company)• Development Team• Teachers/Tutors• Students/Learners• Customers (Society, Parents, employers)


• People: Development Team• Manager & administartive support• Subject matter experts• Instructional designers• Content authors (words & media)• Delivery and support system expert• Assessors/Testers


• Needs Analysis/Required Outcome– There are many reasons why an eLearning

solution is contemplated. It may be:• The most appropriate• Expedient• Required

– Expectation of value for resources expended is essential


Methodology: Initial factorsThe proposed curriculum must be suitable for an

eLearning delivery The proposed learning style must be appropriate and

understood by the designersAn appropriate ICT environment must be availableLearners/Teachers must have access and be familiar with

eLearning

[A strategy must be evolved to accommodate any of these factors that are missing]


Methdology: DevelopmentA team activity where the skills and experience of

the team members are contributed through a carfully designed and managed process

Or

An individual process where a subject matter expert works within an east to use environment


Methodology: Structure & OpportunityAn opportunity to review existing learning methodology and exploit one which eLearning does well

A clear framework for the instructional design stage must be established linking good design of presentation and navigation to appropriate good practice in ODL authoring


Management & Resource Provision

Curriculum design for eLearning must take place in a supportive institutional framework where the immediate and on-going resource commitment is understood


• Curriculum design in an eLearning environment thus becomes a much more “professional” activity than here-to-fore


• But [a very big but] in most of the above I have assumed a conventional approach to teaching and learning with a lecturer/teacher/instructor lead process based on a traditional curriculum and syllabus.

• I don’t “teach” like that, do you?• What about other more learner centred approaches?

Collaborative learning? Self-directed learning? Self-organised learning? Ubiquitous learning?


• Do we have to start over? No, rarely are we working outside some formalised framework:– The people are the same– The learning needs are the same– The required resources and ICT support are the

same– The learning environment still needs to be

structured and the learning process facilitated and managed

– A required curriculum is still being followed


• So what’s different?– Content is being discovered, ordered,

generated, digested and synthesized largely by the learners themselves

– The teacher becomes a moderator, mentor, tutor

– A much more rewarding process for all involved


Curriculum design is still the foundation, a macro factor that acts as a link between the intimate eWorld of the student(s)/teacher interaction and the outside pressures of assessors, the university/school, education authorities, society

As formal learning content disappears curriculum and learning approach remain as tangible confirmation that the prescribed learning is taking place


• Curriculum development acts as a link between society, teachers, learners and resource providers.

• It is essentially a team effort

• It assumes a supportive and well resources environment

elearning - critical success factors curriculum development tim hall emrc-educational media research...

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