Learning Resource Design
plan.design.share
Facilitator: Cindy Underhill,
Office of Learning Technology
5.27.09

Introductions
• You
• Learning resource design
 What words to you associate with this term?

Learning resource design is …
In our context:
• about the activity of the learner – what the
learner does in the process of learning.
• focused on the learning activity – process
rather than content.
• specific to stand-alone resources that
support learning inside or outside the
classroom…
…

Learning resource design is …
a plan, structure or design for a
learning situation, supported by tools
(software, applications, websites) and
resources that represent the design
(questions, case studies, further
considerations, media, self-
assessment)
(adapted from Learn about Learning Design: Institute of Educational Technology: OUUK, January 2009)

Session Outline
1. Plan
 Consider conditions for learning
 Group Activity #1: respond, discuss and
identify
4. Learning Resource Design
 project examples: LEAP and Digital
Tattoo
 Group Activity #2: explore, analyze and
share
3. Wrap-Up

You’ll have the opportunity to…
• identify conditions for learning suitable for
online, self-guided resources
• analyze the learning design in project
examples
• gain a new perspective on something you
know or learn something unexpected

Plan: Consider
I cannot make anyone learn, I can
only attempt to provide the conditions
in which they can learn…
Albert Einstein and Socrates

Group Activity #1
In groups of 3, discuss:
Your ideas about the conditions that support learning
online where an instructor isn’t present:
 What are the important elements (ie. consistency,
key questions, interaction, etc.)?
 What approaches do you find helpful?
Identify as many as you can to share with the larger
group.

Design
Within simplicity there is almost infinite
complexity…
Joey Roth – Industrial Designer

Project: LEAP
• project: LEAP – academic
support site – aimed at
undergraduates
• features: student authored
content, web 2.0 tools and
approaches, interactive features
(comments, quizzes, polls,
chat), blog format
• why does it matter?

Design Considerations
• ease of use: authors (students and project staff) and
users.
• dynamic and static content
• display as a cohesive collection, but components
(content) would be locally managed (tutoring)
• shareable/re-publishable at page/ component level to
support personalization.
• opportunity for interaction with content and peers
• students sharing with other students (promoting
sense of community)

Project: Digital Tattoo
• project: Digital Tattoo –
online tutorial – aimed at
undergraduates
• features: student authored
content around 4 key
themes, web 2.0 tools and
approaches, self
assessment, progress
tracking, case
studies/examples, “in the
news”
• why does it matter?

Design Considerations
• ease of use: authors (students and project staff) and
users.
• dynamic and static content
• non-linear (enter in a number of ways)
• non-judgmental
• timely – in the news blog (headlines) and feeds
(Yahoo pipes)
• content creation/selection for students by students

Learning Objectives
Broadly: increasing awareness about what we share
online, who we are sharing it with and what others may
be doing with it.
Specifically:
• identify the approaches to taking control of their online
spaces (learn how to alter privacy settings, change
browser settings, etc).
• develop an understanding that a digital tattoo is about
digital reputation and it is ours to manage in the way we
see fit – but be informed.

Example: Digital Tattoo
www.digitaltattoo.ubc.ca
tutorial elements

Group Activity #2
In groups of 3, analyze the learning resource you are
assigned. Consider the following questions:
 what is the activity that the learner invited to engage in?
 what do you know about the conditions for learning for
this resource?
 how do the learning design elements support the
conditions for learning?
If you have time…
In what way might this resource provide some value to a
more formal learning situation?

Share
Your observations from your analysis
of the resources you were asked to
review…

Wrap-Up
Your learning…

Session Resources
• http://leap.ubc.ca/
• http://digitaltattoo.ubc.ca/
• Additional resources:
• http://wiki.ubc.ca/Category:Online_Teaching_Modules