Muse #3

This lecture was particularly insightful to me personally and I've come to appreciate the lecture activities more. Because my friends and I had not found the time to do the required readings before lecture, we could not understand the activity and totally fumbled. Only after we went around viewing the learning designs that others came up with did we realise how badly we were on the wrong track. But I wouldn't say that it was a total disaster because if not for that activity, I probably would not have understood the concept. (Waking up at 6am for an early lecture does have its benefits after all!)

Now that we have attended the lecture and done the readings, I have a much clearer picture about what constitutes a learning design, its various components (tasks, resources and supports), and most importantly, the links between them.

It is vital to always bear in mind that every activity entails a different approach based on the objectives and contexts. This is exactly what Tegiar's reading talks about. Maximal learning results will only occur if the most suitable combination of tasks, resources and supports is employed, according to the specific learning situation. Tegiar divides these learning designs into five main techniques for assimilative information handling, adaptive, communicative, productive and experiential activities. I found the models given in this reading useful in understanding how each of the five learning designs works especially since they illustrated how tasks, resources and supports combine with one another.

Whilst Tegiar's reading divides the designs into the five abovementioned techniques, Oliver's reading does it in a different way - rule-based, incident-based, strategy-based, and role-based. I suppose these are just different ways of looking at learning designs. Again, the models in Oliver's reading helped to sum up the concepts very well for me. (Graphics certainly complement text!)

Ultimately, other than the earlier point about appreciating the relations among tasks, resources and support, the other main point that I got out of the readings is that when drawing up a learning design, the main focus should always remain on the learning process and outcome instead of the e-tool. I guess in this day and age with so much technological innnovation, it is tempting to get carried away with selecting tools and giving it too much attention. We must strike a balance with all the features and elements.

I'm finally starting to understand e-learning better. Yay! :)