E-Learning - A Workable Template for Design

E-Learning - A Workable Template for Design

A significant problem in the creation of a truly electronic university is the lack of a practical and standardised template for the design and implementation of E-learning courses. E-learning is part of a long history of educational innovations implemented as a result of technological advances. The problem with current E-course design is it appears to have adopted a largely technological design focus, which generally lacks an educationally sound, theoretical basis for design. Recent times have seen this focus begin to shift towards formulating an E-learning design process more generative in nature and beginning to provide the necessary direction for widely spread and adopted E-learning.

Diana Laurillard delivers an exemplary example of the need to reshape our thinking in regard to the modern learning environment in her article “Design tools for E-learning�?:

“If we consider the analogy with traditional standardised forms of learning – the lecture, the textbook. These are highly standardised, placing considerable material and unalterable constraints on the form of teaching that can be done. The blackboard offers a customisable form of display, but of a very restricted type. The textbook offers a customisable form of articulation of ideas but restricted to a particular size and length of unalterable print. We are certainly used to standardised forms. And they have their advantages. As the early books gradually standardised on structures such as a contents page, chapters, paragraphs, footnotes, appendices, an index, and so on, these features were readily copied as valuable innovations, enabling the transfer of good design practice leading to more effective reading materials. Standardised forms of learning activity, therefore, need not be seen as unnecessarily restrictive, but rather as capturing good practice that can be transferred, modified to improve practice, and customised to the particular requirements of the designer. If anything, they could even facilitate innovation, good practice, and effective teaching.�? (Laurillard, 2002)

There are many factors necessary for consideration and inclusion in a workable template for E-course design. All courses must primarily establish and maintain strong connections between knowledge and skills developed in E-learning courses and those learners encounter in their day-to-day lives. In learning from a practical perspective, designers develop principles on learning through which considerations relevant to the web-based e-learning environments are drawn. These community-oriented, web-based design principles can be summarized under four dimensions: situatedness, commonality, interdependency, and infrastructure. ‘Rules and processes relevant to face-to-face communities have been radically altered in the context of web-based, e-learning communities. (Hung & Der-Thanq, 2001)

To preserve the traditional structure of learning, designers need to produce more than just the analysis of good design characteristics; they must also produce a model capturing the positive elements present in traditional learning. Successfully encapsulating traditional learning ideologies in a new learning environment in a logical and productive manner is the main challenge in creating a standardised template for E-courses design.

REFERENCES

Hung, D. & Der-Thanq, C. (2001) “Implications for the Design of Web-Based E-Learning�?, Educational Media International, 38(1) pp 3-12.

Laurillard, D. (2002) “Design Tools for E-learning�?, retrieved 19/10/05 from http://acadprojwww.wlu.edu/vol4/BlackmerH/public_html/mypdfs

Greg David Toolen 11:39, 28 Oct 2005 (EST)