Transforming The Teaching & Learning Trifecta: Curriculum, Pedagogy, & Assessment for Experiential Learning Online

Paper

This developmental research study looks at the design and preliminary actualization of a disruptive model for course delivery in higher education, a model for online learning that could allow students to have a more self-paced, yet supported online experience, and could free up teachers to spend more time interacting and providing feedback to their students rather than performing administrative tasks that could now be offloaded to a computer.

The design integrates existing structures within the institution (i.e. the learning management system, student services departments, and teacher support programs), with new options for experiential learning online using cognitive computing structures and innovations in instructional design.

This project represents a zone of transition, between what has always been done, and what could potentially be done to support student and teacher engagement in higher education. Our small, but agile development team exists at the edge of two equally powerful ecosystems – one that is rooted in tradition and follows comprehensive change procedures, and the other, a rich, technology-enhanced space where personalization and choice act as the foundation to an effective online teaching and learning journey. It is in this edge state, that we will work this fall to run and research our first course prototype using this new model of delivery, offering key takeaways to a potentially transformative learning experience online.

Takeaway

During the 15 minutes presentation:

The presenter will cover the vision and mission of the Office of Teaching and Learning in their mandate to our development team for course designs that could better meet the needs of the institution's key stakeholders: instructors, students, and administrative staff. The key elements of the course design process and product will be discussed in relation to how they meet the needs of these stakeholders within a changing global context (5 min).

Specific templates that we have drafted around the Transformed Teaching Trifecta will be offered and discussed (5 min):

1. Modularized curriculum maps used to create navigation pathways that offer options for student choice.
2. Experiential pedagogy techniques that can be used online to communicate big ideas in a subject area and engage learners with those ideas in practical ways.
3. Assessment templates for the measurement of behavioural criteria such as problem solving and empathy.

A set of 3 questions will be asked to the audience in order to propel the discussion on the Teaching Trifecta forward (5 min):

1. How can elements of this design (curriculum, pedagogy, and/or assessment tools) be used immediately in your home context?
2. How can we better prepare students to work in these cognitive computing spaces?
3. How can we support teachers in their use of new teaching techniques?

Abstract

Imagine: personalized learning paths in higher education that starts where each student is prepared to start and naturally build to where they need to be. Paths that take students through courses as core competencies, asking them as learners to reflect, make choices, experience, and master concepts outside of the typical constraints of time and space. With multiple points of entry along the way, learning becomes more dynamic, relevant, and flexible, enriching the student experience through access and agility.

Imagine: personalized teaching experiences that start by providing instructors with "just in time" support tailored to their needs in the design of technology enhanced programs. Experiences that help teachers see their courses as sets of core competencies, and design with experiential learning in mind. Designs that don't take time, but instead create it - affording teachers more flexibility to meaningfully interact with their students, focus on higher quality programming, and offer targeted student support in the pursuit of academic priorities.

Starting from a comprehensive examination of institutional needs and the existing user experiences for both teachers and students in large enrollment first year courses, an agile team of designers created a proof of concept for a new mode of course delivery. The disruptive nature of this delivery system is three fold, first – the incorporation of experiential pedagogy and skills indicators for innovation; second – the inclusion of cognitive computing strategies for augmented intelligence; and lastly – the full integration of the course model into an institutional culture. The academic and technical solutions offered in the perpetual design have begun to be developed into a course prototype in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

This design proposes a method of offering courses that fits with the asynchronous nature of technology to bend the limits of time and space. These courses would be offered on a continuous schedule, be modular in nature, and allow for both online and face-to-face opportunities as needed and/or requested by either teacher or student. A course would be available to students when they needed it or chose to enroll, adding a course option that aims to make learning more accessible by leveraging the advantages of emerging technologies. The course would be completed based on individual, self-paced progressions through an online interface that ask students to engage in relevant, interactive learning. This experience is supported by cognitive computing structures that enable responsive instruction. This new model of course delivery is an opportunity to create accessible pathways to an engaging University experience.