A Universities Learning Futures Project
A Universities Learning Futures Project
Background
A Background to the Universities Learning Futures Project
The Higher Education Leadership and Management Programme (HELM) and Saide (Programme Coordinator) created a online learning programme to implemement digital learning and teaching fot the historically disadvantaged South African Higher Education Sector: this included the development od several components:
  • Development and implementation of a technology-mediated learning programme framework, digital literacy guide, and online learning toolkit for staff at all current HDIs.
  • Conceptualisation, development, and delivery of a bespoke training programme for a maximum of 50 academic and administrative staff on learning futures in terms of global and national trends/development, leadership and management, strategy, innovation, planning and operations
  • The creation and implementation of an online knowledge and document repository on digital transformation, technology-mediated teaching and learning policies, strategies, plans and case studies that will be accessible via the HELM’s LMS Canvas

Devilerables included:
Deliverable 1
A digital transformation and technology-mediated learning programme framework, digital literacy guide, and online learning toolkit for staff at all current eight HDIs.

Deliverable 2
A bespoke training programme for a maximum of 50 academic and administrative staff on learning futures in terms of global and national trends/development, leadership and management, strategy, innovation, planning and operations.

Deliverable 3
An online knowledge and document repository on digital transformation, technology-mediated teaching and learning policies, strategies, plans and case studies that will be accessible via the HELM website.

Six workshops were created, each 3 houis lond. Use the (above right) to choose the workshops you would like to explore.
Workshop 1
The foci of this workshop are to:
  1. Meet and greet each other.
  2. Assess your digital literacy
  3. Introduce you to the Digital Learning and Teaching Programme.
  4. Explore the Digital Transformation Framework.
  5. Participate in an activity to explore your knowledge of the design and use of digitised learning materials in an ICT-integrated classroom.
What you will do:
  • Introduce yourselves.
  • Evaluate your digital literacy skills.
  • In groups, review the Educause Digital Transformation Framework's concepts and reflect on how it might be used at your institution.
  • Participate in an activity to better understand the use of digitised learning materials.

Outcomes:
  • Evaluate your digital literacy.
  • Understand the processes of digitisation, digitalisation and digital transformation.
  • Understand the conceptual frameworks for designing ICT-integrated classrooms.

Competencies:
Management and leadership, teaching and learning, pedagogy and learning design.

Note: If you come across a word you don't know, you can quickly look up dictionary definitions. Just double-click the word.


Pre- and Post Digital Literacy Survey
Suggested time:
30minutes
Aim:
Evaluate your Digital Literacy Competencies.
What will you do:
Please participate in the survey below to figure out your Digital Literacy Competencies.

Note: Please complete the survey before the next workshop. The results are confidential and will only be seen by the person completing the survey.

Digital Literary Skills

One aim of the series of workshops is to support your development of digital literacy skills. We would like you to participate in the survey below to assess your digital literacy competencies. Your participants in this survey will not be captured in any digital or other system. At the end of this engagement, we would like you to retake the survey and compare your pre- and post-scores.
Digital Competency Survey

Activity 1: Digital Transformation
Suggested time:
30 minutes
Aim:
To learn about institutional digital transformation.
What you will do:
  • Engage with the three stages of education digital transformation.
  • Explore the three stages of digital transformation (Learn, Plan, Do).
  • Evaluate the progress of your institutional digital transformation.
Reflection:
Discuss how you might influence digital transformation at your institution.

Digital Transformation

Educause, a nonprofit association and the largest community of technology, academic, industry, and campus leaders advancing higher education through the use of IT, argued that digital transformation is the future of higher education. To support institutional digital transformations, Educause developed a number of resources (see below).


Digital transformation is a series of deep and coordinated culture, workforce, and technology shifts that enable new educational and operating models and transform an institution's business model, strategic directions, and value proposition.

Brown, M., Reinitz, B., & Wetzel, K. (2020). 


Digital technology development includes three stages: Digitisation, Digitalisation and Digital transformation (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Stages of Digitisation (adapted from Brown et al, 2022).

Digital transformation requires strong leadership and commitment. Educause has mapped out a number of processes to support the institutional digital transformation (a Dx journey) that includes learning, planning and doing.


Learn
Define Dx
Use data and technology to transform your institution.

Dx and Culture
Zero in on the institution’s goals, adept at change management, and agile and flexible enough to rapidly adapt to changing needs.

Dx and Workforce
Creates completely new jobs and requires a new set of skills and competencies across the institutional community.
PLAN
Dx and Technology
It is absolutely essential that leaders understand not just the new technologies that are available to them but also how to apply them strategically in service of an institutional mission.

Assess Institution's Readiness
No matter how advanced your institution is, now is a crucial time to double down on your Dx efforts.

Lead a Campus Conversation
Emphasize cross-organizational reach and use a collaborative approach to convey the potential for Dx to affect institutional change and achieve transformational goals.

Develop a Dx Strategy
Set goals and develop a strategy for your institution as early as possible gives you and everyone on your team something to work toward.
DO
Assess Your Dx Progress
Assess your institution’s progress so you can be prepared to continue the next phase of your Dx journey.

Plan the Next Steps
A continued focus on institutional goals will help you build connections across your Dx initiatives and bridge them together for even greater impact on transformational goals.

Learning from Others
As you continue your Dx journey, it can be helpful to understand the ways that Dx plays out, both in different areas of the institution and in different types and sizes of institutions.

Applying what you have learnt from the above information, rate your Institution's stage of digital transformation below:

Stages of digitisation at your Institution
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Digisation
Organisation
Automation
Streamlined
Transformation


Activity 2: Pedagogical Principles and Digital technologies
Suggested time:
20 minutes
Aim:
To investigate your knowledge of teaching and learning with technology.
What will you do:
Interact with the scale items below to describe your current pedagogical practices.
Reflection:
Share your learning approach with your colleagues and identify concepts you would like to learn more about.

Pedagogical Principles


Learning approaches can range from using didactic teaching tools, through to using technologies as a mediator, to being transformative pedagogy. You can see this in the Learning Approaches vector below.

Learning Approaches
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Didactic teaching tools
Transmitting information
Technologies as a mediator
Transformative pedagogy
Authentic student learning


A way to describe the relationship between learning, teaching and technology is to understand the learning approaches in relation to, notions of learning (acquisition, participation and contribution), use of ICT in education (instructive, cognitive, mediative), models for learning design (reproductive, interactive, conversational and transformative) and evaluation of teaching and learning outcomes (Bloom’s modified taxonomy: remember, understand, apply, evaluate and create). These are also shown as vectors below. Use these vectors to identify the way you currently teach (click or drag the button to the appropriate position). As you score each vector below, the Learning Approach vector above, will update to reflect the mean scores of all the vectors, moving from an instructivist (didactic) to a constructivist (transformative) paradigm .

Notions of learning
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Acquisition
Participation
Contribution

ICT in education
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Instructive
Cognitive
Mediative

Models for learning design
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Reproductive
Interactive
Conversational
Transformative

Bloom's Forms of thinking
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Remember
Understand
Apply
Evaluate
Create

    Reflection
    What have you learnt so far?

Additional Resources

Introduction


Workshop 2
The foci of the workshop are to:
1. Understand the difference between behaviourism and constructivism.
2. An introduction to Expansive Learning.
3. Understand and apply expansive learning designs to implement a curriculum.
What you will do:
Part 1
  • Explore basic principles of learning and teaching as a foundation for contact, blended or fully online course offerings.
  • Study the principles of social constructivist learning design, which emphasise activities, collaboration, and contextual relevance.
  • Critically explore a number of learning design frameworks and provide feedback.
Part 2
  • Homework: Utilise the learning design framework templates available on this workshop website to sequence and structure / scaffold content, and develop activities tailored to your subject for your students. (If possible prepare this teaching and learning material with one or more colleagues).
  • In the workshop: Review the teaching and learning materials prepared, applying the criteria in the design and review tool provided.

Outcomes:
  • Understand the learning and teaching designs for contact, blended or fully online interactions.
  • Understand the social constructivist approach to learning designed based on the principles of activity-based, collaborative and contextually relevant learning.
  • Use basic tools to support the learning design process.
  • Critically reflect on the processes that support the learning design process.

Competencies:
Teaching and learning pedagogy, learning design and assessment.

Note: If you come across a word you don't know, you can quickly look up the online dictionary definitions. Just double-click the word and the definition will pop up.


Part 1





Note: Cognitive development refers to the growth and maturation of human processes such as thinking, understanding, reasoning, problem-solving over the past several decades.


Activity 1: Behaviourism versus Constructivism 

Suggested time:
20 minutes
Aim:
To better understand behaviourism and constructivism 
Introduction:
A digital transformation strategy should strategically position itself to take advantage of the digital economy and to better prepare students and employees for this digital age. Therefore, to better understand current practices it is necessary to develop an analytic framework. The framework needs to include analyses of current digital platforms and student and employee learning. While there are numerous approaches to teaching and learning, there are only two meta-theories: instruction and construction (cognitive and social). Instruction is based on behaviourism, while constructivism is concerned with learning through experience (Table 1).

Table 1: Attributes of behaviourism and constructivism .

Constructivism

Behaviourism

Cognitive

Social
View of knowledge Knowledge is a repertoire of behavioural responses to environmental stimuli. Knowledge systems of cognitive structures are actively constructed by learners based on pre-existing cognitive structures. Knowledge is constructed within social contexts through interactions with a knowledge community.
View of learning Passive absorption of a predefined body of knowledge by the learner. Promoted by repetition and positive reinforcement. Active assimilation and accommodation of new information to existing cognitive structures. Discovery by learners is emphasised. Integration of students into a knowledge community. Collaborative assimilation and accommodation of new information.
View of motivation Extrinsic, involving positive and negative reinforcement. Intrinsic; learners set their own goals and motivate themselves to learn. Intrinsic and extrinsic. Learning goals and motives are determined both by learners and extrinsic rewards provided by the knowledge community.

Task:
Use the vectors below to reflect on the way you were taught and then how you would like to teach.

How were you taught?
View of knowledge
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Behaviourism
Cognitive
Social

View of learning
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Behaviourism
Cognitive
Social

View of motivation
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Behaviourism
Cognitive
Social

How would you like to teach?
View of knowledge
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Behaviourism
Cognitive
Social

View of learning
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Behaviourism
Cognitive
Social

View of motivation
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Behaviourism
Cognitive
Social


Reflection
What have you learnt so far?


Expansive Learning

Any theory of learning must answer at least four central questions: (1) Who are the subjects of learning, how are they defined and located?; (2) Why do they learn, what makes them make the effort?; (3) What do they learn, what are the contents and outcomes of learning?; and (4) How do they learn, what are the key actions or processes of learning? (p. 133)

Standard theories of learning are focused on processes where a subject (traditionally an individual, more recently possibly also an organization) acquires some identifiable knowledge or skills in such a way that a corresponding, relatively lasting change in the behaviour of the subject may be observed. It is a self-evident presupposition that the knowledge or skill to be acquired is itself stable and reasonably well defined. There is a competent "teacher" who knows what is to be learned. The problem is that much of the most intriguing kinds of learning in work organizations violates this presupposition. People and organizations are all the time learning something that is not stable, not even defined or understood ahead of time. In important transformations of our personal lives and organizational practices, we must learn new forms of activity which are not yet there. They are literally learned as they are being created. There is no competent teacher. (pp. 137-138)

Engeström (2001)


Engeström’s four questions: Who is learning? Why do they learn? What do they learn? How do they learn? Are further developed to support the learning design related to implementing teaching and learning pedagogy, learning design and assessment in course modules and the overall curriculum that is the focus of this workshop (Fig 1).


Activity 2: Expansive Learning

Suggested time:
20 minutes
Aim:
To better understand the components of a social constructivism framework.

Fig. 1 : Five questions to guide learning design and evaluation.

The five question are briefly described below. Additional explanations can be found in the Resources component. 
Homework Tasks (if possible do this with a colleague / small group):
  • Familiarise yourself with each of the five learning design questions.
  • Use the learning design framework template embedded in this website to develop and design content and activities for a short topic in your subject area for your students. 
  • Use the linked tools and templates to guide your learning design process
  • You are required to complete all five components.
  • Once you have completed your learning design, click or tap the Generate PDF.
  • Upload the generated PDF.

Five questions to guide learning design and evaluation



The third question in the design/evaluation framework ties together context and content by looking at how learning activities serve to mediate learning and engage learners in meaningful dialogue and reflection? This step requires you to take a step back and review your learning design thus far.

  • Are clear instructions and explanations provided for students to navigate effectively through learning materials?
  • Are the activities appropriate for the learning pathway and assessment strategy?
  • Do activities provide sufficient guidelines (scaffolding) and ensure learning activities are well-structured.
  • Does the learning design motivate students engaging them in meaningful dialogue using reflection and feedback from others on activities to guide their thinking?
  • Does the learning design provide students with a range of opportunities for meaningful discussion and communication and collaborative engagement with their peers? As well as with more knowledgeable others where appropriate?
  • Where appropriate, is the written text complemented with visual and other accessible multi-media?
  • Is technology used to support communication, collaboration and mediate learning (not just to disseminate information)?
  • Does the learning design provide a range of opportunities for meaningful communication with peers e.g. discussion forums?



4. How will we know learners have learned?

The fourth question focuses on identifying opportunities for assessment in activity-based learning and integrating formative assessment tasks.

  • Start by reading through the PowerPoint Presentation, How to Engage On-Line Learners in Authentic Assessment  and Blooms Taxonomy .
  • >Design authentic assessment tasks in which students have the opportunity to apply new knowledge and skills to solving real life problems.
  • >Assessment should take account all six of Bloom’s cognitive levels and not simply focus only on level 1 and 2 (i.e. recall and explanation)
  • >Does the assessment design shift assessment practice from a focus on testing what learners know, mainly by way of recalling the content learnt, to applying knowledge and skills in a real-world context?
  • >Align assessment tasks to the stated learning outcomes/objectives
  • >Is assessment integrated into teaching and learning? i.e. formative assessment for learning?
  • Are the assessment criteria/rubric provided? 


5. How can we ensure quality teaching and learning?

The fifth question asks you to reflect on and evaluate the learning design with the view to adapting or strengthening it before you upload it as a PDF.
  • Use the Learning Design/Evaluation Tool as a check list to review your learning design.
  • Does the learning design invite and create a structured opportunity for reflection or ask for feedback from the students?


Please select the Print Destination to Save as PDF.



Part 2


Upload the PDF file of your learning design that you prepared.
Upload file
  • Files


    Reflection: Review outputs and participate in an open discussion
    What have you learnt?


    Introduction


    What you will do?
    The foci of this workshop are to:
    1. Understand learning with technology.
    2. Understand tool mediation. 
    3. Learn about authentic learning and authentic assessment.
    4. Explore the Collaboration, Authentic Learning and Tools (CAT) framework.

    What you will do:
    Part 1:
    • Prior to this workshop you will be sent one of five papers to read. The papers are part of the first task.
    • Review the items related to the Collaboration, Authentic and Tools (CAT) Framework.
    • Use the CAT Framework to evaluate one of the papers (Activity 1). Save the results (an image) and upload the image to share with all the participants.
    • Thereafter, we will discuss the CAT framework in relation to your evaluations.
    • Review the second task that is concerned with authentic assessment (Activity 2).
    Part 2:
    • Using what you have learned, design an authentic task that includes an authentic assessment (homework - group work if possible).
    • Share and discuss your homework with your workshop peers.

    Outcomes:
    • Understand how to create authentic tasks that include complex real-world problems.
    • Develop insights to support students when they are asked to undertake authentic tasks.
    • Acquire practical skills to create and evaluate authentic tasks.

    Competencies:
    Teaching and learning, pedagogy and learning design; Support diverse students; Scholarship pf teaching and learning.

    Note: If you come across a word you don't know, you can quickly look up dictionary definitions. Just double-click the word.

    Part 1


    The Collaboration, Authentic Learning and Tools Framework



    Activity 1: Introduction of Authentic Learning

    Suggested time:
    45 minutes
    Introduction:
    Your HOD has just had one of those cathartic moments: game-based learning is the way to go! While this may be an interesting development, the HOD has asked you, as one of the productive researchers in your department, to undertake a small research project to evaluate how games, one of the most complex technologies available to lecturers, could be used in teaching and learning. To help you, the HOD has provided you with a number of research papers and a review instrument that you could use to evaluate the teaching designs and outcomes detailed in each paper. 
    Task:
    With a colleague, read the abstract of the paper you were sent. This should provide you with a general understanding of the ideas. Then, review the research methodology, results and findings. You and your partner should review the paper sent to you using the CAT Evaluation Instrument below.


    CAT Evaluation Survey


    Review outputs and participate in an open discussion
    What have you learnt so far?



    Authentic Assessment


    Activity 2: Authentic Assessment

    Suggested time:
    20 minutes
    Introduction:
    Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multi-dimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. Learning is complex process. It entails not only what students know, but what they can do with what they know; it involves not only knowledge and abilities, but values, attitudes, and habits of mind that affect both academic success and performance beyond the classroom. Assessment should reflect these understandings by employing a diverse array of methods, including those that call for actual performance, using them over time so as to reveal change, growth and increasing degrees of integration
    Task:
    Explore the background to authentic assessment (below) and with your partner, evaluate the assessment practices in your paper using the Authentic Assessment Survey.



     Traditional versus authentic Assessment .

    Traditional

    Relies on indirect or proxy items

    Reveals only whether students can recognise, recall or ‘plug in’ what was learned out of context

    Conventional tests are usually limited to pencil-and-paper, one-answer questions

    Conventional tests typically only ask the student to select or write correct responses - irrespective of the reasons

    Traditional testing standardises objective ‘items’ and the one ‘right’ answer for each





    Authentic

    Direct examination of student performance on worthy intellectual tasks

    Requires students to be effective performers with acquired knowledge

    Present the student with a full array of tasks

    Attend to whether the student can craft polished, thorough and justifiable answers, performances or products

    Achieves validity and reliability by emphasising and standardising the appropriate criteria for scoring varied products

    ‘Test validity’ should depend in part upon whether the test simulates real-world ‘tests’ of ability

    Involves ill-structured challenges that help students rehearse for the complex ambiguities of professional life


    Authentic Assessment Survey

    Part 2


    Activity 3: Design a Authentic Task Including an Authentic Assessment

    Suggested time:
    60 minutes (Homework)
    Introduction:
    A lecturer, who teaches first-year students, has approached you with an idea for a new online learning activity. The lecturer suggested that a recent newspaper article, entitled  "Fracking up the Karoo" (Sunday Times, 5 August 2012), could be used as part of this activity. The lecturer also requested that the activity should take about two hours to complete and be based on the principles associated with authentic learning. Prior to implementing the design, you have been asked to prepare a presentation to the lecturer's department.
    Task:
    Using the core concepts of authentic learning, social collaboration, tool/technology mediation knowledge construction (the CAT framework) , work with your partner to design the learning activity and assessment. Prepare a presentation of your ideas using Google presentation, a collaborative authoring tool. Once everyone has conpleted the presentation, you will display you presentation for discussion.


    Reflection: Review outputs and participate in an open discussion
    What have you learnt so far?


    Workshop 4
    The foci of the workshop are to:
    1. Understand learning approaches (Transformative Pedagogy)
    2. Explore important overarching pedagogical principles from the NIMB framework .
    3. Evaluate authentic learning using a technology-mediated learning programme framework.

    What you will do prior to the workshop:
    • Find and read a scientific paper on the use of authentic learning in your discipline.
    • Working individually, or with a partner, evaluate the paper that you have selected using the template below.
    • Note, the template comprises four components:
      1. Learning design principles;
      2. Pedagogic principles;
      3. Authentic learning principles; and
      4. Authentic assessment principles.
    • Once you have reviewed your paper, completing all four components of the template, create a PDF file and upload the PDF file to the Internet, using the File Upload function, see below.
    • During the workshop we will discuss the paper evaluations.

    Outcomes:
    • Explore leaning design principles.
    • Discuss learning with technology.
    • Examine a framework to support the outcomes of curriculum design that includes the use of didactic, mediative and transformative pedagogical teaching tools.
    • Develop knowledge components about the technology-mediated learning programme framework.

    Competencies:
    Teaching and learning, pedagogy and learning design; support diverse students; scholarship of teaching and learning.

    Note: If you come across a word you don't know, you can quickly look up the online dictionary definitions. Just double-click the word and the definition will pop up.

    Template

    Please enter the paper title:

    Learning Design Principles


    To understand what constitutes quality teaching, we need to first think about how people learn. Various learning theorists from Lev Vygotsky to Yrjo Engestrom posit that people learn best by being actively involved in the learning process, in particular, by engaging with authentic activities and solving real-life problems in a social context, i.e. working collaboratively. The approach presented here is therefore one which promotes authentic learning.

    The five key questions, each with a number of elements and criteria, provide, a framework which models a process that can be used to design and evaluate contact, online and blended teaching and learning. 

    Fig. 1: Five questions to guide learning design and evaluation.

    What you will do:

    Use the five questions to evaluate the learning design that is reflected in the authentic learning research article that you have read and briefly write your findings in the space provided below each of the questions.

    1. Where do we start?
    The first question in the design framework requires you to take a step back and ask big-picture questions, such as: What is the context? Who are the target group? 
    • Are contextually appropriate design decisions about the student target audience, language backgrounds, socio-economic contexts of students, profiles and abilities of students, venues, access to transport, resources and facilities, timing, clustering and grouping and mode of provision considered?
    • Is learning linked to real-life contexts in which learners live and work?


    2. What do learners need to learn… and how do they learn it?
    The second question in the design/evaluation process takes a closer look at content and how it is presented in order to support learning, i.e. the underpinning pedagogical approach.
    • Is the purpose, outcomes, content (including nature of activities) and assessment aligned?
    • Is the content well sequenced and scaffolded?
    • Is the content provided accurate, up-to-date, relevant, content free of discrimination?
    • Is the content knowledge presented as changing and debatable, rather than fixed and unquestionable?
    • Are authentic activities or sets of activities integrated across outcomes /topics?
    • Do they provide learners with appropriately complex, integrated and diverse problems to solve?


    3. How can we support learners to succeed?
    The third question in the design/evaluation framework ties together context and content by looking at how learning activities serve to mediate learning and engage learners in meaningful dialogue and reflection?
    • Are the activities appropriate for the learning pathway and assessment strategy?
    • Does the learning design motivate learners engaging them in meaningful dialogue using reflection and feedback from others on activities to guide their thinking?
    • Does the learning design provide learners with a range of opportunities for meaningful discussion and communication and collaborative engagement with their peers? As well as with more knowledgeable others where appropriate?
    • Where appropriate, complement the written text with visual and other accessible multi-media?
    • Is technology used to support communication, collaboration and mediate learning (not just to disseminate information)?



    4. How will we know learners have learned?
    The fourth question focuses on identifying opportunities for assessment in activity-based learning and integrating formative tasks.
    • Is assessment integrated into teaching and learning? i.e. formative assessment for learning?
    • Does the assessment design shift assessment practice from a focus on testing what learners know, mainly by way of recalling the content learnt, to applying knowledge and skills in a real-world context?
    • Are learners required to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills?
    • Are assessment tasks contextualised, enabling the learners to demonstrate (provide evidence of) their competency in a learner-structured, authentic setting?



    5. How can we ensure quality teaching and learning?
    The fifth question asks you to reflect on and evaluate the learning design with the view to adapting or strengthening it.


    • Does the learning design invite and create a structured opportunity for reflection or ask for feedback from the learners?


    Pedagogical Principles (NIMB Framework)

    A way to describe the relationship between learning, teaching and technology is to understand the learning approaches (didactic teaching tools, technologies as a mediator and transformative pedagogy), notions of learning (acquisition, participation and contribution), use of ICT in education (instructive, cognitive, mediative), models for learning design (reproductive, interactive, conversational and transformative) and evaluation of teaching and learning outcomes (Bloom’s modified taxonomy: remember, understand, apply, evaluate and create). Each item below is a vector moving from an instructivist- to a constructivist paradigm .

    Learning Approaches
    |
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    Didactic teaching tools
    Transmitting information
    Technologies as a mediator
    Transformative pedagogy
    Authentic student learning


    What will you do:

    Use the vectors below to identify the way you currently teach (click or drag the button to the appropriate position). As you score each vector below, the Learning Approach vector above, will update to reflect the mean scores of all the vectors.

    Notions of learning
    |
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    Acquisition
    Participation
    Contribution

    ICT in education
    |
    |
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    Instructive
    Cognitive
    Mediative

    Models for learning design
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    Reproductive
    Interactive
    Conversational
    Transformative

    Bloom's Forms of thinking
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    Remember
    Understand
    Apply
    Evaluate
    Create

      Reflection
      What have you learnt so far?

    Authentic Learning Principles (Technology-mediated learning programme framework)

    Amiel and Reeves (2008) suggested two positions related to the use of ICTs in the classroom: The power of technology to change pedagogical practices, and the use of computers as tutors with no human intervention. Earlier, Reeves et al. (2004)   suggested that learning environments should include authentic tasks that:
    • Have real-world relevance.
    • Are ill-defined/imprecise and include a number of sub tasks.
    • Are complex and require students to undertake complex investigations.
    • Provide opportunities for students to investigate the tasks from different perspectives.
    • Provide collaborative opportunities.
    • Include integrated assessment.
    • Yield possible products that include more than one iteration.
    • Allow competing answers or solutions.

    What will you do:

    Use the vectors below to evaluate the authentic learning implementation in your paper (click or drag the button to the appropriate position).

    Learning task has real-world relevance
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    Not implemented
    Fully implemented

    Learning task is ill-defined or imprecise
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    Not implemented
    Fully implemented

    Includes a number of subtasks
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    Not implemented
    Fully implemented

    Learning task requires students to undertake complex investigations
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    Not implemented
    Fully implemented

    Provides opportunities for students to investigate the tasks from different perspectives
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    Not implemented
    Fully implemented

    Provides collaborative opportunities
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    Not implemented
    Fully implemented

    Provides reflective opportunities
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    Not implemented
    Fully implemented

    Includes integrated assessment
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    Not implemented
    Fully implemented

    Authentic Assessment Principles

    Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multi-dimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. Learning is complex process. It entails not only what students know, but what they can do with what they know; it involves not only knowledge and abilities, but values, attitudes, and habits of mind that affect both academic success and performance beyond the classroom. Assessment should reflect these understandings by employing a diverse array of methods, including those that call for actual performance, using them over time so as to reveal change, growth and increasing degrees of integration. (Adapted from,  Alexander, A., Banta, T., & Cross, P. (1996). Nine principles of good practice for assessing student learning. Modified July, 25.)

    What will you do:

    Use the vectors below to evaluate the assessment approaches described in your paper (click or drag the button to the appropriate position).

    Context
    |
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    Contrived, artificial or decontextualised
    Reflective of the
    conditions

    Student's role
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    Summarisation or
    once-off essays
    Craft polished, products
    or performances

    Student's effort
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    Requires little
    effort or time
    Requires significant
    time and effort

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    Simple structured
    answer
    Involves complex, ill
    structure challenges

    Indicators
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    Simple information
    indicator
    Multiple indicators
    of learning

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      Workshop 5
      The foci of the workshop are to:
      • Build an understanding of how to design a curriculum that includes topics, activities, multimedia and assessments.
      • Examine the use of media (images, audio and videos) used to mediated learning.

      What you will:
      • Explore the online course (KnowHow ) that supports pre-primary educators to:
        • Offer children a quality pre-primary education that will result in a good start in Grade 1.
        • Monitor children's development towards school readiness and take relevant action when necessary.
        • Build a team of teachers and parents/caregivers to support children to develop to their full potential in the year before moving into Grade 1.
        • Help teachers in the early grades of primary schooling to support children coming from pre-primary into Grade 1. Documentation is provided below.
      • Discuss the evaluation of the KnowHow online course (conduced using a tool similar to the Workshop 4 instrument) to analyse how done technology-mediated has been integrated into the curriculum.
      • Examine the use of media in the KnowHow course and develop a framework that you could utilise in you own on-line courses.
      • Analyse learning platforms using our transformative pedagogical framework.

      Outcomes:
      • Critically examine the structure of the online learning course to better understand how the curriculum, topics, learning activities and assessments are interconnected, ensuring a cohesive and effective education experience.
      • Develop an understanding of the use of media to support and enhance learning through explicit mediation improving student engagement and understanding.Develop knowledge of the key media components that significantly influence the design and implementation of technology-mediated learning frameworks, ensuring their effective integration and utilisation in educational settings.

      Competencies:
      Teaching and learning, pedagogy and learning design; learning support for diverse students: scholarship of teaching and learning; online learning, multimedia and digital technologies.

      Note: If you come across a word you don't know, you can quickly look up the online dictionary definitions. Just double-click the word and the definition will pop up.

      About KnowHow


      Activity 1: Examibation and Evaluation of the KnowHow Course

      Suggested time:
      70 minutes
      Aim:
      To understand how to design interactive learning experiences for a curriculum.
      Introduction:
      The KnowHow online coursewas developed to supports pre-primary educators in southern Africa to:
      • Offer children a quality pre-primary education that will result in a good start in Grade 1.
      • Monitor children's development towards school readiness and take relevant action when necessary.
      • Build a team of teachers and parents/caregivers to support children to develop to their full potential in the year before moving into Grade 1.
      • Help teachers in the early grades of primary schooling to support children coming from pre-primary into Grade 1. 
      Sheila Drew developed the KnowHow course curriculum for the Roger Federer Foundation using the Open Saide platform developed by Alan Amory. 
      Tasks:
      • Explore the KnowHow course website  (30 minutes).
        1. Engage with the website and select one module.
        2. Develop a written outline of the module’s learning components and design.
        3. Compare your outline with another module.
        4. Save your outline and upload it (see instructions below).
      • Discussion on authentic learning and assessment evaluation (20 minutes).
        Sheila will lead a discussion on the evaluation of authentic learning and assessment in KnowHow .
      • Reflect on multimedia use in KnowHow course (20 minutes)
        Together, reflect on the use of multimedia (images, videos, storybook and audio) in KnowHow.

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        Use of media in KnowHow


        Activity 2: Use of Media in KnowHow Course

        Suggested time:
        90 minutes
        Aim:
        To develop a framework for the use of media in teaching and learning.
        Introduction:
        The KnowHow course includes images, videos, storybook and audio components. You can work on your own, or with colleagues, to explore how these elements are used to support learning.  
        Tasks:
        • Media types in the KnowHow course (60 minutes):
          1. Identify and explore each media type used in the KnowHow course.
          2. Examine how each media type supports learning.
          3. Design a simple framework incorporating the use of media to support learning.
          4. Develop a written outline of that describe you framework.
          5. Save your outline and upload it below.
        • Presentation and discussion of selected frameworks (30 minutes)

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          About
          The foci of the workshop are to work with the:
          • Learning Design Guide (Five questions that supports learning design).
          • Pedagogical Principles (Notions of leaning, ICT in education, Models for learning design, and Bloom's forms of thinking).
          • Authentic Learning (Real-world relevance, imprecise or defined tasks, tasks include subtasks, complex investigations, complex investigations, include different perspectives, collaborative opportunities, reflective opportunities, integrated assessment, polishes products and competing answers or solutions).
          • Authentic Assessment (Context, Student's role, Student's effort. Authentic activity and Indicators).

          What you will do:
          • In groups, improve the learning design of the 2008 Education Honours module provided :
            1. Use the Planning tool  (based on the Learning Design Guide) to redesign this course module.
            2. Export your new design as a website or export a file for the Creator tool to include additional interactive components how to do this will be demonstrated in the workshop).
            3. Use of Evaluator tool to explore the pedagogical principles, authentic learning and authentic assessment of the module.
          • Reflect on the workshop.
          • Re-assess your digital competencies.

          Outcomes:
          • Understand the use of the technology-mediated learning framework that includes learning design based on the principles of activity-based, collaborative and textually relevant learning.
          • Develop an integrated understanding of curriculum design and the technology-mediated learning framework.
          • Show competence in designing your own technology-mediated learning framework.
          • Improved digital competencies.

          Competences:
          Teaching and learning, pedagogy and learning design; support diverse students; scholarship of teaching and learning.

          Note: If you come across a word you don't know, you can quickly look up the online dictionary definitions. Just double-click the word and the definition will pop up.

          Technology-mediated learning framework

          Over the past five workshops we have explored a number of theoretical constructs:
          • Learning Design
          • Pedagogical Principles
          • Authentic Learning
          • Authentic Assessment
          The relationship between these constructs are shown in the figure below.

          MagnifyTo magnify, tab ot click the image, and the move your mouse over the image below.

          Figure 1: Integration of theoretical constructs.


          During this workshop you will work in groups using the Planning tool  and Creator tool  to redesign a Honours Education Course Module developed in 2008 (Activity 1 - break-away). 

          Peer reviews: Each group will have the opportunity of using the Evaluator tool  to evaluate another groups' new design (Activity 2 - break-away).

          Discussion of the evaluations in plenary. 

          Note: These tools are open educational resources that you can use to develop your own teaching materials allied to the technology-mediated learning framework.

          Demonstration

          Suggested time:
          20 minutes
          Aim:
          Introduction to the Planning, Maker and Evaluator tools.
          What will you do:
          Explore the tools (if you so wish).
          Discussion:
          Q&A on the tools.

          Activity 1: Redesign a Module 

          Suggested time:
          40 minutes
          Aim:
          To redesign one of the four authentic scenarios that are part of the course, these include:
          1.  Evaluation of a school's e-maturity
          2. Tool available to support the development of e-Maturity
          3.  Knowledge, skill and attitudes of current learners
          4. Use of Open Source, Open Access and Open Resources in teaching and learning.
          What will you do:
          1. Join one of the four break-away rooms.
          2. Explore the 2008 course .
          3. Improve the design of the authentic scenario allocated to your group using the Planning tool .
          4. Further improve the design by adding components using the Creator tool .
          5. Export your new design as a website (as demonstrated).

          Activity 2: Evaluation of the New Module

          Suggested time:
          45 minutes
          Aim:
          To evaluate the redesigned modules.
          What will you do:
          1. Return to one of the four break-away rooms.
          2. Evaluate the updated scenario allocated to your group using the Evaluator tool .
          3. Save your evaluation and paste the PDF file into the Chat.
          Discuss the activity:
          Each group, in plenary, will present their findings.
          Reflection:
          Reflect on your key learnings from this series of workshops which have focused on the digital transformation of teaching and learning.


          Reflection
          What have you learnt?


          Digital Literacy Skills

          One of the aims of the series of workshops, was to support the your development of digital literacy skills. At the end of this engagement we would like you to retake the survey and compare your pre- and post-scores.  Your participants in this survey will not be captured in any digital or other system Your participation in this survey will not be captured in any digital or other system – it is entirely confidential and only you will see the results.

          Digital Competency Survey