Conference Day Two: Wednesday, 7th August 2019
8:30 am - 9:00 am Coffee And Registration
9:00 am - 9:40 am Conference Opening – Remarks from the Conference Chairperson
9:40 am - 10:20 am INTERNATIONAL KEYNOTE: How MIT’s Unique Digital Learning Lab Model is Transforming Classroom and Online Learning
To be effective, one must design digital learning experiences applying what we know about how people learn. MIT has long been committed to developing and delivering high quality online learning experiences using learning design to develop rich media, interactive features, clearly defined objectives and outcomes, and publication-quality content, along with fostering a robust community of engaged learners.
This session will focus on:
- Knowing how to interact with faculty and facilitating trust by being open and providing value
- Using blended learning to increase teaching and learning flexibility and interaction in the classroom
- Designing digital learning experiences based on the science of learning
Dr Mary Ellen Wiltrout
Curriculum Development Specialist/Digital Learning ScientistMassachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
10:20 am - 11:00 am How Australian National University is Empowering Academics to Better Work Together with Learning Designers
Creating mutually respectful relationships between academics and learning designers is crucial to leverage diverse expertise to improve the student learning experience. Resistance to the stress of change is very common despite the potential learning benefits and must be managed effectively to ensure sustainable innovation. ANU is using an agile approach to managing course development projects with 360-degree feedback that enables course design teams to engage effectively with multiple stakeholder perspectives.
This session will talk about:
- Establishing effective collaboration in course design by teams of learning designers and technologists, teaching academics and students
- Using agile methodologies to minimize risk and ensure course development projects are responsive to stakeholder feedback.
- Capturing perspectives collaboratively so that leadership and team can grapple with complex issues in a sophisticated manner
- Enabling senior learning designers to oversee course design quality and build capacity through coaching and mentoring.
- Transforming teaching practice through a deliberate, thoughtful approach that includes technology to simplify teaching jobs without infringing on academic expertise
11:00 am - 11:30 am Morning Tea
11:30 am - 12:30 pm Group Think
Why is it so difficult to demonstrate the effectiveness and outcomes of learning designer’s?
Facilitator:
Dr Charlotte Brack
Director, Transformation & Learning (ACTING)Swinburne University of Technology
12:30 pm - 1:10 pm PANEL DISCUSSION: What are the New Roles, Responsibilities & KPIs of a Learning Designer and How Does That Affect You?
The definition of a learning designer is not exactly clear is it is a challenge for some to see the value and purpose learning designers can provide. There are multiple disciplines involved in the role and it is constantly evolving and growing to include pedagogy, technology and course design expertise to focus on creating and maintaining quality learning and teaching.
Panellists will discuss:
- Communicating the value and strategic importance of learning designer’s to a digital education to enable student outcomes
- Exploring emerging ideas in design, technologies and tools to integrate with education needs to be relevant to learning needs
- Considering the different roles and skills learning designers take on to stay on top of current practices while preparing for the future
1:10 pm - 2:10 pm Lunch Break
2:10 pm - 2:50 pm How the University of New England is Radically Transforming Its Curriculum: the Role of Designer-Led Innovation
UNE is a regional university with an Australiawide and international cohort of 18,000 online students comprising 80% its total enrolment. UNE provides its students with a transformative learning experience that is enabled by a high quality, innovative and flexible learning environment. Currently, UNE is implementing a strategy of academic transformation through a radical curriculum redevelopment. As is often the case, the role of the learning designer is to articulate the voice of the students in the design process. Thus, in a change process in which the paradigm shift is to build a student-centred, flexible and personalized online learning experience which places “the student, not the subject, as the central feature of the university [learning experience]”, learning designers will take the lead.
This session will discuss:
- Delivering relevant, future-oriented and quality-assured courses using a teaching and learning model that is built on flexibility, personalization, innovation and the creative use of educational technologies
- Exemplars of using design expertise to facilitate education strategy
- Using learning designers as agents of strategic change
2:50 pm - 3:30 pm How UNSW Engineering Faculty Systematically Engaged Academics to Reevaluate Their Course Design and Pedagogy
UNSW transitioned to a new ‘3+’ trimester calendar in 2018. This ‘watershed moment’ presented an opportunity to engage all Engineering Academics on pedagogy. The change involved redesigning 530 courses over 12 months for a 10 weeks trimester. This was a challenge. The solution was to redesign courses for a ‘Blended Learning’ delivery strategy, at scale and in a short time. 'Blended Learning' is an educational model combining a variety of digital and face-to-face teaching and learning strategies.
Steven will talk about:
- The change management strategy employed to successfully engage Academics; how to transition to a ‘Blended Learning’ educational experience, and the lessons learnt
- The value of providing Academics foundational workshops on Backwards Design ('Constructive Alignment') to re-evaluate their learning outcomes, assessment and delivery methods
- How Backwards design ‘opens the door’ to introduce Academics to new ‘Blended Learning’ technologies and pedagogies
- The critical use of a ‘SWIVL’ robot to capture workshop videos, Academics response, and what happened as a result
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm Afternoon Tea
4:00 pm - 4:40 pm Learning Design from a Systems Thinking Perspective
Learning design has traditionally been viewed from a human-centred perspective. This is still a crucial component; however, it is also important to think about learning design practice more holistically.
This session will cover:
- Why it is important to adapt Systems Thinking in relation to learning design
- Learning design from different perspectives: social, cognitive and material
- Implications for designers, as well as strategic and management considerations
4:40 pm - 5:20 pm PANEL DISCUSSION: Identifying Appropriate Metrics to Determine Influence of Learning Design on Student Outcomes
With today’s challenging landscape it has become important to find ways to quantify the effect of learning design to justify investment into programs and change.
Panellists will discuss:
- Discussing the challenges in assessing value for new and existing learning design initiatives
- Connecting the dots on how learning design is crucial in enabling students outcomes by being more interactive, collaborative and engaging
- Leveraging data analytics to enable efficient learning design
Dr Charlotte Brack
Director, Transformation & Learning (ACTING)Swinburne University of Technology