Instructional Design Literature Review

Gruber, M. R. (2009). Instructional Design Literature Review. MACE.This review focuses on instructional design literature for the MACE project. It shows the plenty of research in instructional design era for more than 20 years, and offers various approaches, concepts and models in this field. The findings relate to the following keywords: Instructional design in teaching, design architecture, and construction engineering. This report is divided in four sections: “Literature Reviews”, “Articles, Book Chapters and Studies”, “Books”, and “Web Resources”, and is organized in a schedular view. Each section implicates the information about literature reference or website title, keywords, abstract and URL/resource if available.MAC

Constructing high quality learning environments using learning designs and learning objects.

Designing learning experiences supported by information and communication technology (ICT) is becoming an important skill for all academics in the higher education sector. With a range of quality measures being implemented and foreshadowed by government, including dollars linked to student learning outcomes, all academics will be increasingly asked to examine their instructional strategies and to offer high quality learning opportunities. Sharing learning resources is seen as one strategy to help academics in this change process. As such, online repositories of learning objects are flourishing to encourage the concept of reuse. However, what is lacking are tools to support academics in designing high quality learning environments that incorporate learning objects. This paper presents a prototype tool that uses the concept of a learning design as the framework to assist academics in the design process and demonstrates how learning objects can be incorporated

Contributions to the Development of eLearning – Possibilities to Convert Teaching Activities and Materials into an Electronic Form

Predmet istraživanja  disertacije  je  prikaz  koncepata  elektronskog učenja,  opis  potrebe,  motivacije  i  metodologije  za  obradu  i  konverziju postojećih  tradicionalnih  nastavnih  materijala,  bez  obzira  na  fizički  oblik  i sadržaj,  u  savremene  i  aktuelne  elektronske  didaktičke  objekte  (learning objects).  Ideja je da  oni  budu kreirani tako da mogu  biti  korišćeni,  ako  je moguće i više puta, u sistemima za podršku elektronskom učenju.  Drugi osnovni predmet istraživanja je opis, definisanje  i praktična provera metodologije  za razvoj saradničkih i komunikacionih veština  studenata. Pri prelazu iz učionice u oblast elektronskog učenja  one se  zamenjuju elektronskim aktivnostima,  standardnim  i uobičajenim  delom  sistema za elektronsko  učenje.  Analizirana  je  primena klasičnih aktivnosti  Web  2.0 tehnologije: foruma, chat-sistema, Wiki i blog tehnologije,  kao i metodologije za on-line zadavanje, rešavanje, pregledanje  i ocenjivanje individualnih i timskih zadataka. Konačno,  data  je  sistematizacija  metodologija  upotrebe  elektronskih  nastavnih materijala i načini opisivanja meta-modelom. Prikazani su neki od postojećih alata za upotrebu u elektronskom učenju, a  predložen  je  model i potencijalno korisni  alati  za  automatizaciju  procesa  konverzije  nastavnih  materijala  koji  bi olakšali korišćenje u sistemima za podršku elektronskom učenju.The research topic involves description of eLearning concepts, depiction of need, motivation and methodology for processing and conversion of existing traditional teaching materials, regardless of their physical form and content, into contemporary and up-to-date electronic teaching material, learning objects. The idea is that these learning objects are created  in such a way that they can be used, if possible also reused, in some of the learning management systems. The other primary research topic is the description, definition and practical testing of methodologies for the development of collaborative and communicative skills with students. Those skills are,  as a part of the transfer from the classroom to  the field of eLearning, substituted with electronic activities which are the standard and usual part of learning management systems. Within the thesis, application of typical activities of  so-called Web 2.0 technologies: forums, chat-systems, Wiki and blog technology, but also methodologies for on-line assigning, solving, audit, and assessment of  individual and team assignments. Finally,  systematization of various methodologies of digital teaching material use is presented, together with the methods of their depiction by meta-model. Examples of  currently existing tools  available for eLearning are presented and a model is suggested, together with  the  potentially useful tools that might help in automatization  of a process of  conversion of teaching materials and their use in learning management systems.

Modelo para la generación de cursos virtuales usando tecnologías de la web semántica para sistemas de gestión de aprendizaje

La oferta de educación virtual crece rápidamente y a su vez el uso de entornos virtuales de aprendizaje (VLE). La mayoría de docentes explotan muy limitadamente los VLEs, debido a su conocimiento limitado de pedagogías y de las teorías de diseño instruccional. La revisión de la literatura analizada, dio como resultado que pocos modelos de diseño instruccional han incluido el uso de las tecnologías de la web semántica para sus soluciones educativas. Sin embargo, aquellos trabajos que toman en cuenta dichas tecnologías, se enfocan más en el contenido específico del diseño de curso y otros trabajos asumen que el docente debería conocer acerca de diseño instruccional. Esto permitió notar, que no se toma en cuenta aspectos como: el enfoque pedagógico, es decir las teorías de aprendizaje y/o de diseño instruccional, el contexto del curso y la secuencia de actividades. Adicionalmente, ninguno de los trabajos considera la integración a un VLE. Se identifica los factores que influyen en el modelado del proceso de creación de contenido educativo en cursos online para entornos LMS tradicionales, y se propone un Modelo para el proceso de construcción de cursos virtuales utilizando tecnologías de le web semántica como RDF, OWL, SWRL, SPARQL para sistemas de gestión de aprendizaje. Este modelo permite producir en forma estructurada, organizada y pedagógicamente asistida, las plantillas de cursos virtuales. Para plasmar el modelo se plantea una arquitectura que permite desarrollar módulos de creación de plantillas de cursos en el sistema de gestión de aprendizaje Moodle. Se acompaña de la descripción del desarrollo de los diferentes módulos de creación de cursos virtuales mediante la metodología SCRUM. Para validar el modelo propuesto se plantean dos estudios: el primero aplicado en docentes universitarios respecto a cuatro aspectos analizados: facilidad de uso, soporte pedagógico, satisfacción y tiempo; se observó que existe una diferencia significativa a favor de la construcción de cursos virtuales en un LMS en donde se incorpora el modelo propuesto. En el segundo estudio, aplicado en estudiantes universitarios, se observó que, en el aspecto de la facilidad de uso, sí existe una diferencia significativa a favor del uso del aula virtual usada por los estudiantes y que fue creada por un docente con el módulo que incorpora el modelo propuesto. Se afirma entonces que el modelo planteado ofrece mejoras con respecto al proceso de creación de aulas virtuales tradicional que se incorpora en un LMS.Abstract: The virtual education offer grows rapidly and, in turn, the use of virtual environment of learning (VLE). Most teachers exploit in a very limited way the VLEs due to the limited knowledge of the of pedagogy and instructional design theories. The analyzed systematic review of literature resulted in the fact that few models of instructional design have included the use of semantic web technologies for their educational solutions. However, those works that take into account such technologies focus more on the specific content of course design and other works assume that the teacher should know about the instructional design. This permitted to note that aspects such as the pedagogic focus (i.e., the learning theories and instructional design theories), the course context and the activity sequence are not considered. Additionally, no work considers the integration to a VLE. Factors influencing on the modelling of the creation process of educational content in online courses for traditional LMS environment are identified, and a Model for the construction process of virtual courses is proposed, using semantic web technologies such as RDF, OWL, SWRL, and SPARQL for learning management systems. This model can produce in a structured, organized and pedagogically-assisted way, the designs of virtual courses templates. To put into practice the model, an architecture allowing to develop modules of design creation of courses in the Moodle learning management system is stated. Included there is the description of the development of the different virtual course creation modules through SCRUM methodology. To validate the proposed model, two studies are stated: the first one is applied to university teachers as to four analyzed aspects: usability, pedagogic support, satisfaction and time. It is observed that there is a significant difference in favor of the construction of virtual courses in a LMS where the proposed model is incorporated. In the second study is applied to university students, it was observed that in the aspect of usability, there is a significant difference in favor of the use of the virtual classroom used by students, which was created by a teacher with a module incorporating the proposed model. It is, therefore, affirmed that the proposed model offers improvements as to the traditional creation process of virtual classrooms incorporated into an LMS.Doctorad

The role of the tutor in supporting online engagement in higher education

In order to generate insights into the role of an online tutor in supporting student learning, this thesis studied the online interactions of four tutors who were teaching four separate groups of first-year undergraduate pre-service teachers. The study used focus group interviews, analysis of online transcripts and individual interviews. Several recommendations are made that provide university educators with new insights into ways to support online teaching and learning