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I am designing an e-learning programme for the european Commission funded ASSIPA project. The project aims to develop a face-to-face and e-learning programme for teachers in adult education to develop their skills and practices in self-evaluation . A face-to-face programme has been produced and will be piloted in June 2005. The programme is heavily process oriented, encouraging participants to reflect on and evaluate their own learning experiences. The programme is based around a series of different activities, providing a scaffold for learning. Short input sessions provide the theoretical background to the different activities. As such the programme is highly structured but is also student centred in that it is the learners own experiences which provide the raw material for learning.

Converting the programme to e-learning provides a series of challenges. I think I would argue that these challenges lie at the heart of good e-learning design - whatever the subject.

Part one of this port reviews the challenges will outline my approach to the pedagogy and design.

Technorati Tags: e-learning design, pedagogy

Extended text for this entry:

Challenge 1 – basing e-learning on learners own experiences
Most e-learning provision – even for programmes that claim to be constructivist in pedagogic orientation - is based not on the experiences of learners but on the provision text or video based leaning materials developed from a teaching perspective. Of course many e-learning programmes offer opportunities for discussion and reflection but this still takes place within the context of the e-learning materials developed prior to the programme.
The first challenge is how to develop an e-learning programme which is centred on the experiences of the learners themselves and where the outcomes are reflection and self-evaluation of those experiences.
Challenge 2 – developing a rich and powerful learning environment
The second challenge is the development of a rich and compelling learning environment. There is plenty of evidence that e-learning has struggled to take off because many e-learning programmes are simply boring. Course management systems have made it easy to add text and even pictures to a web interface but the result is less than compelling. Many students simply print the documents and read them off line. Whilst games and simulations may offer a much richer learning experience they are time compelling and expensive to produce. Video can provide multi media learning materials but the opportunity for learner interaction is usually very limited.
What might constitute a rich learning environment? Griiffey and Hughes (1995) have produced the following rubric. A powerful teaching and learning environment occurs where:

• it is based on the provision of direct experience rather than indirect experience and use of representational system
• it is based on learning through action in the contexts in which the learning is to be applied
• learning takes place in the presence of experts practicing in the contexts in which the learning is to be applied
• experiences challenge the learner
• individuals become conscious of their implicit theories about learning
• individuals view learning as under their control and as intrinsically rewarding
• learners become conscious of their thinking and learning strategies
• there are the conditions of collaborative teamwork which provide experience for the learner in the form of modeling, feedback and encouragement to reflect
• facilitators of learning such as mentor or coach themselves engage in learning to learn, facing problems, adapting to these in the practical context and reflecting on problem formulation and problem solving strategies

• learners gain conscious cognition of unconscious learning through strategies such as meditation, spontaneity, reflection, intuition, imagination and fantasy (Murphy, 1975).

Adapted from De Corte (1990)
The last is a particular challenge: how can e-learning support strategies such as meditation, spontaneity, reflection, intuition, imagination and fantasy?
Challenge 3 – localizing the programme
The ASSIPA project involves partners from five different countries. The e-learning programme and materials will need to be translated into different languages. More critically the programme and materials will have to be localized in terms of content. The culture and approach to adult learners varies greatly in different European countries. localizing the programmeMore critically the programme and materials will have to be localized in terms of content
Ideally the e-learning environment should enable project partners and teachers and trainers to directly localize materials themselves – without the necessity of high levels of technical expertise.
Challenge 4 – supporting individual learners
It is not only a challenge that adult education teachers in different countries come from different cultures and systems. Particularly in adult education, teachers will have very different background, different levels of formal training, different experiences and levels of achievement. The subject backgrounds will be different. Therefore the e-learning programme and materials need to be very flexible to allow different learners to engage in different ways. One course will not fit all. The programme and materials need to be designed in such a way to allow individual learners to develop their own personal learning programmes.
Furthermore, different programme participants will have varying amounts of available time. The learning opportunities need to be self paced, to fit in with the schedules of part time learners and allow learners to progress at different speeds.
Challenge 5 – developing dynamic and sustainable content
One of the big challenges in developing e-learning content is how to support a dynamic development process. In reality content creation is iterative. Teachers develop materials and pedagogies to support a particular session, test the materials and refine them, go back and add, change and adapt as new needs arise and new ideas occur. Such a natural work flow process is often in conflict with the work flow demanded by e-learning technologies which rely on the materials being finished prior to their use.
This is particular constraint when working in the time frame of a European project or when developing an innovative and new approach to learning.
For the ASSIPA project the challenge is to design a workflow process that can support the iterative development of content and is sufficiently dynamic to allow the materials to be revised and adapted and extended and further developed in a continuous process.
One interesting idea in developing sustainable and dynamic contents is that the outcomes of learner activities should themselves become part of the content and materials for future participants. This can allow the emergence of an ecology of e-learning materials.
Challenge 6 – recording, validating and presenting learning
Participants will have different motivations for undertaking a programme in self-evaluation. Some will want to extend their knowledge and expertise, others will have an interest in using self evaluation as part of their professional practice. Some may wish to use the experiences and competences gained through the course for assessment and accreditation, dependent on accreditation procedures and schemes in different countries. In this case they may need to validate their learning
All learners will need some way of recording their achievement and of reflecting on learning. That means of recording needs to be flexible to meet the needs of different learners.
Challenge 7 – developing a community of learners
Learning is a social activity and learning and understanding are most powerfully extended within communities of practice. Participation in e-learning can be an isolated and lonely experience. The ASSIPA e-learning programme needs to develop a community of learners and should facilitate the sharing of practice and experience between learners. The challenge in programme and material design is how best to support the development of such communities of learners.
Challenge 8 – developing programmes capable of flexible modes of delivery
Different partners in the ASSIPA project may wish to implement the e-learning programme and learning materials in different ways. Some may wish to provide purely on-line learning, albeit with tutor support. Alternatively they may wish to use the materials for self-supported learning without any tutor intervention. Other partners may prefer to use the e-learning materials as support for face-to-face provision. The challenge is how to develop the e-learning programme and materials in such a way that it can be implemented for different modes of delivery.