Developing eLearning - guidance for SMEs

What is learning?

"the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught", in other words it is transformative, i.e. leading to a change in attitudes and behaviours; change that over time can be become "permanent", embedded.

How eLearning is different from learning?

"E-learning typically refers to the online interaction between you as a student and the teacher. Basically, you receive the training through an online medium..." 

• Online interaction is different from F2F

Elearning can be synchronous (live online) or asynchronous (self-paced, independent) -  

Synchronous:

• Real time - personal and professional connections with the tutor/peers and the content, i.e. learning from each other and developing network of support

Asynchronous:

• No real time interaction with a tutor or peers
• No immediate feedback
• Less collaborative
• Can feel more isolating

however, it can be well suited to mature adult learners who are used to operating (in their professional lives)  at higher levels of autonomy, have well developed skills of problem solving, time management and who need to pick up skills quickly. This category of learners appreciate an opportunity to make own decisions of how, when and what to learn.

https://thebestschools.org/magazine/synchronous-vs-asynchronous-education/

Tools to create eLearning 

PowerPoint presentations

Word documents

Interactive PDF documents

Video recordings

Authoring tools: Adobe Captivator, EasyGenerator

Learning platforms: https://www.techradar.com/uk/best/best-online-learning-platforms

Tools to design user-centred learning experience

Empathy map Empathy map.docx

Accessible at 

http://theelearningcoach.com/lxd/empathy-maps-for-learning-experience-design/

What is it?

It is a tool that helps to adopt learner's (vs. trainer's) perspective, i.e. it helps to visualise what your target group will say, think, feel and how they might act in relation to your actions as a trainer or offered content.

Why is it helpful?

If you can imagine specific group, specific people and their reactions you design eLearning in a way that will help this specific group. It helps you make decisions as to how to structure content, what to include, how to present the material.  It is like when you deliver a presentation you imagine a person in the audience and address your presentation to that specific person.

How does it work?

Imagine that you as a trainer say: "In order to ensure client privacy we need to check the security settings as the default settings do not offer adequate level of privacy protection" 

Imagine what your learners' may think. 1) Novices may think "oh, interesting, I always wondered...".2)  More experienced may think "Oh, bother, this is nothing new", 3) others may think "this is getting too technical, this is not my job role..."

Imagine how these 3 different learners will feel: 1) interested, motivated, engaged 2) bored 3) frustrated and bored

Imagine what they will do: 1) Listen, take part, ask questions 2) nothing, remain silent, stop paying attention 3) disengage and start doing something else

As a trainer you may draw the following conclusions:

We may not have control who enrols, and there may be a variety of skills and experience. It will be useful to plan for different scenarios, for example:

Good introduction - I need to specify at the very beginning what level the training is aimed at, what subjects are covered and to what extent to allow people to make a decision if this is for them or not.

Build in complexity and challenge -  I need to include activities pitched at different levels: from beginners to more advanced levels

Support leaners' autonomy - I need to make navigation throughout the session/module easy so that people can choose what to learn and how much time to spend on each topic - depending on their levels of proficiency

How do I start? Planning suggestions

Create course/module overview

Course overview template:

• Course title
• Introduce the subject - what it is about and what issues it is aimed at addressing ("what is the "pain"?)
• What is the target audience? Who will benefit from the course?
• Course structure
• How to navigate, i.e. pick and choose or need to do all the sections in the order they are presented
• If any quizzes or assessment - mention it and say what the benefits of doing the assessment activities are.
• Estimated course duration
• The course place in the "bigger picture" - refer to the "road map" (i.e. it is recommended that you do the module XYZ first before you start this  course"
• What people will learn - do not just list the subjects, use action verbs indicating that learning has practical impact, e.g. "... learn how to recognise..." "how to identify...", etc.
• How to get help
• What is next?
• Please do not forget to tag your course - this is important to enable the "search" facility in the future.

eAcademy (GEANT Moodle)

To access the live site: https://e-academy.geant.org/moodle/course/ - to log in use the "Log in" in the top right corner

To access the test site: https://test-academy.geant.org/moodle/

First step with Moodle - short video tutorial: https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cY6V2iKeNc

How to start:

1. Access the site and let Irina know. Irina will assign you a rile of a "Teacher" - it allows course creation and editing
2. Practice/start creating your course using templates, currently labelled "OAV - course 1, 2. 3 etc" (watch the video tutorial first!)
3. As this is the start of the process GLAD will arrange live online tutorials with Marcel

Design and Develop - tips and suggestions

E-Learning-Storyboarding-and-Design-Tips.pdf

Writing_for_Instructional_Design.pdf

Structure

Template: 1) Introduction (what issues will training address)

                  2) Main body

                  3) Summary (takeaways, what next, close with a prompt for action)

• Try to avoid linear design, i.e. do not force learners (unless it is necessary) to go from A to Z making a stop at each letter of alphabet. Create opportunities for learners to choose how and what to do.
• Use a cascade of topics: multiple-sections, sub-sections to break content into logically organised "digestible" chunks

  • Use clear and logical navigation:

    Use header sections with course titles, section titles, page numbers, etc - be consistent

    Use (consistently) identifies that help learners to navigate and know which part of the module they are.

  • Keep reminding learners of how what they are doing (reading, observing, testing, trying) supports the aim of the module
  • Colour code headings, if appropriate

Designing tips

• Write in the present tense, ie. "the page displays" rather than "the page will display" - it helps visualisation
• Helpful semantics:

Be concise and brief

Use "connecting words": "and" instead of "but" (where appropriate),  as well as "us", "ours". "we"

Keep sentences short: one idea per sentence; mix shorter and slightly longer sentences.

Consider usability

• Do not crowd the screen - allow learners to see content on one movement of a scroll bar
• Keep text/images in balance so that they enhance content without unnecessary distraction
• Provide adequate number of examples - optimised for different scenarios, avoid lengthy descriptions, i.e. do not overcomplicate them - instead provide several examples in increasing levels of complexity.
• Provide clear instructions/explanation to allow learners to make own decisions as to what examples, what activities will be beneficial for them to do.
• Choose carefully effective combination of font sizes and colours
• Consider effective use of images, ie. that they support content and have meaningful captions