How the VLE is driving our learning technology approaches now and into the future - Stuart Nicol, Jon Jack, Martin Lewis

How the VLE is driving our
   learning technology
 approaches now and into
        the future
      Stuart Nicol, Jon Jack, Martin Lewis

Introduction (Stuart)
• A brief recap on what the Learn Foundations project is, and who we
  are.
• COVID-19 response: mobilised as a way of migrating courses online at
  scale (phase 2).
   • 44 students employed (10 in phase 1).
   • 17 schools and 3 deaneries migrated (5 schools and 1 deanery in phase 1).
   • ~80% of all on campus Learn courses migrated (increased from 20% in Phase
     1).
• ABC macro and micro patterns as response to online pivot.
• Insights available: learning activity types / accessibility audits.

Learning design / curriculum
insights
• ELDeR - is our long standing Learning design model
   • 2 day face to face / 3 day online
   • Mostly Programme
• ABC for rapid course development
   • Used for MOOCs
   • But not at scale until start of pandemic

Introduction to ABC
• ABC is a curriculum design method.
• It was developed at UCL by Clive Young and Natasha Perovic, built on
  curriculum design research from the JISC / University of Ulster
  (Viewpoints) and the work of Prof Diana Laurillard (learning types).
• The classroom version takes the form of an intense 90-minute hands-
  on, card-based exercise.

ABC Learning types (cards)

ABC Learning types (card back)

Learning design / curriculum
insights
• ABC – three workstreams at start of lockdown.
   • Train the trainer 300 + attendees over summer/autumn 2020
   • Micro / Macro Patterns
   • ABC Mapping
• ABC mapping in Learn foundations project.
   • We had never tried this approach in reverse, overlaying D Laurillard's learning
     types on existing course designs.
   • Initially, the students eye-balled the course and made best guesses at activity
     types.
   • Martin's skillset appeared before us and we had access to other avenues of
     exploration.

Automated Course Mapping
 Let's get practical, what is a course mapping?
 • Excel file
 • Contains all a course's items laid out according to its 'depth' in the
   course
 • Items are colour coded by their type (File, Folder, Link, Tool, etc.)
 • Each item is labelled with its learning type (Acquisition, Discussion,
   etc.)

Course Structure
     Here you can see the course
     structure laid out.
     This is useful on its own for
     understanding how a learn course is
     laid out at a single glance.

Note; This example is pulling data from test Learn not the actual course.

Learning Types
On the other side of the excel file
we have the Learning Types.
These are the aforementioned ABC
learning types and this data can be
used to help EDE/LTW write reports
for the schools on their courses and
for use in learning design,
curriculum insights, etc.

How was mapping done in the past?
When I joined the Learn Foundations Project in the summer of 2020 this was all done by hand by
the interns.
A slow and boring task that often led to mistakes and inconsistencies.
The learning types are subjective.

Automation
• There were patterns in Learn
  course data that could be
  exploited.
• Resulting automation software
  was quickly rolled out to fellow
  interns.
• Further development occurred
  with more resources.
• Vast reduction in time to map a
  course.

Guessing the Learning
Types
• 'Guessing' learning types would
  greatly speed up the overall
  process.
• A series of assumptions were
  workshopped within EDE.
• The software's guesses are not
  always correct.
• Some human intervention is
  required.

Future Plans
The current plan is to move this functionality into the LTW Helpdesk. The LTW Helpdesk being a
series of internal LTW tools that are used to help automate and assist in the management Learn
courses. This allowing access to select LTW staff only.
This is expected to be completed sometime in June or July. Once completed it will be used by the
Learn Foundations project to map School's 2020-21 courses and produce reports for the Schools, as
has been done in previous years.

If you have any questions regarding the automated mapping (technical, regarding access, etc.)
please ask them in the Q&A section shortly or email me at martin.lewis@ed.ac.uk . For any
questions about how the automated mapping is/will be used for the Learn Foundations Project
please email learnfoundations@ed.ac.uk .

Conclusion (Stuart)
• Some reassurances:
   • Not an audit tool
   • Only available to via Learn Foundations reports to schools.
• A learning design tool to provide course insights.
• Useful for thinking about course redesign and review.
• Could provide useful information for curriculum transformation?
• An example of a bi-product from a larger strategic project.
• How our students bring creative insights and approaches that can
  improve our learning technology services into the future.