Frameworks for educational design

The move towards better utilisation of technology in higher education has been a general trend for many years. However, with the increased pressure of the pandemic and the general move to online/mixed mode teaching (a combination of in-person and online), many educators are rethinking teaching within their teaching materials.

I’ve been speaking to many people about ways of making our teaching more engaging online. The aim of this post is to share ideas, thoughts and resources. Much of this was inspired by my time doing the Postgraduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching at Imperial College London, so many thanks to the fantastic team there.

Dream a little bigger — What are we trying to achieve?

Before starting, it’s useful to consider what general framework you’d like to take. This can broadly be categorised into 3 different themes: curriculum as content, curriculum as a product and curriculum as a process. The main aspect of each of these are highlighted in Figure 1. In general, there has been a general transition from developing material which supports curriculum as content towards developing the curriculum as a process, where significant value is placed on the interactions between the students, teachers and the knowledge. In this respect, developing communities of learning, encourage legitimate participation and develop the student’s ability to handle ambiguity, is a key pillar to an effective and enjoyable learning experience.

Figure 1 — Broad overview of teaching ideologies. Adapted from Kate Ippolito — Educational Design 2019

Delivery modes which support this are shown in Figure 2, where didactic based lectures are broadly rooted in the curriculum as content model. Facilitative and experiential based learning, on the other hand, are much more a part of the curriculum as a process theme. In reality, there is a place for each of these delivery types as the learning process builds the student’s abilities to create new content. Learning objectives often have foundations in remembering and understanding key facts, which can be well supported by didactic lectures. However, problem-based and work-based learning are more well suited to facilitating the student’s ability to analyse a problem, evaluate information/ideas and ultimately create new solutions.

Figure 2 — Approaches to teaching. Adapted from Kate Ippolito — Educational Design 2019. Based on Kelly [1]

Once a vision has been set, in terms of what overarching style one would like to take, creating a structure is the next step. Here a useful framework is the 3 S’s; sequencing, scaffolding and spiralling. In the case of sequencing and scaffolding, creating intended learning objectives is one of the core frameworks to effectively manage the expectations of the students. If you’re delivering a 1st year module, this is the point where the student’s expectations and your expectations of them, are the most misaligned. Therefore, putting a bit more time in framing this and communicating this to the students is a very worthwhile task. Revisiting, or spiralling, back to these core learning objectives is then useful for consolidating learning.

Following this, one of the first things to consider when designing a module is what would you like the students to get out of the course. This can be framed around the concept of constructive alignment, which is illustrated in Figure 3. This framework systematically asks questions to the teacher about: what do you want your students to learn which results in the learning objectives, how will they learn it which informs the delivery mode and how will you know they have learnt it which informs the assessment methods. In practice, there are new supporting tools constantly emerging and this model often requires refinement over time. Therefore, having reflective periods to evaluate the teaching material and update this, is important for keeping the module relevant and engaging.

Figure 3 — Constructive alignment. Adapted from Kate Ippolito — Educational Design 2019. Based on Biggs [2]

The big kick — Intended learning objectives and Bloom’s taxonomy of learning

When starting to sketch out your aims and intended learning objectives, one of the really useful conceptual frameworks is Bloom’s taxonomy of learning [3] which is shown in Figure 4. Scaffolding the students learning from remembering and understanding key concepts towards higher level learning objectives around evaluating complex concepts and creating new ones, is a cornerstone of moving students into the zone of proximal learning, which stretches and challenges their abilities. When writing intended learning objectives, using the words associated with each level of Bloom’s taxonomy (Figure 4) can be a helpful guide for students to understand the rational for what they’re learning such that they can see the progress they’re making.

Figure 4 — Bloom’s taxonomy of learning with suggested words for outcome level statements. Adapted from Bloom [3].

Imagining new places — Delivery modes and the flipped classroom

In the traditional didactic lecture delivery mode, there is little interaction between the teacher and students. After the lecture, the students would then fully digest this information and try and solve problems on their own, where little support is provided. In the flipped classroom format, short videos introducing core teaching concepts are provided to students who are expected to watch these before the class. In place of the lectures, there are interactive classroom activities that focus on worked problems to encourage active engagement with the students. Part of the curriculum as a process model also relies on creating communities of learning, and facilitating peer learning between students as one important aspect of the educational experience. In my case I’ve tried to keep these short ~10 minutes. An example of one of my flipped classroom videos can be found here on “How to select materials using Ashby plots and performance indexes”.

These flipped classroom sessions are meant to be interactive, and require the teacher to react to the knowledge gaps in the students but this can often be challenging in large classes. However, there are a number of tools which can help facilitate this live feedback.

Live feedback — Kahoot and Mentimeter

The gamification of education is one fun way to allow students to immediately apply the knowledge they have just learn, provide immediate feedback and also make the module more engaging. One great tool for doing this is Kahoot (https://kahoot.com/)(Figure 5). Students simply follow the link, create a profile and the collectively do the quiz. The interface is easy to use and well designed, with a key feature being the points-based system where correct and faster answers results in more points. Once a degree of ‘friendly’ competition comes into the equation, the engagement levels often go up a level. This works well for both individuals and groups to stimulate discussions between peers.

Figure 5 — Kahoot quiz [4]

Beyond, Kahoot, another great tool for doing quizzes Mentimeter (https://www.mentimeter.com/). Here there are a few more different modes of engagement beyond multiple choice questions. For example, Mentimeter can be used at the outset of a module to ask open ended questions to students such as “What would you like to get out of this module?”. The advantage here is that this information can be anonymised as often there is a fear of engaging through the worry that they provide “stupid answers”. In reality, there are no “stupid answers”, however this is one of the barriers towards legitimate participation.

Coming back to reality — Final thoughts

In times of change, we have the opportunity to plant seeds of new ideas. I’ve been at Imperial for 14 years, having done my undergraduate degree (2006–2010), PhD, post-doc and now academic position here. In this time, I’ve seen the nature of teaching change a lot and believe it’s important to constantly evaluate and update our teaching methods to stay relevant. The COVID situation has brought about many challenges for society, however I believe we can use this reflective opportunity to build back stronger. What the new normal looks like in higher education is still to be decided, however we have the opportunity to shape this. There are a raft of new digital tools to support teaching, however sharing best practices and frameworks to best use these will be a critical element to an effective and enjoyable learning experience. I hope this short blog has been useful and appreciate feedback and comments, as I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg. I’m constantly learning.

Video version of this article

References

[1] A.V. (Albert V. Kelly, The curriculum : theory and practice, SAGE Publications, 2009.

[2] J. Biggs, What the Student Does: teaching for enhanced learning, High. Educ. Res. Dev. 18 (1999) 57–75. doi:10.1080/0729436990180105.

[3] B.S. Bloom, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, D. McKay, 1956.

[4] Free Technology for Teachers: Kahoot — Create Quizzes and Surveys Your Students Can Answer on Any Device, (n.d.). https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/11/kahoot-create-quizzes-and-surveys-your.html (accessed August 5, 2020).