Flexible Design, Development, and Delivery of Online Education

Philip Laird, PhDGlobal Learning Connections,Trinity Western University

“I skate to where the puck is going to be,not where it has been.”

- Wayne Gretzky

Technological Changes Influencing Higher Education

Speed and storage capacity X2 every 18-24 mos.

Cost, size, and power consumption /2 every 18-24 mos.

Bandwidth (the size of data that can be carried on the internet) has increased a factor of almost 200,000 times in twenty-five years. Bandwidth and backbone at Universities has increased at 60% per year for the past 2 ½ decades.

Internet traffic doubles approximately every 100 days

Relevant Questions in Developing eLearning Models

Where are we going?

How are we going to get there?

Who are we taking with us?

Anticipated Presentation Outcomes:

A. To understand the logic behind TWU’s online learning model.

B. To see the pedagogical issues underlying the development of our eCourse model

C. To describe the process by which online learning is designed, managed, and delivered at TWU.

Implementing Online Learning at TWU

Sustaining Enterprise:

Traditional Face-To-Face (classroom-based education)

Goal:

Integrated Online Learning and Face-to-face Educational Enterprise

Barriers to Implementation:

• Resources• Tradition• Resistance to Pedagogical

Change• Resistance to new technology• Resistance to changes in faculty role• Technological Dependency• Market preparedness• Appropriate leadership• Control (IP; Copyright; compensation; etc.)

A. 4 Solutions Considered by TWU in Choosing an Online

Learning Model

1. Non-Integrated e-Learning: e-Learning on the Fringes of academic enterprise

Existing and Sustaining Traditional [face-to-face/on-campus] Enterprise

Unaffected traditional enterprise

e-Learning in Distance/CE/Extension unit

Existing and Sustaining Traditional [face-to-face/on-campus] Enterprise

Faculty members given control over all aspects of design, development, and delivery

University Resources for Faculty use: Mediated Learning Center; Computer Services; Web Services; OL tools and platforms; etc.

Faculty Stipends for e-Learning Initiatives spent on initiatives by faculty

2. Faculty Controlled and Managed e-Learning

3. e-Learning Management at the Departmental, Faculty, or School Unit.

Sustaining Existing and Sustaining Traditional [face-to-face/on-campus] Enterprise

Academic units choose/control/manage their own models and platforms for e-Learning, essentially duplicating production, costs, and delivery models.

Unique e-Learning

Systems in each

School/faculty

4. Development of a New Academic Unit to Integrate e-Learning Functions

Sustaining Existing and Sustaining Traditional [face-to-face/on-campus] Enterprise

GLC given control over all aspects of design, development, and delivery

Integrated e-Learning Initiative

Centrally controlled and facilitated

+

Administrative

Control to

faculties

And schools

=

A. Choice: TWU Design, Development, Delivery Cycle

Steps Contributors and Contributions

GLC Department

Selection AAD + Chair/Deans

Construction Design Manual + Department CCE

GLC Design Team + Department CCE

GLC Course Design Team

Preview GLC Staff (DT; Facilitators; AAD) + Department CCE/Instructor 

Delivery GLC Facilitators + Moderator/Instructor

Review CRC

Revision GLC Staff + Department CCE + Moderator/Instructor

A. Some Boundary Issues in our Integrative Model

• GLC manages online pedagogical Issues; Faculty manage course content issues

• Faculty role divided into ‘CCE’ and ‘Instructor’.

• CCE ‘owns’ course content; GLC ‘owns’ online platform and elements; Learner ‘owns’ his or her personal contributions; TWU owns right to assign credit for eCourse. Faculty sign a non-limited exclusive right of use agreement with GLC.

• Faculty members are hired by GLC under the direction of the Department Chair and Faculty/School Dean.

• GLC manages all eCourse construction and facilitation

B. Pedagogical Issues Underlying our eCourse Design Model

B. Pedagogical Factors in Designing eCourses

Factors that increase recall:

1. Depth of Processing

2. State Consistency

3. Repetition

4. Linear/Hierarchical Organization

5. Constructive Nature of Human Memory

6. Experimentation

B. How do people learn?

B. Learning in the Knowledge Age

“In the Knowledge Age, learning will be fused with work, recreation, personal development, ‘edutainment’, and even the expression of spirituality”

D. Langenberg, U of Maryland

B. Creating Learning Opportunities Online

“Learning opportunities should emphasize deep processing of information, multi-modal learning elements, problem-solving (testing of learning) experiences, and learning through personal experimentation and exploration. Teaching should be repetitive, hierarchically organized, and constructive (should build upon prior learning) in nature”. (Laird, 2003, p. 22)

C. Pedagogy in Practice: The eCourse Design Model

C. 6 Key Design Issues

• Course Structure

• Learner Outcomes and Layers of Outcomes

• Learner Motivation Strategies

• Interaction Strategies

• Flexible and Experiential Assignment Strategies

• Christian Integration Strategies

C. Importance of Solid Pedagogical Structure

The Number 1 success factorfor online courses is the structure of the course.

We have found that approximately85% of success factors for online learners reside in structural elements

C. Structural Choices

1. Hierarchical Structure

Module 1 Module 2 Module 3

U 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

D 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

C. Structural Choices

2. The Webbed Structure

C. Structural Choices

3. The Integrated Design

C. Outcomes

Outcome Questions??

• Why the course outcome is important for their overall learning,• How each outcome is related to each learning element,• How each outcome is related to each other outcome, • What precise actions or cognitions on their part will allow them to attain each outcome,• How they will know precisely when they have met the requirements for each outcome.• When they have acquired sufficient knowledge to move on to the next learning outcome.

C. Hierarchical Levels of Outcomes

Course Outcomes

Module 1 outcomes

Module 2 Outcomes

Module 3 Outcomes

C. Learner Motivation

Motivators

elements in the course material the enhance the learning experience and serve to maintain and enhance the focus of the learner on achieving the unit/module/course outcomes.

• Learning exercises• Multi-media interactive exercises• Experiential learning opportunities• Personal integration of learning• Interactivity with classmates

C. Learner Motivation

De-Motivators

elements in the course experience the detract from the learning experience and serve to frustrate and blur the focus of the learner from achieving the unit/module/course outcomes.

• Poor Infrastructure (slow access)• Multi-media interactive exercises• Poor Learner service• Disorganization of course• Lack of interactivity with professor• Lack of ansynchronicity in course

C. Learner Motivation

Relationship between Motivators and De-Motivators

De-motivators play a stronger role than Motivators in learner experience. Only once the de-motivators are addressed fully and completely will motivators play a significant role in learning in the online environment.

C. Motivational Strategy Questions for Faculty

What works in the face-to-face environment to capture and maintain the attention of the learners?

What “commonalities of experience” exist in the course material that can be harnessed to maintain learner interest in the topic?

What is it about the topic at hand that keeps you interested in it?

What illustrations/examples/stories/resources exist at other locations on the WWW that you could direct learners to such that their attention will be enhanced by a move to new area on the Web?

How can the material in the course by “activated” such that the learners must become personally involved in the learning process (audio, video, real world experimentation, etc.)?

C. Interaction Strategy

Instructors must articulate an interaction strategy clearly describing the nature, quality, and quantity of each of the following interactions:

Learner

Instructor

Course Content

Facilitator

Classmates

C. Flexible Assignment Structure

Each unit (12 in total) will have an assignment associated with it.

Within each module (there are 3 modules), learners must choose 1 of the 4 unit assignments.

Each unit assignment will have different criteria (amount of research required, number of pages required, etc.) and will be worth different point values (20, 30, 40, or 50 points).

Learners must choose their assignments such that the cumulative possible points equals 100 for the course.

C. Christian Integration Principles

1. Integration must be more intentional in the online versus the face-to-face teaching environment.

2. Integration is OUR distinctive and without it the learner might as well take an online course at U Pheonix or any other public institution.

3. Integration of faith and learning in every course helps TWU accomplish its mission and is part of who we are as Christian educators.

C. Christian Integration Strategy

Every eCourse must articulate an Integration Strategy and label integration elements for the course designers:

In assignmentsIn forum exercisesIn examples given by instructor In eFielded trips or eProjects selected for

learningIn Personal Learning Journal

Assignments as learners chronicle the impact of learning on their own faith

What’s Next? Where are we going from here at TWU?

eCommunity DevelopmentParallel Traditional and

Non-Traditional ClassroomsMulti-Modal Educational

Opportunities