Curriculum plan

ELearning pedagogy for teachers in Higher Educational Institutions (HEI)

This Curriculum Plan is approved by Høgskolen i Bergen (HiB), Norway in 2008/2009.

The course has been running twice during spring 2008 and 2009.

If HiB arrange this course it will be advertised.

Other HEIs are free to use the curriculum plan for non commercial purposes and adjust it according to their specific needs and time schedule.

The editors of this Virtual Book should be informed when this is done.

 

Structure:

Part 1: Prestart (2-3 weeks) – introduction to the platform and the Virtual Classroom.

Prestart (2-3 weeks) – introduction to the platform and the Virtual Classroom.

Part 2: On Campus Course (1 week)

On Campus Course (1 week)

Part 3: E-learning studies with supervision (7 weeks)

E-learning studies with supervision (7 weeks)

Part 4: Individual work and delivery of final assignment (3 weeks)

Individual work and delivery of final assignment (3 weeks)

Introduction:

Lifelong learning is an important objective for the EU educational systems and for labour mobility in Europe. A tool for LLL is e-learning methodology that makes it possible for professionals to increase their knowledge as part time students.

Being an e-Learning teacher demands specific skills and competences in pedagogy related to supervising students on the Internet. One needs an explicit knowledge of how to structure the learning material to make a suitable and inspiring learning environment for e-Learning students.

This course promotes and strengthens the participants’ skills in teaching, supervising, planning and organising good e-learning courses in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Objectives:

This study programme will meet the needs for knowledge and skills in e-Learning pedagogy in the field of social work education. The study programme will increase the possibilities for more educational institutions to take part in or initiate new e-Learning courses for students in international programmes.

The study programme is based on situated learning perspectives, a task centred approach to learning and learning-by-doing during the course.

Content

The content in this course is related to the following themes:

· Theory and methods in e-learning pedagogy.

· How to create a VLE by using Learning Management Systems (LMS) and open net resources.

· The development of a Virtual Classroom:

o how to create a cooperative learning community,

o how to make a good curriculum plan,

o how to develop a weekly programme with a good structure and learning progress,

o how to develop course content, for example, e-lectures, triggers and tasks.

· The teacher role in e-learning courses. How to give feedback on students’ written tasks in an e-learning course.

· How to construct tasks for an e-portfolio.

· How to find, critically appraise and decide which Internet resources to use for e-learning students.

· Choose and use the best software and online tools for different educational purpose

· Awareness of issues related to net-ethics

· Basic technical support to e-learning participants

General expected Learning Outcomes

Competences

Professional Development as e-teacher

· Students are able to develop an e-learning course with a collaborative, comparative perspective, and a transparent and task-centred approach.

· Students will be able to develop a curriculum plan according the Bologna Principles

· Students will be able to build and structure e-Learning courses for students with a comparative and collaborative perspective

· Students are able to make learning material for e-learning courses

· Students will develop knowledge and skills in how to deal with basic technical problems and challenges related to using VLE.

· Students will develop skills in finding and using appropriate learning resources and tools which can promote e-Learning.

· Students will develop skills and knowledge about how to  use an learning portfolio as an educational tool in an international course

· Students will be able to reflect on learning in e-Learning

· Students will demonstrate awareness of net-ethics.

· Students will develop skills in English language and academic writing

 Collaboration

· Students will learn how to cooperate and stimulate cooperation among participants in a Virtual Classroom by the use of chat, asynchronic discussion forums and cooperation in task solving.

· Students will exchange experience and discuss solutions related to development of new learning programmes in e-Learning.

Didactical skills

· Students will be able to describe, analyse and evaluate pedagogical methods in e-learning related to a specific course they have developed during the course-pedagogy programme

· Students will be able to strategically choose between different didactical strategies when planning an e-learning module, related to expected learning outcomes

· Students will develop skills and competence in how to promote reflection on learning in e-learning

Study methods:

During the course students will work with a problem oriented focus, and by solving tasks learn how to develop their own e-Learning courses. Using a hands-on approach, by the end of the course students will have developed their own e-learning course on a subject they have chosen.

The course will be based on the latest research and knowledge in e-learning pedagogy and will invite students to take an active part in their own learning process and collaborate with each other.

Internet access:

The students need consistent access to the Internet to attend this course. The speed of the Internet connection will influence the access to the study material. Some of the course material is produced as media files and broadband is recommended. If the students connect to the Internet over a dial-up connection, the download rate for accessing documents and media files will be significantly slower.

Target group:

The target group for this Programme is teachers in social work education in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in Europe or other related educational programmes. A basic knowledge of didactics will be an advantage. The number of students is limited.

Assessment:

During the course students will assemble their produced material into an e-portfolio. Collected, used and elaborated material will be part of their final assignment.

Students will outline an e-learning course within an LMS. The final assignment is a presentation of the course, including curriculum plan, one screen lecture, one trigger, and the programme for some of the weeks including tasks.

In addition students should describe and analyse their didactical considerations and reflect on learning during the course based on their blog as a reflexive diary.

Credits and Certificate:

The course confers 10 ECTS credits.

Starts/ends:

The delivery of the programme will be determined by the institution providing the course

Reading:

Garrison, D, Anderson, T (2003): E-learning in the 21st century: a framework for research and practice. New York: Routledge Falmer.

McConnell, D (2006): E-learning groups and communities Maidenhead, England New York: Open University Press in association with the Society for Research into Higher Education

Salmon, G (2004): E-moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online London: Routledge Taylor & Francis

In addition to this the list of literature should be supplemented with articles from educational journals and online resources.

Contact editors if you want more information.