Using learning objects in blended learning: development, deployment and evaluation

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Using learning objects in blended learning
development, deployment and evaluation
Tom Boyle, Claire Bradley, Pete Chalk, Nancy
Johnson, Ray Jones, Richard Haynes, Poppy
Pickard1 London Metropolitan University 1Bolton
Institute CAL 2003, Belfast.
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Project

• Action research project aimed at re-engineering a
  large first year module
• Team based approach
• Blended learning environment
• Focus on role of learning objects
• development
• deployment
• Evaluation

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The educational problem

• Teaching and learning Introductory Programming
• major crisis
• Project at London Met and Bolton Institute
• over 600 students on a one semester Java course
• New blended learning environment
• Focus on the role of learning objects
• as a dynamic part of this blend
• National dimension (LTSN-ICS)

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Reasons for a blended approach

• Need to tackle all significant components in the
  problem
• offline environment, tools used, eLearning,
  assessment
• Easier management of transition
• to new, more innovative methods of teaching and
  learning
• easier to sell to lecturers
• safe testbed for introducing new techniques
• Blend can be dynamic, continuous evolution

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Main elements in the blend

• Curriculum changes
• common curriculum
• team based development
• Teaching organization
• ELearning environment
• standard VLE
• web based learning objects
• Balance of traditional and radical elements

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eLearning and learning objects

• Need for a major new eLearning environment
• A solution that would contribute to solving the
  national problem as well as the local problem
• LTSN-ICS
• Central role of learning objects
• Towards a shareable national repository
• direct transfer of good learning practice
• reusable learning objects
• Feedback to local problem solving

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Team development of learning objects

• Text based and multimedia based LOs
• Flexibility in development
• collaborative/co-operative team-based development
  
• marked time constraints
• mixture of cheap text based objects and more
  expensive , and pedagogically rich multimedia
  learning objects
• Balancing the need to meet delivery targets
  innovation

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Deployment

• Delivered through WebCT
• Independent of WebCT
• LOs reside on a separate server
• Reusable by tutors in other institutions using
  different VLEs
• Bypassed content packaging and metadata
• not necessary at this stage
• diversion from the main aim at this stage

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Evaluation

• Focus on student use
• observation
• questionnaires
• interviews
• tracking data
• Base condition did the overall project succeed?

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Base condition

• Percentage Increase in Pass Rate
• MSc London Metropolitan 12
• HND London Metropolitan 15
• BSc London Metropolitan 19
• BSc Bolton 23

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Summary outputs achieved

• Lessons for the use of LOs in blended learning
• Set of reusable learning objects
• text based
• web multimedia
• An input to the next turn of the spiral
• internally
• externally
• Evaluation in real use in a blended learning
  environment

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