Principles and practice in electronic courseware design UK euniversities Worldwide November 2002
UK euniversities Worldwide (UKeU) is a new kind of enterprise. It has been set up to work with UK universities to create new content and courses for students and corporations worldwide, and to broaden access to higher education for a wider range of students in the UK. Each of these courses meets an identified market demand and has been designed specifically for learning via the Internet. The courses are delivered to corporations, public sector organisations and directly to students via local partners around the world, using a sophisticated new elearning platform, based on robust open-standards technology. Contents 1. Introduction page 3 2. Historical background of ecourseware design page 3 3. Principles of ecourseware design page 4 4. UKeU courseware design page 8 5. Conclusion page 10 This briefing paper forms one of a series from UKeU. It is intended to provide our partners, the creators of content, and managers in corporations and public bodies with a sense of our view of the principles of elearning and to sketch how we have approached the creation and delivery of each of its components. This paper considers courseware design.
1. Introduction One of the key differences between classroom learning and electronic learning (elearning) is that elearning, like other forms of distance learning, involves a separation between creation of content, presentation of content and support for the learners. In a traditional classroom, the teacher designs the material, presents it, and answers the learners questions. The Internet allows us to separate these tasks. This means, potentially, that considerable flexibility and economies of scale are possible with regard to distribution of courseware. Here we will concentrate mainly on the design of electronic courseware (ecourseware) rather than its delivery, but it would be wrong to suppose that creation and efficient distribution of courseware is all that is required for good education. (If this were the case then teachers would have been replaced by textbooks or even computers long ago.) We believe that a successful elearning system needs to concentrate as much, or more, on support for learners as on creation of the content to be delivered to them. Another paper addresses the issues of elearning delivery and support for learners. In this paper we discuss courseware design for higher education and for lifelong and workplacebased learning in corporations. We start with a brief overview of progress so far in elearning and ecourseware design. We shall then look at some principles for good ecourseware design. Lastly, we will describe how UK euniversities Worldwide is putting these principles into practice in its own ecourseware design process. 2. Historical Background of ecourseware Design elearning in universities and elearning in corporations have evolved separately and distinctly, and there have been different perceptions of success in the two fields. Within higher education, the emphasis in elearning has mainly been on providing electronic support for students, rather than on delivering lectures electronically. So there has been a focus on making materials available on the Web and on providing electronic communication between students and tutors. In many cases the material presented electronically has been very simple (for example reference copies of lecture notes or slides) and its purpose has been to supplement traditional face-to-face teaching rather than to replace it. However there have also been well-documented examples of Internet-based delivery of courseware to students. On the whole these have been quite successful the student examination results have generally been comparable with face-to-face courses, or better in some cases, and the level of student satisfaction has been similar. We are now seeing a shift to a more market-oriented focus in higher education, with universities competing for on-campus and distance-learning students. Electronic learning is a way to reach more students, and the quality of elearning courses will become a source of competitive advantage for teaching institutions. Within the corporate training sector, there has been more emphasis on creation of tactical skillsbased training. The initial motivation for producing computer-based training materials was to reduce time and travel by providing just-in-time learning to staff in the workplace. The early emphasis was on cost reduction, but lately there has been more concentration on effective learning. The ecourseware has typically been designed for use by employees studying on their own and on the whole there has been a feeling of disappointment with the results (for example, drop-out rates have been notoriously high). In our opinion this has mainly been due to a mismanagement of expectations about what could really be delivered by firstgeneration elearning systems. Both in universities and corporations we are seeing a coming of age of elearning technology and in the use of elearning. The new generation of elearning systems will allow much more sophisticated design of ecourseware and much better delivery and support for learners. We start with some principles of good design. 3
4 3. Principles of ecourseware Design The Internet provides exciting new possibilities for electronic learning, but if its potential is to be realised, the courseware must be of a high quality, it must be designed for electronic delivery, and the delivery mechanism must provide appropriate support for the learners. A new technology, such as the Internet, will not turn bad teachers or tutors into good ones, nor will it magically turn a boring lecture into a stimulating learning experience. Lack of quality will be much more evident in an elearning environment. First-class ecourseware requires: High-quality educational material Created by academics who understand elearning Created using state-of-the-art design process and tools Based on sound pedagogical principles And designed for delivery. 3.1 High-quality educational material The starting point for good courseware design is high-quality teaching material created by teachers who are experts in their field. The material must be fit for purpose there will be large differences between material intended for motivated learners and material for reluctant learners, and between requirements for vocational and academic courses. For example, if the purpose of a course is to teach skills rather than to impart knowledge, then the courseware must provide activities for the learner to develop those skills. Preparing materials for elearning is very different from writing lectures or even text books. The material should be designed specifically for elearning, not simply rehashed lecture slides or classroom material. Much more so than lectures or texts, the material must be kept up to date. This means not only monitoring the subject matter but also any stories or anecdotes used in its delivery. A topical reference that illustrated a point in 1998 may not be useful in 2003. A huge advantage is that it is easily possible to reuse material from one course in other related courses. For example, a summary of recent changes in European employment law might be used in a training course for HR professionals, a short refresher course for managers and an MBA module. So design for re-use is important. 3.2 Academics who understand elearning The shift from classroom learning to distance learning and then to electronic learning requires new teaching skills and processes in order to create appropriate teaching material and to support the learners. Clearly new skills are required for the creation of the media itself, but the shift from classroom teaching to distance learning and from teacherpush to self-directed learning requires a fundamental re-appraisal of the role of the educator. In the classroom, the teacher can direct the learning process, but in elearning, the student is in charge. Designers of electronic courseware are probably not traditional teachers, or even facilitators. Instead they must design an educational process that will be controlled by the learners. It is very much easier to perform a complex task oneself than to create a computer program to do it. In essence, the designers of elearning courseware are creating programs involving complex multi-layer interactions between people and computers to support learning. New skills are required to do this well. The creation of ecourseware requires a degree of discipline and quality control that has not always been present in face-to-face teaching. Some educators and trainers will find the shift painful, whereas others will find the new field exciting and rewarding. 3.3 State-of-the-art courseware design process and tools Traditionally, the teachers of classroom courses in higher education have each created material in an individual style that may not be easy for others to present. Each lecturer has been responsible for specification, choice of subject matter, authoring, graphic design, and delivery of the course material.
This ad-hoc design process is not appropriate when the course materials will be electronically published and re-used. The design process should provide a clear separation between the various tasks involved in creating and delivering courseware, so that the appropriate staff and resources can be involved at each stage. For example, it is useful to separate creation of basic material from the creation of media used to present it and to use media professionals for some of the production (graphics, animation and so on). The courseware design process contains several stages: Specification determining the educational goals of the course and deciding what material should be covered Overall course design choosing the order and style of presentation, inclusion of tests and assessments, and so on Module design deciding how the material is presented in each module Module production creating the media and designing the learner interaction and assessments. The design process should include a quality assurance process to check the material at each stage. Ideally, this should involve external moderation, including reference to published Codes of Practice. Some organisations will have design rules to create a house style of presentation. An appropriate formal design process can ensure that the courseware produced by an organisation is consistent in its appearance and quality. Some of the design rules may be embodied in the tools used. The choice of tools in the design system is critical. Depending on the nature of the course and the quantity of media to be generated, it can take anywhere between 20 and 300 hours of work to produce one hour of elearning content. (The upper figure applies to complex multi-media material and includes time for editors, animators, graphics designers etc.) A three-year undergraduate university-level course can take 20 person years or more to create. So choosing tools that increase the efficiency of ecourseware authors is clearly important. However, the tools must support the pedagogical process and the delivery mechanisms that will be used. Some key criteria for ecourseware tools are: There must be appropriate support for each of the stages of courseware design There should be a consistent user model and user interface for all the tools, so that a person can easily play multiple roles in the design process (for example, a person might be the author of one course, a quality assessor of another and a tutor in a third) They should make efficient use of authors time They must support flexible creation and use of media. For example, it should be easy to produce versions of a module that are suitable for high and low bandwidth connections They must support the desired pedagogical principles. For example, if a learning task has been designed to require collaboration between a group of learners then the tools must allow the designer to include this collaboration in the courseware They must be aligned with the quality assurance process, for example, embedded tools for evaluative feedback and quality assurance They must produce standards-based courseware material, in order to allow flexibility in customisation and delivery They must allow re-use of material it should be possible to share material between modules and to share modules between courses They must support customisation of material so that organisations can tailor courses to their own needs They must support revision of material as well as its original creation, so that material can easily be kept up to date They must support design of accessible ecourseware, to accommodate learners with physical difficulties or visual impairments. 5
6 3.4 Sound pedagogical principles for elearning elearning, like other forms of distance learning, should not, and need not, provide a second-best learning experience compared with face-to-face learning. The technology has strengths and weaknesses compared with other educational delivery mechanisms. If ecourseware is designed to use the strengths of the new technology, then a wholly new form of learning is possible. This means that the designers of elearning material need to re-examine the pedagogical principles upon which their courses are based in the light of the delivery mechanisms that they will use. There are several key pedagogical principles that should be observed in the creation of ecourseware: Self-directed learning During the last 20 years there has been a shift in education theory from an emphasis on teaching to an emphasis on learning. The perception of learning and of the learner has changed. The learner is viewed as an active seeker of knowledge rather than a passive receiver. It is widely believed that learning is most effective when the learner creates his or her own conceptual framework and populates it, preferably in the course of solving a problem. Knowledge is constructed rather than absorbed. Well-designed ecourseware can support selfdirected learning very well. elearning material must be designed for learner-pull, rather than teacher-push. The learners should be able to proceed at their own pace, to study in their own time, and to pursue their own paths through the material. The courseware should allow exploration, retracing pathways, and finding more material. The software can keep track of which sections have been covered and online questions can check for comprehension and suggest further material. Opportunities for further study should be linked into the basic material. Interactive participation and problem solving Course retention rates are considerably higher when the learners are actively engaged in the educational process rather than passive recipients, as long as there are appropriate levels of support. So the ecourseware should engage the learner in an interactive process, rather than simply delivering media. Learners will remember material if they are required to think deeply about it. A good way to get learners to think deeply is to engage them in a problem-solving task rather than simply to present material. However the task must seem relevant or it will put the learners off rather than engaging them, and it must be integrated into the course structure. Practice and trying things out The learner should be able to experiment with new ideas and try them out in simulated practice. ecourseware should be able to provide better facilities for such experimentation than other forms of courseware, since the delivery medium (the personal computer) is inherently interactive, unlike, for example, a book. Providing a way to try things out not only provides a way to consolidate learning, it can also support formal and informal assessment. Appropriate use of media, provision of animation, visualisation and simulation It is an open question whether the use of multimedia materials improves learner motivation or comprehension in general. Pictures can help enormously with understanding, but gratuitous use of multimedia does not aid learning, and simply creates distracting noise. However elearning allows interactive animation and visualisation in a way which is not possible using other media: A fast physical process can be slowed down or an invisible process can be visualised Animations may be used, for example, to show changes in molecules during chemical processes or the flow of electricity through circuits A student nurse can interact with a 3-D rendering of the body to study physiology. Online simulations can be used to provide realistic experience of situations which rarely occur in real life, or which are too expensive or dangerous to include in hands-on training. This aspect of elearning is used in the training of airline pilots, and it can be extended to other forms of vocational training as well.
Reflection elearning, like most forms of distance learning, allows the learner to study at his or her own pace. This occurs both at a macro level (studying on Monday and Tuesday evenings) and at a micro level (going back over one module several times in order to understand it and then going more quickly over another one). But elearning also allows a unique combination of real-time interaction and the ability to freeze time for reflection. This freezing of time can occur during the presentation of course material ( I would like to pause for a moment to think about that ) and also in the interaction between the learner and his or her peers and tutors. elearning is able to support reflection better than face-to-face teaching. The elearning system should provide the learner with the ability to freeze time to reflect or to deal with cognitive overload, both during presentation of course material and during interactions with tutors or fellow learners. Retrieval at a later time The learner should have the ability to go back over what has been presented, immediately or later. The purpose of taking a course should be to increase the effective use of knowledge rather than simply to increase the number of facts the learner knows. So for task-oriented or job-related courses it should be possible to retrieve information later when it is needed in practice (as one can do with textbooks). This means that the courseware should be designed and delivered for use as reference material at a later date. Collaborative learning Collaborative learning means that learners engage in a joint task to answer a question or solve a problem. There has been a great deal of research showing the benefits of collaborative learning. Computer-mediated text-based communication is a fundamentally new medium with advantages over speech and traditional text-based communication, allowing a combination of fast communication and reflection, which is important for the collaborative construction of knowledge. It has been shown that computer-mediated interaction can increase the level of learner participation in classes (i.e. the percentage of learner talk vs. teacher talk) and that the participation is more equal than face-to-face discussions (i.e. the discussion is not so likely to be dominated by a few learners). The courseware should support and encourage group discussion and interaction between learner peers. The role of the tutor in such discussions should be limited, in order to prevent learner-totutor interactions dominating the conversations. Of course not all ecourseware will be designed to support collaborative learning. Some corporate elearning programs are designed for self-study without the need to communicate with tutors or with other learners. However the importance of interaction between learners should not be ignored. Even busy employees who take course modules during free moments can communicate with fellow learners using email and are likely to benefit from the mutual support that this provides. Assessment and learner feedback, with facilitation and modification of courseware delivery accordingly The system should regularly check the learner s understanding. The presentation of subsequent material should be modified according to the learner s ability and progress. There should be regular and timely feedback to the learner on his or her progress. 3.5 Designed for delivery This paper is focussed on the design of ecourseware rather than on its delivery. However, the courseware must be designed to provide the right experience for the learners at the point of delivery. ecourseware should be delivered how and when the learner wants it. This means that the courseware itself must be designed appropriately. For example, material for on-the-job learning should be split into small pieces for workers who study in spare moments. The design of the courseware media must take account of the available bandwidth between the delivery organisation and the learners. If the learners have high-speed Internet access at all times, then bandwidthintensive media can be used, but if some learners are going to study from home using dial-up lines then the courseware must support them as well. In addition, some corporate learners will want to study 7
on the road, using portable computers. Courseware that supports this sort of occasional connection must not require always-on connectivity. The style and delivery of the courseware must be appropriate to the culture of the learners. Learners may differ in: Language if the courseware is not in the learner s first language then the vocabulary used should be appropriately simple. The learner may find asynchronous text communication such as email easier than group conversations Level and type of support required Degree of self-motivation, and thus the degree of autonomy that is appropriate Amount of time available (per session and per week). The courseware and its delivery system should encourage and support the interaction between members of the learner peer group. Opportunities for discussion can be built into the courseware, and the delivery mechanism should seamlessly support the discussions and allow learners to share material. Help should be available at all levels, both with regard to the course material and with regard to the use of the system. When stuck, the learner must have a way to make progress. elearning systems can support the learning process by providing timely assistance. This may be at the request of the learner, or the system itself may volunteer assistance when the learner appears to be getting into difficulties. The forms of assistance may vary: Go back over a section, or present some material in more depth Access to resources for research (e.g. by searching the web) Communication with a tutor or peers. The tutor role and the ability to get tutor assistance should be linked into the courseware design. The courseware should present opportunities for interaction between learners and tutors, and the delivery mechanism must support this. The delivery mechanism must also take account of the working practices of the course tutors, for example, if tutors are only available at fixed times. The courseware should be created in a fashion that is appropriate for the delivery organisation. The content should be modular and customisable, so that delivery organisations can create custom courses for particular learner groups. This means that the content must be encoded using common standards, so that the delivery organisation can use its own tools to make modifications. The courseware must provide formal assessments if these are required. 4. UKeU ecourseware Design UK euniversities Worldwide (UKeU) has combined a state-of-the-art elearning platform with content from leading UK universities and robust processes for design and quality assurance. The result is high quality ecourseware, which is well adapted for online learning, and which is delivered in a way that exploits the potential of the latest technology to create a more personal, exciting and involving learner experience. 4.1 UKeU educational material A broad portfolio of university-level courses from some of the UK s best universities UKeU works closely with the best universities in the UK to develop courses. Substantial investment is made in the design and development of every course. Each course is purpose-designed for electronic delivery. UKeU works with the universities own accreditation bodies to ensure that courses undergo a rigorous quality assurance process before being approved for student use. High-quality courses for corporate training Courses designed for corporate training will be developed in collaboration with professional organisations and can be customised for clients in order to meet their internal company needs. 8
Academics who understand elearning UKeU is dedicated to producing and delivering elearning. This is the only type of courseware that UKeU creates. So our staff and course designers are experienced in the production of elearning courseware and are excited by its potential. Focus on quality All UKeU courses are overseen by a Committee for Academic Quality in order to maintain high standards of courseware and learner support. The Committee comprises 10 expert academics to review each aspect of course development and the learner experience. UKeU is also working with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to drive quality standards for elearning. UKeU works with the established quality assurance processes in these organisations. Best-in-class tools for creation of content By using a new standards-based architecture, UKeU is not locked in to legacy tools or processes. The UKeU development system can support a variety of authoring tools. Authors can use appropriate tools for each stage of the courseware design process. Considerable attention has been paid to the design of the user interface of the tools. This is consistent across the standard tools used in the various stages of design. This allows academics to play multiple roles, for example as designer of one course and quality assessor of another. UKeU has established standard styles and frameworks to ensure consistency of courseware. 4.2 UKeU design process and tools 5-stage development and review process UKeU uses a 5-stage development process, with well-defined roles at each stage and checkpoints to ensure high-quality results: 1. Proposal 2. Specification The specification document is used to shape the course materials 3. Production Scripts are handed off to technical teams for production 4. Delivery 5. Monitoring, programme evaluation and review. Integrated quality assurance process The course development process is closely aligned to a quality assurance system, which is overseen by the UKeU Committee for Academic Quality. There are quality checkpoints at each stage of the development cycle. Courses are evaluated at the proposal stage, then again at the specification stage, checking that the specification corresponds to the agreed proposal. Next, after production, the online courseware material is thoroughly checked. When the course is running, the delivering organisation, in collaboration with UKeU, can conduct its own review against a range of metrics. Where possible, 4.3 A superior learning experience UKeU believes that elearning systems should be based on the pedagogical principles set out in Section 3.4. Here are some brief examples to show how the principles are supported by our courseware design and delivery system. Collaborative working Threaded discussion groups are available where dispersed groups of people can work collaboratively. The UKeU system allows for large course groups to be broken down into small subgroups or tutor groups to work on assignments or tasks. Individuals can play simultaneous multiple roles they can be a leader of a group for one assignment and an ordinary group member in another. This feature is especially powerful for role-based learning, which is of particular interest in corporate development. Integration of content with the discussion about content Communication about content is critical to the quality of the learning process. The UKeU courseware system provides the ability to create hyperlinks between a discussion and a particular piece of course content, and vice versa. Alternative media learning paths Content is created in audio, text and video, so 9
learners can choose the medium they find most effective. The system can discover the bandwidth available to the learner and choose appropriate media accordingly. Timely assistance for learners Monitoring of learners usage of the system can be used to gauge when a difficulty is arising and to prompt a tutor to intervene to help. The system can be used to anticipate and therefore act in a preventative manner before serious difficulties develop. 5. Conclusion There are at least five questions, or tests, to put to an ecourseware provider: Is the original educational material of high quality? Content must be created by teachers who are experts in their field. Content must be fit for purpose. It must be designed specifically for electronic delivery. The content must be appropriate for the intended students. Has it been created by teachers who understand elearning? The shift from classroom learning to electronic learning requires new teaching skills and processes in order to create appropriate teaching material and to support the learners. Authors should have experience in designing self-directed learning courses, and they should understand how to exploit the electronic medium. It isn t an also-ran to face-to-face teaching if it embraces sound pedagogical principles suited to the medium. These include: orientating material towards self-directed learning, interactive participation, problem solving, collaborative learning, and providing opportunities for students to practice, to reflect, and to go back over material repeatedly. Multimedia should be used appropriately and assessment feedback needs to be incorporated. Is it designed for delivery? Courseware must be designed to provide the right experience for the learners at the point of delivery. Courseware should be delivered how and when the learner wants it. Bandwidth between the delivery organisation and the learners must be considered. The style and delivery of the courseware must be appropriate to the culture of the learners. The courseware and its delivery system should encourage and support interaction between members of the learner peer group. Opportunities for discussion should be builtin. Help should be available at all levels, not only for the course material but also with regard to the use of the system. The system must provide timely assistance from tutors and it should provide an assessment feedback loop. The richness of the answers you get to these questions will suggest the quality of the courses that are being offered. How courses are best delivered and supported are the subjects of other papers in this series. Has the material been shaped into a course using best-in-class design processes and tools? The design process should provide a clear separation between the various tasks involved in creating and delivering courseware, so that the appropriate staff and resources can be involved at each stage. The process can be broken into five stages: proposal, specification, production, delivery, and monitoring, programme evaluation and review. There should be a quality assurance process to check the material at each stage. 10 Is it based on sound pedagogical principles? elearning has its own particular strengths and weaknesses.
UK euniversities Worldwide Limited 14 Buckingham Gate London SW1E 6LB United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7932 4444 Fax:+44 (0)20 7932 4445 www.ukeu.com UK euniversities Worldwide Limited 2002 IBP ped 11/02