Allison Littlejohn

Instructional quality of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

We present an analysis of instructional design quality of 76 randomly selected Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The quality of MOOCs was determined from first principles of instruction, using a course survey instrument. Two types of MOOCs (xMOOCs and cMOOCs) were analysed and their instructional design quality was assessed and compared. We found that the majority of MOOCs scored poorly on most instructional design principles. However, most MOOCs scored highly on organisation and presentation of course material. The results indicate that although most MOOCs are well-packaged, their instructional design quality is low. We outline implications for practice and ideas for future research. Instructional design quality of 76 randomly selected MOOCs was assessed.Quality was determined from first principles, using a Course Scan instrument.The majority of MOOCs scored poorly on most instructional design principles.Most MOOCs scored highly on organisation and presentation of course material.Although most MOOCs are well-packaged, their instructional design quality is low.

The importance of structuring information and resources within shared workspaces during collaborative design learning

This paper investigates how the organization or structure of information and resources in shared workspaces influences team sharing and design learning. Two groupware products, BSCW and TikiWiki, were configured so that teams could structure and share resources. In BSCW the resources were structured hierarchically using folders and subfolders whereas in TikiWiki resources were structured using interlinked wiki pages (like web pages). The results showed that the groupware technology used, the collaborative task set and opportunities to reflect all influenced the way teams structured resources and that well‐structured resources facilitated team collaboration and design learning. The discussion focuses on the need to help students develop information literacy skills and on why asking students to structure resources might help develop their design expertise.

Developing a Student-Centred Approach to Reflective Learning

One of the goals of higher education is to enable students to become autonomous independent learners. To achieve this goal it is necessary to shift our emphasis from teaching to facilitating effective learning and to promote the concepts of ownership and ‘reflection on learning’. Reflection is a nebulous concept not necessarily amenable to simple translations articulated in the abstract. Rather, it is necessary to provide a framework for reflection over which students themselves have a level of control. In the context of a postgraduate Environmental Studies Diploma/MSc programme professional development workshops were contextualized within the disciplinary based programme to promote a sense of ownership with respect to the learning outcomes and criteria for excellence associated with a group based special studies project. This was achieved through the development of project management logbooks which are presented on a website alongside the special studies project report.

Designing for blended learning, sharing and reuse

The concept of design for learning has arisen as education faces up to the implications of modern pedagogy, student diversity, and the affordances of information and communication technologies. This paper examines some of the benefits and issues for teachers in further and higher education surrounding the idea of learning design and its practical implementation in blended learning. It looks particularly at questions of documenting and representing learning designs so that they can be communicated to others. It explores the differing requirements of representations at various stages in the planning and sharing process, and for different communities of users, finding that multiple perspectives on a learning design are usually necessary. However, few representations to date have succeeded in capturing the essence of a good piece of teaching. Ways of representing designs as dynamic processes, rather than static products, may need to be developed. The paper is based on the outcomes of work with practising teachers during the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)‐funded Models of Practice Project, part of JISCs Design for Learning Programme, which runs from 2006 to 2007.

How Organisations Learn from Safety Incidents: A Multifaceted Problem.

Purpose – This paper seeks to review current approaches to learning from health and safety incidents in the workplace. The aim of the paper is to identify the diversity of approaches and analyse them in terms of learning aspects.Design/methodology/approach – A literature review was conducted searching for terms incident/accident/near misses/disaster/crisis modified with learning/training and safety. Shortlisted articles were analysed by questioning who is learning, what kind of learning process is undertaken, what type of knowledge is employed and the type of problem that these incidents addressed. Current approaches to learning from incidents were critically analysed and gaps identified.Findings – Very few papers addressed all the envisaged aspects when developing their learning from incidents approaches. With support from literature, it was concluded that all the four perspectives, namely participants of learning (participation and inclusion), learning process (single loop, double learning), type of inc...

Charting collective knowledge: supporting self‐regulated learning in the workplace

Purpose – This study aims to outline an approach to improving the effectiveness of work‐based learning through knowledge creation and enhancing self‐regulated learning. The paper presents a case example of a novel approach to learning through knowledge creation in the workplace. This case example is based on empirical data collected through a study of the learning practices of knowledge workers employed within a large, multinational organization.Design/methodology/approach – The case example presented in this article is based on a study of the learning practices of knowledge workers employed within a large, multinational organization. Participants were members of a number of global, online knowledge sharing networks focused around the core technical and commercial disciplines of the company. Membership of each network ranged from a few hundred to a few thousand professionals at various stages of their career. The survey is available online at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6017514/survey.pdf The case study repo...

A Model for Effective Implementation of Flexible Programme Delivery.

The model developed here is the outcome of a project funded by the Quality Assurance Agency Scotland to support implementation of flexible programme delivery (FPD) in post‐compulsory education. We highlight key features of FPD, including explicit and implicit assumptions about why flexibility is needed and the perceived barriers and solutions to implementing it. Our model addresses issues in implementing FPD at three levels within institutions: institutional, operational, and teaching and learning management, supporting strategic alignment at all three levels. It has been used to analyse four case studies at the University of Dundee and the UHI Millennium Institute.

How health professionals regulate their learning in massive open online courses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are typically designed around a self-guided format that assumes learners can regulate their own learning, rather than relying on tutor guidance. However, MOOCs attract a diverse spectrum of learners, who differ in their ability and motivation to manage their own learning. This study addresses the research question ‘How do professionals self-regulate their learning in a MOOC?’ The study examined the ‘Fundamentals of Clinical Trials’ MOOC offered by edX, and presents narrative descriptions of learning drawn from interviews with 35 course participants. The descriptions provide an insight into the goal-setting, self-efficacy, learning and task strategies, and help-seeking of professionals choosing to study this MOOC. Gaining an insight into how these self-regulatory processes are or are not enacted highlights potential opportunities for pedagogic and technical design of MOOCs.

Charting Collective Knowledge: Supporting Self-Regulated Learning in the Workplace

The aim of this paper is to propose an approach to enhancing self-regulated learning in the workplace. Drawing upon social-cognitive theories of self-regulated learning, we argue that current, individualised conceptualisations of self-regulated learning should be re-examined. These contradict the interactional and collaborative nature of the workplace where goal actuation is socially mediated, structured by and closely integrated within work tasks. We outline a mechanism that integrates individual and collective components to enhance goal actuation processes for self-regulated learning in the workplace. We term this mechanism ‘charting’ and provide scenarios illustrating how it might work in practice.

Measuring self‐regulated learning in the workplace

In knowledge‐intensive industries, the workplace has become a key locus of learning. To perform effectively, knowledge workers must be able to take responsibility for their own developmental needs, and in particular, to regulate their own learning. This paper describes the construction and validation of an instrument (the Self‐Regulated Learning at Work Questionnaire) designed to provide a measure of self‐regulated learning (SRL) behaviour in the workplace. The instrument has been validated through a pilot study with a cohort of 170 knowledge workers from the finance industry. Results indicate that the five scales of the instrument are reliable and valid, testing a broad range of sub‐processes of SRL. The instrument can be used to identify knowledge workers who demonstrate different levels of SRL in workplace contexts for further exploration through qualitative studies and could also provide the basis of professional development tools designed to explore opportunities for self‐regulation of learning in the workplace.