taxonomy

After the first and very successful academic year of using Moodle at Royal Holloway it is time to quantify, qualify and report on how this e-learning tool has been used. Quantifying is relatively straightforward and can be done either at backroom database level or by casting an eye over the front end.

However, qualifying use is more involved and of greater value when showing how e-learning can impact positively on the student and staff experience. I believe that one or both of two simple taxonomies could be employed. The first could group courses by the tools they are employing - resources, discussion fora, wikis, quizzes, etc - while a more pedagogically focused view could look at the wider attributes of given courses in Moodle.

One taxonomy could identify the e-learning element of academic courses as being either Informational, Supplemental, Blended or Distance. Another could describe courses as being Web-enhanced, Web-focused or Web-driven.

A course which is Web-enhanced or where its e-learning element is informational might be where timetables, deadlines and the course handbook are offered online, and where the tutor can post messages. Many tutors dip their toes in this way and often move to increase their online presence by moving towards a Blended or Web-driven approach where some elements of face-to-face work such as lectures, seminars or written formative assessments are replaced or augmented with electronic journal articles, audio or video artefacts, online discussions or online assessments.

I would hope that year-on-year, more courses would increasingly blend traditional techniques with e-learning based approaches, and that this progress can be tracked and used to support more investment in e-learning and greater incentives for those who embed it in their teaching. Web-driven or Distance courses do not feature too heavily at RHUL but I anticipate that this will change dramatically in the future. Our experience of increasingly blended courses will contribute to successful, interactive distance courses.

Labels: blended learning, distance, e-learning, informational, reporting, supplementary, taxonomy, web-driven, web-enhanced, web-focused

posted by Martin King @ 4:32 PM   0 Comments