re:Learnings

For the CLO and Assessment Review project, the concept of Constructive Alignment was the one “definition” that had precious workshop time dedicated to. The concept developed by John Biggs (1996) emphasises creating coherence between three key elements of teaching and learning: Learning outcomes - what students should be able to do by the end of a course Teaching and learning activities - how students will learn and practice those skills Assessment tasks - how students will demonstrate they've achieved the outcomes The core idea is that these three components should be "aligned" - they need to work together consistently. The term "constructive" reflects the constructivist view that learners actively construct their own understanding through what they do, rather than passively receiving information. The objective of the training was to communicate the active role CLOs have in framing learning activities and assessments. Therefore, making it worthy o...

The CLO Review project's face-to-face session logistical challenges required a pivot to an online format.  Yet designing effective videos for online learning is challenging.  To do this well, I employed a number of key good learning design practices included: The video production principles:  Along with chunking video (Harris et al, 2021), the video production principles (Guo et al, 2014) used:  Shorter videos are much more engaging. Videos that intersperse an instructor’s talking head with slides are more engaging than slides alone. Videos produced with a more personal feel could be more engaging than high-fidelity studio recordings. Khan-style tablet drawing tutorials are more engaging than PowerPoint slides or code screencasts. Even high quality pre-recorded classroom lectures are not as engaging when chopped up for a MOOC. Videos where instructors speak fairly fast and with high enthusiasm are more engaging. Students engage differently with lecture and ...