Learning design – making practice explicit

New technologies have immense potential for learning, but the sheer variety possible also creates challenges for learners in terms of navigating through an increasingly complex digital landscape and for teachers in terms of how to design and support learning interventions. How can learners and teachers make informed decisions about what technologies to use in the design and support of learning activities? This presentation will consider this question and present a new methodology for design – 'learning design', which aims to shift the creation and support of learning from what has traditionally been an implicit, belief-based practice to one that is explicit and design based. Learning design research at the Open University, UK has included the development of a set of conceptual design views, a tool for visualising designs (CompendiumLD) and a social networking site, for sharing and discussing learning and teaching ideas and designs (Cloudworks). An overview of this work will be provided, along with a discussion of the perceived benefits of this new approach to educational design

Editorial: A new direction for ALT‐J

The Association for Learning Technology celebrated its tenth anniversary this year and it can now be said that learning technology is a recognized research field, with a growing body of researchers and associated conferences and journals. Over the past two years as an editorial team we have undertaken a review of the position of ALT-J in relation to other journals in the area and considered the nature and scope of the papers we publish. We continue to expand our list of referees and have provided them with more detailed review forms to help guide them when considering recommendations on submissions and to encourage detailed, critical (and hopefully!) helpful feedback to authors. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the referees for their involvement and commitment to the journal and for their continued work on refereeing papers. As part of the review process we will be moving to a new publisher, Taylor and Francis, commencing with Volume 12; this is, in part, driven by a desire to increase our international profile and readership, as well as seeking to have a better online presence including electronic access to all papers. We are, after all, a research journal on learning technologies! We are looking forward to taking the journal forward with Taylor and Francis but would also like to take this opportunity to thank our current publisher, University of Wales Press, for all their support and professional work over the years; it has been very good working with them

E-learning - the hype and the reality. (in Special Issue on Designing and Developing for the Disciplines)

This paper considers the increasing impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the associated rise in e-learning as a recognised and respected research area. The paper provides a summary of some of the current research areas under investigation and provides a list of characteristics of the area. The paper goes on to consider the professional identities of researchers in the area and the tensions which have resulted in terms of aligning with this new emergent group of professionals within existing institutional structures

E-Learning: The Hype and the Reality

This paper considers the increasing impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the associated rise in e-learning as a recognised and respected research area. The paper provides a summary of some of the current research areas under investigation and provides a list of characteristics of the area. The paper goes on to consider the professional identities of researchers in the area and the tensions which have resulted in terms of aligning with this new emergent group of professionals within existing institutional structures

The evolving landscape of learning technology

This paper provides an overview of the current and emerging issues in learning technology research, concentrating on structural issues such as infrastructure, policy and organizational context. It updates the vision of technology outlined by Squires’ (1999) concept of peripatetic electronic teachers (PETs) where Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide an enabling medium to allow teachers to act as freelance agents in a virtual world and reflects to what extent this vision has been realized The paper begins with a survey of some of the key areas of ICT development and provides a contextualizing framework for the area in terms of external agendas and policy drivers. It then focuses upon learning technology developments which have occurred in the last five years in the UK and offers a number of alternative taxonomies to describe this. The paper concludes with a discussion of the issues which arise from this work

What would learning in an open world look like? A vision for the future

The pace of current technological advancement is phenomenal. In the last few years we have seen the emergence of ever more sophisticated gaming technologies, rich, immersive virtual worlds and new social networking services that enable learners and teachers to connect and communicate in new ways. The pace of change looks set to continue as annual Horizon reports testify (http://www.nmc.org/horizon). Clearly new technologies offer much in an educational context, with the promise of flexible, personalised and student-centred learning. Indeed research over the past few years, looking at learners' use of technologies, has given us a rich picture of how learners of all ages are appropriating new tools within their own context, mixing different applications for finding/managing information and for communicating with others (Sharpe and Beetham, forthcoming)

Distilling lessons from across different types of e-learning interventions

Most Higher Education institutions are now embracing e learning to some extent. Some have instigated institution-wide e-learning initiatives, whilst others are engaging in the use of e-learning to expand their portfolio of course provision and the development of new niche markets. But the successful deployment of e-learning, whether large-scale or more localised, is complex and multi-faceted. This paper considers these complexities by drawing on the findings across four disparate e-learning evaluations, arguing that these provide a valuable means of extrapolating key lessons to ensure better use of e-learning and avoidance of large-scale, spectacular and public disasters, such as the UK e-University

Editorial ‐ Time for an experiment

This issue of the journal contains six very different papers exploring the issues around the use of learning technologies, which reflect the growing diversity of research interests and activities in this area. Oliver, Bradley and Boyle describe a project that is concerned with the development of online courses as part of a pan-European virtual university. The issues raised by the paper are timely given the current national initiative to develop a UK euniversity. McSporran and Young consider the impact of gender issues on online learning and contend that there is evidence to suggest that women achieve better results than men and that it is the loner male that is disadvantaged by distance learning. Condron reports on a TLTP (Teaching and Learning Technology Programme) 3 project and in particular on the use of electronic resources to support dialogue in small-group teaching. Campbell, Littlejohn and Duncan also look at resources but from the perspective of encouraging the reuse of academic resources as part of an initiative to develop a Scottish electronic staff development library. Shaikh and Macaulay report on a study of the use of groupware to support collaborative learning. Finally, Davies and Denning identify six conceptual areas which they suggest are of relevance and significance for online behaviour