Existing frameworks for mapping OER


Below are links and information about other projects and the mapping frameworks that have been developed for mappings. They are offered to infom the development of our own module mappings. It should be noted however that they are related to the development and mapping of Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) - and these tend to be more granular than our Modules. Although we are at a late stage in developing our template we might use this to check and refine our mapping. Questions that arise are (please add):

 

Are any of the attributes listed in the templates below useful in our mappings?

 


DialogPLus http://www.dialogplus.soton.ac.uk Digital Libraries in Support of Innovative Approaches to Learning and Teaching in Geography

 

The DialogPLUS project brings together geographer lecturers from different institutions to learn how to work together collaboratively to create and deploy digital learning materials. A toolkit was developed that enabled learning designs to be realised and stored via Reload http://www.reload.ac.uk/

 

Bailey, C., Zalfan, M. T, Davis, H. C., Fill, K., & Conole, G. (2006). Panning for Gold: Designing Pedagogically inspired Learning Nuggets. Educational Technology & Society, 9 (1), 113-122. [online at http://www.ifets.info/journals/9_1/10.pdf]


 

The templates below are from 3 projects: NROC, LOAM, and CIPeL The examples here group the attributes under the types: Activities, Environment, Role

 

1. National Repository of Online Courses (NROC) http://www.montereyinstitute.org/nroc/

 

NROC has defined ten significant domains and principles for effective development of online courses. These domains were chosen by synthesizing the literature on learning theories, current practices and experiences, and vetting them with the real world issues of current available standard technologies, how education is managed and delivered, the experiences of teachers, and expectations of learners. The report 'Course Development Guidelines: Integrating Learning Theory and Practice' informs the development of the mapping. The attributes chosen are:

 

 

Assessment, Content, Assignments, Interaction, Media, Pedagogy, Design, Technology, Access, Support

 

 

NROC Template

Type

Attribute

Definition

Principles

 

 

Activities

Assessment

A variety of assessment types providing sufficient testing and feedback throughout the course to show knowledge acquisition, application and transfer.

Assessment strategies varied and consistent with content presentation, learning objectives and activities. Formative and summative. Relevant and accurate. Clear instructions. Feedback from quizzes and problems provided to learner throughout course to enable self-monitoring of progress. Appropriate to course level and subject. Show critical thinking, reflection, connections, understanding and transfer. Expectations and grading rubric transparent to learners.

Content

Breadth, depth, approach appropriate for course level and subject coverage.

 

Clear presentation of major principles, concepts, framework and thinking processes of subject. Incorporates real world examples, applications, additional sources and a variety of information types. Learning objectives reflect building knowledge, critical thinking, and transfer. Content organized in units with topics and subtopics. Transparent content framework that shows learning chunks, subject structure and associated activities. Coverage maps to depth and breadth of generally accepted standards for target course (such as established by AP guidelines & textbook contents). Includes current, socially and culturally relevant context and connections. Writing tone, level and style clear, informal and accessible to learners.

Assignments

A variety of activities provided for students to interact with, use, apply, reflect upon, and build content.

Active learning opportunities with varied assignments consistent with content presentation, learning objectives, and assessment. Provide motivation, encouragement and empowerment to work with content. Relevant and accurate. Clear instructions. Appropriate to course level and subject. Provide opportunities for practice, building conceptual frameworks, knowledge, critical thinking, reflection, understanding, transfer and exploring alternative approaches and perspectives.  Different learning styles and skills required, using mixed media and communication tools. Expectations transparent to learners. Collaborative assignments available for peer teaching and assessment.  Adaptable by learner and instructor.

Interaction

Interaction types to include learners with content, other learners, teacher and outside experts/information through use of technology, course design and activities

Interactions integrated throughout, providing multiple opportunities to construct meaning, reflect, examine assumptions, critique, question, and transfer knowledge, initially using own language, scaffolding to use of subject language and thought processes while advancing.  Learning community of social interactions between peers, with teacher, (most motivational learning environment, best opportunities to construct understanding). Students and teachers create activities using communication tools. Performance expectations, and instructor availability explicit.

Media

Use of multiple media types to present content, provide activities and interactions.

Multi-modal media used to help present, and work with, key concepts, examples, applications. Provide for varied learning style and skill approaches: text, graphics, photos, animation, simulation, video, audio as appropriate for conveying subject. Engaging, motivating. Coherent arrangement of media types designed to link to and reinforce each other. Learner navigation and controls available and consistent.

Pedagogy

Application of universal and subject specific learning theories that enable effective learning and teacher

Integration and alignment of 1) learner, 2) knowledge, 3) assessment and 4) community centred pedagogical approaches. Incorporation of subject specific pedagogy. Encourage learner metacognition reflection on learning process and progress. Learner as driver, teacher as facilitator, guide, mentor. Multiple interaction types, safe and encouraging environment.  Experience designed for learning subject framework and thinking processes.

Environment

Design

Overall course construction, content presentation, navigation, use of visual elements, technical features

Principles: Course navigation is intuitive, provides logical and varied paths through material. Helps to reveal context and connections of topics. Well-used mix of media for content presentation to scaffold new understanding, different learning modes and perspectives.  Elements proportional, harmonious, uncluttered and restrained. Control of navigation and media consistent, clear and available to learner.

Technology

Technology environment and tools proving student and instructor access to online course content and experience.  

Uses standard technologies, bug free, runs perfectly. Interoperable with common learning management systems. Provides interaction options between learners content, peers, teacher, external information and examples. Clean navigational structure, pathways, organizational hierarchy and feedback functionality.

 

 

Role

Access

Ability of students with some learning challenges to access content, including through alternative presentation methods and support.

Acknowledgement of need. Effort made for access to special needs learners. Alternatives to auditory and visual content are available. Consideration for navigation by motor challenged. Colour conveying meaning is available without colour.

Support

Description: Information provided to learners and teachers to most effectively use, facilitate, support, and design the online course experience

Student. Orientation to course and online learning, introduction to course structure, guide to experiencing the subject, complete syllabus, participation expectations, assignments, grading policy, skills required, prerequisites. How to succeed online and work with peers, links to outside resources. Teacher. Guidelines for how to teach online, create and guide collaborative learning activities, group projects, peer-to-peer interactions. How to create a safe and encouraging experience, facilitate and guide students to construct, control and share their learning experiences. Complete instructors’ manual with assignment and assessment suggestions. How to assess discussions and group projects. Link to tips and examples.

 

 

2.  Learning Object Attribute Metric tool (LOAM) http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nmp/sonet/projects/loam/

 

 

The LOAM (learning object attribute metric) Tool has been designed as an evaluation tool for e-learning materials. It allows selection of a range of attributes or criteria against which the user wishes to assess the learning materials and then provides a series of tools to allow that assessment to be carried out and the results displayed. The tool has been developed as a major output of the Sharing the LOAD project, which was an 18-month JISC-funded project exploring the reusability of learning designs (see also the Taxonomy of Learning Designs on which the template LOAM template was based). The LOAM template is presented as  set of attributes alongside conflicts that the attribute throws up and the resolution of these conflicts. The attributes chosen are:

 

 

Alignment

Assessment

Interactivity

Navigation

Context

Integration

Media Standard

Objective

Feedback

Prerequisites

Self Direction

Support

 

 

LOAM: default template

Type

Attribute

Definition

Conflict

Resolution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Activities

Alignment

The extent to which the assessment elements measure attainment of the learning objective

If the learner is to be confident that they have attained the learning objective, the self-assessment and the learning objective must be completely aligned

Ensure that the assessment is closely aligned with the learning objective. Refine both learning objective and assessment iteratively during the content creation process they are two sides of the same coin.

Assessment

The extent to and ease of which the learner can perform an effective self-assessment

Self-assessment is for the learner’s benefit, so that they can gauge how well they have understood the material. Assessments are often written as an after-thought and may not be clearly defined or pitched at the right level.

Define the assessment as clearly as you would a learning objective. The assessment should be pitched at the same level of difficulty as the other materials.

Interactivity

The level of interactivity or the extent to which the learner can engage actively with the learning object

In order to have an active and engaging learning experience, the learner should be able to engage interactively with the learning object. Linear (or didactic) constructions limit interactivity but may be necessary for effective communication of knowledge. Simulations allow the user to engage with the concepts in their own time.

Provide simple, but engaging interactions, that are spaced over the course of the RLO and whose inclusion matches with the pedagogical aims of the material.

Navigation

The extent to which the learning activity forms part of the learning design

Linear or directed navigation can be repetitive and tedious but more open non-linear constructs with multiple pathways can be confusing and disorienting

Make activities meaningful. Mix linear and non-linear navigation or allow learner to choose. Provide a variety of media in linear constructs to keep attention and interest. Provide clear maps with you are here markers for multiple pathways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Environment

Context

The degree of contextualisation of the materials or how specific to a discrete group of learners.           

For a learning object to be reusable it should not be applicable to the broadest group of learners possible, yet learning often needs to be contextualised to be effective

Make the learning object as generic as possible and where it needs to be contextualised for different subjects then allow it to be customised.

Integration

The extent to which the various media types (audio, videos, graphics, images etc) are successfully integrated into the RLO so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

For the learning object to be effective and engaging, the integration of the media elements should be both appropriate and seamless

Form follows function.  In the Bauhaus tradition recognise truth in materials. Keep it simple use Occam’s razor (Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity). Find pleasing ways of (re)combining them. This is largely an aesthetic choice and requires practical insights from developers and designers, so work closely with them, prototyping, discussing ideas, drawing storyboards, describing scenarios.

Media Standard

The quality and appropriateness of individual media elements

High quality media elements in many different varieties are time-consuming and costly to create. But they are essential for the production of engaging multimedia

Create the best quality materials within the available resources. Establish and share protocols to productively batch process (e.g. photographic images to vector). Build a shared library of components. Work within a culture of reusability rather than creating one-off solutions

Objective

The learning objective (goal) states what the learner should be able to successfully demonstrate or accomplish after working through and engaging with the RLO

A small, self-contained learning object should be based on a small, self-contained learning objective. Learning objectives are often too large in scope, ill- or vaguely defined. Here, the RLO will be too large and unwieldy.  Similarly, a poorly defined or broadly focused learning objective is often poorly aligned with the content

Make sure the learning objective is tight and focused. Do not include the word ‘and’ as this usually indicates more than one learning outcome. Refine a broad learning objective by narrowing it down iteratively. If necessary, and develop a small family of learning objects. Ensure that each section of the RLO is focused on the learning objective

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Role

Feedback

The level of feedback provided to the learner whilst undertaking the interactive elements or assessments within the learning object

It is difficult to predict what levels of feedback will be required at run-time

Involve learners in determining levels of feedback required

Prerequisites

The extent to which a learner is required to possess pre-requisite knowledge in order to successfully achieve the learning objective          

If learning objects are to be self-contained they should have no necessary dependencies on other learning resources. Yet knowledge is often organised in a hierarchical form that requires prior understanding of core concepts

Separate the learning objects from the hierarchy. Make the hierarchy of knowledge explicit outside of the learning objects and present the RLO as single entities within this hierarchy.

Self Direction

The level of self-direction afforded to the learner through open navigation, optional interactivity, optional sections etc.)

Self-direction is desirable for learners to take control of their learning. Increased choice may result in over-complication and hence reduce the chance of attaining the learning objective

Any choices offered to the learner should enhance the learning objective even though attainment of the learning objective may not be dependent on a particular choice.

Support

The level of support provided to the learner by the content author within the learning object eg help menus, glossaries navigational support, on screen advice etc

Different learners require different levels of support to achieve successful learning outcomes

Involve learners in determining levels of support required.

 

3. Centre for Excellence in learning and teaching (CETL) for Inter-professional E-learning (IPEL) http://www.cipel.ac.uk/index.htm

 

 

The details of this framework are sketchy - but show the attributes.

 

 

IPLO Template

Type

Attribute

Definition

Notes

Activities

Role of others

 

 

 

 

 

 

Environment

Authentic

 

 

 

 

Person Centredness

 

 

 

 

Multprofessional Use

 

 

 

 


Role

Collaborating with others

 

 

 

 

Shared Problem Solving

 

 

 

 

 

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