How to design e-learning

E-learning activities are designed for teachers and students. Although online learning will not replace classroom, face-to-face learning, each year more students opt for an e-learning education (Herrington, n.d.). E-learning is growing at 30% per year, according to the 2011 “Human Systems Management” journal (Eom, 2011). Therefore, teachers and educators must adapt their current curriculum to create an optimal online learning experience and compete in this growing market. Although the easiest shortcut is a learning management system that provides discussion boards, email, course sign-in, a list of assignments and links to directed readings; e-learning design can be better (Horton, 2012). Students may eventually choose institutions of higher education based on the quality of their e-learning courses.

Benjamin S. Bloom was interested in how people think, and how they learn, which he delineated in Bloom’s Taxonomy (Overbaugh, n.d.). It is interesting to note that the revised pyramid has been upgraded to replace nouns with strong verbs, a method recommended in this prospective e-learning course for more effective writing. Bloom’s taxonomy aligns with Horton’s absorb, do, connect activities, providing a successful skeleton for building an e-learning course (Overbaugh, n.d. & Horton, 2012).

Absorb activities relay information (Horton, 2012).  The most common types of absorb activities include presentations, readings, stories by a teacher, and field trips (Horton, 2012). Some of these may be characterized as passive learning, especially if students are watching a slide presentation or listening to a story. Even field trips and readings are often considered passive learning unless the participant is required to do something (Horton, 2012). But absorb activities are beneficial in preparing students to do something or for short “upgrades” in previous learning (Horton, 2012). These activities are good at explaining and demonstrating a sequence of events (Horton, 2012).  Absorb activities can be pre-recorded, an advantage for many instructors and learners. Students can access information at anytime, and stop the presentation if needed, which meets the needs of technology-based students (Guy, 2009). Absorb activities fall into Bloom’s taxonomy of “remembering” and “understanding” (Overbaugh, n.d.).

The following six presentations work well for online e-learning courses (Horton, 2012).

1. Slide shows – These can be created in Power Point and narrated for the Internet using tools such as Articulate Presenter, Adobe Presenter, Adobe Captivate, iSpring Presenter, or Impactica for Power Point. Film clips, drama, demos, text, graphics, and more can be incorporated into this format. Horton has an example online.

2. Physical demonstrations – These are best done with video, though photos can be used for some.

3. Software demonstrations –Demos for explaining how to use a software application.

4. Informational films – These include short films and documentary-type films. Permissions necessary if you don’t do your own.

5. Dramas – These are nonfictional films. They require a script, actors and a good story.

6. Discussions – These can be live interviews or filmed.

For slide shows, it is important to give the learner control over the speed of the presentation and three forms of presentation: hearing, reading the text, and watching graphics (Horton, 2012). This helps meet the needs for various learning styles (Herrington, n.d.). Examples and applications of the information presented help learners grasp new ideas (Horton, 2012). Presentations are more interesting and keep the learners attention if they are not linear (Guy, 2009).  In fact, it is important to give students a “Do” activity early in the presentations, before it gets boring (Horton, 2012). Real-life situations that create a question to be solved, or a practice problem, or an activity that requires the student to use the tools he has just learned, are ways for students to interact (Guy, 2009). Learners need to have control over their e-learning experience and this can be delivered by having students learn new information by solving problems in real-life scenarios (Herrington, n.d.).

Do Activities 

These type of activities require learners to do something with the information they have acquired from an absorb activity (Horton, 2012). These include anything that applies knowledge such as practice problems, discovery activities such as virtual labs or games and simulations where learners play a game and get immediate feedback (Horton, 2012). “Do” activities can also be presented before an absorb activity to provide a basis of knowledge or a starting point so the student realizes what he/she needs to learn (Horton, 2012). After a presentation, a “do” activity provides the learner to apply the new information immediately which increases retention of the subject. This follows Bloom’s taxonomy of learning — remembering, learning, applying (Overbaugh, n.d.).

Connect Activities

Many times connections are left to the learner to make and not integrated within an e-learning course (Horton, 2012). Connect activities link new knowledge with knowledge a student already possesses (Horton, 2012). It is not teaching something new. Connect activities can happen without planning, depending on the learner. It happens anytime he/she stops to ponder and make a connection within an “absorb” or “do” activity. However, it can also be prompted by suggesting learners summarize, evaluate, meditate, or identify (Horton, 20120).  Students can be asked to recall their own experiences or stories. Bloom’s taxonomy would describe these “analyzing” and “evaluating” activities, that build upon “remembering” and “understanding” (Overbaugh, n.d.). Research activities help learners connect by using their own sources that apply to the information that has been shared through a presentation or reading (Horton, 2012).  When learners create original work, they are using connect activities and meeting the final outcome of learning in Bloom’s taxonomy (Horton, 2012 & Oberbaugh, n.d.).

The prospective project is an advanced writing course for students and writers, comprised of five e-learning activities. Although this course is adaptable to beginning writers, there should be a prerequisite for understanding the English language. ESL students may have grammar needs that English speakers have already acquired. This course meets the needs of graduate students and professionals who publish in peer-reviewed journals. Those in higher education often have a need to write with more clarity, having picked up academic writing styles that are not that well-written (Zinsser, 2006). For each activity, the type and learning objective will be identified, as well as my rationale for selecting these activities. I will explain how online students will learn from these five activities and finally, how the teacher or trainer will assess these activities. This course is based on an open online course offered from Stanford University and a similar one offered as a webinar.