Identify Learning Outcomes

In a subsequent stage of the process - the Instructional Design stage - you will need to produce clear, concise, objective descriptions of proposed outcomes. Of all the activities involved in the instructional design process, developing learning outcomes is one of the most critical. All assessments, learning activities and content in your unit must be aligned to the learning outcomes if the unit is to be valid and logically consistent.

You can work out detailed learning outcomes later; for now, it may be useful to ask yourself this:   What is it that you want your learners to be able to do by the end of your unit that they can't do now? Your answer is one of the the terminal learning outcomes for the unit.   From each terminal learning outcome, you will be able to derive the dependent learning outcomes necessary for students to achieve the terminal outcome for your unit.

 

Identify your students' learning needs

How can an eLearning unit be designed to meet diverse learners’ needs? Try the simple rubric below to see how your unit is meeting some of your learners' needs ...

		Very Well	Well	Average	Poorly	Very Poorly
	How do the various components of your unit (such as content areas, interactive learning activities, quizzes, discussions and chat) support effective learning?
	How well does the content and structure suit diverse cultural paradigms?
	How well does the conceptual level and language suit NESB students, or those with marginal literacy skills?
	How well are the' IT-challenged' supported? Can they gain skills and confidence before they panic and depart?
	How well are students supported with appropriate levels of access to computers, peripherals and IT infrastructure?
	How well is the unit "future-proofed" - i.e. as new technologies emerge, how well can they be easily integrated?

An interesting (and familiar) refrain is heard in many student evaluations of eLearning programs. Their resposes keep highlighting three elements - none of them new or surprising (except in that they keep recurring ... which may mean that we are not learning!)

• Students often claim not to have understood their responsibilities as active on-line learners and would welcome more guidance prior to starting the unit.
  
• They are pleased when their individual learning needs are recognised, but feel marginalised when these are perceived to have been overlooked.
  
• They want a seamless, trouble-free online experience without lengthy download delays, system freezes or crashes during important quizzes (and the subsequent lockouts this causes), or other irritating impediments to learning online.

Some students have called for better integration of their eLearning with broader university-wide systems - e.g. they dislike delays in access after enrolment, or inability to gain accessin a timely manner after enrolment.

 

 

Is eLearning actually the best strategy for you?

There is no doubt that eLearning is currently fashionable. However, there may still be a residual resistance to eLearning among staff who may have concerns about their changing roles in eLearning. e.g. What are the workload implications?  Do I have/can I obtain the skills to develop eLearning course materials?  How do I manage my students? How can I get support?

 

 

Before addressing these questions, staff should critically examine whether eLearning (fashionable or not) is the most appropriate modality for their subject.

 

That eLearning can still polarise people's views is evidenced by this blog post from Brian Tompkins, an ex-instructional technologist who is obviously no great fan of eLearning:

"If you want to teach someone how to do something, sit down next to them and show them.  If this is impractical, get them in a classroom for a week with someone who is passionate and knows their stuff.  If you can’t do this, send them to a conference for a week. ... If all else fails, buy them a library of books.  

If you don’t care about true learning, but need to spend your training budget anyhow, then eLearning is for you."

Tompkins' indictment of eLearning is quite savage - as you will see if you read his whole post. While most educators would not have such extreme views, there may be a nucleus of common sense in the quote above.

 

Before committing to a total eLearning solution, ask yourself whether it will provide a better outcome than other forms of learning. It may be that for some purposes, a supplementary, blended (or even a totally non-electronic approach) may yield better results.

 

Evaluate your eLearning readiness

eLearning is eclectic in its technology, its implementation and its underlying pedagogies. Its complexity can baffle and frustrate, but it can also inspire creative approaches that help shape your content and transform it into into engaging learning experiences. How far do you, as an eLearning designer, wish to push the envelope? Are you an early adopter, writing DHTML code, playing happily with Spry and exploring 3D Virtual Worlds? Or are you content with a few simple pages of HTML with the odd link or two and some Word documents online?

 

It follows that 'eLearning readiness' will have many dimensions. Does your institution have the needed software for the eLearning project you have in mind? Does it have the hardware? Which course learning outcomes and/or institutional Strategic Objectives will your eLearning project meet?

 

Is the culture of your Faculty/School/Department ready for eLearning? Are the unit instructors? Are your learners? Does your management support it and encourage its use?

These are only a few of the issues facing staff who wish to bring a higher level of eLearning to their organization.

 

The core of eLearning readiness has three parts: organization, instructor, and learner. An effective readiness evaluation should consider each component thoroughly.

"eLearning readiness evaluation is one of the most critical stages of elearning in an organization. Decisions made at this level greatly impact the success of a project. If the learner, instructor, and organization needs have been profiled, the likelihood of success are much greater ( ... and the potential of reduced expenses due to not have to "redo" program components)."

[Adapted from material on the eLearnSpace site which contains material licensed under a Creative Commons License.]