Research Insights & Tools for Online Learning Design

Every few weeks, the Colearn Community chooses a theme related to 21st century learning to explore, discuss and curate new research/innovative practice around. The past two weeks have been all about how to design powerful online learning. This post is a synthesis of some of my own research plus some great stuff shared by the community.

What comes to mind when you think about online learning? The past decade has seen a massive rise of internet-enabled education, but for many, the actual experience of it has been pretty underwhelming. Much has been written, for example, about how Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) would revolutionize education, yet completion rates are consistently low, educators and learners alike are often not big fans, and some critics suggest it mostly hype all along.

But for progressive educators and facilitators, interested in technology, what can we learn beyond the hype about what really effective online learning looks like and how to design it? Having worked a lot with online learning for the past few years, I’m convinced that it can be incredibly powerful — even more than traditional face-to-face learning in some cases. But doing it well is requires a different mindset and toolbox than the ones we might be used to.

Below are some of my favourite discoveries from my own recent research, as well as some great stuff from the Colearn Community. It’s not an exhaustive set of stuff, but hopefully you’ll learn something and find a new thing for your own toolbox.

A 5-Stage Model for Online Learning

What is a good starting point for structuring an online learning experience?We know that designing online learning calls for a different set of approaches, tools than traditional face-to-face learning. But what are the best models and principles to draw on? And which ones will help us elevate online learning beyond the conventional and boring?

Gilly Salmon's 5-Stage Model for Online Learning is an excellent starting point. If offers a set of broad stages that can be used to guide the design of nearly any online learning experience. What's useful about this model is that it highlights some really clear principles that are easily applicable when designing. For example, the huge importance of including technical support alongside facilitation, while also recognising that learners will need different types facilitation and tech support at different stages of the journey. Or the way in which the step of online socialisation (creating safety, in other words) must come before steps like information exchange and knowledge construction.

Do you recognise elements of the model from experience? What insights would you take from this and apply?

Something to try
The next time you lead an online learning experience, spend extra attention designing around Salmon’s steps 1 and 2. All too often, online learning leaves out these crucial steps and goes straight to the content delivery. Work with how to support access, motivation and socialisation in the online space and see how your learners respond.

Creating “presence” in online learning

How can we promote presence in online learning environments? One of the common challenges with online learning is a lack of active engagement. Maintaining the attention and focus of learners online can be hard, especially in a digital world designed to compete for our eyeballs at every turn.

But it is possible to design and facilitate for more presence. Randy Garrison developed a model that describes three forms of educator/facilitator presence. Each one represents a different key approach that supports effective online learning. Garrison has been developing this model since 1999 and has made fascinating discoveries through testing it. For example, that social presence (which is often neglected!) has the highest influence on learner satisfaction. While cognitive and teaching presence have the biggest impact on quality of learning. What I find so useful about this model is that it helps me expand my understanding of my role as an educator/facilitator in online learning. I can actively design and act from all three forms of presence, rather than defaulting to only one or two.

How do you think about presence in online learning? When have have you experienced powerful presence? What do you make of Garrison’s model

Something to try
The brilliant folks at the app Mural recently posted a blog post full of Online Warm Ups & Energizers. They range from simple check-in methods to sketching your neighbour digitally, to sharing/guessing each others’ baby photos and more. This stuff is pure social presence and activates a form of connection in the online learning space that we often lack. Try one of their methods the next time your designing an online learning experience.

Mapping the ways learners engage with the web

A big part of designing online learning is navigating the infinite sea of technology platforms, tools and spaces that are directly or indirectly part of the experience. The better we understand our own and our learners relationship to online ecosystems, the better we can create learning that is meaningful and engaging.

We came across a great model and method by David White, Head of Digital Learning at the University of the Arts London, for exploring individuals’ different modes of engaging online. It’s called the Visitors and Residents model. White describes the model like this:

Visitors and Residents is a simple way of describing a wide range, or continuum of, modes of online engagement…When in Visitor mode, individuals decide on the task they wish to undertake. For example, discovering a particular piece of information online, completing the task and then going offline or moving on to another task…When in Resident mode the individual is going online to connect to, or to be with, other people. This mode is about social presence. Resident behaviour has a certain degree of social visibility: for example, posting to the wall in Facebook, tweeting, blogging, or posting comments on blogs.

I find this model useful as a way to reflect on my own behaviour and in observing the behaviour of learners I work with. And the more I understand how my learners interact online, the more effective I can be in designing for them.

Something to try:
White has created an open source workshop around his model. The format is simple enough for any educator to lead and can work for almost any group, from students, to teachers, parents and more. White has put together a detailed facilitator guide, but below is a super-simplified version of the steps and some images to give you a sense of it.

Workshop aims:

• Move away from thinking about tools, and think more about places and people online reflect on how they engage with the web.
• Gain a deeper understanding of their online engagement and the various motivations and assumptions within this.
• Visualise their own practice, and the practices of their peers, so that they can be mindful about what they would like to change, what they would like to continue with, and what they would like to stop.

Step 1: Introduce the Visitors & Residents Model
Give a short intro to the model. Use the facilitator guide and slides below. Give people a chance to discuss and get comfortable with the basic idea and start to make connections to their own experiences and observation

Step 2: Create individual maps
Have each participant draw their own map using the Visitors and Residents matrix. Encourage them to think about the wide range of ways they engage on the web and included everything that feels relevant. There are no right/wrong answers!

Step 3: Reflect & Share
Get participants to share their maps in pairs or small groups. Invite them to reflect on what they find most interesting. Then, put up all maps as a gallery and invite everyone to walk around and look at them. Wrap up with an open reflection round (more questions in the guide)

What do you say? How could you use this model and workshop with your learners or your peers?

From the Community: Digital Tools for Online Learning Design

Bella Funck put this question to the community:

“I’m really curious to hear how you plan and design learning experiences/classes/programs. What tools do you use to make the design? And how do you make sure your designs improve?”

A range of responses came back. The most common response was people using Google Sheets to document their work before and after. But a bunch of other platforms were suggested: Sessions Lab, Notion, Coda. Designer Jenny Theolin shared that she sometimes creates an infographic of her learning design using Adobe Illustrator. And founder Abbas Sbeity championed the good old-fashioned notebook.

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The Colearn Community is a place for educators (facilitators, learning & development trainers, learning designers, teachers, parents) to help each other make the most of new technology and the latest pedagogy to empower their learners with 21 Century skills. Join us.