ADAPTING AND DEVELOPING ELEARNING COURSES; THE CHALLENGE OF KEEPING THE QUALITY

ADAPTING AND DEVELOPING ELEARNING COURSES;
THE CHALLENGE OF KEEPING THE QUALITY

Phil Garing
Director
Toucan House Ltd.
137a High Street.
Christchurch 8001

(03) 3778157
phil@toucanhouse.co.nz
www.toucanhouse.co.nz

ABSTRACT
Anticipated benefits of online/distance include:

Providing wider access to learners

Incorporating alternative resources in delivery

Relieving on-site administrative pressures and workload

Participating in the globalisation of education

However enthusiasm is often tempered with caution over such issues as

The ability to maintain the quality of teaching achieved in classroom-based delivery

The appropriate selection of technologies and the genuineness of access

Questions over the depth of learning achieved through online and distance solutions

This tension is often manifested in the differing expectations of subject experts and those involved in the development process. This paper explores a methodology for designing online/distance solutions that is focused on retaining the strengths of face-to-face delivery. It does so with reference to a practical case-study: the adaption of a face-to-face English for Academic Purposes/Study Skills programme for combined Internet and CD ROM based delivery. It then draws conclusions about the success factors found in good distance/online solutions, and provides practical examples of how they can be incorporated in course delivery.

INTRODUCTION

When organisations are confronted with the task of developing or adapting online/distance materials, the drivers that determine the development process and the resources that will be used are often not so much pedagogical as operational. Common factors include:

Financial and timeframe constraints on resource development
Previous decisions regarding software selection and delivery tools
The extent to which staff skills are locked up in existing workloads
The form and availability of existing resources
A cost driven management focus

If these drivers dictate development to the exclusion of educational and pedagogical concerns, there is a danger that the finished material will

Need to be accessed through technologies that are unavailable or unsuitable to learners
Not capitalise on best-fit technologies
Set up assumptions about learning that are untrue or inappropriate for the particular learners
Not facilitate learning to the depth required by the curriculum

This paper overviews an educational design model that is driven by operational concerns, and then contrasts it with an alternative that is based around qualitative goals, with a particular focus on the learner profile. A practical case study is used to illustrate how the design methodology can be applied to a particular educational need. This case study is backgrounded first.

While operational constraints clearly need to be accommodated, it is suggested that adequate qualitative/educational outcomes are a prerequisite to any development project being undertaken. In short, if it isn’t going to work well, there’s no point in developing it. The paper therefore concludes by detailing a set of qualitative indicators that can be incorporated into the educational design process to help ensure effective learning outcomes, and provides examples of their application in the case study.

CASE STUDY BACKGROUND: TESS2000 TERTIARY ENGLISH STUDY SKILLS

Students often struggle when first entering tertiary study, particularly Universities. The study skills required of them include:

Listening and note-taking skills: taking effective notes in lectures
Reading for academic purposes: finding and recording information
Working with data, surveys and questionnaires
Writing essays
Conducting effective presentations

This project involved the adaption of a face-to-face course in such study skills for delivery in a range of different modes. The reasons for undertaking the development were:

To provide access to new groups of users. In addition to on-campus Non English Speaking Background students (NESBs), migrants, native English speakers and secondary students could potentially use the materials
To allow students to complete the course prior to undertaking mainstream studies and/or prior to arriving at the university
To commercialise the content for provision to other English speaking tertiary institutions, language schools and non-English speaking institutions.

The result is TESS2000 (Tertiary English Study Skills), a set of CD ROM and Internet based resources that collectively prepare students for tertiary level study. Resources can be combined to suit different institutional and student needs:

Self access resources
Classroom based computer aided delivery
Self paced study, on campus or at a distance

CD ROM based materials provide the core learning content, including video, audio and interactive multimedia activities, together with printable (pdf) documents. Internet based resources include internet sites/materials, proprietary supplementary materials, integrated learning activities, assessments, communication systems and ‘learning community’ resources.

RESPONDING TO EXISTING PRESSURES

A range of pressures are commonly present when tertiary institutions or commercial organisations make the decision to develop or adapt online/distance learning materials. These include:

Competing budgetary constraints. Often developmental initiatives compete with other ‘special’ projects in an environment of reduced and uncertain funding.
Organisation wide change. Significant as the spread of elearning is, it still must integrate with other organisational change issues such as restructuring and the internationalisation of education.
Institution-wide IT systems. Often, existing IT systems were originally designed to support the administration of organisations, rather than the provision of training. Where delivery software is purchased, the decision is often based on cost and ease of integration within existing systems.
The development of courses has traditionally been seen as one part of the job of lecturers/trainers. ‘Getting a course going’ was something that educators did as part of their wider delivery role. It sometimes demanded additional resourcing, which was negotiated as part of annual workload. As such, it was a cost to be minimised.
Time pressure. Pre-determined course start dates often dictate small development timeframes

Collectively, these sorts of factors often result in a design model based on the following sequence.

Select the delivery tool.

The existence of legacy systems such as generic online delivery tools
The ‘best fit’ for existing course resources, with a focus on minimising the adaption process. For example, online availability of PDF documents generated from lecture notes.
Lowest implementation cost
Minimising the need for staff training or upskilling in order to implement delivery

‘Path of least resistance’ development

Supplement the core

Provide communication, support or learner feedback to the extent permitted by timeframes and budgetary constraints.

Adopting such a model involves running a number of risks. Many of the elements that make up effective face to face instruction are not readily adapted from course resources. For example

Much of the actual content is often in the head of the presenter, not on paper
The role of a presenter as motivator can be missed in the adaption process
The ability to provide immediate feedback to learner’s concerns or problems is part of the face to face environment. Distance delivery usually involves delays in providing feedback. Good online delivery will address this issue by developing extensive feedback resources that are immediately available to learners.
Much of the value in face to face learning is derived from the types of activities and interaction that takes place. Simply adapting resources does not necessarily result in learning activities or the level of interactive engagement that brings about deeper learning.

Working from existing resources also means that alternative resources and activities are often not included in the design of the course, so much as tacked on the end. For example, existing Internet resources are often listed as background material; learners are invited to go beyond the structured course resources if they choose to. Such an approach misses the opportunity to broaden the depth of learning available through existing online resources. Designing the learning process to incorporate such resources allows more effective use to be made of them.

LEARNER FOCUSED COURSE DESIGN

Keeping the unique needs of the particular learners as the focal point for online development helps ensure that the best decisions are made throughout the design process. The value of learner centred educational design is broadly recognised¹. The particular model detailed below illustrates the sorts of practical issues that assist in good design. It stresses the need to delay decisions on the use of particular technologies until a clear learner profile and course features are articulated.

Step One: Learner profile analysis

The following data with respect to the target learners provides a sound basis for course :

The people:

The particular learning styles of the individuals
Their previous experiences as learners and the way this colours their attitude to learning
The extent to which they have developed independent learning skills, as compared to a need for intensive support
The time, place and manner in which they can best study

The environment:

The physical environment in which they will study
The technology that they have ‘real’ access to. That is, technology that they can access when they need to, and that they have the skills to use. There is a big difference between being allowed into a computer room, and being able to use the machine when they want to and with the skillsets they bring to the course of training.

¹ See for example
http://www.cstudies.ubc.ca/facdev/personnel/hubball/redes.html#4
http://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/learning/instructionaldesign/materials.htm
http://ag.arizona.edu/azlearners/learner-others.html

Often the learner profile will not be homogenous. A wide range of learners may be undertaking the same course of study. While making the design process more complicated, it is critical that this variation is recognised in the way the course is offered. If certain profiles of learners cannot be adequately supported, this decision should be made known to potential learners.

Example: TESS2000

The learner profile for the distance/online delivery of TESS2000 was:

An English language ability equivalent to IELTS 5.5 level
Motivated to enter mainstream tertiary study
Varying levels of ability to study independently
Variety of backgrounds: Non English background students in their country of origin; secondary school students, language school students, mature age students.
Likely to have access to a computer with CD ROM drive and a 33K internet connection or better, with basic ability to navigate within a common browser

Step Two: The Course
Often curriculum statements will already be in existence. It is dangerous to assume that adapting for online/distance delivery will not impact on the curriculum. For example, studying online may require additional skills such as:

The ability to find and integrate new sources of information
Identify areas where knowledge is lacking, and source relevant information

In a face-to-face environment, these issues are often addressed by the lecturer/trainer. Developing course delivery modes that assume these abilities runs the risk of students lacking requisite skills. Explicitly recognising the skills, incorporating them in the curriculum, and designing for their development as part of the course of study is an important step in online course design. If a student understands that they need certain skills as part of the course requirements, and they are supported in acquiring them, resistance is usually diminished.

In addition to curriculum issues, the organisation will have a number of goals that motivate the development of online/distance delivery. These include such things as:

Providing wider access to existing learners
Targeting new groups of learners
Incorporating alternative resources in delivery
Relieving on-site administrative pressures and workload
Participating in the globalisation of education
Generating revenue

These goals need to be clearly articulated prior to development work being undertaken.

Finally, where an existing course is being adapted for online/distance delivery, it will have certain strengths or qualities that make it successful. It’s important to take time to articulate what they are, and design to ensure they are carried into the online/distance version.

Example: TESS2000

The actual curriculum remained the same:

Module One: Listening and Note-taking
Module Two: Reading For Academic Purposes
Module Three: Reports, Surveys, Questionnaires and Describing Data
Module Four: Essay writing
Module Five: Oral Presentations and Tutorial Skills

The organisational objectives however had larger implications for course design:

To provide access to new groups of users. In addition to on-campus Non English Speaking Background students (NESBs), migrants, native English speakers and secondary students, together with NESBs in their country of origin could potentially use the materials
To allow students to complete the course prior to undertaking mainstream studies and/or prior to arriving at the university
To commercialise the content for provision to other English speaking tertiary institutions, language schools and non English speaking institutions.

The strengths of the existing face-to-face course were identified as:

Its multidisciplinary nature. Students intending to study a wide range of mainstream courses were catered to through the extensive use of realistic texts and tasks relevant to their area of study.
The wide range of practical tasks that were used to translate concepts and ideas into practical skills students could use in their mainstream studies.
Extensive feedback provided to students, both by the lecturer and the materials made available to them.

Step Three: Delivery Methodology

The technology or combination of technologies can now be selected with confidence that the end user will find them appropriate and accessible. The following figure gives an overview the respective strengths of common online/distance resources.

Technology	Strengths	Weaknesses
Internet resources	Provides access to training in a range of situations that learners might otherwise not be able to study in	Less suitable for modelling verbal skills or physical behaviours
	Facilitates communication between students and tutors at a distance	Limited ability to provide feedback on behaviours (e.g. practical presentation skills)
	Provides access to current worldwide resources	Less interactivity/depth of learning experience than multimedia
Multimedia resources	Makes available a wide range of learning resources and realia	Difficult to access ‘live’ and update
Multimedia resources	Incorporates a range of activities that stimulate and motivate learning	Generally more involved development process
Print resources	Provides a permanent record	Difficult to update
Print resources	More transportable and can be used in a wider range of situations	Costly to distribute

Figure 1. Strengths of respective online/distance resources

Example: TESS2000

There are effectively three elements to TESS. The CD Rom, the Cybercampus and Tutor support. They fulfil the following functions:

CD Rom	Cybercampus	Tutor support
Contain the learning activities and course content Provide access to large files (video/audio) Provide a degree of feedback to students Provide linkages to the cybercampus and tutor support	Provide an environment for students and teachers to interact Contains extension resources and materials Integrated learning activities that provide a structure for communication Assessment	Motivation Specific feedback on particular issues Assessment

Figure 2. TESS resources

A number of learner profile considerations determined this delivery methodology. Simply learning information was not an adequate outcome for the course. Because learners needed to apply practical skills to realistic situations, learning activities needed to provide for a depth of learning. The model adopted was:

Expose learners to the issue, and get them to reflect on their current knowledge/skills as it related to the issue
Provide learners with a range of alternative approaches to the issue
Have learners critically evaluate the approaches and select appropriate strategies
Provide opportunities for learners to apply the micro-elements of the strategies to realistic scenarios/situations
Provide deeper, integrated activities that allow the opportunity to practice macroskills.

Providing this depth of learning necessitated the use of video, audio and print resources integrated in a structured learning pathway. Given the technology profile of learners, Internet based delivery was not adequate in itself, and CD ROM based resources were therefore developed.

The technology profile of learners meant that reliable connections could not be assumed, and learners would not necessarily be able to stay online for large periods of time (often paying per minute through dial up connections). This reinforced the need for the bulk of the learning process to be CD ROM based.

The need for multidisciplinary materials meant that a range of sample texts needed to be provided. Given that students were potentially located anywhere in the globe, it made sense to have them printable from the CD ROM.

A significant number of learners were likely to need extensive learning support in order to undertake study. Therefore:

Extensive feedback to learning activities needed to be provided with the activities themselves
The learning pathway needed to be highly structured and directed
Both synchronous and asynchronous communication channels needed to be made available between lecturers and learners.
Integrated learning activities were developed that allowed online tutors to check that learners had acquired the skills for a particular unit without having to go right through the teaching materials themselves

Organisational/project goals also impacted on the design. The commercial focus was on making the materials available to a range of educational organisations (English speaking Universities, English language schools, Non-English speaking Universities, Secondary schools). Each had different approaches to the teaching process, and the materials needed to be offered in a sufficiently flexible manner to cater to these different approaches.

Course resources consist of three elements: CD ROM based multimedia materials, an online Cybercampus, and tutor support. Each element can either stand alone, or be integrated with the others to facilitate a different form of course delivery. The following table details the different delivery modes and the respective resources involved.

Delivery mode	Resources
Self study (self access centre or off campus)	CD Rom, either stand alone or networked version
On campus classroom delivery	CD Rom (stand alone or networked version), printable files, additional activities and tutor support
Mixed mode or distance delivery	Stand alone CDs and Cybercampus access together with online tutor support

Figure 3. TESS delivery modes and resources

Locating core learning content on the CD ROM and using the Internet to provide additional resources, assessments and communication systems meant that different institutions could pick up on different resources as they needed them, without being constrained by one delivery model.

Current development work includes migrating the multimedia content for Internet based delivery. While this will only be suitable for learners with reliable connections and 56K modem speeds or faster, it will allow time-based access to course materials, allowing user-based pricing structures and consequently lower investment costs by institutions wishing to use the resources. CD ROM based resources will continue to be available for those without such Internet access.

KEEPING THE QUALITY

Often, reservations about online/distance learning revolve around the presence or absence of the strengths of face-to-face learning. Those strengths include:

The ability of a lecturer to motivate and provide specific and immediate feedback to learners
The opportunity for learners to interact with each other as part of the learning process
The diverse range of activities that can be engaged in
The range of resources that can be used as part of the learning process

Clearly, current technology constrains mean that those strengths cannot usually be replicated in their current form in an online environment. For example video-conferencing is not a realistic option for many online/distance courses, so a learner is not going to engage visually with a lecturer. It is tempting to assume, for example, that an online course will therefore necessarily lack sufficient motivation and stimulus, and that there will be less immediate feedback to learners.

However the fact that a particular element of delivery cannot be replicated exactly does not mean that the particular qualitative element cannot be achieved through a different process. Quality online/distance materials do not need to be delivered in the same way, they need to achieve the same qualitative outcomes.

For example, motivation can be achieved by making a link between the content being studied and its relevance to the life of the learner. Lecturers do this through anecdote, analogy and example. These same links can me made through the online/distance course materials. Similarly, structured learning activities provide an opportunity to provide a wealth of feedback to learners that is beyond the capacity of a lecturer faced by the time constraints of face-to-face delivery.

Where quality is lost in the process of moving to online /distance delivery, it is often due to:

A failure to incorporate the strengths of face-to-face delivery brought by the lecturer/presenter. An excessive focus on the adaption of print and media resources to the exclusion of the role of the lecturer/presenter will result in the sorts of problems identified above.
A failure to recognise the increasing need for structure and direction as the learner becomes more remote from the lecturer/presenter.

In a face-to-face environment, the lecturer/presenter is continually providing structure to the learning process. This includes such things as confirming where learners are in the course structure, relating content to assessments, and providing detail on how to complete activities beyond that detailed in the resources themselves.

Learners also confirm this structure by questioning and working with each other. Again, focusing on resource adaption runs the risk of missing this important step in the process of instruction. This is compounded by the sense of isolation that learners feel when studying at a distance.

The issue is the same for both environments; making sure the learner has a clear understanding of what they are doing and why. The way this goal is achieved may be quite different for different environments.

It follows that developing online/distance materials with reference to a set of qualitative indicators can be important in ensuring that critical elements are not omitted in the process of adapting resources.

The following list details the indicators that have emerged through the process of developing TESS2000.

Consistency between objectives, content and assessment
A clear framework for the structure of the material and explicit learning pathways
Appropriate chunking of material to engender a sense of progress
Adequate summarising
Explicit learning activities that are pitched at an appropriate level for course objectives and cater to different learning styles
Learning resources appropriate for course content and learners
Enterprise/learning skills developed not assumed
Writing style appropriate to learners and subject matter
Adequate feedback available in an appropriate timeframe for learners
Assessment structures and standards explicitly stated and pitched at the same level as the learning objectives
Visual presentation of material is stimulating, consistent, aids understanding of the content and is appropriate to the learner.

Example: TESS2000

The following design strategies were used in an attempt to satisfy the indicators detailed above.

Content is chunked into modules and units with learning outcomes presented for each unit.
A linear navigation structure within each unit and progress monitoring allows students to know where to go and where they have been. Unstructured navigation at Module and Course levels allows flexibility in the broader sequence of study
Units consist of approximately 2-5 hours of learning
All units and modules contain summaries of core content
Face-to-face activities were used as the basis of multimedia activities
Learning activities develop higher order competencies including application and problems solving, and included the following:
Engaging in activities in their lives away from the computer such as generating surveys and questionnaires
Working with realia
Self analysis and reflection
Video is used to set the scene for each area, provide continuity throughout the course structure, and give students an opportunity to identify their current knowledge levels.
The presentation of all academic content is followed by interactive activities that give learners an opportunity to apply concepts to realia
All activities are followed by feedback on the expected outcomes
Multidisciplinary resources (print and audio files) are incorporated to provide relevance to the learner’s intended mainstream subject area.
The language for instructions was pitched at a conversational level, while the language of resources was pitched at a formal academic level consistent with what students will experience at first year tertiary level.
The Cybercampus (online environment) provides integrated learning activities that allowed online tutors to easily establish whether a learner has acquired the set of microskills contained within a unit.
Navigation within the cybercampus is both visual (the metaphor of a physical campus is used) and hierarchical (dropdown menus).
Internet sites and resources are grouped around the structure on the CD ROM to allow their use in extension activities by online tutors
A variety of communication tools are available depending on the preferences of the learner (email, bulletin board and chatroom).
Online communities are encouraged through the ‘cafeteria’, which incorporates a number of non-content resources such as chatrooms, online calculators, tools and games.

CONCLUSION

There is a range of operational pressures that are always going to constrain the extent of development work that can be undertaken in producing online/distance course materials. Where they dominate the design process, it is likely that the online distance course will be developed around existing resources, particularly those which lend themselves to easy modification for online delivery. The danger in using such a design process is that the contribution of the lecturer/presenter is undervalued, and course requirements are introduced (technological and pedagogical) that are not appropriate to the learner. There is also the risk that the depth of learning required in course prescriptions does not occur, as learners spend more time acquiring information than applying learning to the real world.

Development of online/distance courses will always involve a trade-off between operational constraints and pedagogical values. However there is little point in embarking on a development process unless there is confidence that the finished materials will result in learning to the required depth and standard. Basing the development process around a set of qualitative indicators is therefore a necessary step in an effective design process.

It is necessary to have a clear understanding of the learner profile, the course requirements and the delivering organisation’s objectives in order to set acceptable qualitative standards. It therefore follows that using an educational design process that places these parameters at the centre of the design process is an effective method to help ensure an effective course is developed.