JISC

The Design for Learning programme builds on previous JISC programmes and brings attention to bear on the pedagogical and implementation aspects of elearning. The EDIT4L project will address the development of design for learning skills in several scenarios, taking existing tools and integrating them into pedagogic design workshops for teachers and other interested educational professionals. The results of the workshops and participants’ subsequent activities will allow an assessment of the effectiveness of this approach, the specific tools, and what is required to support design for learning in the community. The proposed local and national CPD activities will directly contribute to raising awareness and capacity building within the community.

Aims and Objectives

The project will explore the use of the DialogPlus toolkit (DPT) and the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) individually and in tandem for designing, creating and delivering applications which support learning. It will investigate the issues surrounding, and the viability of, teaching staff engaging in pedagogic design; the support needed to ensure successful implementation and use of the design tools; and teachers' evaluation of their effectiveness.

The specific objectives are to:

• Develop and deliver design for learning workshops, using DPT and LAMS, for academic and related staff at the Universities of Southampton and Warwick.
• Develop and deliver a module on design for learning using DPT and LAMS for a University of Southampton MSc distance learning course aimed at school teachers.
• Develop and deliver design for learning workshops using DPT and LAMS for the wider community of teachers and related staff in UK FE/HE.
• Evaluate the usability and effectiveness of DPT and LAMS for the staff who design and implement learning activities at these workshops.
• Identify success factors for embedding DPT and LAMS into staff development programmes.
• Report on the outcomes of the workshops, the MSc module and the evaluation.
• Disseminate the outcomes to the wider community.

Project Methodology

EDIT4L will explore and support the use of DPT and LAMS in design for learning, and evaluate their impact. The tools will be used at Southampton and Warwick internally, and in national workshops for members of the FE/HE community. Evaluation, using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, will investigate usability and accessibility of the tools, the quality of output designs, the ease of turning them into e-learning activities and the impact on participants' own learning and skills.

Deliverables

• Guides to using DPT and LAMS for workshop and MSc participants.
• Sample designs for learning created by participants in the internal and external workshops and on the MSc course.
• Evaluation report on the usability and effectiveness of DPT and LAMS.
• Recommendations for successful embedding of DPT and LAMS into staff development programmes.

Stakeholders

• Directors of the centres at Southampton and Warwick where the team members are located and the project will be ‘hosted’.
• Managers at Southampton and Warwick responsible for the internal staff courses.
• Tutors on the initial entry courses (PCAP at Southampton, PCAPP at Warwick).
• MSc course leader at Southampton
• IT support staff at Southampton
• Participants in the PCAP and PCAPP courses at both universities.
• Students on the Southampton MSc course
• Staff who choose to come to the internal CPD workshops at both universities.
• External organisations who support and/or help organise the external workshops
• Participants in the external workshops
• The DPT developers at Southampton
• The LAMS community
• The IMS-LD community
• Other project teams in the D4L programme
• Other JISC projects / programmes
• Educational developers
• Learning technologists
• Teachers in FE/HE
• Students in FE/HE.