No one ever said it would be easy! Developing eLearning packages

1. Shae Wissell MPH, MHA, BSPath eLearning Project Officer, Training & Development, CCCH Catriona Elek M.Ed (Adult Education), B.SocSc Coordinator, Training & Development, CCCH No one ever said it would be easy! Developing eLearning packages

2. Notes on these slides: This is a version of the presentation was given at Campus Research and Education Week on 24 October, 2013. These slides have been edited to include some of our speaking points, along with the slides that were presented on the day.

3. Today’s session: Context, background and evidence for eLearning Adult learning principles and how they apply How to build an eLearning course step by step Examples and demonstration What the Learning Hub can offer

4. Questions for you: What brought you here today? What do you hope to get out of today’s session?

5. Let’s take a step back in time, and look at the history of flexible learning. In the 1820s, the first correspondence courses were offered. In the 1970s in the UK open university offered lectures on TV channels, augmented with notes which were posted out. In the 1990s, eLearning was seen as just one format of flexible learning, the next step in this march of history.

6. “A dismal new era of higher education has dawned.In ten years, we will look upon the wired remains of our once great democratic higher education system and wonder how we let it happen.” (Noble, 1998)

7. Students and faculty were initially very resistant to online learning. There were obvious implications for Intellectual Property and for faculty jobs, and real question marks about the quality of the student experience with technologies of the time. The problem with a lot of what we saw in online learning at this time was that efficiency was the driver, not learning.

8. Fast forward to last year and the rise of the Massive Open Online courses (MOOCs) MOOCs, such as EdX and Coursera, are hosting short courses developed by leading universities (including the University of Melboure), offered for free online. Some of these courses are designed to provide pathways into higher education, but not all. This time a motive for efficiency is matched by a passion from faculty to reach wider audience, in particular, the developing world. In July, Coursera alone had 4milliion students.

9. So why am I talking to you about this? We want to make the point that while the technology is new, and changing fast, in many ways eLearning is not a brave new world, but just the next step in a long history of adult learning delivered from afar. So, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel in instructional design terms. Yes, we need to continue to evaluate and improve what we do, but the basic principles of adult learning still apply.

10. Some principles of adult learning Get to know your learners; respect and respond Be clear about your learning objectives Create opportunities to reflect, practice, challenge Cater to different learning styles Encourage collaborative learning

11. “There is increasing evidence to support the effectiveness and benefits of online training for healthcare practitioners and others” (Hadley, et al. 2010)

12. What does the evidence say? There are some clear benefits of online training over traditional face-to-face teaching. What people like most about eLearning is its convenience and flexibility... especially those outside of metropolitan areas. However, there isn't actually a large body of pedagogical research about online learning. .. On how to actually apply adult learning principles and effectively harness the opportunity to reach more people more easily. So, we need to remain sceptical. Just because it’s flashy, and just because its new doesn’t mean we can ignore what we know about how learning is best fostered, and continually challenge ourselves to create online learning courses that work.

14. Questions for you: What was the last short course you did? Was it online? Face to face? A blend? What would it have looked like in the opposite format?

15. Our courses so far Let’s Read Infant Sleep Child Development Orientation to the Medicare Healthy Kids Check

16. What type of eLearning are we talking about? We want to be clear about the types of examples we are giving, and how we are defining an ‘eLearning course’ today. We are not offering MOOCs, we are not offering degrees. Nor are we just uploading PowerPoints or video lectures. While we can offer courses of any length, our examples so far are short, interactive, low-fee professional development courses taking learners only several hours to complete, which they can enrol in any time, and which are expected to stand alone and are not staffed.

17. Let’s start with an example... Do you have a course in mind?

19. Getting started Step 1: Understand your learners • Some studies have shown online learning to be effective, irrespective of age, education level of prior computer experience – if it is tailored to a learners’ background. In fact, online learning can be the perfect way to harness the self-directed nature of adult learning. Before you can design or develop a online course, you need to know about the audience's learning abilities and their motivations. Ideas for how you can do this: • Focus groups • Needs analysis • Clinical experience • Research papers • Surveys

20. The New World Kirkpatrick Model Step 2: Learning Objectives Knowledge“I know it” Skill“I can do it right now” Attitude“I believe this is worthwhile” ;“I agree with this approach” Behaviour“I apply what I’ve learned” Behaviour can be difficult to measure in this context, so we often use proxies such as self reported confidence or intention.

21. Step 2: Learning Objectives The New World Kirkpatrick Model

22. Some examples Step 2: Learning Objectives At the end of this course, participants will... Understand... (knowledge) Be aware of... (knowledge) Be able to identify... (knowledge) Be able to implement... (skill) Understand the importance of... (attitude) Be confident to... (behaviour proxy) Be committed to...(behaviour proxy)

24. Laying the foundations Step 3: Content development • You need to be able to condense the information down into bit sized chunks. These small amounts of information can be supported by referring people to extra readings, links to other resources, and different forms of media. • When think about content development you need a structure that includes: • Introduction • Main body of information and how that might be presented over a number of slides • Types of assessments are these to help people build their knowledge, is it for CPD points or is it mandatory training? This needs to be determined so the right type of assessment can be developed. I will touch on this later. • Concluding notes on what the learner should take away from the module • This content needs to be evidence based and well supported. • It needs to address your LO. This needs to be developed for each module of the course.

25. Step 4: Instructional design - The fun part! Achieving a knowledge objective There is a number of was your can convey a knowledge objective through audio, video, interactivity such as a click and reveal. You can also link out to external information such as websites, you tube and journal articles. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel! This is a click and reveal activity about habit forming behaviors. We had a lot of information that we wanted to convey but we didn’t want the slide to have to much written text. By choosing this option we are able to make it a little more interesting and still provide all the important information. In the example we have been able to link out to the Harvard’s Centre for Developing Child. They have some amazing work on brain development which is easy to understand so instead of trying to replicate this we linked out to it. So on the right hand side we have information on the developing brain and then the video reinforces what is written and presents the information in a different format as people don’t all learn in the same way.

26. Instructional design Achieving a knowledge objective In this example we have been able to link out to the Harvard’s Centre for Developing Child. They have some amazing work on brain development which is easy to understand so instead of trying to replicate this we linked out to it. So on the right hand side we have information on the developing brain and then the video reinforces what is written and presents the information in a different format as people don’t all learn in the same way.

27. Instructional design Achieving a skills objective Tools download from the course to be completed while watching a case study. More details in next slide.

28. Instructional design Achieving a skills objective You might think it could be hard to achieve a skills based objective in an online environment because there is no one guided or supporting. However this can be done in a number of ways. In this example we asked learners to download a suit of tools in the previous page that the needed to complete during at different points throughout the course.

29. Instructional design Achieving an attitudinal objective

30. Instructional design Good adult learning often involves a shift in perspective. Attitudinal objectives are the most difficult and often we tend not to think of them when coming up with our learning objectives, or even to avoid them. But in fact, a shift in perspective can be the most important element in changing behaviour and embedding skills and knowledge into practice. In our Orientation to the Medicare Healthy Kids Check, we wanted to emphasise taking a developmental approach to child health and social-emotional wellbeing and generate a shift in attitude in our learners about the importance of a continuum of care in primary health care. So, one learning objective was: “Participants will recognise and understand the importance of taking a developmental perspective when working with children and families.” It’s part of getting to know your learners, too. For example, we know from research that many in the community think that literacy can wait until school age when in fact, pre-literacy skills lay important foundations, and this is the basis of our Let’s Read program. So, a learning objective in Let’s Read was about the importance of pre literacy skills in young children. Achieving an attitudinal objective

31. Instructional design Achieving an attitudinal objective

32. Instructional design Achieving a behavioural objective

33. Instructional design Achieving a behavioural objective

34. Instructional design Achieving a behavioural objective Encourage reflection can help to change attitudes, as well as to influence behaviour. We were able to do this through case studies thought LR and Healthy Kids Check. This is done by asking specific questions such as: What do you know about children’s early literacy development where English is not their first language? How might this be relevant to Mary? Based on what you know about engaging families and literacy development in Indigenous families, how might you engage Mary’s grandmother and cousins in Mary’s early literacy development? The learner is then asked to enter their reflections and they can then print them off and keep them to refer to once they have completed the course.

35. Step 5: Assessment & accreditation • Assessments can come in many forms but deciding what to measure, how, when and by whom are important and not always easy questions to ask. The assessments need to be tied specifically to the learning objective and the learner should be given feedback whenever possible to help them consolidate their knowledge, skills, behaviors and attitudes. Types of assessment activities: • multiply choice • true and false • case studies • discussion board • peer reviews • Provide expert feedback this may be in a video, audio or even written.

36. Step 5: Assessment & accreditation • Preparing a course for accreditation will vary according to the requirements of the particular professional body or college. However, for the RACGP for example, we have ARE preparing a course for accreditation by: • Preparing realistic, measurable learning objectives, according to our own approach • Providing pre and post test surveys • Providing pre-reading, which is preferred • Providing plenty of interactive elements and opportunities to reflect on their own practice • Making sure the course is of sufficient length • Considering patient safety and systems elements of practice • Its important also to note that accreditation is not a once off, but needs ongoing monitoring.

37. The final product- click the screen to view!

38. What the Learning Hub can offer

39. What the Learning Hub can offer

40. What the Learning Hub can offer

41. Challenges and future directions We’d like to finish by mentioning some of our future directions and unfinished business. The most important of these has to do with collaboration and group learning, important for all adult learning, but the hardest to achieve online. • We have yet to achieve all we hope to in this, but: • We are about to host our first webinar • We’re looking at starting our first discussion board with Let’s Read, and have follow up webinars and live discussions with groups of learners • We are looking at developing an online community or practice for family partnership facilitators and/or practitioners • We could look at courses which are staffed: If they are offered at fixed times, we can trial group learning approaches used by MOOCs • After a few months have passed, we will also do some follow up surveys with our learners to see if learning is sustained. • We are looking at blended learning, offering our courses partly on line, and partly face-to-face • There is plenty of opportunity for further research • We hope we’ve given you a flavour of what we can do, and motivated you to get started, and to get in touch.

42. Catriona Elek Coordinator, Training & Development, CCCH catriona.elek@mcri.edu.au Shae Wissell eLearning Project Officer, Training & Development, CCCH shae.wissell@mcri.edu.au www.learninghub.org.au or contact us at info@learninghub.org.au For more information visit: