Beetham - An Approach to learning activity design

Digital tools and materials should not change the fact that designing learning is about the activities the learner does and the outcomes of that activity.

"learners need opportunities to make a newly acquired concept or skill their own: to draw on their own strengths and preferences, and to extend their repertoire of approaches to task requirements"

Tasks are required OF learners (like curriculum in education).Activities are engaged in BY learners in response to the task. Beetham tells us that theorists stress the need for integration across activities, and therefore despite the  fact that people learn in different ways, and that the outcomes may be different, there are issues that cross all learning design:

·         authenticity of activity

·         formality and structure

·         retention/reproduction versus reflection/internationalisation

·         the role and importance of other people

·         locus of control

Beetham tells us that when designing for learning outcomes the activity must be meaningful for the learner and its context, and also that there should be an "identifiable change that is anticipated in the learner". If the learning activity needs to be meaningful to the learner, then so does the learning outcome.

There are no surprises when it comes to designing for learners and the variants to consider, and how these can be co-dependent on each other:

·         experience, knowledge and competence in subject

·         accessibility

·         motivations and expectations

·         prior experience of learning and method

·         preferred approaches to learning

·         social and interpersonal skills

·         confidence and competence (if using ICT)

Beetham states that if we truly want to design learning that is relevant to each individual learner, then we need to provide a flexible approach. This is one in which the learner is allowed to make their own decisions on the tasks they undertake, and one that digital technology could support. Technology allows us to present a wider range of options, however, and this is a recurring theme, there is limited availability of skilled practitioners to provide the relevant feedback and support such a personalised approach takes. Beetham also remind us that most learning involves some form of interaction with another person, often someone who is more expert than the learner.

Beetham links the use of digital resources and technologies with the traditional approach to learning. In a face to face environment you think not only about the resources, but about the layout of the room, the environment within which learning is fostered. This is also true of the digital environment. Different artefacts have different affordances (Gibson 1979), but these affordances can have different meanings in different contexts. Saloman (1997) in week 6 already pointed out that we view different forms of representation in different ways. We know that some people like different things. Technology could allow us to give the learner a choice of medium, or an opportunity to experience different mediums, so that they get a variety of representations rather than just one approach - which may not be suitable for them.

Examples of how we can use technology:

·         Research - databases, evaluating online resources

·         Comprehension tasks - note taking, answering questions and mind mapping

·         Creating tasks - tools used create different representation could also be used by learners to create their own representations, which could then be used as assessment.

·         Analysis tasks - diagnostics, informatics, analytical software

·         Experimentation and discovery tasks - models and simulations (eg.second life), digital environments

·         Communicative tasks - forums, conferencing

Associative learning, being about 'recall' and highly rule based where the learning outcome is about a new skill or concept. The learning involves a teacher who is both the subject matter expert and the guide through the activities.

Constructive learning, being about discovery and based on incidents and strategies where the learning outcome is about problem solving or developing new understandings. In this context teachers need to be facilitators - negotiating outcomes, supporting learner discussion and giving relevant feedback as well as the ability to respond to different learners needs.

Situative learning, being about developing new identities or roles and so the activities are more role based and the learning outcomes are about being able to participate in new situation or play a more expert role. These learners need a sympathetic mentor with insight into their context and ability to support their developing role.

In summary, Beethams remarks that we need to understand the design process if we want to evaluate it and share it with others.