DISCUSSION

This article appeared in the Discussion Section. Gilly Salmon's reply to the criticisms of the five-stage model for e-learning

Flying not flapping: a strategic framework for e‐learning and pedagogical innovation in higher education institutions

E‐learning is in a rather extraordinary position. It was born as a ‘tool’ and now finds itself in the guise of a somewhat wobbly arrow of change. In practice, changing the way thousands of teachers teach, learners learn, innovation is promoted and sustainable change in traditional institutions is achieved across hundreds of different disciplines is a demanding endeavour that will not be achieved by learning technologies alone. It involves art, craft and science as well as technology. This paper attempts to show how it might be possible to capture and model complex strategic processes that will help move the potential of e‐learning in universities to a new stage of development. It offers the example of a four‐quadrant model created as a framework for an e‐learning strategy

GREENING OF E-LEARNING CHECK OUT (GECKO)

GECKO, an exploratory pilot project, found there was no significant difference between total carbon emissions created by students during a blended learning module, i-Science, and those emissions created by students during a face-to-face Physics module and that establishing individual carbon emissions by a particular student is very challenging. However, GECKO developed a Learning Carbon Footprint based on four key parameters (ICT, paper, energy and travel) to inform the University's policy on environmentally sustainable learning and teaching. To promote discussion of this policy, the report includes hypothetical examples of Learning Carbon Footprints from each of the University's four Colleges

Building institutional capability in e-learning design

We detail the research, development and initial outcomes of an intervention process to promote capability building in designing for e‐learning at a dual mode university in the UK. The process, called CARPE DIEM, was built on a pilot study and became a Higher Education Academy ‘Pathfinder’ project named ADELIE. We report on the model workshop, its deployment, research and development over a 12‐month period with a variety of subject groups working in small teams with learning technologists, pedagogical facilitators and librarians. Outcomes include improved scores on an institutional e‐learning benchmarking exercise and increased capability for designing for online activities for students in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The model is stable enough to be tried in other institutions and continues to develop in scope

Enhancing Peer Learning through Online Placements for Health and Social Care Professions

This article reports on the innovative design and the delivery of an online placement for university students, in response to the suspension of face-to-face placements due to COVID-19 restrictions in April 2020. A high quality, evidence-based and pedagogically sound experience was built, delivered and reviewed. The online placement not only met the professional standards and demonstrated equivalence in achieving placement learning outcomes, compared to traditional face to face placements, but also offered emergent benefits. The online placement showed enhanced peer learning and improved professional reasoning development by the students. In view of the interest and need for alternative placements, online placements were explored further, contextualised and built into a model which came to be known as Peer-Enhanced E-Placement (PEEP). Throughout 2020, and into 2021, the ‘logjam’ of increased student numbers and reduced placements, dramatically increased the interest in alternative placement learning and the PEEP model. A PEEP professional development acquisition experience was developed and piloted, to disseminate, scale and contextualize the approach by health and social care teams. Feedback from the pilot acquisition experiences indicated that the participants were able to design and implement PEEPs in their own contexts with their students. The scaling up and roll out of the PEEP acquisition experiences now extends to over fifteen professions. Conclusions include that the PEEP model offers a viable, acceptable and successful online practice-based learning option for health and social care students, achieving equivalence in placement learning outcomes and enhanced peer learning

Tutoring on-line

Tutoring online refers to the process of tutoring within an online virtual environment or networked environment where teachers and learners are separated by time and space. These online environments usually involve the use of learning management systems (other names in use, see and link to learning environments pages) such as Moodle, Sakai, WebCT, Blackboard. Online tutors often determine the culture and tone of the online learning environment. Tutoring is also referred to as e-moderation and facilitation to achieve goals of independent learning, learner autonomy, self-reflection, knowledge construction, collaborative or group based learning, online discussion, transformative learning and communities of practice (Salmon, 2004; Benson, 2001; Mezirow, 2000; Schon, 1987; Wenger, 1998). These goals of moderation are based on principles of constructivist or social-constructivist principles of learning. E-moderation is a term synonymous with tutoring online. Peer tutoring involves peers within a course/subject tutoring each other for the mutual benefit of learning an area of study

Developing assessment for learning through e-tivities

Online learning activities or e-tivities (Salmon, 2002), in their various guises, can provide for the development of socialisation, teaching, learning, and assessment for students in Higher Education. There is substantial evidence to suggest that learners' engagement with online contributory work correlates with the strength of the link between those activities and assessment: the stronger the link, the higher the engagement (Dweck, 1999; Taras, 2001; Bernardo et al, 2004; Rovai, 2004). The Adelie project aims to embed good practice in re-design for e-learning, build capacity within the institution and enhance the learner experience. This paper focuses on assessment for learning (Black et al, 2004), as opposed to assessment of learning throug

Designing Massive Open Online Courses to take account of participant motivations and expectations

We report on a study conducted on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to explore and improve understanding and practice about MOOC learning design and participant motivations and expectations. The 'Carpe Diem' MOOC was designed, developed and delivered in 2014. The MOOC participants' experiences were studied through surveys and interviews, and the analysis was triangulated. Three dominant motivations to complete the MOOC were found: to further existing knowledge, to acquire skills in the learning design process and to apply the learning design methodology in practice. We describe the relationship between participant motivations and expectations in this MOOC, which was undertaken mainly by participants who were themselves educators, and make recommendations for pedagogical design in MOOCs to promote and enable participant engagement and completion