I’d rather be a weaver than a blender!

1. I’d rather be a weaver than a blender! In favour of structure in e-learning design Paul Bartholomew Faculty of Health

2. What am I going to talk about today? • My experience with two technologies: • Microsoft Producer • Moodle • Sharing some evaluation data • How I have integrated these technologies into my teaching • My approach to designing a learning experience Faculty of Health

3. Multimedia Lectures: Microsoft Producer content …a potted history of an example in practice Faculty of Health

4. The Programme I Inherited in 2002 • Teaching methods were mostly didactic. • Lots of information to transfer. • Little time in the programme for knowledge construction. • Expanding cohorts, 70, 90, 110 students • Lecture theatre teaching environment represented a challenge. Faculty of Health

5. Student Performance • Examination marks were OK • Assignments were pretty poor: • Little critical evaluation of literature • Narrow reading • Poor use of radiographic images • Little critical evaluation of patient care pathway • No real understanding of ‘the why’ Faculty of Health

6. Students needed to be encouraged to be more proactive Desire to engage students in active learning Prime Driver Faculty of Health

7. Active Learning Collaborative Learning Independent Learning Faculty of Health

8. Requirement to ‘deliver’ information (Self imposed) We know they were ‘taught’ x,y,z! Faculty of Health

9. Finite classroom time, under utilised self study time (270 Hours) Faculty of Health

10. Evolving Technology Faculty of Health

11. Enhanced Vocational / Clinical Relevance (Perceptions) Desire to engage students in active learning Requirement to ‘deliver’ information negotiation with students Clinical scenario based problem solving, supported by pre-viewed multimedia lectures Finite classroom time, under utilised self study time Evolving Technology Faculty of Health

12. A Solution? Faculty of Health

13. Students view the multimedia lecture in their (underutilised) study time • (Independent Learning) • Students are invited to attend for follow-up activities in the sessions liberated by shifting didactic content away from the ‘classroom’ • (Collaborative Learning) Faculty of Health

14. Pilot 1 • I needed to ensure that multimedia lectures were effective in conveying information. • I was interested to see whether deep as well as surface learning could be facilitated. • Simple pre and post (multimedia lecture) test methodology. Faculty of Health

15. Are multimedia lectures effective in conveying information? Faculty of Health

16. Pilot 2 • I was interested to see a direct comparison between students who had studied a multimedia lecture programme and a ‘fleshy’ one. • This was carried out for an elective study day on radiological image interpretation – a lot of new but relevant material for the learner group concerned. Faculty of Health

17. Results Results of interpretative skills after each of the delivery methods were very comparable with the ‘multimedia’ learners slightly outperforming the ‘fleshy students’. Faculty of Health

18. The Follow-up Sessions Faculty of Health

19. Examples of Follow-up Activities: • Debriefs – ‘What didn’t you understand?’ • Generic and specific assignment support • Exam Preparation • Peer Supported Learning • Clinical Scenarios – Make a diagnosis; Plan and justify a diagnostic regime Faculty of Health

20. The Results • Examination marks were comparable to the previous year • Mean of the assignment marks up by just over 5% compared to the previous year Faculty of Health

21. What have students said about the multimedia lectures? • ‘It is a facility that I have returned to for reference after the exam when on placement and the fact that it is easily accessible makes this easy, even for somebody like me who is not particularly computer literate’ • ‘Because the lectures were supposed to be viewed beforehand, this meant that the corresponding classroom-based sessions were spent much more productively. Time was spent discussing the practical applications of the theory….I would definitely opt to spend more time on these activities which encourage active learning, rather than just taking notes on the basics which are now covered on the CD-ROM resource.’ • ‘The lecturer spoke a bit too quickly but I could pause him while I caught up with my notes’ Faculty of Health

22. Wider Applications • Multiple Sclerosis – resource disk • Image interpretation training for A&E doctors (and other staff) • Manual handling and resuscitation updates (theory) • Video ‘with structure and control’ Faculty of Health

23. A note on platform dependence.. • This is a Microsoft Product • Disadvantages: • Mac compliance? • Doesn’t work with Firefox • Many media professionals use a Mac. • Advantages: • Often a ‘turn key’ solution for staff • Windows familiarity • Free plug-in Other packages do exist that allow you to deploy this sort of technology….. Faculty of Health

24. Using Multimedia Lectures with a VLE • We have been able to marry this sort of content to our virtual learning environment – Moodle (albeit indirectly) • However, I have chosen so supply my students with the video lectures on CD ROM – this gets around any bandwidth limitations of dial-up access. Faculty of Health

25. UCE Birmingham’s Virtual Learning Environment Faculty of Health

26. Modular Object- Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment • Open Source • Has allowed us to more fully support staff • Evolved with sound pedagogic principles at its core. • www.moodle.org Faculty of Health

27. Phase OneInnovation Feb 2004 to Aug 2004 Timescale Small Scale Pilot: ‘Enhancing the Quality of Academic Programmes in HE’ (SSDD module on MA Education)Active Experimentation by staff.Test integration with Library and Student Records Systems. Key Activities

28. Phase OneInnovation Phase TwoEarly adoption Feb 2004 to Aug 2004 Sep 2004 to Aug 2005 IT standard Timescale Extended Pilots:Up to 10 live Modules with students per Faculty and Central Services in the first semester and an additional 15 in the second semester. Active Experimentation by Staff. Key Activities

29. Phase OneInnovation Phase TwoEarly adoption Phase ThreeMainstream activity Feb 2004 to Aug 2004 Sep 2004 to Aug 2005 Sep 2005 to Aug 2007 Systems evaluation Student experience evaluation IT standard Timescale Modules to exist within Moodle as required by staff. Key Activities

30. Phase OneInnovation Phase TwoEarly adoption Phase ThreeMainstream activity Phase FourMandatory activity Feb 2004 to Aug 2004 Sep 2004 to Aug 2005 Sep 2005 to Aug 2007 Sep 2007 onwards Systems evaluation Student experience evaluation Senior management decisions IT standard Timescale All modules on all courses to exist within Moodle Minimum level of content defined. Key Activities

31. Designing with Moodle Micro-design The online learning experience is important. Faculty of Health

33. Faculty of Health

36. The importance of labelling

37. Is the ‘look’ of a course important?: 1 5 16 Faculty of Health

38. Designing with Moodle Macro-design There is no online learning experience…… Faculty of Health

39. What makes it woven? For me, blended learning can pertain to any course design that makes use of both face to face teaching and learning and ICT supported teaching and learning. What I mean by woven learning is that we can (and often should) design the online interaction pattern in a highly structured way, interleaving the virtual and ‘fleshy’ learning experiences into a single designed entity. The order in which online resources and activities are presented and the instructions given to students that articulate these to the face to face domain is a key feature. The following slide may help to illustrate this:

40. What makes it woven? Time Virtual component Online task or resource designed to support the previous or next classroom session Classroom based session Classroom based session Classroom based session Classroom based session Classroom based session Classroom based session Classroom based session Classroom based session Classroom based session

41. Weaving Moodle into a Module • Integral to the module – not bolt on support • Broadened the interface with students – builds a richer relationship • Each week follows the same woven pattern Faculty of Health

43. Appealing to students’ strategic nature Articulating with the summative assessment regime promotes the motivation required for full engagement (intrinsic follows extrinsic motivation?) Faculty of Health

47. Using formative quizzes summatively • The previous few slides demonstrate the quiz features of Moodle. • In my own teaching, I let the students know that one of the questions from each quiz WILL be on the exam – I just don’t say which one! • This has the effect of motivating the students (albeit extrinsically) to engage fully with the quizzes. • I use pop-up glossaries to give media rich feedback to their answers, thus continuing to ‘teach’ through this formative assessment. • Students are ‘rewarded’ for full engagement with the module.

48. Scripted Forums – an example This is a collaborative group activity. It is the responsibility of person 'C' in each group to start the discussion by offering an initial answer which students 'A' and 'B' will then critique. It is student 'A's responsibility to ensure that a final group response is available for marking by Friday November 26th - this should be the final posting in the online thread. Your collaborative answer will be marked out of 16. (this is to reflect 16 half marks in an exam situation). Final group answers will only be accepted and marked where all 3 students have made a contribution to the exercise through making a posting. Question: A male patient attends on a stretcher from A&E with a lower limb injury. He has fallen from a ladder and the request form reads: "X-Ray left calcaneum ? fracture" Fully describe how you would radiograph this patient. Formative feedback is only given where all participants of the group have fulfilled their role. Faculty of Health

49. A good participation rate has been observed Faculty of Health

50. 2004 student feedback (n=59/92) • 93% of respondents agreed (or strongly agreed) that the CD ROM resource had helped facilitate their learning • Where free text comments pertained to the CD ROM video lecture resource – 24 were positive and 3 were negative. • 95% of respondents agreed (or strongly agreed) that Moodle as deployed in this module had helped facilitate their learning. • Where free text comments pertained to the Moodle hosted module content – 23 were positive and 2 were negative. Faculty of Health