Summary of week two activity

This week several people have contributed to the discussion about the ADDIE model and quality. Views about the usefulness of the ADDIE model of education design have been mixed, although consensus appears to be that it can provide some guidance for design and development. However, theory is believed to be only a starting point, and the ADDIE model is really just a "project management tool" (Alages and Tom), and other factors need to be considered, for example, time, quality and budget" (Rosanne). An excellent point was made that it is important not to get too restricted by one model such as the ADDIE as flexibility is needed when thinking about design of online systems (Mark).

Also, some people have used the model in their design work (Rosanne, Alages), or something similar to it (Sandra H, Mark and Sandra W), and that it is best not to become too linear oriented when designing online learning experiences as it is a dynamic process (Alages). Awareness about the challenges in undertaking evaluation are apparent in the discussions, and it is an area which is often left because of time constraints. Also, the need for evaluating during the design and development etc. phases is regarded as important and mentioned by most people.

I have referred people to the PADDIE model of design which we use at Otago Polytechnic, and as you will see it is still a work in progress - I am too busy doing the actual projects to finish the theoretical framework.  A case in point. The information about the ADDIE model for instructional design provided by Alages has more information about how to use the ADDIE model - for each phase details are provided about the type of evaluation you might undertake.

Only two people are familiar with the eLearning Guidelines, and everyone thought they would be useful although having time to explore them could be problematic. Some people mentioned they used other benchmarks but did not provide information. At Otago Polytechnic we use the Good practice checklist for benchmarking quality in Moodle courses. It is based on others' work as listed on the document. To access this file, you need to login as a Guest. A five stage model for measuring organisational quality in eLearning which some of you may be interested in is the eLearning Maturity Model for NZ.

• Maturity Model Getting Started 
• Marshall, S. (2006). E–learning Maturity Model Process Assessment Workbook. There are five main areas for assessing quality and benchmarking eLearning:

1. Learning Processes that directly impact on pedagogical aspects of e-learning; 2. Development Processes surrounding the creation and maintenance of e-learning resources; 3. Support Processes surrounding the oversight and management of e-learning; 4. Evaluation Processes surrounding the evaluation and quality control of e-learning through its entire lifecycle; 5. Organisation Processes associated with institutional planning and management.

 Additional benchmarks for measuring quality can be found on the Quality Principles site.  Are any of you these resources familiar to you?

Week Nine: Quality in eLearning

sugar magnolia By emdot marya

This week you need to keep working on your plans and also have a look at Quality in eLearning so you can incorporate some of this into your final plan.  The due date for your evaluation plan is 4 October 2010 - for publishing finished plan on the wiki project page with a link to it posted on your blogs.  I am open to negotiation on this.  Dates for the other assessments are now on the wiki in Assessments.  Remember your plans also need to include the actual sampling tools you are going to use, e.g.,  survey, interview etc. I can then give feedback on your survey and interview questions, if you are going down that track. So your tasks this week are to:

•  Explore quality benchmarks for eLearning.
•  Define quality in your context.
• Arrange participants for the evaluation.

Web conference 

Michael Winter from CoreEd will talk to us about his research evaluation of the SLENZ Second Life project on 22 September - 18:30 – 19:30 on Elluminate - Click for the Online meetings. This will be recorded if you can't make it. You may wish to read: Winter, M. (2010).  Second Life Education in New Zealand: Evaluation Research Final Report .

Quality in eLearning
There is lots of material about benchmarking guidelines and frameworks. Of course we have the eLearning Guidelines which you have been exploring, and as we know quality is a complex area and a lot broader than a few guidelines. A good place to start for the New Zealand context is the E-Learning Maturity Model
which incorporates a wide range of eLearning areas.  The model includes checklists you can use, each type depending on which area of eLearning in your organisation you are measuring for quality.  Some of you may already have been involved in this exercise.

In the first instance you need to decide on the type of outcome do you want from benchmarking and this is covered in the Maturity Model Getting Started.  The E–learning Maturity Model Process Assessment Workbook describes five main areas for assessing quality and benchmarking eLearning: For example:

1. Learning Processes that directly impact on pedagogical aspects of e-learning; 
2. Development Processes surrounding the creation and maintenance of e-learning resources; 
3. Support Processes surrounding the oversight and management of e-learning; 
4. Evaluation Processes surrounding the evaluation and quality control of e-learning through its entire lifecycle; 
5. Organisation Processes associated with institutional planning and management.

I have organised material in the  References section on the course website.  See: 1.1.1 Benchmarking eLearning material. There is no topic called quality in the wiki as all the material you need to look at is in the References section. If you wish to define quality in your context on your blog this would be great, but you can also incorporate this aspect into your plans which is where I would rather see it.  

What's next?
 This week I will be looking at your aim/purpose, big picture questions and decisions to make sure these pieces of the puzzle fit well together. Remember there is a holiday break 27 September to 10 October. Aim to start collecting your data at the end of the holiday so get organising with participants once your plans are submitted. Have a great week.

Week 2: Quality and evaluation

I am absolutely thrilled to have met several people already on teleconference, email and on blogs. Seven out of fifteen people have set up their blogs and introduced themselves and also notified the link on the wiki Discussion. Nine people have posted introductions on the wiki Discussion. This is a wonderful start. Don't forget to click the watch tab on the wiki so you get an alert when someone has posted. It is great if people can go back to the Discussion regularly and respond to people.

Also keep an eye on others' blogs so you can comment on what people are posting. Watching each others blogs is easier if you set up an account on Bloglines and add all the blog links there - then you only need to watch to see if the numbers change. Be sure and access some help on using a RSS reader such as Bloglines if you need it. I have decided only to have a link to participant blogs on the course blog, rather than a feed coming in there. Note: To read the writing on the image just click on it.

This week the topic is all about quality.
The presentation this week will give you an overview of the importance of evaluation and the relationship to quality. Hopefully it will stimulate some ideas for you to use in your evaluation project. There is also some light reading on the importance of evaluation, and some questions to respond to on your blog. If you look in the resources area there are several online journals which you might like to start exploring.

The first two weeks are light to allow people time to get set up and confident using the course wiki and blog, and to start posting on their own blogs. It is okay to move faster through the schedule if and when you have the time. You will find you will move through faster some weeks, and this is good, so when you need to take some time out, for whatever reason, you will not get left behind.