A learning design toolkit to create pedagogically effective learning activities

• Published in: Journal of interactive media in education : JiME Vol. 2005; no. 1; p. 9
• Main Authors: Conole, Gráinne, Fill, Karen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ubiquity Press 26.09.2005
• Subjects: e-learning; educational technology; innovation; learning design; learning designs; pedagogy; reusability; teaching learning strategies; toolkits
• ISSN: 1365-893X; 1365-893X
• DOI: 10.5334/2005-8

Commentary on: Chapter 9: An Instructional Engineering Method and Tool for the Design of Units of Learning. (Paquette, De la Teja, Léonard, Lundgren-Cayrol & Marino, 2005) Abstract: Despite the plethora of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools and resources available, practitioners are still not making effective use of e-learning to enrich the student experience. This article describes a learning design toolkit which guides practitioners through the process of creating pedagogically informed learning activities which make effective use of appropriate tools and resources. This work is part of a digital libraries project in which teaching staff at two universities in the UK and two in the USA are collaborating to share e-learning resources in the subject domains of Physical, Environmental and Human Geography. Finding, or creating, suitable e-learning resources and embedding them in well designed learning activities can be both challenging and time consuming. Sharing and adapting effective designs and solutions is both a stimulant and a time saver. This article describes the background to the specification of a learning activities design toolkit to support teachers as they create or adapt e-learning activities. This uses a model of pedagogical approaches as a basis for developing effective learning design plans and illustrates its use. The authors share their definition of a learning activity and taxonomies for the constituent elements. Real examples are discussed to illustrate their approach. Editors: Colin Tattersall and Rob Koper. Interactive demonstrations: An online version of the toolkit is available at http://www.nettle.soton.ac.uk/toolkit/Default.aspx .