blended learning conference hertfordshire 13 june 2012

The Art of the Designer: creating an effective learning experience

Catherine O’Donnell, Rebecca Galley and Vilinda Ross

Blended Learning Conference

13th June 2012

An introduction to the Viewpoints Project and typical walkthrough of the workshop approach

Catherine O’Donnell

A short video introduction on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux0Bv7fRrQI

An Introduction to Viewpoints Viewpoints is a JISC funded curriculum

design project.

It has a remit to create a series of reflective tools to promote & enhance effective curriculum design.

The tools use a learner timeline with established pedagogical principles and ideas as prompts to help staff consider areas of their curriculum while considering the learner perspective.

• Inform, inspire and plan.

• There are benefits for- Curriculum development.- Course teams.- Students.

• 4 themes- Assessment and feedback,- Information skills,- Learner engagement and - Creativity and innovation.

• 2 views- Course and module.

Viewpoints 3 Part Framework

Assessment and Feedback Theme

REAP (http://www.reap.ac.uk/)

1. Clarify good performance.

2. Encourage time and effort on task.

3. Deliver high quality feedback.

4. Provide opportunities to act on feedback.

5. Encourage interaction and dialogue.

6. Develop self-assessment and reflection.

7. Give assessment choice.

8. Encourage positive motivational beliefs.

9. Inform and shape your teaching.

*Implementation ideas for each principle on back of cards.

Learner Engagement ThemeThe principles of learner engagement are based upon the  8 Learning Events Model developed by LabSET, University of Liège, Belgium. 

1. Receive.

2. Create.

3. Debate.

4. Explore.

5. Imitate.

6. Experiment.

7. Practice.

8. Meta-Learn.

*Implementation ideas for each principle on back of cards.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/viewpointsproject/

Information Skills ThemeSCONUL 7 Pillars (http://www.sconul.ac.uk)

1. Define the task and understand the topic.

2. Identify appropriate resources.

3. Search effectively.

4. Find and extract information.

5. Compare and analyse information.

6. Organise and share information ethically.

7. Interpret information and create new content.

*Implementation ideas for each principle on back of cards.

Creativity and Innovation ThemeCHEP creativity working group

(http://www.ulster.ac.uk/centrehep/creativity_curriculum.html )

1. Collaborative learning.

2. ‘Open-box’ modules.

3. Negotiation.

4. ‘Real-life’ learning situations.

5. Novel approaches to learning.

6. Assessment that focuses on process.

7. Use of debates.

8. Beyond the discipline.

9. Enquiry-based learning.

*Implementation ideas for each principle on back of card have still to be added.

A typical Viewpoints Assessment and Feedback

workshop walkthrough

Learner timeline worksheet & resources

Discussing the objective The team agree the objective for their session and

write it at the top of the module worksheet.

Reading the front of the cards The team read the principles on the front of the

cards, choosing ones appropriate to their objective.

Mapping the cards to the learner timeline The team take their selected cards and map them to the

appropriate point on the timeline (e.g. at the induction phase, during first few weeks of course)

Reading examples on cards The course team turn the cards over and read the

examples/ideas on the back.

Choosing relevant examples The team select any

examples that would fit with their course objective and their teaching practice.

Adding in own ideas/comments The team write on any of their own ideas or comments,

in order to tailor the examples to their own module.

Sample finished worksheets

Photos

Typed up Worksheets

Supporting documentation

e.g. Mappings, Tools and technologies and Resources etc.

Course Teams Benefits

“Provides a focus for discussion”

“Useful for raising options people hadn’t considered”

“Used the cards as a starting point to plan induction classes, helped in organising lesson plans”

“Awareness of need to continue to develop e-learning tools to support traditional learning method”

“Greater understanding of what we are looking for collectively”

“Visualisation of course in a holistic manner”

“Importance of timely assessment…Mapping assessment to eliminate over assessment and introduce a variety of assessment tools”

Individual Benefits

“Useful as a memory aid of what we need to include”

“Shaping and organising thoughts and ideas”

“Provide new ideas on enhancing effective learning and feedback”

“Learning how to align my module and come up with alternative ideas for teaching and learning”

“Opportunity to see the opinions of other members of the course team when choosing cards”

“Become more confident and knowledgeable concerning my approach to assessment and module design”

“…early engagement of the student in their learning”

Learner Benefits

“Good resources to stimulate discussion”

“Scaffolded learning”

“To be implmented next academic term”

“Opportunity to see things from the learner’s perspective in terms of building in regular feedback”

“Identifying what learners should be doing at every stage of lesson”

“…early engagement and formative assessment/feedback made the students more independent in their learning and allowed them to process what assessment was measuring and how”

Viewpoints resources site: http://viewpoints.ulster.ac.uk/resources

Viewpoints project blog: http://viewpoints.ulster.ac.uk

Further information

Viewpoints project blog: http://viewpoints.ulster.ac.uk

Viewpoints resources site: http://viewpoints.ulster.ac.uk/resources

Dr Alan Masson, Project Director - aj.masson@ulster.ac.uk

Catherine O’Donnell, Academic E-Learning Consultant - c.odonnell@ulster.ac.uk

Dr Vilinda Ross, Research Fellow - v.ross@ulster.ac.uk

An opportunity to see some of the OULDI & Viewpoints Project resources

Rebecca Galley, Catherine O’Donnell and Vilinda Ross

An opportunity to discuss usefulness of the resources and ideas for applying them in your own institutions

Questions?