Struggling along and asking for directions....

It seems that many are getting a bit stuck along this journey. Do NOT despair!  Often it is about stopping and asking for directions when we take a detour on a trip. You may just find that the person who is assisting you is more interesting than if you hadn't wandered off. With that, I encourage you all to keep in touch with each other and to email me if you need to, as some of you have.

The Development phase in the ADDIE process is about trying to implement what you have planned without actually implementing  just yet. Let me explain with a very basic example of how someone would go through the first three phases of ADDIE...

I am a lecturer who has realised that my students aren't grasping a particular concept and believe that a group assignment may help them to understand this concept. However, this particular class doesn't work well together in small groups and often moan when I ask them to do so. I consider using Facebook as a platform since I know almost everyone in the class is using it for social reasons.

The Analysis consists of doing a small survey with the class about their interest in Facebook and use of it, as well as how they access the internet (home/cellphone/campus computers). I discover that they do not want to use Facebook for academic purposes and that there are some students who do not have mobile or home access to the internet. I then search for other options and discover that a site called Wikispaces is a nice option that will allow everyone to contribute to a wiki (online resource) without actually having to work on it simultaneously. I also need to find out if I need ethical clearance for attempting this if I want to write it up or present it as educational research.

I can then move on to the Design phase. In this phase I plan the assignment and ensure that I understand the website/online space of Wikispaces completely. I also decide on which students will do what and how they will be assessed. I need to design a basic training/demonstration session for students in class and ensure that there will be sufficient support for them, via email / message box in my office if they have questions.

This is where I will start the Development of my intervention. I set up the Wikispaces class page and invite each of the students to the site. I create a "training manual" for them on how to access and use the site and include a clear description for them on what is expected in the assignment. This includes reminding them of the fact that the internet is an open space requiring good academic writing skills and plagarism is not allowed.

This brings me to the focus we've had this week. The development of your intervention requires that you prepare fully for the Implementation phase. Should the first three phases be correctly carried out, the implementation phase shouldn't require new content to be created or excessive problems to arise. You will be prepared. Your materials are prepared. Your "plan B" options are in place. You are ready to IMPLEMENT.

Midion's Blogsite

Dear All We are struggling to add Midion's blogsite to the Course blogs on the right hand side. Until we sort it out, I want to invite everyone to view and bookmark his site to go and comment. His site address is: http://midionmapfumo1.blogspot.com/ Midion - now you have to write some posts for your fellow students to comment on!

eLearning Tools

I came across this ineteresting classification of eLearning Tools the other day - many of which I had not heard of before: http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/best-of-breed/. If you click on the links on the page, they just go to a short description on the same site - not very useful. You have to do a search to find the actual website hosting the tool mentioned.

Despite all the criticism often leveled at PowerPoint, it comes out as 4th most popular tool in their analysis: http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/analysis-2014/. Used properly, PowerPoint is an extremely flexible and powerful tool providing visual input and animation. However, many use it as a memory jogger and just place multiple bullet points on their slides - so called "death by bullet points". I posted a short video on YouTube on how to rather use PowerPoint: http://youtu.be/sICh1PNjFM4.

All of this can be overwhelming but the conclusion is don't make it complicated for yourself or for your students!

Developing your design

This week we take a step toward using what we have learnt in the analysis phase and putting it into action. The trick here is to NOT jump straight in and do  anything, rather, it is time to use the power of the pen / keyboard and design the intervention you have planned. Think about the students you are targeting, the module that you are working in, the problem you're addressing.....then, and only then, can you start to design the intervention.

I am currently sitting in another province in South Africa, on a family holiday. It would have been great to just jump into the car and start to drive. However, there were a few things that I needed to do first. I needed to know when both my family, and the family we're visiting, would be able to be on holiday. Once we knew that, we planned the route we would travel, estimated the amount of money we would need for our trip, looked at the weather to determine what clothes to wear, etc. etc. etc.

If we had not done all of this, we could easily have ended up driving along and getting stuck without petrol. Or perhaps we would have by chance arrived at our destination and found the family we're visiting were away on business. This is a very simple example that I am using to illustrate the importance of the phase we have just completed, Analysis, and the phase we are entering, Design.

Using the analysis of your situation, you will now need to design the intervention with particular attention paid to the possible pitfalls. If you are designing a new method of assessment using technology, have you thought about the adaptations needed in the teaching and learning activities of the module? You could be thinking of creating a learning activity using social media, but have you considered the ethical implications of this?

The design of any intervention requires a step-by-step plan of how you will execute your proposed endeavour. Do not underestimate the importance of this step....if we did that in the example I gave earlier, I would have ended up Richmond with a very unhappy family in tow :)

Analyse what? - Simple ways of finding out what your students want

In my previous post I suggested that you find out what the student needs are before starting any e-learning project. Remember, without a clear picture of what the needs are in your environment, you could be creating a lot of work for yourself designing a fantastic project or intervention that will never be used or appreciated.
There are different ways of determining what you should be focusing on, and I would like to share a few with you:

• Discuss potential issues with colleagues (often, what you identify as a problem is something that a colleague has already addressed and found a solution for)
• Conduct a short 'desktop analysis' of student feedback that has been received over time for your module.
• Send out a survey to students asking what their problem areas are in a module

These are just three ways of finding out where an intervention is needed. For the third idea, sending out a survey, a Google Form is a quick and easy way of collecting data.  Here is a short video clip on how to create and send the survey. I've also included the view that students will get as well as the results you can expect to see. 

Adding ADDIE to your GPS

Today the journey has officially begun for the 2014 tour group on the e-learning MPhil HPE safari. In order for us to be sure to reach our destination, we will have to add the route to our GPS. For this journey, you will need to follow the ADDIE route and to do so, let us go slowly through what that really means. ADDIE is a popular instructional design process whereby you systematically develop your e-learning prototype for this module. In this week, we are doing what all good travellers do, and that is to do an Analysis of your intended surroundings.

In this week, you are required to investigate possible ideas for your prototype, as well as identify who your target market is and what it is that they need.  The analysis includes analysing the job, selecting task functions and selecting the setting. Remember, you cannot expect your e-learning activity or project to be successful if you do not know what need you are fulfilling!

To help you get started, why don't you read this interesting article.

On your mark.....get set.....go!

Setting off on the Journey

We are less than a week away from setting off on the journey to the land of ADDIE. As I contemplate the process of designing the e-learning intervention/prototype that the students of this module will go through, I realise the importance of understanding the journey that all of them have already been on. I realise that there are those with extensive tour-guide experience in the land of Assessment, those who have collected the various postcards from the world of learning theory, and others who are tanned from enjoying the ocean of curriculum development. I look forward to being the tour guide on this next journey and hope that you are all buckled up, ready to enjoy the ride.

Welcome to the e-Learning MPhil HPE 2014 Module

I'd like to start the session today with a quote by David Thornburg: "Any teacher that can be replaced by a computer, deserves to be." A strange quotation to lead the discussion around an e-learning module? Well, through our discussions, thinking, writing, planning and blogging today, we hope to help you understand exactly how this quote is the perfect one for anyone considering a teaching and learning activity using technology. Resources and ideas will be shared with everyone in the session and hopefully, will assist those who choose this elective to start planning well ahead of time for their module. We hope that you will enjoy this journey we are about to begin and that your passport will be filled with stamps from all the digital stops you've made along the way.