DBR Phase 2 - The Theory

One of the main learning theories/ design principles that the session follows is constructivism. Each of the parts of the session are about constructivism and incorporating these principles in to the design.  Social constructivism, problem-based learning and adult learning theories also inform on the design.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison talks about Blended Learning theory and Design Principles. The implications for constructivist blended learning are listed below:

• Keep learners active by engaging them in meaningful activities that result in high-level processing.
• Learners should construct their own knowlege rather than accepting that which is given by the instructor
• Collaborative and cooperative learning should be encouraged
• Learners should be given control of the learning process
• learners should be given time and opporutnity to reflect
• Learning should be made meaningful for students
• Learning should be interactive to promote higher-level learning and social presence, to develop personal meaning.

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Technology Solutions for Teaching and Research, Blended Learning Theory and Design Principles (2011)     http://academictech.doit.wisc.edu/blend/design/principles

The session with the students (both Blackboard and forums) have been set to follow these design principles.

The survey prior to the session (using Google forms) gives the learners a chance to bring their own knowledge to the session. The Wordle activity then gives the students a visual representation of their existing thoughts, so that it is meaningful to them, and gives them a chance to speak about their own knowledge.

Slides with expressions prompt students to express their feelings towards PBL, which gives students a chance to reflect, and have a meaningful activity, which prompts them to think and evaluate their own attitudes and understandings.

Underpinning theory slides promote understanding, and give the students a base knowledge, so that they can assist their own contexts from this base knowledge.

Examples of real-life uses of Problem-Based Learning, and the travel activity that gets students to use it, work with the key principles of being meaningful, engaging them, constructing their own knowledge and having control of the learning process.

The Moodle forum then gives the students time and opportunities to reflect upon what they have learnt, and to be interactive, collaborative, and to promote a higher-level learning and social presence, to help develop their own personal meaning for their learning and their own teaching contexts.

Design Based Research Cycle

EDEL20006, Week 2 Learning (http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=238879)

DBR Phase 1 - Update of Ideas

Moving forward with topic ideas and concepts, I think to work in this scenario for the purposes of having a small session with students, I will need a topic that can be looked at in a small amount of time, rather than a whole unit, so this changes some of the ideas I had been working with. I need something that can have a good impact, challenge the way the students think and something that gives a tangible benefit to the students... but a message that has a core focus in a very short space of time.

More refined ideas to work well in this context could be:

To challenge the way they think and to see the value in this new way of learning.
How to learn using both formal and informal ways to learn
Understanding Problem-Based Learning, and how this can help in your context

To phrase my problem...How to help adult learners to understand the changing ways of learning, the benefit of those ways, and how informal learning sources contribute to that learning.

More specifically for this learning experience - To see Problem-Based Learning as a different, but invaluable way to learn, and to see how it can assist adult learners and those adult learners may teach.

Working with students who are learning about Problem-Based Learning, and how that is relevant to their contexts seems like a very good choice in what I want to do. It deals with a core idea of eLearning and new ways of thinking, but makes it relevant to the everyday. I like this - once you get the idea of how to use it in learning (as we already do in our everyday life) then it changes the way we think. I can see this being a problem for adult learners - we have NEVER learnt this way.

At school, we would follow what the teacher said, study it, and then be tested on it. Problem-Based learning challenges the way we think, and helps us to see the possibilities, especially when we are working with others. Being able to learn this way will not only benefit the students, but benefit those that learn and work with them and around them.

Learners needs' here are to get a good, solid understanding of Problem-Based Learning,to see its relevance in learning, and to be able to incorporate PBL in to their own learning context, be it their learning, or the learning of others they teach.

Learning theory that underpins:
Constructivism
Social constructivism
Connectivism
Problem-Based Learning
Adult learning theories


Technological and pedagogical solutions
Present to the students information about PBL to promote understanding, show them the benefits of it, of how it can work in both an adult and early learning context, how it works for them in adult life already, and how it will be useful for their learners.

Technological links - using Blackboard, Moodle, Forums, Wordle, and Surveys to promote the ideas, share in a synchronous and asynchronous way, as to benefit students that learn in both formats.


Context solution to be implemented
Survey - to gather knowledge about how students feel about PBL, and gauge a bit of understanding in a fun, interactive way
Blackboard - Presentation to students
Forum - Questions to get ideas rolling, cement existing ideas, a forum for other questions they might have, a way to express each others' context and how they have used PBL before.
Survey - To capture how the students' felt we went, and their understanding and acceptance of PBL now.

 Design Details
The design of the session is based on promoting understanding and development of PBL, and how that it relevant to the students and their own teaching contexts.

There will be a synchronous session, through Blackboard, where Teresa and I can work with the students and present, facilitate and show them more about PBL. We will do a brief survey beforehand, to gather information about how they feel about PBL before work with them.

Then there will be a forum, where the students can post information about their context, where they see PBL and how it's relevant to them, to further their PBL understanding.

Afterwards, we will do a survey, to get an idea of how we went, what went well, and what we could do better next time.

 Indicators of Success

Drawing from the information that we have previously gathered (using a survey, asking how they feel about PBL and putting it in word form) we have a starting point to see how they feel about PBL. This will be helpful to get a good idea where they are - we currently know they are just learning about it now, and aren't feeling too happy or confident with it.

Throughout the presentation, there are slides to gauge how they are feeling about PBL. At the start and end, they have the opportunity to express their feelings and opinions. We are asking them to explain about what they think/feel (words they think relate to PBL) in the presentation (Wordle activity).

Also, we have interactive activity to use it in the presentation, and the ability to ask further questions and share knowledge on the forum.

Having these points to get feedback and to gauge how they feel about PBL will help us to see where they started, where they are now, and by the end, how they feel about PBL. Activities throughout will also help to gauge where they are and see how confident they feel.

The real indicators of success that I can see are how the students feel towards PBL, if they feel more confident about it, and if they can see the relevance to them and their context, and the benefit to learning in this way. The activity (Travel plans using PBL) is a big indicator to see how they feel. It is a situation we will all encounter in our adult lives, and a really good example of PBL in the everyday life. If the students seem happy and put forward information, then I feel this will be a good indicator of success - if they can see and apply PBL to this situation and can take that forward, that will be a good indicator of success.

The forum will also help to indicate if they have gotten the message - the questions and responses to the questions will help to see how they feel, and if they have gotten the use of it in their context and general relevance to them.
 

DBR Phase 1: The problem

Some very basic ideas for the problems of my learners:

- Hesitant to use technology
- Not understanding new ways of learning
- Not seeing the value in these different ways of learning
- Never used technology much before
- Used to the behaviourist way of learning - teacher gives information to student
- Been out of the work place/ university for a while, so not confident about their skills or themselves

These ideas follow on from a lot of the work I have previously done in EDEL20004, particularly in the second assignment - designing for my context of adult learners, and the general challenges they face day to day in their learning journey in this new age! I was working on getting adults to become familiar with technology, embrace it and see the potential it has to transform they way they think and work in everyday life - the concept was all about adding value to what they already do and to challenge the way they think.
http://cquni.maharasites.com/artefact/blog/view/?id=76647
 

Design-Based Research (DBR)

I like the concept of Design-Based Research. The idea that life is messy, problems are messy, and so, to solve problems, you need to look at it from many approaches and with collaboration and, along the way, refinement of processes.

It cannot simply be something that is static and unmoving - it is a process that is followed, with input, ideas and correction along the way. You work with colleagues, research and real-world practitioners to work through the problem and design solutions based on technology and designs along the way.

The chart that shows DBR as a cyclical entity is very interesting - it allows for the beginning - identifying the problem - and then work through research, the practitioners' insights, the design - using principles to look at why we do it, and what our outcomes, attributes and technologies will be. It ties it all back together, so we are clear as to why we choose to use a certain technology and are always looking and focusing on our core design and what we are trying to achieve - which works through to the overall Learning Design.

The idea that innovation is something that we can all do - it is simply by looking at and changing the way we think about a problem or idea, and constructing solutions to these problems and developed and changed over time, is different and empowering! So often you think of innovation as something someone else would do - as their "job" or someone working in a specific field or industry, and don't stop to look at how this can apply to yourself and others.

I like the idea that they are trying to enable learners to learn, take control of their own learning paths, and work out what works for them! The technology they have set up to incorporate this way of learning also seemed very impressive and well thought-out.