The E-Learning Toolkit: How to Use this Resource

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This eLearning toolkit draws on Diana Laurillard's research on design for learning and her Conversational Framework.  Laurillard identifies six different types of teaching-learning activities which form the basis of most students' learning.  Laurillard recommends the use of a mix of teaching-learning activities to support a continuous cycle which is required to motivate the learners' continued effort.  

Activity 1: Getting Started

The key to a successful eLearning is good learning design.  Before you plan your teaching approach and select the technology, review this short tutorial on principles of good eLearning design and an overview of Laurillard's six different types of learning. 

Here is a PDF of the tutorial.  

Activity 2: Considerations for Choosing Technology

Now watch this short video from the COFA Project in the University of New South Wales which highlights issues that you should keep in mind when making the decision on which technologies to use in your teaching. Some key points from the video are: 

• Consider pedagogy before technology
• Students value technology when it adds to their learning and is fit for purpose
• Start simple with basic technologies and build-up gradually
• Teach your students how to use the technology that you are using.   

Task 1: Having reviewed all the material above, post a message to our discussion forum in response to the following questions:

• Which element(s) of your teaching and students learning do you think would benefit from online learning?
• What are your main considerations for planning a successful eLearning experience for you and your students?

Task 2: Planning your Learning Design

Use this lesson plan template (adapted from Littlejohn & Pegler, 2007) to plan and document your course/activity design (offline).  

• Can you identify the different types of teaching-learning activities in the illustrated example below?
• Consider adding an additional column to your own lesson plan to document the different type of teaching-learning activity in your lesson/course.
• Aim to incorporate a mix of different types of learning activities into your plan.

An illustrated example of the lesson plan for a simple online learning activity (Littlejohn & Pegler, 2007, p 84)   

Task 3: Mapping the technology to the type of learning 

Now that you have your lesson plan documented and the types of teaching-learning activities identified, review the relevant sections of this resources to map the appropriate technologies: