Models for Learning (Mod4L) Final Report: Representing Learning Designs

The Mod4L Models of Practice project is part of the JISC-funded Design for Learning Programme. It ran from 1 May – 31 December 2006. The philosophy underlying the project was that a general split is evident in the e-learning community between development of e-learning tools, services and standards, and research into how teachers can use these most effectively, and is impeding uptake of new tools and methods by teachers. To help overcome this barrier and bridge the gap, a need is felt for practitioner-focused resources which describe a range of learning designs and offer guidance on how these may be chosen and applied, how they can support effective practice in design for learning, and how they can support the development of effective tools, standards and systems with a learning design capability (see, for example, Griffiths and Blat 2005, JISC 2006). Practice models, it was suggested, were such a resource. The aim of the project was to: develop a range of practice models that could be used by practitioners in real life contexts and have a high impact on improving teaching and learning practice. We worked with two definitions of practice models. Practice models are: 1. generic approaches to the structuring and orchestration of learning activities. They express elements of pedagogic principle and allow practitioners to make informed choices (JISC 2006) However, however effective a learning design may be, it can only be shared with others through a representation. The issue of representation of learning designs is, then, central to the concept of sharing and reuse at the heart of JISC’s Design for Learning programme. Thus practice models should be both representations of effective practice, and effective representations of practice. Hence we arrived at the project working definition of practice models as: 2. Common, but decontextualised, learning designs that are represented in a way that is usable by practitioners (teachers, managers, etc).(Mod4L working definition, Falconer & Littlejohn 2006). A learning design is defined as the outcome of the process of designing, planning and orchestrating learning activities as part of a learning session or programme (JISC 2006). Practice models have many potential uses: they describe a range of learning designs that are found to be effective, and offer guidance on their use; they support sharing, reuse and adaptation of learning designs by teachers, and also the development of tools, standards and systems for planning, editing and running the designs. The project took a practitioner-centred approach, working in close collaboration with a focus group of 12 teachers recruited across a range of disciplines and from both FE and HE. Focus group members are listed in Appendix 1. Information was gathered from the focus group through two face to face workshops, and through their contributions to discussions on the project wiki. This was supplemented by an activity at a JISC pedagogy experts meeting in October 2006, and a part workshop at ALT-C in September 2006. The project interim report of August 2006 contained the outcomes of the first workshop (Falconer and Littlejohn, 2006). The current report refines the discussion of issues of representing learning designs for sharing and reuse evidenced in the interim report and highlights problems with the concept of practice models (section 2), characterises the requirements teachers have of effective representations (section 3), evaluates a number of types of representation against these requirements (section 4), explores the more technically focused role of sequencing representations and controlled vocabularies (sections 5 & 6), documents some generic learning designs (section 8.2) and suggests ways forward for bridging the gap between teachers and developers (section 2.6). All quotations are taken from the Mod4L wiki unless otherwise stated

Towards an Integrative Formative Approach of Data-Driven Decision Making, Assessment for Learning, and Diagnostic Testing

This study concerns the comparison of three approaches to assessment: Data-Driven Decision Making, Assessment for Learning, and Diagnostic Testing. Although the three approaches claim to be beneficial with regard to student learning, no clear study into the relationships and distinctions between these approaches exists to date. The goal of this study was to investigate the extent to which the three approaches can be shaped into an integrative formative approach towards assessment. The three approaches were compared on nine characteristics of assessment. The results suggest that although the approaches seem to be contradictory with respect to some characteristics, it is argued that they could complement each other despite these differences. The researchers discuss how the three approaches can be shaped into an integrative formative approach towards assessmen

Proposition of pedagogical element in Learning Object metadata

Learning object metadata (LOM) is a method used to identify and describe learning object behaviour, function and used. Metadata in particular is used specifically to assist in retrieving any forms of digital objects available on the network, as such the advance based searching used in most search engines is often referred to as metadata based searching or metadata retrieval method. As learning object (LO) is a form of digital object, evidently metadata is also recognised as the method used in accessing and retrieving LO. Therefore in achieving good search results, it is pre-eminent to determine the element details that would be beneficial to users. This leads to the importance of identifying specific metadata elements needed to describe learning object, in which IEEE LTSC had taken the initiative to establish the LOM standard. The IEEE LOM standard derived has 77 metadata elements distributed among nine categories. Although the standard is widely adopted among LO practitioners and researchers world wide, currently it is highly debated that the existing LOM standard is lack of contextual and pedagogical elements. Researchers argued that existing elements on IEEE LOM do not address all aspects of LO context and the elements are merely used as a means for discovering, sharing and reusing LO. Although measures have been taken by various research groups in the American and European region to include new metadata elements to address context and pedagogical issues, these are still insufficient as most are centred to be of service to a specific learning environment or to the patron organisation. This initiate the current work to provide more general based metadata elements as such context level is enhanced and pedagogical role is included in LOM elements. The determination of new metadata element that addresses context and pedagogical role involves identification of related theories, in which these are analysed thoroughly through comparison and adaptability aspects. As a result a new extended element is proposed and it is currently being used in MELOR (Malaysian Educational Learning Object Repository). It is belief that the element proposed is able to assist users in searching specific objects tailored to their needs and also add pedagogical and context values into LOM and LO specifically. (Authors' abstract

The Teaching of Vocabulary through the Multisensory Approach to EFL Third Age Adults in a Public Nursing Home in Pereira, Colombia

El aprendizaje del idioma inglés es un proceso que conlleva beneficios cognitivos, personales, sociales y de crecimiento. Esta investigación cualitativa tuvo como objetivo integrar a una población de adultos mayores en lecciones de vocabulario en inglés basadas en los principios de la teoría de la andragogía

Developing a web-based video tutorial on using HyperStudio

The goal of this project was to provide an effective way for students to learn how to use an authoring language, HyperStudio, through an efficient interactive on-line environment. The author begins by identifying the necessary components for effective web-based tutorials and exploring video\u27s impact on delivering web-based tutorials. The process used to plan, design, develop and implement this project was explained. This project demonstrates how a web-based tutorial can be created to assist the traditional classroom as a supplementary medium

Recommendations for biomechanics in the physical education teacher education curriculum

The purpose of this study was to determine the critical biomechanics competencies physical educators need to learn, and delineate learning environments and instructional methods for delivering core biomechanics competencies within the physical education teacher education curriculum. An initial list of theoretical and applied biomechanics competencies was constructed using the knowledge and skills recommended by the Guidelines and Standards for Undergraduate Biomechanics and three textbook sources. A two-round, modified Delphi procedure involved the repeated circulation of a survey to a small panel of content experts. The study sample included biomechanics specialists, physical education teacher educators, and K-12 physical education teachers. The Delphi panel members rated each survey item in terms of theoretical importance and pedagogical relevance using a five-point Likert scale. The data collected during the second round of questioning provided a final measure of consensus regarding the critical strength of each biomechanics competency. An item had to receive a mean rating of at least four or higher in the areas of importance and relevance by at least 75% of all individual ratings in order to be considered essential in the preparation of prospective physical educators. An open response question was incorporated into the second Delphi round asking panel members to recommend three learning environments and instructional methods for delivering core biomechanical knowledge into the physical education teacher education curriculum. The results of the study provided a conceptual framework upon which physical education teacher educators can make future curricular decisions in the area of biomechanics

Educational Modelling Language

This chapter is about an open learning technology specification called Educational Modelling Language (EML, 2000). EML has been designed within the Development-programma of the Open University of the Netherlands as a means to support re-use and interoperability. This language and conceptual ideas behind it have evolved and have gained world-wide acceptance in the shape of the IMS-Learning Design. The chapter elaborates on the requirements for the creation this language and provides several examples of use, accompanied by the representation of these examples in the run-time system Edubox. Published as: Hermans, H., Manderveld, J., & Vogten, H. (2004). Educational Modelling Language. In W. Jochems, J. van Merrienboer, & R. Koper, Integrated e-Learning (pp. 80-99). London: RoutledgeFalmer