8.1 Learning design and open source teaching  (Page 10/18)

I should note that I’ve made many claims above on behalf of “(most) educators” - and although this is based on the many conversations I’ve had on this topic over several years all around the world, I could well be wrong on some or all of the “spirit” that I attempt to articulate above. Even if my characterisations are somewhat accurate, there will be many educators who don’t share these views, so I accept that I am not speaking for them, and I don’t mean to offend anyone who has different views to those I’m attempting to describe.

7. ken udas - may 22nd, 2007 at 8:10 pm

Comment

James, you posed an interesting question in your earlier post about learning design

In particular, the slowest adoption of Learning Design, relative to general market size and innovation, is in the US, and this remains a mystery to me. I’d welcome comments on these or other suggested barriers from readers of these posts.

I have recently served at two universities that have a strong commitment to learning design. At the State University of New York (SUNY) within the SUNY Learning Network (SLN) much of our dialog was about learning design and how it is supported through technology infrastructure. At the Penn State World Campus, we maintain a relatively large learning design group that supports the program and touches all of our courses. In both cases the design groups had developed some technology support for learning design. In addition, a quick review of the Sloan ALN and WCET meetings to be held this autumn in the States indicates that learning or instructional design are well discussed topics. My point is that the notion of learning design, I think, is relatively well accepted in the States.

So, is this more about the adoption of learning design tools by particular classes of users than the acceptance of design principles of teaching and learning? Could it have more to do with the identity that many educators have with a particular LMS/CMS? Do educators have an intuitive sense for learning design principles and go about their business naturally applying them without design tools?

I know of an increasing number of colleagues who are exclusively using a wiki application as their teaching and learning environment. These tend to number among the most sophisticated and creative teachers that I know. Does this represent an interest in reducing technological barriers, or at least point to a certain minimalism? If so, what do you think it means for Learning Design? Most of us who have been at this for a while cut our teeth on eLearning using a LISTSERV (frequently Majordomo) and did some pretty creative things, I think, because the rules of teaching online had not yet been settled.

I am thinking that there will be certain types of educators that will use a design tool and certain types of institutions that will adopt a design tool. I would guess that there are more individuals and small deployments using LAMS or some other tools that support learning design than one might suspect, and that is takes a lot for large programmes with established workflows, developing training programs, and other investments to adopt a new tool or approach.