Architecture

Going off on a little bit of a tangent, it's time to take a look at what support is being offered to our examiners through the e-learning provision, and how it could be improved. Shepherd (2011) provides a contextual model for learning, based on four contexts: experiential, on-demand, non-formal, and formal; and two perspectives: top-down and bottom-up.

• Experiential learning is learning from as opposed to learning to. We have to be actively engaged with our task and - one hopes - reflecting on our successes and failures. There are a great wealth of lessons that can be learned while examining - Meadows (2004) and Tremain (2011) report that examiners consistently cite the insight gained from examining as one of the key benefits. Considering how to support or encourage such reflections might help to improve examiner performance.
• On-demand learning is learning to perform a particular task and acquire the necessary knowledge, at the point of need or 'just-in-time'. Depending on how far in advance our examiners access the learning materials, they could be regarded in this fashion, although they are probably better used in the following category.
• Non-formal learning is also learning to but with a more relaxed time frame, where employers take steps for employees to be prepared in the medium to long term, and is sometimes labelled as 'just-in-case' learning to set it apart from on-demand. It is distinguished from formal learning below by not being packaged as a formal 'course', which will be the case for this intervention, although there may be something to be said for carefully considering how the materials are to be presented to examiners.
• Formal learning is defined by clearly set learning objectives, a means of assessment, and usually some kind of qualification. We definitely don't offer a qualification for learning to examine (perhaps some would say we should?!), assessment would be somewhat laborious unless it were to be done covertly through completion, and the learning objectives are difficult to define. It is far easier here to think in terms of business objectives - 'There are no learning metrics, only business metrics' (Cross) That being said, it will be worth considering what examiners will expect to see and make sure that objectives are clearly stated.
• Top-down learning is aligned with employers' objectives, and is intended to ensure performance is not left to chance, and sets out to ensure that the requisite skills and knowledge can be acquired to do so. Our organisation is responsible for ensuring that results are delivered on time and accurately, with severe penalties possible for failing to do so.
• Bottom-up learning occurs because of employees' motivation to perform effectively. In addition to the motives around improved insight, examiners are drawn to the extra pay for examining, and improved promotion prospects in their teaching roles (Meadows, 2004).

Moving into specifics from Shepherd's model, there are several components that are either currently present in our business model, introduced explicitly through the e-learning provision, and some that perhaps should be there. The existing provisions focus exclusively on the top-down perspective:

• There are already performance appraisals built into our way of working (experiential);
• A help-desk is provided through our Contact Centre (on-demand);
• Examiners typically receive a certain amount of on-job training through contact with their supervisors (non-formal);
• For the live pilot, examiners will be receiving classroom courses (formal);
• The majority of users will have access to the rapid e-learning materials (non-formal). Note that I avoid referring to our e-learning as self-study e-learning (a formal intervention), which by definition should provide 'instant and individualised feedback', something that is far beyond the scope of our planning.

If we open ourselves up to the full range of possibilities from Shepherd's model, I would be tempted to add the following methods:

• Webinars could be used to convey a lot of the material and briefing that might take place in a face-to-face context, without examiners having to travel to a central location, and allow for some questions & answers
• Online video could be a powerful tool for engaging examiners with the task at hand, especially if delivered by senior examiners involved in the pilot. The message would have to be particularly clear, relevant and to-the-point, requiring serious consideration before asking for this intervention.
• Performance support materials could be leveraged for contact centre staff and senior examiners, drawing on key lessons from the live pilot.
• Forums could be used amongst contact centre staff to post common questions from examiners; there could also be forums available to examiners to make common or emergent solutions available.
• Of course I would love it if someone other than myself found a reason to keep a blog ...

That's all for now I think, I'll look at specific applications in future posts....

References:

• Meadows, M., 2004. Measures of examiner job satisfaction as predictors of intention to continue examining. Available at: https://cerp.aqa.org.uk/research-library/measures-examiner-job-satisfaction-predictors-intention-continue-examining [Accessed December 8, 2013].
• Shepherd, C., 2011. The new learning architect, Chesterfield, U.K.: Onlignment.
• Tremain, K., 2011. Carry on examining: what predicts examiners’ intentions to continue examining? Available at: https://cerp.aqa.org.uk/research-library/carry-examining-what-predicts-examiners-intentions-continue-examining [Accessed December 7, 2013].

Back to where it all began

Image: freeimages

After a year or so of working on staff development programmes and doing a lot of creative and novel work, I'm back to where my career in online learning really began: making tutorial videos and briefings for examiners. As always, the time pressure is intense and I'm largely working solo - while some might see this as stressful I'm actually looking forward to it, because it's a welcome chance to really reflect on the circumstances where I first honed my skill set.

'Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.'

C. S. Lewis

The tools changed several times in the first few years. The first recording software we started using because we had already invested in related software - I won't specify which software here, because it may have moved on since. You could record your screen with live narration, it was possible to easily publish the material using a hyperlink, the results could be reasonable, but it wasn't without its flaws. Particularly the editing could be a real nightmare if you made any mistakes in your recording, and quality seemed to degrade with each edit.

The second time around we started using Techsmith Camtasia Studio, which was a massive revelation. Screen recording was a great deal sharper, the editing process was vastly improved and I quickly found the value of highlighting, captions, and zooming & panning the view to draw attention to relevant areas. We now had the freedom to publish to good quality video formats, and with backup from the web team we could publish videos to an orphan page for examiners to view.

Finally we moved on to Adobe Captivate, which we have stuck with ever since for software demonstrations. It's a lot more technical than other software, which may put some people off, but it's allowed me to move forward with creating more interactive material (particularly simulations). As we finally moved over to our own LMS, the software had what we needed to publish with all the e-learning information for SCORM packages.

I've learned to stay mindful of the advice from Henderson (2012) to avoid being trapped by the tools, and that of Toth (2012) to choose the right tool for the job, so I always look for opportunities to use different e-learning tools. However I am finding it harder to take on new tools as my time gets increasingly bound up in development, so perhaps now isn't the time to take on something new for the recording. Instead I'll be looking to draw on the advice from Shepherd (2011) around considering carefully the context of your learners and what support they might need. In subsequent posts I'll be drawing up outlines for the additional approaches that might be used, and the opportunities to draw in different tools.

I'm automatically thinking of using Action Research methodology, since it was successful for last project, but this talk of not being trapped by your tools has made me pause. Perhaps it's worth re-treading some of the exercises from the Research Methods course and make sure that Action Research, and indeed qualitative research, is the correct approach.

References:

• Henderson, A., 2012. Don't get trapped by your e-learning tools. In: Allen, M.W., 2012. Michael Allen’s E-learning annual 2012, San Francisco, Calif.: Pfeiffer.
• Toth, T.A., 2012. The right e-learning tool for the job. In: Allen, M.W., 2012. Michael Allen’s E-learning annual 2012, San Francisco, Calif.: Pfeiffer.
• Shepherd, C., 2011. The new learning architect, Chesterfield, U.K.: Onlignment.