Flavours of design – what’s in a name?

Our team at The Open University has gone through a rebrand. Where before we had Learning Design (LD) and TEL Design components to our team, we are now all Learning Designers. A small change in terminology, but hopefully a big change in mindset. So why have we done this?

First, it better encapsulates what we’re actually doing and seeking to do as a team. Many of the activities carried out as part of TEL Design were actually LD activities happening at a more detailed level. For instance, visualising the student learning journey, planning for a block of study, designing a collaborative online activity or helping the module team to review student workload expectations. You could see these activities as implementation of the Learning Design.

Secondly, it helps to reinforce that LD is not a one-off activity, you need to continue making design decisions and reviewing how you are progressing toward the planned design throughout the module development and production, and even into presentation. The online LD tools we have (at http://www.open.ac.uk/iet/learning-design/downloads) support this approach. Encouraging teams to engage with these and continue to review their design is something we’ll continue to push on.

And lastly, having two design teams gave the sense that these were two very different activities whereas they were always really a continuation of the Learning Design process, with TEL Design going into more detail and identifying appropriate uses of technology as we did so.

Whilst we won’t be changing our approach to design overnight we will be looking at how we can get even more value out of LD workshops and at how we can enable the subsequent design activities to tie in further with the outputs from those workshops.

Through this new blog we’ll share some of our experiences as we adjust to the new team name and on any enhancements we make to our processes, it promises to be a busy and exciting time for us!

Tips for starting out in learning design

We were asked: “Any advice for a new learner, just getting started in the world of LD?” 
… so we crowd-sourced answers from the team. Here’s what they said: 

Olivia said: 

Find as many opportunities to learn as possible.

I’d recommend listening to the Pedagodzilla podcast.

Clare said: 

Get to know as wide a variety of your students as you can. 

Don’t feel like you have to know all the answers, but it’s useful to know which questions to ask.  

Paul said: 

Don’t panic!  

Don’t be afraid to try something new in the way you approach a session. Innovate and reflect, I guess would be the punchier way of saying it. 

Marina said: 

Have the student/learner at the heart of your thinking and analysis. Try to imagine what you would like to experience and how you would best learn the topic and skills if you were that student. 

Carlos said: 

Study like your students: complete a course at your institution.

Katharine said: 

Look at the learning experience you’re planning through student eyes and involve students in the design.  

Make use of LD tools and approaches to guide the process. Download some free resources from the Resources section of this blog. 

Shawndra said: 

Sign up with OpenLearn and/or FutureLearn for free courses or MOOCS.  

FutureLearn also run microcredential courses in various learning/educational subjects. 

Search out and attend conferences in the field. Practice sharing is a great way to learn! 

Make a list(s) on Twitter for people, institutions, agencies, etc. that you find helpful and follow them.

Ten ways to kick off a successful online meeting

A positive start to your online group will help people feel welcome. It’s also reassuring for the facilitator to know that everyone’s ready and able to contribute. We’ve found that these simple tips can ensure everyone can play a part.

  1. Greet people as they join the meeting to help them feel welcome.
  2. Have a general chat session for the first few minutes to get everyone warmed up. Include some opportunities to increase sense of social presence, i.e. chat about themselves or where they are.
  3. Alternatively, give participants a small task to do at the start, such as introducing themselves in the text chat.
  4. Use the participant list as a means of getting people to introduce themselves and get used to speaking in the room. This is also a good audio check.
  5. Set ground rules and expectations at the beginning of the session – for example, raise a hand if you want to speak, type comments in the text chat – to help people understand how and when to interact.
  6. Aim to have two helpers if you can: one to check the text chat and one to handle technical queries.
  7. Look out for anyone coming in late – perhaps set a reminder to check if anyone is new at regular intervals.
  8. Remind people to turn off their mics when they’re not talking and remember that you have the power to mute them if they don’t follow the instructions. Even for professors!
  9. If you’re recording the session, check that people are happy about this.
  10. Plan to use breakout rooms to prompt participants to share ideas.

Skills development is most effective when…

  • It is fully embedded in the teaching and learning of (inter)disciplinary content (reflects a contextual and epistemological view of skills)
  • At the same time, it is perceived as meaningful and relevant to students’ current and future lives (transferable, flexible)
  • Students are apprenticed into the conventions, techniques, styles and approaches of their field(s) of study (they know what is considered appropriate and can meet normative standards)
  • At the same time, students can explore, critique and creatively develop their skills in directions which are unique to them.

Recreated with kind permission of Jackie Tuck, Senior Lecturer – WELS