Open learning is an approach to education that seeks to remove all unnecessary barriers to learning, while aiming to provide learners with a reasonable chance of success in an education and training system centred on their specific needs and located in multiple arenas of learning.

Principles of Open Learning

We often hear the term ‘open and distance learning’. This term implies that open learning and distance education are almost the same, or are closely associated in some way. Is this true?

The principles of open learning help us develop meaningful educational opportunities, regardless of the mode of delivery used.

Resources
Read about the principles of open learning in the Saide resource Empowering Learners through Open Learning. Think about your own courses and materials in relation to each of the principles (40KB, 2 pages).

Mode of Delivery

We consider the relationship between the spatial (distance) and technology continua when making decisions about mode of delivery in distance education. Situating our courses or programmes on a grid allows us to clarify and describe both the spatial dimensions and the technology-supported dimensions of a course or programme

Resources
Considering Mode of Delivery in Education is a Saide reflection document on modes of delivery in education (348KB, 8 pages).

Open Educational Resources (OER) are openly licensed educational materials. With the challenges of increasing access, there is an opportunity for us to use OER in the development and improvement of curricula, ongoing course design, development of quality teaching and learning materials, and design of effective assessment. OER can also help us manage the cost of high quality teaching and learning through the increased use of resource-based learning.

Introduction

The concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) describes any educational resources that are openly available (i.e. ‘openly licensed’) for use by educators and learners, without an accompanying need to pay royalties or licence fees. Openly licensed content can be produced in any medium: printed text, video, audio or digital multimedia.

The term OER is largely synonymous with another term: Open CourseWare (OCW). However, OCW refers to a specific, more structured subset of OER. OCW is defined by the OCW Consortium as “a free and open digital publication of high quality university-level educational materials. These materials are organised as courses, and often include course planning materials and evaluation tools as well as thematic content”.

Resources

• For further information on OER, visit the Understanding OER section on the OER Africa website. The website also has a useful section on Frequently Asked Questions on OER.

The OER Life Cycle

Once you decide to teach something, the first thing you will need to do is to search for some of the required resources that can provide a start to the materials development process. The next step would be to compile the materials in a creative manner. You will probably need to adapt existing resources to suit your particular circumstances – or even to create new resources where nothing suitable exists. There is a cyclical approach to finding, using, adapting (where possible) and publishing OER:

• Find OER – there are a number of international repositories of OER resources, where you can find openly licensed materials.
• Compose (piece together) OER – map the found materials onto the course, match existing materials with the objectives/outcomes, topics and planned assessment.
• Adapt OER – Some OER (depending on the licence type) can be reworked or remixed to your local context.
• Produce, deploy and refine – produce and deploy the OER for your context. Your resource may need to be refined once it has been used for the first time.
• Share OER – share your resource with the OER community for others to use.

Learn more about using and adapting OER in Materials development.

Resources

• The Saide OER Life Cycle presentation provides an overview of searching for, composing, adapting, producing, refining and sharing OER (361KB, 12 slides).
• A list of key OER Repositories on the OER Africa website will be useful to search for OER.
• UCT Open Content site for Finding OERs for Use in Teaching and Learning.
• The Open University has an open online course for educators on Creating Open Educational Resources.
• Saide's OER Protocol provides assistance for organisations publishing OER (680KB, 20 pages).

Open Licences

An important consideration for using OER is the licence conditions that apply, both to the materials that you want to develop and to the existing materials that you want to use.

The emergence of open licences has been driven strongly by a desire to protect a copyright holder’s rights in environments where content (particularly when digitised) can so easily be copied and shared without asking permission.

A broad spectrum of legal frameworks is emerging to govern how OER are licensed for use. The best known of these is the Creative Commons licensing framework. It provides legal mechanisms to ensure that authors can retain acknowledgement for their work while allowing it to be shared, can seek to restrict commercial activity if they wish, and can aim to prevent people from adapting it if appropriate.

Resources

• Visit the Creative Commons website to find out more about the open licensing framework. 
• Learn more about copyright and licensing in the OER Copyright and Licensing Toolkit on the OER Africa website.

OER Policy

Institutions that decide to use or publish OER need to review institutional policies and where necessary introduce policy changes that will facilitate collaboration and the development and sharing of OER. OER policy-related issues may affect the areas of intellectual property, materials development, human resources, and technology, as well as a range of stakeholders: learners, staff, institutions, government and/or quality assurance bodies and others.

Resources

• The OER Policy Development and Review Toolkit on the OER Africa website will help you to review or develop institutional or faculty policy frameworks to facilitate development and sharing of OER.

We can think about a wide variety of environments within which technology is used in support of teaching and learning, including previous notions of Computer-based Education/Training, Web-based Learning/Instruction/Training, various digital communication tools, and the use of digital storage media such as CDs and DVDs.

Introduction

Technology includes a rich array of available digital tools with which to enhance our teaching and learning practices. Importantly, technology should not drive the learning process. Rather, the identified learning needs and access to an appropriate learning environment should determine the technology and resources to be used, and also how they are best used in a particular learning intervention.

Characteristics of Technology-supported Learning Environments

• Changed roles for teachers and learners.
• Greater emphasis on learner- rather than teacher-centred engagement.
• Encourages collaboration and sharing rather than competition.
• Learning community interaction not bound by time or place.
• Multi-sensory experience, possibly using a variety of digital media.
• Expanded access to teaching and learning opportunities.

Resources

• Link to this reading by Ron Oliver (1999): On-line Teaching and Learning: New roles for participants.
• Read a blog article by Jason Renshaw (2012) on what to look out for when moving a face-to-face course online, titled Taking Your Course Online? Beware the belittling 'information dump'!

Structure

When designing a course for online delivery, the presence of the learning pathway becomes more important than ever and needs to be carefully designed and implemented, so that the navigation framework for the course is entirely clear. This is discussed further in Course design.

The course should be structured in such a way as to take maximum advantage of the online mode. An online course offers significant opportunities for online engagement via appropriately constructed activities to support a variety of learning interactions, such as teacher–learner, learner–learner and learner–content (Anderson 2008: 61). One of the strengths of online learning is the flexible nature of place, time and level of appropriate mediation for the teacher and learner.

“Educational decisions should be based on a deepening understanding of the ways in which face-to-face communications, telecommunications and independent work can fit together for the best learning and teaching” (Gilbert 1997: 6).

Resources

• Link to this free PDF resource edited by Terry Anderson (2008), titled The Theory and Practice of Online Learning (2nd edition), particularly Chapter 2: Towards a Theory of Online Learning.
• Link to this article by Steven W Gilbert (1997) titled Re-focus on Learning and Teaching: Educational uses of information technology for everyone, from The Technology Source Archives at the University of North Carolina.

Learning Support

The use of technology to support teaching and learning requires us to think about the kind of support learners need in order to access and use the technology effectively in addition to the required academic support. When designing courses and developing materials for online delivery, the following considerations should be taken into account:

• Choice of information and communication technology (ICT) to support the driving pedagogical intention.
• Appropriate target access devices (e.g. mobile vs desktop or laptop).
• Capacity building and technical support for teachers, learners and technical administrators.

Note: This Guide is intended as a generic resource for all modes of course delivery, and as such will not focus any further on the technology support aspect. Find more information on how to incorporate learning support in Course design: Learner Support and Materials development: Learner Support.

Resources

• Facilitators can view the Saide Moodle course Supporting Online Learners by logging in as a guest.

Learner Engagement

One of the most important advantages of using technology to support teaching and learning is the multitude of online communication options currently available. This communication could be educator–learner or learner–learner, and may be a combination of the following:

• Synchronous and asynchronous methods (temporal flexibility).
• Closed (restricted participation) or open discussions.
• Supported by a private/restricted or publicly accessible learning environment.
• Encompassing a variety of pedagogical intentions (informal or formal learning).

Examples of informal community building/networking and communication 'social' software include social networking systems (such as LinkedIn and Facebook), micro-blogs (such as Twitter), and blogs and wikis (collaborative spaces), among others. When deploying social software for teaching and learning, we should be sure to adhere to the intended pedagogical intention of the activity. Much of the functionality of these social software tools has been encapsulated in dedicated virtual learning environments (VLEs) and learning management systems.

Virtual Learning Environments

A VLE is a software application system, usually accessible via the web, that is designed to support teaching and learning. It may be used for purely distance education, or for blended learning at an on-campus university. In the latter case, the term blended refers to a combination of face-to-face, digitally supported, and online interactions.

You may have heard other terms sometimes used interchangeably with VLE to refer to the same application genre e.g. learning management system (LMS). Both VLEs and LMSs have supporting content management systems (CMSs) to store the digital resources for courses housed on the system.

Examples of well-known VLEs are Canvas and Moodle - both Open Source Software (OSS), which means that they can be customised for particular contexts and there are no licence fees. Proprietary systems include Blackboard Learn, among others.

Resources

• The current social media landscape is explored by Fred Cavazza in his blog entry Social Media Landscape 2012, which contains a good visual representation of available tools and their functions.
• Moodle 2 Tool Guide for Teachers is a PowerPoint presentation by Joyce Seitzinger (adapted by Gavin Henrick) that provides guidance on which Moodle tools to use for different learning activities (312KB, 2 pages).
• Link to the 2nd edition of the freely available PDF book Using Moodle – Teaching with the popular open source course management system by Jason Cole and Helen Foster (2007).
• Facilitators can learn how to use Moodle by completing the Moodle course Certificate in Online Education developed by Alex Little and Jaime Oyarzo of Digital Campus.

Planning

Planning is the most important first step in any course design. Since learner needs are central, planning begins with a clear purpose for the course, with careful consideration of the target audience and context. We must start with the end in mind, whether our course is a short, stand-alone course, or a course that spans a number of modules or even years.

There are challenges and potential when designing learning. Some of the learning you plan for will happen. Some may not. But there is also learning that you do not plan for that will happen. Planning is an iterative process and needs to be revisited throughout the design process.    

Resources

• This Saide Curriculum Development Guide will help you to think about the factors to consider when designing a curriculum (259KB, 3 pages).
• This Saide Planning Process Tool (33KB, 1 page) will help you to think about a planning process at the level of course design.
• This Open University Learning Design Initiative Narrative Case Study describes how a blended learning approach was used to create a module map for a short course in social work (284KB, 3 pages, CC-BY-SA).
• This Saide resource provides questions to help you think about what is involved in Cyclical Planning (33KB, 2 pages).

Context and Target Audience

The contextual needs of each learner drive learner support in course design. The target audience profile is clearly identified at the course level and fed through to the materials development level (Material Development: Where do we start?)

Resources

• A group of course co-ordinators considered the implications of the target audience on the design of a BEd distance education programme. They came up with this Saide resource for their programme: a table describing the Target Audience Implications (31KB, 1 page).

Structure

The way in which the programme is structured is crucial for guiding learners along the learning pathway. Once the decisions about the overall structure of the course have been made they will help to inform decisions about how to structure and sequence the content. We talk more about this in section 2.2 of this Guide.

In distance education we also need to think about how we structure the course so that there is a supportive balance between self-study, contact time and assessment. This is crucial to being able to provide structured feedback and support to learners.

Salmon’s 5 Stage Model (2000) helps us think about a structure for designing online courses. The Salmon model offers us five categories for thinking about a structure:

• Access and motivation.
• Online socialisation.
• Information exchange.
• Knowledge construction.
• Development.

Importantly, Salmon’s model illustrates (in Stage 1) the need to structure in opportunities for learners to become familiar with the skills that are required to, literally, navigate through the learning pathways. Without these skills it will be difficult for learners to access the teaching and learning process you have designed.

Resources

• This Saide annotated Course Map example can be used to design a learning pathway that connects the objectives/outcomes, the content and the assessment tasks (89KB, 6 pages).
• Saide's Course Outline Template (32KB, 1 page).
• This is the University of Leicester’s Course Map Template  (page 2 contains a completed example) (55KB, 2 pages).
• The Saide Delivery Model for Support document is an example of how to find a supportive structure for a blended distance education course (104KB, 1 page).
• You can see Salmon's 5 Stage Model on the All Things in Moderation website or order the ’E-moderating’ book. As you read, think about how this could help you structure one of your own courses.

Purpose and Outcomes

The overall objectives or outcomes of a course help us to make decisions about content, structure and assessment. The content will help us in designing the learning pathway that we want learners to follow.

Resources

• This Saide Design Map template shows a learning pathway that connects the objectives/outcomes, the content and the assessment tasks (58KB, 1 page).

Content/Concepts/Skills/Context

We are often tempted to pack a course full of content to try to give the best to learners. We need to consider carefully what set of concepts (and skills) we want learners to understand, and what is manageable in that context. We need to make sure that there is sufficient content across the course to provide a scaffold towards those concepts.

Resources

• This link to Carleton College Science Education Research Centre's A Reflection on Choosing Content offers insight into the relationship between learning goals, context and content.
• This Saide Module Outline example can be used to plan the content in line with the objectives/outcomes, the assessment strategy and key learning tasks (65KB, 2 pages).

Structure

The learning pathway – the golden thread that connects the purpose/objectives, the content and ultimately the assessment tasks – reflects the approach to learning. The way in which we structure and sequence the content is underpinned by an understanding of how people learn.

From Salmon’s 5 Stage Model (2000), which we used to think about structure (Course design: What do learners need to know?), we can also see the need to accommodate the increasing role of learners in finding and creating content. At higher levels learners become increasingly independent in sourcing and synthesising additional content. We need to be sure that they have sufficient technical skills and conceptual knowledge to make good choices. The structure will support them to return to the learning pathway when necessary.

Resources

• This Saide Module Structure example will help you to organise the modules more carefully once you have decided on the content (60KB, 3 pages).
• Saide's view of how people learn is described in Learning, a Learning Spiral and Materials Design (75KB, 5 pages).
• This Saide resource provides ideas on how to Select a Learning and Teaching Approach and its implications for designing the learning pathway (92KB, 9 pages).
• Link to Charlotte Gunawardena et al's (2006) article, A Theoretical Framework for Building Online Communities of Practice, published in Educational Media International 46(1): 3–16.
• This University of Leicester Pedagogy Profile spreadsheet is used to develop and record a profile of the activities in a course or module. The profile gives an overview of the different types of activities used in the course (124KB, 3 sheets).

Resources (types and how they will be used)

Randell (2006), in Resources for New Ways of Learning, suggests that there are three important questions that will lead to good decisions about resources. These questions are:

• Who is the audience?
• What is the purpose of the programme?
• How will the learning resources be used?

Resources need to support the content/concepts/skills development in a course. The resources that you choose need to be appropriate, and integrated into the teaching and learning process. Consider also whether you or others may be able to use the resource in other contexts.

You may have decided early on in your planning process to find out whether there are any suitable existing materials. Generally the first place to start is looking for OER.

The choices you make now about resources are refined during materials development (see Materials development: What do learners need to learn?)

Resources

• Randell’s (2006) manual Resources for New Ways of Learning is useful for exploring resources (1.94MB, 115 pages).
• This link to Carleton College Science Education Research Centre's Reuse of resources offers insight into the reusability of resources.
• Refer to the Open Educational Resources (OER) section of this Guide, for OER Tools and Examples.

Integrated Learning Process

The overall approach to teaching and learning is informed by your conception of how people learn. The way in which a course is designed and structured supports and facilitates the approaches and methodologies designed into the learning materials.

Resources

• This Saide resource, Learning, a Learning Spiral and Materials Design, gives a theoretical basis for the notion of building a learning pathway that facilitates learners moving from the known to the unknown between modules and units, as well as within the learning activities in the materials (75KB, 5 pages).

Learner Support

Learner support is a crucial component because it is related to access to learning. The role of the teacher in structuring the content, in designing learning activities that promote higher order thinking skills, and in providing an opportunity for sharing and collaborating is central in providing learning support in quality teaching. Learner needs might include academic support, support for access to resources, and so on.

In online courses, the ’teacher’s presence’ guiding and supporting learners and their learning is key to enhancing the online learning experience. Anderson and Elloumi (2004: 275) conceptualised the notion of the three ‘presences’ in online course delivery. They are:

• Teacher presence – mediating between learners and what is to be learned (the material).
• Social presence – rooted in the idea of learning as a collaborative process for constructing knowledge.
• Cognitive presence – in which the role of the teacher is to guide reflection and discourse on learning. 

Resources

• Review the quality criteria for NADEOSA Quality Criterion 7: Learner support (75KB, 3 pages).
• The Saide article Enriching Online Learning Experience: The three ‘presences’ helps us think about these roles more carefully, particularly for online teaching and learning (366KB, 4 pages).
• Link to this free PDF of a resource edited by Anderson and Elloumi (2004), titled The Theory and Practice of Online Learning (1st edition).

Assessment

The overall assessment strategy is an essential part of the learning pathway. Assessment at the level of the course design is about broader strategies, rather than activities, exercises or tasks. The assessment strategies are reflected by the formative and summative assessment activities or exercises that are designed into the materials (see more about assessment in Materials development: How will we know learners have learned?).

Whatever the mode of delivery, the principles of assessment are the same. There may be different techniques and applications available in technology-supported learning, but assessment still needs to be aligned with the course purpose and objectives. This is discussed in more detail under Materials Design: How can we help learners to learn?

Resources

• Read through the NADEOSA Quality Criteria for Assessment for a description of high quality assessment (81KB, 2 pages).
• Review Saide Examples of Course Assessment Strategies (83KB, 3 pages)
• Read an extract from John Biggs (2003), from Aligning Teaching and Assessing to Course Objectives (25KB, 1 page).
• Look again at the Design Diagram from section 2.2 of this Guide and focus on the thread that runs between the objectives, the key learning activities and the assessment activities (58KB, 1 page).
• Review the Saide Considering Integrated Assessment activity example (80KB, 1 page).

Learner Support and Feedback

Assessment support and feedback are built into the structure of the course. Most often in distance education this is done by means of contact sessions or tutorials, with careful consideration for structure and timing.

The way in which formative and summative assessment is designed into the materials to support the overall learning pathway that you have designed into the course is discussed in more detail under Materials Design: Where do we start?

Resources

• Look again at the Delivery Model for Support document that you saw in section 2.2 of this Guide. Think about the value of feedback on assessment to learners in providing this support (91KB, 1 page).

Quality Criteria

These criteria can serve a dual function of helping you follow a sound design process and enabling quality checks at different points in the process.

Resources

• Link to a JISC framework of questions in Toolkit for Harnessing Quality Assurance Processes for Technology Enhanced Learning, to guide the design and implementation of quality assurance practices in technology-enhanced course design and delivery.
• Review the NADEOSA Quality Criteria for Course Design (70KB, 2 pages).
• Review Saide Examples of Course Assessment Strategies (83KB, 3 pages).
• This Course Evaluation template, created by Saide, can be used to evaluate courses designed and delivered in a VLE (244KB, 3 sheets).

Quality Assurance Strategies

Decisions taken at the course level about the learning outcomes, the learning and teaching strategies, the assessment methods, and the delivery modes influence the selection and/or development of the learning materials. A comprehensive quality assurance framework that clearly spells out the criteria for each of the course components provides direction for the design, development, delivery and ongoing review of the learning materials. A comprehensive quality assurance strategy informs and guides the establishment and ongoing review of systems, processes and procedures that promote and support the development of quality courses.

Resources

• This COL quality assurance framework in the 2009 Quality Assurance Toolkit includes Criterion 6, which focuses on course design and materials development (2.55MB, 371 pages).
• Link to Tony Bates' blog, Nine Steps to Quality Online Learning, Step 9: Evaluate and innovate. The nine steps are aimed mainly at educators who are new to online learning, or have tried online learning without much help or success.

Now that you have decided what you want to teach, and how, it would be most efficient to find out what already exists and make choices about what you want to use and adapt (i.e. reuse). A good place to start is with OER. Whether you use OER or regular copyright resources, or a combination thereof, you should nevertheless ensure all resources align to your overall course design. Read more about choosing, adapting and using OER in the Open Educational Resources section and in section on Learning Resources.

A team approach to materials design and development is likely to produce quality products if the team is well managed. Teams for materials development usually comprise a content specialist, an educational or instructional designer, a language editor, and a graphic designer. To produce technology-supported learning resources will require additional team members such as technology specialists and web designers.

Materials design is integrally linked to and influenced by course design. Decisions about the purpose and outcomes, target audience, mode of delivery, learning and teaching approaches and methods, content, sequencing and structure, and assessment strategies will significantly impact the design of the materials (see Course Design). You will continually refine this plan as you adapt or write.   

Resources

• In Courese Design (Purpose) there are a number of tools that can help you plan a course and weave the golden thread through to the materials design process. For example, review the Course Map (52KB, 1 page) and Module Outline (65KB, 2 pages).
• Read this reflection on the elements at the heart of effective e-learning design: activity, scenario, feedback, delivery, context and impact, from Andrew R Brown and Bradley D Voltz (2005), Elements of Effective e-Learning Design(International Review of Research  in Open and Distance Learning, 6(1).
• This Saide case study from 2005, Proposed Strategies for Developing Learning Materials for Use in Colleges,  gives an overview of diverse methods for development of learning materials as well as ideas for building capacity in materials development (110KB, 15 pages).

Context and Target Audience   

You have thought about the target audience and their context in Course design: How can we help learners learn? Clarity about the target audience and their context helps you to be sure that the types of resources you choose or develop are supportive of and appropriate for learners.

Resources

• Table 2 in the chapter on the use of learning resources in Resources for New Ways of Learning: A manual for developers of learning resources (Randell 2006) provides useful guidance on choosing resources appropriate for the target audience (115KB, 5 pages).

Structure

Knowing the context and target audience allows you to be responsive and thoughtful when structuring the content and identifying suitable learning approaches and methods. When structuring content you make decisions about the content logic and sequence that makes most sense for the course and the target audience. How will you sequence the content/topics to support the development of key concepts and skills? What approach will you use?

• Concept-based?
• Topic-based?
• Task-based?
• Inquiry-based?
• Problem-based?

The COL handbook resource provides information about the first three approaches, while the JISC Design Studio article provides more information on the latter two approaches.

Resources

• See the COL guidelines for analysing content in Section 3 (Planning an ODL Course) in the COL resource, Creating Learning Materials for Open and Distance Learning: A handbook for authors and instructional designers (557KB, 44 pages). (Refer specifically to Section 3.4: Content Analysis and Planning: What to include.)
• Link to information about inquiry-based learning approaches from the JISC Design Studio.
• An example of an Open University course that uses a case study approach: Introducing Health Sciences: A case study approach
• This Saide/OER Africa Materials Development workshop programme (117KB, 10 pages) and presentation (6.67MB, 77 slides) for a team of nursing educators in Malawi are examples of the issues involved in developing a problem-based learning course using OER.      

In any learning materials development process, a critical step is clarifying what learners need to learn. A focus on the concepts and competences learners are expected to acquire enables you to select appropriate content and sequence it in the materials, to promote and support the acquisition of stated competences.

Purpose and Outcomes

In the overall planning for the course you clarified the purpose and the outcomes. The materials need to make explicit the aims and learning outcomes. This has several benefits:

• It enables learners to know exactly what knowledge, skills and values they are expected to acquire and strengthen.
• It guides your selection of appropriate learning resources.
• It enables you to pinpoint the most appropriate content.
• It guides your selection of learning activities to help learners acquire the stated competences.
• It guides your assessment of what learners have learned.

Writing specific learning outcomes appropriate for the level of the course and ensuring they are measurable and achievable can be quite tricky. Communicate the learning outcomes in ways that make it easy for the intended target audience to understand them. Help learners to see the link between the learning outcomes and the assessment activities.  

Resources

• See the COL guidelines on writing learning outcomes from Section 3 (Planning an ODL Course) in the COL resource, Creating Learning Materials for Open and Distance Learning: A handbook for authors and instructional designers(557KB, 44 pages). (Refer specifically to Section 3.3: Setting Aims and Objectives for Your Course and Section 3.4: Content Analysis and Planning: What to include.)
• This is another useful COL resource: The COL handbook on In-house Style for Course Development (1.32MB, 48 pages). (Refer to pages 37–39 for an explanation of Bloom’s taxonomy.)
• This is a UNISA/Saide community development module that provides an Example of a Set of Learning Outcomes linked to the unit assessment activities (30KB, pages).

Content/Concepts/Skills/Context

Once you have clarified key concepts, content, competences and skills, the materials focus on how to promote and support the development of the specified concepts and competences. You will identify the methods best suited to developing these with the particular target audience. Think about:

• What pre-course knowledge do learners have?
• Which concepts are new to learners?
• What kind of support do you need to build in to the materials to enable learners to develop a thorough understanding of the key concepts?
• What kinds of learning activities and supporting content do you need to include?
• What kinds of learning skills, including research and study competences, do learners need?
• What cross-critical competences, such as critical thinking, analysis and evaluation, information gathering, organizing information, communication, teamwork, and managing tasks, do learners need?
• Will you use case studies? If so, which case studies would be most suitable?
• Will you use the input of experts in the field? If so, how will this be done?
• Will you incorporate field visits to provide learners with an experience of authentic contexts?
• What contextual examples will you use?
• Will you use research findings?

Resources

• This is a Saide module structure example (as seen in Course design) to record the specific content, concepts and competences for each unit (60KB, 3 pages).

Learning Resources

As part of your materials design strategy you may have decided to look for existing materials that you can use or adapt (i.e. reuse). The first place to start looking for existing materials in your particular topic or field of study is OER. You can consider a range of multimedia OER such as videos, audios, and graphics for use in any course. E-learning courses can incorporate a wider range of digital resources. Multimedia and digital resources afford a range of opportunities for interactivity and support. What they can offer and the implications of using them for a particular course and target audience must be clearly understood in order to derive maximum benefit. Where there are no suitable existing resources, you will have to develop the materials from scratch.

When making a decision about the types of learning resources to use you need to consider questions such as:

• What are the purpose and learning outcomes of the course?
• What is the learning and teaching approach used?
• How will the resources be used by learners and educators?
• What is the expertise of educators to facilitate the use of the learning resources?
• How ready are learners to engage with the learning resources?
• What are the costs involved in acquiring and adapting existing learning resources?
• How long will it take to adapt and/or develop the learning resources? 

Resources

• The Learning Resources chapter from Randell’s (2006) Resources for New Ways of Learning encourages reflection on the different types of learning resources that could be used for a course or learning intervention (100KB, 5 pages).
• See a list of questions by Phil Race for assessing the suitability of OER and other existing learning materials, in Assessing Existing Materials to Determine Suitability (19KB, 1 page).
• This University of Leicester resource, Resource Audit template,  will help you categorise your resources in terms of the following: ‘reuse as is’, ‘find, tweak and use’, ‘find, repurpose and use’, ‘create’ (21KB, 2 pages).
• Refer to the Open Educational Resources (OER) section of this Guide, for OER Tools and Examples.

A major challenge when designing learning materials is to create materials that stimulate and support learners to engage fully in the learning process and develop the intended competences. The examples in this section show a range of learning methods, techniques and activities.

Integrated Learning Process

How will the materials support learning? The learning pathway in the materials is designed to give practical expression to the overall approach to learning and teaching.

Select appropriate learning activities

When selecting learning activities consider the nature and level of the course, the specific learning outcomes, the main underpinning and teaching strategies, the experience and cognitive level of the target audience, and the context in which learning takes place. Select diverse activities that challenge and engage learners at a range of complexity levels. Bloom’s taxonomy can help you think about appropriate progression and sequencing of activities.

Build in feedback to deepen learning

Feedback is a critical and integral component of effective learning. Appropriate feedback and commentary on activities enables learner to experience a form of interaction and discussion that normally takes place in lively classrooms. At the same time meaningful feedback enables learners to assess their own performance and progress. Written feedback should encourage learners to think critically about what they have done and enable them to use mistakes as opportunities for deeper understanding.     

Resources

• How People Learn: A learning spiral gives a theoretical basis for the notion of designing a learning spiral in the learning materials (75KB, 5 pages).
• Link to a JISC-Open University Learning Design Initiative resource, Authentic Learning Activities, which provides information and case studies describing work-based and field-based activities that can be integrated into the learning environment.
• This is a Saide reflection on Scaffolding Learning in Course Materials (36KB, 2 pages). 
• This is a Saide menu of online Learning Activities and a description of how they might be used. An example is provided to illustrate each type of activity (61KB, 12 pages).
• This University of Leicester document template, Develop Your e-Tivities, will help you design a learning pathway for an online learning activity (or e-tivity) (53KB, 2 pages).
• Link to JISC Design Studio's Feedback, offering a reflection on the importance of feedback to promote effective online learning.

Activity Design

Activities play an important role in helping learners engage actively with the materials. It is important to design a diversity of activities.

Resources

• This is a Saide resource, Preparing to Write a Learning Activity (45KB, 2 pages).
• A range of sample activities is included for writing diverse activities in Section 4 (Planning and Writing a Unit of Learning) of the COL resource, Creating Learning Materials for Open and Distance Learning: A handbook for authors and instructional designers  (1.4MB, 75 pages). (See specifically Section 4.2: Writing Activities.)
• This is a Saide menu of Online Learning Activities and a description of how they might be used. An example is provided to illustrate each type of activity (61KB, 12 pages).

Learner Support 

In a distance education course, whether presented in print or online, it is assumed that most of the teaching happens through the careful selection and development of relevant learning resources. A well-designed set of learning resources must enable learners to engage in guided self-study. The ‘teaching voice’ in the materials and digitally supported resources must guide, nudge, challenge and support learners throughout. Pre-empt possible questions that learners might have and include adequate information and support, to increase the likelihood that learners remain motivated to progress along the learning pathway.

A range of learner support mechanisms are built into the course, e.g. tutorials/contact sessions, peer support sessions, and support in the workplace (mentoring) – some facilitated by online technologies such as blogs, forums, email, Skype and web conferencing tools. The degree and level of support will take into account learners’ prior work and study experience, and could include study skills and academic support.

Resources

• Saide's The ‘Teaching Voice’ in Materials: Teaching through the materials (84KB, 10 pages).
• Using Feedback for Learning (137KB, 11 pages) is by Phil Race.
• This is an example of an introduction to a UNISA community development course (1.17MB, 17 pages).

Layout 

The layout features of any set of learning resources, whether in print, digital or online, should enable the user to navigate easily through the learning resources. This is more than merely providing a specific look and feel. Layout involves decisions about:

• The structure and features you want to include, such as module outcomes, introduction to the module, use of icons, use of graphics and tables, overview of unit headings, learning activities, learning activity grid for learners to write their answers, feedback on activities, case studies, extracts from selected articles, summary, glossary, and list of references.
• The technical features, e.g. levels of headings; font and size of headings, main text, case studies, extracts, labels for graphics and tables; and spacing between headings and text and between paragraphs, sections and units.
• The online features and functions, e.g. menu of elements, seamless integration of the different elements, navigability of the site, introduction to the site, clearly marked internal and external links that are fully operational, and built-in functions support.   

Resources

• The In-house style template (page 32) in the COL handbook on In-house Style for Course Development provides sample style templates to give you ideas (1.32MB, 48 pages).
• Table 9 in Randell's (2006) Resources for New Ways of Learning  (the chapter on Write, Review, Refine) shows possible access devices (282KB, 16 pages).

Integrated Assessment

Assessment is an integral part of the learning process. The assessment strategy designed for the course informs the development of individual assessment activities. The assessment activities must fit the learning outcomes and be achievable for learners. A taxonomy such as Bloom’s taxonomy or the SOLO taxonomy can help you consider appropriate progression and sequencing of formative and summative assessment activities and align the learning activities to the assessment. But design is an iterative process and you might start with a preliminary idea for the assessment activities, which you refine as you go along.

In an integrated assessment approach, theory and practice are integrated in the assessment methods and activities. A combination of diverse methods and activities is used to assess learners’ performance. Formative assessment activities are included at crucial points throughout the learning pathway, and are well aligned with summative assessment tasks.
Technology opens up a range of assessment possibilities. Appropriate technological application/s can be selected to support formative online assessment or a combination of online and offline assessment.

Resources

• This is a set of criteria from NADEOSA to guide the design of quality assessment in a course, from Designing and Delivering Distance Education: Quality criteria and case studies from South Africa – Section 6: Assessment (81KB, 2 pages).
• Link to the JISC e-book: Effective Assessment in a Digital Age 2010, an informative guide on the principles and practice of assessment in online learning environments with guidelines on technology-enhanced assessment and feedback. While the focus is on online learning, the key principles and ideas for integrating assessment are applicable to the design of assessment for courses using different modes of delivery.
• This is a Saide/UNISA example of a portfolio activity in a practice-focused community development programme (581KB, 9 pages).
• See the COL practical guidelines to inform the writing of a range of assessment activities in Section 6 (Planning Assessment) in the COL resource: Creating Learning Materials for Open and Distance Learning: A handbook for authors and instructional designers (250KB, 20 pages).

Support for Assessment

Assessment activities can model teaching and learning processes that encourage participation, support and feedback to increase the likelihood of success for learners.

Providing support for assessment can include providing assessment criteria, writing clear instructions for assessment activities, and offering assistance with planning of assessment tasks. In Materials development: How can we help learners learn? we saw the value of meaningful feedback. This is an important part of assessment for learning.        

Resources

• Link to JISC Design Studio's Feed Forward, offering a reflection on the benefits of including feed forward to improve learners’ performance on assessment.
• Link to JISC Design Studio's Feedback, offering a reflection on the importance of feedback in assessment to promote effective online learning.

Planning for Quality

Developing quality learning materials that promote effective learning does not happen by chance. It requires careful planning, monitoring and evaluation of all course components, including the learning materials. As part of the materials development process we can set up quality assurance processes that ensure quality materials have been developed. This will include appropriate planning, internal and external critical review, ethical and copyright clearances, and editing. Feedback from users – learners and tutors alike – about the usefulness of the materials in supporting learning is essential.

Resources

• Designing and Delivering Distance Education: Quality criteria and case studies from South Africa includes the NADEOSA quality criteria for distance education in South Africa, which  offer detailed guidance for developing and reviewing courses and learning materials and promoting quality. Section 5: Course Materials can be used for quick review of the quality of materials (71KB, 2 pages).
• Designing and Delivering Distance Education: Quality criteria and case studies from South Africa includes the NADEOSA quality criteria for distance education in South Africa, which  offer detailed criteria to guide the design of quality assessment in a course: Section 6: Assessment (81KB, 2 pages).
• See the Saide Training Evaluation Form for learners to give feedback (85KB, 2 pages)

Quality Assurance Strategies

Three major review and evaluation methods to promote quality in the design and development of learning materials are:

• Benchmarking – selecting relevant, high quality examples of course design and materials development and using them to inform the ongoing improvement of materials development systems and processes.
• Self-evaluation – enables educators to view their learning materials with a critical eye and to determine their strengths and weaknesses.
• External evaluation – External review of learning materials is a method frequently used by institutions to determine how they measure up to nationally and/or internationally accepted standards of practice.

Once learning materials are developed it is important to pilot or prototype them in the ‘field’ so that the quality of the learning materials is tested. 

Resources

• The Saide tool  Reviewing Course Materials can be used for self-evaluation as part of the materials development process (55KB, 4 pages).
• The Saide tool Developmental Testing is for gathering information about the use of learning resources developed (77KB, 8 pages).
• Section 4 of the Saide resource An OER Protocol: Guidelines for publishing OERdescribes materials quality assurance processes, and extends them to the quality management of uploading and managing OER (725KB, 20 pages).