The document discusses key factors for designing quality online and distance learning. It identifies 8 quality factors to consider: learning environment, learning pathway, teacher presence, feedback, activities and assessments, information presentation, social presence, and background of technology. The presentation emphasizes using sound instructional design principles, customizing content appropriately for students, and facilitating effective interactions between students and teachers.

1. Designing Quality Learning for
Online and Distance Education
Greig Krull
Saide
Open and Distance Education Summit
30 July 2013

2. Agenda
• Current technology trends and challenges
• Drivers and constraints of technology integration in education
• The quality challenge
• Consider appropriate mode(s) of delivery
• Factors to consider in elearning design
• Discussion

3. Openness is becoming a value (open content, open data and open
resources, along with transparency and easy access to data)
Massively open online courses (MOOCs) are being explored as
alternatives and supplements to traditional courses
Workforce demands skills from graduates that are more often acquired
from informal learning experiences
Increasing interest in using data for personalising the learning experience
and for performance measurement
Role of educators continues to change due to the vast resources that are
accessible via the Internet
Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid
learning, and collaborative models
Key Trends in Higher Education
The NMC Horizon Report: 2013 Higher Education Edition

4. Significant Challenges
The NMC Horizon Report: 2013 Higher Education Edition
Staff training still does not include the rise of digital media literacy as a
key skill
Emergence of new scholarly forms of authoring, publishing and
researching outpace sufficient and scalable modes of assessment
Education’s own processes and practices can limit broader uptake of new
technologies
Demand for personalized learning is not adequately supported by current
technology or practices
New models of education are bringing unprecedented competition to the
traditional models of higher education
Most academics are not using new technologies for learning, teaching
and research

5. Context
1. What are your biggest drivers to integrate
technology into your teaching and learning?
2. What are your biggest challenges to integrate
technology into your teaching and learning?

6. Motivators
CC-BY-NC-ND

7. Constraints
CC-BY-NC-ND

8. The Challenge…
Poor Quality Learning Design
Dissatisfactory
use of
Technology
Decontextualised
Information
Dumping of
Content

9. Consider Modes of Delivery
Mode of delivery will impact on the design

10. Quality Factors
What are some practical things you can do to ensure
the quality of the online learning experience?

11. 8 Quality Factors
Learning
Environment
Learning
Pathway
Teacher
Presence
Feedback
Activities and
Assessments
Information
Presentation
Social
Presence
Background
of Technology
Adapted from Renshaw (2012)

12. Learning Environment
• Interface should be understandable and consistent
• Aim for simplicity of navigation
• Consider usage of colours, formats, s p a t i a l
a r r a n g e m e n t s and images
– Various types of support are made clearly available
(academic, technical etc)

13. Learning Pathway
• Organise into units or sessions that work through a series of
objectives
• Provide sense of progression
• Appropriate content + learning activities + assessment
activities = students enabled to achieve the specified outcomes
• Support the development of critical thinking skills (cognitive
presence)
• Be flexible to the needs and situations of the learners
• Ability to adjust content and activities as course progresses

14. Teacher Presence
• Role of the teacher in learning is to mediate between the
learner and what is to be learned
• Create a learning environment where learners reflect upon
their experiences in order to master more complex academic
knowledge
• Introduce yourself
• Use synchronous communication such as virtual classrooms
• Use asynchronous communication such as screencasting
Anderson (2008)

15. Feedback
• Regular pause in delivery to check understanding
• Build-in feedback comments
• Ensure prompt daily feedback from facilitators
• Make use of quizzes or surveys
• Encourage students to evaluate the learning experience

16. Activities and Assessment
• Use variety such as interactive games, role plays, challenges
• Purpose of activity clear to enable students to understand what
knowledge, skills and values they are expected to learn or
demonstrate
• Provide instructions on how to undertake activities and what
resources to use
• Provide guidance on time to spend on activities
• Provide timeframe and format of feedback
• Chunk activities e.g. limit activities to 60 – 90 minutes

17. Information Presentation
• Provide opportunities to discover rather than receive
information
• Beware information overload
• Make use of multimedia elements where appropriate
– Video clips
– Podcasts
– Simulations
– Animations

18. Social Presence
• Facilitate learner
socialisation
• Tools: Facebook, Twitter
feeds, chat
• Encourage collaborative
learning through forums
and blogs
• Provide opportunities for
interaction with the
facilitator, other students
and the content
© 2012 Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies

19. Background of Technology
• Teaching and learning approach should guide the use of
technology and not the other way around
• Different tools and technical elements should integrate
seamlessly
• Ensure hyperlinks are all active

20. 8 Quality Factors
Learning
Environment
Learning
Pathway
Teacher
Presence
Feedback
Activities and
Assessments
Information
Presentation
Social
Presence
Background
of Technology
Adapted from Renshaw (2012)

21. Summary
Review your student needs, technology options and your
skills
Customise learning content appropriately
Use sound instructional design principles
Learn from experiences and collaborate with colleagues
Design effective interactions for students with content,
fellow students and teachers/tutors during learning

22. Underlying Principles for Success
Open
Education
Principals
Adequate
Infrastructure
Adaptive to
Change
Look to add
value
Collaboration
Professional
Development

23. Thank you
greigk@saide.org.za
greigk_za
Greig Krull
Discussion
www.saide.org.za
www.oerafrica.org
Unless otherwise specified, this work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
http://www.slideshare.net/greigk/

24. References
• Anderson, T (ed) (2008) Theory and Practice of Online Learning 2e, pp.343-365,
Athabasca University, Athabasca.
• Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies. (2012) Top 100 Tools for
Learning 2012 http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/
• Isaacs S (ed) (2013) The eLearning Africa Report, ICWE: Germany
• Johnson, L, Adams Becker, S, Cummins, M, Estrada, V, Freeman, A and Ludgate, H
(2013) NMC Horizon Report: 2013 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The
New Media Consortium.
• ECB Check (2013) Quality Improvement for eLearning http://ecbcheck.efquel.org/
• Renshaw, J (2012) Taking your course online? Beware the belittling 'information
dump'! Available:
http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/jason_renshaws_web_log/2012/07/taking-
your-course-online-beware-the-belittling-information-dump.html
• Saide (2012) Refining the Distance and Face-to-face Continuum. Available:
http://www.saide.org.za/design-guide/11-open-learning