Learning Activity Design for your Resources

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Framework for Learning Design

The Framework for Learning Design (FLD) has been conceptualised to conform with the following principles of learning:

• Learner experience is the foundation and the stimulus for all learning
• Learners learn best when they are actively and interactively engaged
• Learning activities and assessment are authentic reflecting work place activities graduates will engage in
• There is close alignment between learning objectives, learning activities and assessment.
• Learning activity design drives choices about the technology to support that activity

Figure 1: The Framework for Learning Design

Positioned at the heart of the FLD and driving all subsequent decision making, is the focus on active learning in authentic contexts. This emphasises the importance of starting from the point of view of determining what it is the learners need to be able to do and in what contexts, rather than concentrating on content to be covered and ‘learned’. The design of authentic tasks to be experienced in as authentic contexts as possible have been shown to be key drivers of learning (Brown, Collins and Duguid, 1989; Duffy and Cunningham, 1996; Oliver and Herrington, 2000; Herrington and Herrington, 2006). They work to focus attention on notions of learners’ knowledge construction through active engagement and sit comfortably within a social constructivist framework for learning which is built, not on the traditional “transmission of knowledge” model, but on the assumption that students are encouraged to become active partners in the construction of knowledge with their peers, academic staff and the wider social context in which they work.

The middle circle of the FLD emphasises notions of curriculum alignment espoused by Biggs (1999). As curriculum designers make decisions about authentic tasks they also work to develop learning objectives which relate to the descriptions of knowledge skills and abilities required to successfully perform those tasks. Central to authentic learner activity is the designed alignment between learning objectives, engaging learning activities and assessment tasks. Learning objectives derived from Bloom’s (1984) taxonomy encourage a range of cognitive engagements by the learner, and contrast with the more common tendency for learning objectives to be written in terms of content objectives. This underscores the importance of designed learner activity in the achievement of learning objectives. Providing opportunities for learners to engage in activities to develop their capabilities in relation to the objectives is a cornerstone of the FLD.

Alignment is further enhanced with the design of authentic assessment tasks (Angelo, 1998) which test the learner’s ability to perform relevant tasks required in the workplace, in ways described by the learning objectives and in ways practised through the learning activities provided on the course. Assessment should be integral to and complementary with the learners’ experiences and as such continue to contribute to learning. The authenticity of the assessment is reflected in the extent to which the assessment tasks reflect real world activities. Authentic assessment tasks better support students to develop skills for the world beyond the classroom (Hunt, 2006).

The FLD purposefully de-emphasises the content of the curriculum and highlights the active and interactive engagement of learners working towards achieving the identified generic and specific learning objectives or outcomes. The FLD encourages academics to consider the relationship between the learning objectives, the learning engagements, and assessment approaches when designing their learning. It is through the process of aligning these elements and focussing on activities that will engage learners in the process, that the key content to be learned is synthesised.

The outer circle of the FLD highlights contextual and environmental factors that will influence the final outcome of the design. They are placed in this outer area to indicate that thinking about these factors should not be primary drivers of the design. Much of the literature on the use of technology in education argues for pedagogy to be the driver of technological choices, (Ip and Naidu, 2001; Jonassen et al, 1999; Oliver, 2000) but often in traditional approaches to learning design, the delivery technologies are chosen well before decision making about learner activity has occurred. The FLD encourages academics to plan the resources and supports they will employ in the context of the planned learning objectives, learning activities and assessment tasks so that they will encourage learner engagement and enhance learning. Learning resources refer to “content and information needed to support the learners’ inquiry and problem-solving activities” (Oliver and Herrington, 2001, p.22). These resources can take many forms including books, notes, weblinks and case study examples. Learning supports are provided to enable the learners to engage with the learning tasks. Learning supports may or may not “form part of the actual learning” and could include such things as instructions and schedules, notices and messages, or more direct support including peer supports, mentors and learning scaffolds (Oliver and Herrington, 2001). The decisions about which learning environments and learning tools would best support learning resources and supports should also be carefully considered. The information and communication technologies and online environments along with face to face teaching environments should be employed appropriately to support the active components of the learning design and to enhance opportunities for students’ access to and engagement with the learning activities. Appropriate blends of learning environments (physical and virtual) that maximise student activity and interactivity on learning tasks are important. Blended learning is driven by decisions about which environments, interactions and tools will best support student engagement with learning activities as opposed to the current prevalent focus on supporting student access to course content.

The outer circle also points to the need for the learning design to be sensitive to the learners’ and teachers’ capabilities and encourages a scholarly approach to design informed by the literature and research in the field as well as through regular evaluation and adaptation of the design informed by evaluation outcomes. The Likert-scale descriptors can be used to support evaluation of designs emerging from the application of the FLD and provide key pointers for areas of improvement.