Planning principles
The principles of designing a course for flexible learning are similar
to designing a course for face-to-face teaching. The difference lies
in the fact that flexibility implies self-direction and autonomous
learning for the student. The course developer should consider all
aspects of student learning and should use as many of the modes for
delivery as are consistent with the aims and objectives of the course.
The various considerations course developers will need to address are:
Place of course within the program
Context / situation analysis
Learning goals
An approach to learning
Place of course within the program
Before beginning to develop your course, re-read the program documents held within your School and familiarise yourself with the overall aims and objectives of the program. You will need a copy of these to ensure that your course fits in with the total curriculum.
You should
also note where your course will fit in the sequence of courses - whether
it is first or advanced level, a pre-requisite
or a co-requisite
course. If an advanced level course, check to see what courses
students
are likely to have completed before they register for this
one.
Context / situation analysis
During a context or situation analysis, you will find out the details of your School's flexible learning policies in relation to:
- assessment and exams
- submitting assignments
- referencing
- number and duration of face-to-face sessions
- access to tutors
- access to computers and the Internet.
You should also determine the:
- space and technological requirements for students
- approach to learning you want the students to take.
Once these policies
and issues have been considered then ensure that your course complies
with them all.
Learning goals
Learning goals are often seen as the core of learning materials because they supply guidance to both the lecturer and the student on what is required. Goals are necessary at both the course and the module/topic level. For more details go to the learning goals pages of the Assessment section.
Goals
should be precise and unambiguous. There needs to be a common understanding
of what is meant between
you and
the student.
For example, the
word 'understand' is often used in goals but should
be avoided because there is no common understanding
of what this
actually
means
in context.
It is better here to define explicitly what would count
as evidence of understanding for you and write that
down for
the students.
An approach to learning
How you want students to approach learning will be determined by which theory or theories of learning you intend to use. The current trend in learning theory is constructivism. It contextualises knowledge within a course and encourages students to actively engage with content through a process of problem defining and solving. In this theory the role of the teacher is to guide and facilitate the students' learning processes, helping them to make meaning of the content.
Problem-based learning, problem solving, and case studies are all aspects of constructivism. Which particular approach you use will have implications for the way you construct your course and the way you phrase objectives, learning activities and assessment.
For definitions
readings and links about constructivism see:
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/constructivism.html
