Professor Allison Littlejohn
An ASCILITE e-Learning Workshop

Professor Allison Littlejohn's workshop was sponsored by Ascilite (Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education) and UTDC.

Download PowerPoint Presentation 'Design of blended learning activities' (2.3 MB).

Allison Littlejohn is Chair of Learning Technology at the University of Dundee in Scotland. As Director of the Institute for Learning Technology she is leading research in a number of areas including learning technology interoperability, technology supported learning and organisational change. Current projects include 'Learning Activity Design in Education', 'Community Dimensions of Learning Object Repositories' (both funded by the UK government) and 'A Model for Flexible Learning' (funded by the Scottish Quality Assurance Agency). For several years she has been an associate of the UK Higher Education Academy and leads the UK Forum on Supporting Sustainable eLearning. In 2003 Allison edited a major international text on reusable LOs and repositories: Reusing Online Resources (Routledg: London). She is currently editing a new Routledge series entitled 'Designing for eLearning' due in 2006.

Design of Blended Learning Activities

Widespread availability of eTools for learning and teaching means that teachers are faced with choosing from a bewildering range of tools and learning theories. For example, they might use a discussion board coupled with a chat tool to support learner dialogue, or a shared blog space to promote collaborative learning. The problem is that teachers are often confused by the range of tools and may need a framework to help decide which might be appropriate for a particular task. 'Learning design' is one such framework that can be used to plan the sorts of eTools and learning resources required to support learners in carrying out specific learning activities.

The 'Design of blended learning activities' workshop aims to support teachers in developing ideas for learning activities that can be reused across a range of contexts. Key concepts from 'learning design' will be presented alongside a new range of taxonomies and tools being developed in the UK to support learning activity implementation. During the session participants will build ideas, but will not create learning activities or resources. The workshop is aimed at teachers in Higher Education who are new to e-learning.

The workshop was offered on Wednesday, 16 November, 2005
1:00pm-4:30pm
MY632
Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Campus