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Designing High Quality Learning Environments: Reflections on Some Successes and Failures
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Hedberg, John |
| Copyright Year | 2002 |
| Abstract | Over the past decade, there have been many changes in the tools used to design, the ways information can be represented and the underpinning theories which drive educational experiences. This paper focuses on several examples of software design that have been pedagogically successful and have demonstrated what is possible in software design and online learning. Contrasts are made with some examples of the current push into e-learning and how best to structure learning environments to ensure student participation and high quality learning outcomes especially when students come from differing backgrounds and cultural traditions. A summary of key projects and their focus is presented at the end of the paper. (Contains 15 references and 2 figures.) (Author) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Designing high quality learning environments: Reflections on some successes and failures PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY G.H.Harks John G Hedberg Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, Australia john_hedberg@uow.edu.au U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES, INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) i ° Points of view or opinions stated in this Over the past decade, there have been many changes in the tools we use to design, the ways document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. information can be represented and the underpinning theories which drive educational experiences. This presentation will focus on several examples of software design that have been pedagogically successful and have demonstrated what is possible in software design and online learning. Contrasts will be made with some examples of the current push into elearning and how best to structure learning environments to ensure student participation and high quality learning outcomes especially when students come from differing backgrounds tr) and cultural traditions. N O "A poor tradesman blames his tools" T-T-4 Over the past decade there have been several major developments which have helped the growth of interactive multimedia and more recently the concept of e-learning. The task for designers has been challenging and this paper reviews several projects, many of which broke new ground and won international awards. Along the way the reality of creating innovative products which represent good practice and seek to model modern educational principles has been driven by several factors not the least being the tools which have been used and the visual representations of the knowledge domain of each product. This paper will describe several projects and critique their design ideas and their execution. Significant efforts have been made to develop and implement alternative frameworks for learning often based on a class of theories collectively referred to as constructivism. Fundamentally, constructivism asserts that we learn through a continual process of constructing, interpreting, and modifying our own representations of reality based on our own experiences. Indeed many books enumerate a long list of ideas about how these principles might be applied to the design of learning environments, but how to place the ideas strategically into the learning experience is often omitted (see for example, Khan, 2001; and Mills, Lawless and Merrill, 2001). Often the advice is very broad and covers all aspects of pedagogical design from methods to integrate new technologies to potential assessment strategies. The integration of technologies, which may allow the representation of ideas in many different media forms, provide opportunities for the designer or instructor to customis e instruction and place learners in open-ended, studentcentred, rich tasks. This paper explores what has been effective and what, while superficially might be seen as an effective product or set of ideas, might not have been as successful as first expected. It will generalise some of the lessons that might be drawn from the decade of effort to ensure that the learning environments: 1. fostered judgement and learner responsibility. 2. supported critical inquiry and creative approaches to problem-solving 3. created engagement through the effective combination of learning task, visual representation and authentic assessment of the product goals. Principles assumptions and quality Like past revolutions in education, e-learning will go the way of previous technologies unless there are changes to the design framework used as the starting point. Savery & Duffy (1995) described four principles that should be applied to modern technology-based learning environments based on constructivist views. These were: In 1. Learning is an active and engaged process. "Learners are actively engaged in working at tasks and N activities that are authentic to the environment in which they would be used." (Savery & Duffy, 1995, 11 p.37). |
| Starting Page | 729 |
| Ending Page | 735 |
| Page Count | 7 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 2002 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED477025.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
