Category Archives: Groupwork

My hat’s off to you, Ben!

In my mind, the question Benoit must ask himself is: How will I redesign this course?

He has taken on a great challenge by offering to put his course online. However, as we all know, it will not be as simple as posting his lecture notes and assigned readings. As Coates, James and Baldwin (2005) point out, using an LMS “is associated with the promise of enriched student learning” (p.24). Students will begin the course with certain expectations in terms of technology, and their expectations “need to be matched or exceeded” (Coates, James, & Baldwin, 2005, p. 24).

Benoit appears to have some technological expertise which will serve him well but he must now prepare himself for a more diverse group of learners because having his course online will increase access, bringing in a wider student population. In addition, the use of an LMS comes with some expectation of students progressing at their own pace. So, his course materials have to be organized, uploaded, and tested long before what would normally be the day of the lecture, in a face-to-face delivery format.

My guestimate is that he would need to devote 5-8 weeks to this course conversion, depending on the complexity of his learning resources. (I am basing this number on my own limit experience with content conversion, so I will readily concede my timeframe to someone who better knows what they are talking about. LOL!)

I would think that conceptualizing the redesign would take a full week. Only once that is done, could he begin to consider which platform to use. As a designer, I wouldn’t want the platform to dictate my design from the start. I would like to imagine how I would like the course to operate and then take a look at the two platforms to see what tools each has available to make my design come to life. I would risk poor IST support and/or give the unsupported platform a try if it meant keeping closer to my initial design concept.

Reference:

Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin. G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of learning management systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11(1), 19-36.

Quite the Benoit’s Choice

I think Benoit needs to take a step back and outline how he wants his course to look online compared to an in person course. Assuming his face to face course is successful he then needs to choose the best way to recreate the experience for the online environment.

The big question is what functionality does he need in order to present his materials, and in order to deliver his course? It is a difficult question for anyone, but it sounds like he has no experience in delivering a class online, so I’m not sure he even knows what functionality he would need.

Looking at the Two Solutions

From the description Blackboard Learn doesn’t sound like a great option for a few different reasons. A big one is limited functionality. If Benoit isn’t quite sure how he wants his final product to be this could be helpful as it would limit the choices that he has to make to deliver the experience. The issue however, is the help desk. Benoit already has the content, he’s just changing the way it’s delivered. If he gets stuck and needs assistance from the help desk he may be waiting a while before he gets any help. There is also an assumption that the issue will be resolved on the first try.

Moodle being an open source product has a lot of flexibility and add-ons that can really add to the course experiences. From the description it sounds like this tool is sanctioned by the university and Benoit doesn’t need to administer the LMS, just the course. This opens up a great deal of functionality in terms of the activities and enhancements that can be made to engage students, such as digital badging. It is also important to note that although there is no official help desk, there is a community of users that he is able to tap into for assistance. This exists both in his faculty and in a thriving online Moodle community.

Course Development

Development time is a little tougher as without knowing the course material and the functionality he needs, it is impossible to know how far down the development rabbit hole he is planning to go. If he keeps things simple it would benefit him as he already has the course material developed, but for the benefit of the students he may want to augment his existing content. A minimum effort on his part, he could have his course up and running within just a couple of weeks, again he already has the content. It would only benefit him, and his students in the long run to them rework the course week by week to add in interacting and engaging content.

Looking at how much time he has budgeted to create this course, I would be nervous. Yes, he already has content and some of the instructional design which is roughly 35% of the work completed. There is a good chart from the Association of Talent Development that outlines how long it takes to create training. I think Benoit is going to have to rethink his time otherwise his students are going to be very disappointed in him next semester.

Reference:

Kapp, K. M., & Defelice, R. A. (2009, August 31). Time to Develop One Hour of Training. Retrieved January 21, 2016, from https://www.td.org/Publications/Newsletters/Learning-Circuits/Learning-Circuits-Archives/2009/08/Time-to-Develop-One-Hour-of-Training

Benoît’s conundrum

Benoît should ask himself, “How much time will this course take to set up and maintain outside of the usual duties associated with teaching a course?”. Within this question there are really two: one about the initial set up and the other about maintenance, not only for the semester but in future iterations of the course as well. Whichever way he goes, this is a big decision, because, as Coates, James and Baldwin assert, “commitment to one system can mean exclusion from others” (2005, p. 32) and this could entail excluding access to “large libraries of learning objects” (p. 31). An important distinction between Blackboard and Moodle is Blackboard is a commercial system while Moodle is open source.

This question is in no way meant to discount the question of student learning. From what I know (which is admittedly limited at this time) of the two LMSs, they offer similar platforms for asynchronous and synchronous communication, accessing learning resources, and assessment, given that the teacher and/or technical staff know how to use them.

It sounds like his initial learning curve with Moodle will be steeper because he has no experience with it, as opposed to Blackboard, which he will have some facility with through his experience with WebCT. In this setup phase, Blackboard might be easier, assuming Benoît can, against the odds, access the often inaccessible HelpDesk. But Moodle may be easier in the long run, despite him probably needing more than his available 5 hours in the first week or two. It seems that, once up and running, it will be easier for him to update, correct errors, or add new content in Moodle.

Coates et al. mention access, cost and quality (p. 23) as 3 factors to consider when choosing an LMS. Access is better on Moodle, the cost is free on Moodle, and (I am assuming) paid for by the institution for Blackboard, while the quality is probably similar. That gives a slight edge to Moodle, considering the first category.

Lastly, and contrary to my warning above about this being a “big decision”, Benoît should read Stella Porto’s article and consider that fact that his students may be working less and less within the confines of the LMS, instead choosing their own “customized toolboxes” (Porto, 2015) of information from social media and the web at large, in coming semesters.

References

Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of Learning Management Systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11,(1), 19-36.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9

Moodle. (2016). Retrieved from: https://moodle.org/

Porto, S. (2015). The uncertain future of Learning Management Systems. The Evolllution: Illuminating the Lifelong Learning Movement. Retrieved fromhttp://www.evolllution.com/opinions/uncertain-future-learning-management-systems/

Ok Benoit – what’s your long game?

After reading through the many excellent posts from my peers in the Oak group this week, I write this knowing that many great questions have already been asked! Yet a post made by Mark in reply to Mo’s post sparked a new question in me, for Benoit: What is the goal of the long game?

Mark brought up the point that LMS continue to be widely used, and the case study is currently applicable – but for how long? I read the Porto (2015) and Spiro (2014) articles last, after completing readings for this and my other course, all of which have been about the viability of LMS or online teaching. So after all that, to read pieces that essentially broke down the traditional LMS – well it almost made me laugh, in a way. It became clear that in the long run, or in the ‘long game’ as I tend to think of it, Benoit is going to find himself on the other side of this project without much need for the results.

Previously asked questions regarding reliability, suitability, and ease of use are all excellent – but again I think I agree with the question of which has the best potential to evolve, as posed by Mark. If it looks likely that LMS as we know them are already in flux, perhaps due to what Coates, James & Baldwin (2005) describes as their tendency to create an “overly systematised compression of different disciplines and styles of learning” (p.31). But seeing as that article is 11 years old, the current LMS options are obviously still well-liked enough since then to have stuck around.

So to return to this week’s task of what to do for poor Benoit, out of the two options provided I would encourage him to go towards Moodle. Although he would have less tech. support through the school (which is apparently unreliable, anyway), it sounds to me like the best option for him to grab the bull by the horns and a) learn how to design web spaces more purposefully and b) create such a space that will be available outside for the students in the longer term, even if eventually it is not used in favour of something else. Considering Spiro’s list of what may herald the downfall of LMS in schools, Moodle seems to be the best compromise – it allows for the functionality of LMS for the school’s use, but will be open-share and thus not lose relevance (or accessibility) as the course closes. Although it may require more independent work on Benoit’s part at the start, it sounds to me like a greater investment in his own skills, as well – no more uploading content to FTP and then walking away, now is the time to get his hands a little dirtier with the creation of things. In terms of factors for the ‘long game’, I would say these would point him more in the direction of Moodle over Blackboard.

In regards to how long it might take him to approach this challenge given his 5 hour per week time allowance, I’m going to propose a longer time frame than many of my peers! If we say that he spends 1 hour per day learning Moodle, 40 hours – or an average North American work week – would span 8 weeks. Considering all that must go into the development of an online course, as Meghan beautifully outlined in her post (LMS learning time, content development, assessment, testing) – it would certainly be a lengthy process. Imagining he had 8 hours per day to develop this, I would hazard to outline the following:

2 days to learn Moodle
8 days to curate course content
5 days to design assessment
2 days to test the platform

That would look like 17 8 hour days, or 136 working hours. Considering he only has 5 hours per week to invest, if my math is right (and there is a VERY good chance it isn’t), Benoit would need approximately 27 weeks based on my timeline – about 6 months. This is certainly much higher than it is for many of my peers, but to be honest I would think requesting 6 months to develop a new course, from scratch, sounds quite reasonable! Then again I’ve never had to propose anything such as this before, so if anyone would like to comment, please do!

Reliability should be Benoit’s priority.

In Benoit’s specific situation, a driving factor in his colleagues’ decisions to gravitate toward Moodle is the speed, or, rather, the lack thereof, of support from the IT department for Blackboard Learn. While this is definitely a factor worth considering, I am more alarmed by the implied belief that Moodle is the superior choice because there is less paperwork and less red tape. As the perceived lack of technical support for Blackboard Learn seems to be a significant factor in Benoit’s choice of platform, I believe the question Benoit must ask is: Which platform is most reliable? This is an important question to ask because, regardless of how easy it is to create the course, or how easy it is to use, none of that will matter if the course becomes inaccessible due to technological difficulties. Bates (2014), in his discussion of reliability, states, “Technical support can be a huge cost, not just in paying technical staff to deal with service calls, but also in lost time of students and teachers” (8.3.4 Reliability section, para. 1). The case study explicitly states that there is no real technical support for Moodle and support for Blackboard Learn is slow at his institution. Therefore, it would be wise to consider which platform will ultimately be more reliable in order to decrease possible lost time due to inadequate technical support.

As Benoit can only dedicate five hours per weeks to developing the online course, he does not have the luxury of time. Boettcher (2004), in her analysis of faculty effort required for an hour of instruction to be converted to online material, states “a recommended planning number today for experienced faculty is 10 hours per hour of instruction” (p.3). Boettcher suggests that, in the case of a three-credit course, that approximately 45 hours of instructional time would need to be converted to an online format (p.2). So, if this suggestion is accurate, it would take 450 hours, or 90 weeks at 5 hours per week for Benoit to develop his online course at this rate. Similarly, Wu (2014) reveals that when factoring in all elements of designing an online course, “Verizon Communications reports that it needs at least 40 hours[…]to develop 1 hour of an e-learning course” (p.597). This translates into 1800 hours of development for Benoit’s course if we apply Boettcher’s estimate of instructional hours in a three-credit course. This number is obviously unreasonable as the course is due to go online the next term—so how can I come up with a more appropriate estimate?

First, I need to discount all hours used in platform and interface development as this is largely covered by Moodle and Blackboard Learn’s existing design. Therefore, Verizon Communications’ time estimate is not useful as it does not categorize where the time is spent. Boettcher’s estimate can still apply, but her information is twelve years old, so we need to account for increased usability of LMS and a potential increase in the skill set of users. Finally, we know that Benoit has developed content previous to being asked to develop a fully-online course, so he will save time there. Taking these adjustments into consideration, my estimates of time needed are as follows:

Two weeks to become acquainted with the chosen LMS and its functions.

Rationale:
Regardless of which LMS Benoit chooses, he will have to learn how to use it. Bates (2014) suggests a useful criterion to use when estimating time needed for students to learn how to use a new software is 20 minutes. As Benoit has to do more than navigate the course, I estimate it will take approximately 5 hours of learning and 5 hours of practice to become confident in his skill set. This may be reduced if he chooses Blackboard due to his previous experience with WebCT Vista).

Six weeks for content development, broken down as follows: two weeks to review existing material from the face-to-face course and determine its suitability for the online course and four weeks to adapt and upload content material.

Rationale:
The content from his face-to-face course may not be entirely suitable for the online course. It would be wise of Benoit to take into account Mayer’s 12 principles of multimedia design as outlined in the Teaching and media selection components of the SECTIONS model (Bates, 2014), then adapt the content for an online-learning environment.

Four weeks to construct interaction and assessment components for the course.

Rationale:
While Benoit does have experience uploading content, he will have to design online assessments and opportunities for interaction, something he does not currently have experience with. I presume that this will be time-consuming.

Two weeks to conduct a trial run of the course as both student and instructor (perhaps using faculty members as testers?).

Rationale:
When considering Bates’ (2014) SECTIONS model, I think Ease of Use is an incredibly important area to consider when choosing technology. Therefore, I suggest that Benoit carefully tests the usability and reliability of this course before launching it. I suggest two weeks so he can potentially recruit colleagues to test the course, rather than relying solely on himself in order to provide an outside perspective.

One-two weeks for revisions.

Rationale:
Benoit should reserve ample time to correct any issues discovered in the testing phase.

Total number of weeks: 15-16

References:

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Boettcher, J., (2004, June 29). Online Course Development: What Does It Cost? Retrieved from https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2004/06/Online-Course-Development-What-Does-It- Cost.aspx?aid=39863&Page=1

Wu, H. (2014) A framework of combining case-based reasoning with a work breakdown structure for estimating the cost of online course production projects. British Journal of Educational Technology, 45(4), 595-605. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

If I were Benoît . . . .

There are so many questions to consider when converting a F2F course into an online course, but I think the main question is “what online tools does Benoît think he will need to make his F2F course into an online course that meets the course objectives?” I think this the most important question to ask in deciding between the two platforms. Embedded within this question are many others. How does he want to communicate with students? How will his students communicate with each other? Does this course require collaboration? How will this take place? How does he want to assess the students? Does he want to incorporate social media? How does he want to organize his course? What resources does he want to make available to the students?

The reason why I think this is the most important question is based on the SECTIONS model by Bates (2014). Presumably the Students that will want to take this course will be similar between his F2F and the online course, though the online course may be a more diverse group given the increase in accessibility. I am going to assume that accessibility is not going to be an issues as these students are voluntarily signing up for this online course. As for Ease of use, both platforms have been used by students in higher education, and thus usability will only differ slightly and may vary by individual, with some preferring Moodle while other Blackboard. As for Benoît, he has never worked with Blackboard or Moodle so there will be a learning curve regardless. At this point, I have too little information to determine which is easier to use for Benoît and his background. As for Cost, I will consider it equivalent for Benoît as the university already uses Blackboard and Moodle. Teaching functions, Interactions, Organization issues and Networking will be the distinguishing factors between the two systems. And this is why the answer to the above question on online tools becomes important. By knowing what he wants his course to look like in the end, it will help him compare the two systems to see which better enables him to create his “ideal” online course. As for Security and privacy, I’m going to assume that both systems comply with university policies given that they are already being used.

Development time is a hard question for me. I’m not sure how much time is needed to make a course to begin with. But here goes. Assuming that he has 5 hours a week to work on this course:

Think about/brain storm what he wants his course to look like and what kinds of tools he wants to use – 1 week
Compare both Moodle and Blackboard and decide which one is better suited for his course – 1 week
Become familiar with chosen platform – 1 week
Start to convert F2F course into online format (13 week course) – 13 weeks
Testing of online course – 2 weeks

So the total I come up with is 18 weeks. But I feel that this may be a gross overestimate. Assuming some things don’t take a whole week, I will say 16 weeks, give or take a couple of weeks. Final answer.

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in digital age http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/ (Chapter 8 on SECTIONS framework)

First attempt at eLearning

I think that Benoit must ask – Which platform has the most potential to grow and evolve? Knowing that the initial setup of the class will take time (no matter which platform is chosen), the course will most definitely change as it is taught. As new features/requirements become available how easily will Benoit be able to modify his course and integrate new features/technologies. While human nature may guide us to choose the path of least resistance it is often my looking ahead (2-5 years in this case) that may provide us with the best answer. Unfortunately I have little experience with both platforms, but from the description is seems that Moodle was given a more favourable description.
2. I feel that Benoit could probably create the shell of a class in 3-4 weeks. If he has all his resources in an electronic format and has the layout for the course then creating modules and posting resources should not be too difficult. Once this initial setup is complete, it would probably take another 3-4 weeks to review each module, introduce Discussion forums, create online submission features and assessment forms. This would add asynchronous features to the course and bring it inline with other eLearning experiences. If Benoit then attempts to include synchronous communication (like Skype sessions or other Video conferencing applications) this would extend this period.

My belief is that it will take Benoit one full term to actually finalize the course of study. One he has delivered the material in an online format and experienced the course in a live environment with actual students and the problems that occur during the first attempt, he will be able to evaluate the success of each module, and modify the expectations and requirements of his students. Just as in a f2f classroom, constant self-evaluation is required to ensure that we offer the best learning experiences for our students.

What are they going to use his office for?

At first, my “one” question was going to be ‘what are they going to use his office for?’ If the department head is asking a sessional instructor at a research-intensive university to turn his course into an online course . . .

Anyway, back to the task. This discussion question seems to be framed by the issue of support structures for the choice of LMS.

For Benoit, the advantages of Blackboard seem to be that he is used to the platform, and that it has university based support staff for that structure. The advantages that are provided by going with Moodle are that it is not administered by the university’s IT department and there is some use of it in other departments.

To make a decision about which platform to choose, Benoit may need to consider:

Will technical support for students be a key factor in the deployment of his Business Writing course? Bates chapter on ‘students’ advocates knowing their needs precipitates choice of technologies.

Will Benoit continue to think of his writing course as governed by an alignment to the learning outcomes of the university? The Spiro article speaks to the demise of LMS systems in favour of students finding information on their own terms. The Newman article writes that post-secondary institutions are uniquely poised to integrate infrastructure and support services. Is it time for Benoit to branch out and create his own course disconnected from/parallel to the one he is creating for the university? Can he create a new amalgamation in his course that blend the best of university benefits and his own creative initiative? If I have one question to ask (on behalf of Benoit) would be “Where do you want this to go?” Will the need for Business Writing courses continue at this university? Could this be an opportunity to build his skill base, create something new evidenced by his experience of designing and uploading other content?

If Benoit estimates that he will spend 5 hours a week developing his course, and it is going to be “live” next term then he should double/triple the hours a week he spends in the guess of 14 weeks. If he decides to go with Blackboard, which he knows an earlier version of, he will be accustomed to the framework and be able to “plug” in his prepared content. If he decides to go with Moodle, he will not only have to learn the structure, but figure out how/where to place content, feedback, assignments, online forums, among others. But is “plugging in” information really the answer?

Whether he decides on Moodle or Blackboard, isn’t really the question. I think Benoit will need to decide whether he will: a) rely on the university for direction and support; b) rely on more personal direction and a bigger role in supporting his students; or c) somehow blend the best of all invested stakeholders, creating something that will serve the here and now, but take him to another frontier.

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in digital age http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/ (Chapter 8 on SECTIONS framework)

Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of Learning Management Systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11,(1), 19-36. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9

Newman, A. (2015). Evidence of learning: a framework for facilitation. EDUCAUSE Review, 50,(6), 47-62. Retrieved from http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/10/evidence-of-learning-a-framework-for-facilitation

Porto, S. (2015). The uncertain future of Learning Management Systems. The Evolllution: Illuminating the Lifelong Learning Movement. Retrieved from http://www.evolllution.com/opinions/uncertain-future-learning-management-systems/

Spiro, K. (2014). 5 elearning trends leading to the end of the Learning Management Systems. Retrieved from http://elearningindustry.com/5-elearning-trends-leading-to-the-end-of-the-learning-management-system

A question for Benoît

Based on the situation, I would suggest that Benoît asks himself which of the two platforms will adapt the best to his needs and those of his students?

In reality this is a very loaded question, for it encompasses many smaller questions. It also requires Benoît to sit down, consider and reflect upon his context, needs, options and ultimately what he desires to get out of the LMS platform. It also might guide him through a reflection similar to the one create by (Bates, 2014) framework SECTIONS. If Benoît fails to ask himself such a question and participate in the necessary reflection, the technology might not be used by the students and therefore the online format of the course will have much difficult to launch off the ground.

Total time to prepare the online course – 12-15 weeks (at least)

Regardless of the selected LMS, rethinking and adjusting his course will take time (approximately 5-6 weeks). Although Benoît has created online material for his business writing class, this was designed to help support a face-to-face learning environment. Benoît will need to carefully consider how he will construct his class, which media to use and how to properly incorporate student collaboration and participation. The course will need to be redesigned in accordance to the needs of this entirely online context. As Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2002) states to ensure effective use of technology involves many decisions from the art of the instructor and teacher environment.

I believe that the time it would take him to truly establish a course would depend on which platform he chooses to use. BlackboardLearn, as it has templates and therefore might be faster to set up. Also I would assume that it might be easier to transfer the data from WebCT vista to Blackboard. Based on his already existing bias regarding Blackboard, it is very possible that the actual implementation of the on-line course might be more time consuming/frustrating due to his opinion. According to Puckett (2013) the manner educational technology is viewed affects its implementation in the classroom (Puckett, 2013). I would grant about 4 weeks to fully familiarize yourself with the product and assess each of the components to your needs. This number comes from the suggested Moodle MOOC for new users that lasts 4 weeks and requires about 3-4 hours a week. Uploading the material and designing the LMS as desired could take an additional 2-3 weeks. Benoît will also need to troubleshoot the entire system as well.

In reality it will take a long time to properly design, select and implement the new-course. The time that Benoît will give to the creation of his site, the more the students and himself will benefit from the on-line course.

References:

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Open Textbook.

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2002). How people learn: Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Puckett, R. (2013). Educational Technology and Its Effective Use. i-Manager’s Journal of Educational Technology, 10(3), 6.

https://learn.moodle.net/

Inside the mind of Benoit….

The question that I feel that Benoit should be asking himself is the following:
Based on my own experience with web design, content development and technical skills with learning technologies what level of IT support do I need?

Importance: This question will allow him to determine whether his 5 hours per week that he can commit to making the online course will be able to used most effectively. If he does not need to rely on much IT support than each hour he works on the course should be an efficient use of his time but if he requires more IT support and historically the Help Desk is difficult to reach and he is always having to wait for email responses than his time is being wasted.

In terms of how much development time Benoit would need to develop the Business Writing online version I am not particularly sure how to allocate time for each tasks. I can start by identify tasks that need to be completed and defer to my group members for their insights. Benoit will need to:
– transfer the content from the old shell of WebCT Vista
– review the learning objectives of course
– decide the interactions that are most appropriate to develop the skills outline in learning objectives
– create the activities, discussion spaces and assessment tools
– review site for ease of use