Developing digital learners (P01548)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : EDU-P-P01548

This course will focus on learner development for online learning. While it will enable participants to better understand how effective learning skills can be nurtured in online environments in particular, much of what is learned will be equally relevant in offline contexts.

One key theme in the course will be the processes of transition and adjustment which individuals experience as they come to terms with online environments and new demands on them as learners. The impact of individuals' learning histories and identities on their engagement with online environments will be considered, along with a focus on the distinctive 'ways of thinking and practising' which exist in particular academic and learning communities. These will be considered with particular reference to learners' engagement with the varied communicative genres available in online settings, including issues relating to effective use of sources and plagiarism. There is evidence that efforts to support students in becoming more skilled learners are more effective when they are embedded within their day-to-day study activities. This course will consider how such embedding might take place in online courses.

In introducing these multiple themes around learner development, this course will address the importance of considering online teaching-learning environments as complex interacting systems in which the all parts can work together to encourage learner development. Rather than offering an emphasis on discrete study skills, the course will consider how learners can be supported to become more skilled in monitoring and regulating their own learning processes.

? Keywords : e-learning, study skills

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : An introduction to digital environments for learning (P01038)

? Costs : Students will be required to have regular access to a networked computer, and will be responsible for providing their own computing equipment and consumables. Broadband is recommended.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Education, (The Moray House School of Education, Schedule C)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : To be arranged/Unknown

? Additional Class Information : The course will be delivered flexibly and online.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of the course participants will:

be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of the factors affecting learner development in online environments, including issues of transition, identity, literacy and participation

be able to evaluate the key ideas emerging from the literature on how teaching-learning environments affect the development of learners' study skills

design programmes and units of study which embed support for effective learning within online settings

develop specialist skills in ways of supporting individuals to become more effective learners

Assessment Information

Part 1 (20%): A short reflective report (500 words) on a key aspect of ‘ways of thinking and practicing’ in the participant’s own discipline.

Part 2 (20%): A group mark for the collectively-produced wiki created during weeks 5 and 6. Requirements for participants’ contribution to the wiki will be made clear at the beginning of the course.

Part 3 (60%): A final assignment in two parts.
a) Participants will write a report identifying a particular need for learner development in their area, drawing on appropriate literature and taking a critical approach to the issues raised. (2000 words)

b) Participants will outline an online resource for students which could be used to tackle the need identified in part a). They will not be required to build the resource, but rather to outline its content and form, and give evidence of how it would help to develop learners within a specific context. (1000 words)