Individual Learning Agreements in Work Based Learning: an Incremental Approach to Elearning

Individual learning agreements in work based learning: an incremental approach to eLearning systems

Mike Howarth (author)

Institute for Work Based Learning - Middlesex University, United Kingdom

Anthony ‘Skip’ Basiel (co-author)

Institute for Work Based Learning – Middlesex University, United Kingdom

Summary

Our paper examines a practical Work Based Learning (WBL) approach to individualised learning agreements and programme plans that move forward the traditional university academic framework to a learner-managed learning paradigm (Stephenson, 2001). The eProgramme Plan (ePP) project is a study that allows incremental changes from paper based systems, for easy integration into offline and online digital media eLearning solutions OLRP (2007) to support WBL candidates, who are required to design and implement their own academic programmes.

The project is placed in the context of a modified Distance Learning Generations model Garrison (2004), that informs the structures for new media developments to meet the need for flexibility and change in an academic environment.

The specific requirements for quality products to meet all stakeholders’ needs is explained, the process for digital paperwork for the project is described and future potentials in a rapid ePublishing model explored.

Introduction

The Institute for Work Based Learning (IWBL) has developed an innovative approach to personalised learning for full-time professionals during the past decade. The key feature is to adapt an existing distance paper based learning programme and apply an online pedagogic design. Our incremental approach is being comprehensively applied to both undergraduates as well as professional doctorate level ‘candidates’.

An IWBL programme consists usually of three main stages. The objective is to attain the necessary credits to fulfil the particular degree requirements (Garnett, 2000). The necessary credits are currently recorded on the Registration & Programme Progression (RPP) form. First, the candidate negotiates and organises credits of prior experiential learning and submits a portfolio of that evidence to receive recognition and accreditation (RAL). Secondly, the individual programme plan is negotiated with the WBL candidate to devise a pathway for their learning experience through the IWBL system. As part of the second, individual programme plan stage, the learner takes a course in research techniques to prepare them for the final project stage. At the third final stage candidates conduct a work based research project which must relate to the context of their professional work environment. In effect, candidates are required to be practitioner researchers and agents of change.

Context

In this section the background to the project and the context of the Institute and its aims is examined. Crucial to the background of the project is an understanding of the evolution of the IWBL eLearning system which is described here.

The original distance learning model for IWBL was a paper-based correspondence model that Garrison (2004) terms ‘First Generation Distance Learning’ as seen in the Table 1; (Basiel, 2007). We are currently using a blended learning approach of paper and digital methods (4th Generation). Our quest is ultimately towards a comprehensive digital 5th Generation model.

1st Generation
Correspondence /Transmission Model
(Industrial) / 2nd Generation
Broadcast model
(OU – BBC TV) / 3rd Generation
Computer Mediated Conferencing
(CMC) / 4th Generation
Blending Learning
(Generations 1 – 3) / 5th Generation
Artificial Intelligence Managed Learning Environments
Behaviourist Learning
Theory: scaffolding
Mass production / high quality content.
Course team (instructional designer, graphic artist, editors, manager, etc.).
Personal self-paced.
Sense of isolation.
Screen for Paper / email for post.
Stand-alone: not taking advantage of web communication. / Cognitive learning theory.
CD-ROM resources.
Limited interaction with tutor.
Libraries of digital learning objects. / Constructivist learning theory.
Individuals as members of online learning groups.
Networked communities of practice. / Various pedagogic designs.
VLEs: provide retrieval of web content.
CMC (i.e. – text, audio &/or video).
Locally distributed processes (i.e. – face-to-face inductions digitally recorded). / Personalised.
Intelligent flexible design.
Automated FAQs.
I
ntegrated systems (i.e. database, VLE, web conferencing).
Semantic web searching: Web 2.0 .
Candidate generated content, citizen journalism.

Table 1: Garrison's Distance Learning Generations modified (Basiel, 2007).

Our current 4th Generation blended learning model is demonstrated through our ePP Project. PDF Forms enable us to improve our candidate experience by enriching the rigid framework of our virtual learning (Blackboard) environment (VLE) and through the flexibility and scalability of Adobe products scaffold the preparation for new ePortfolio systems being proposed.

Students are called candidates in the IWBL. The term student is loaded with an association of apprenticeship. The term candidate is a title which neutralises the power imbalance implied by tutor and student. The preferred relationship is of facilitator to candidate - a meeting of equals, a negotiated and supported relationship.

Learner managed learning is a term that underpins the pedagogy of the work based learning approach. The first key feature is a personalised structure to learning, to facilitate and promote the professional candidate’s identity. The candidate is also considered to be a reflective practitioner researcher that can take on the role of an agent of change in their workplace (Schön, 1987).

The learner managed learning approach (Stephenson, 2007) goes beyond the ordinary ‘student-centred’ strategy used in Higher Education (HE) by providing the WBL candidate with a means of establishing their own learning outcomes. The learner managed approach establishes the professional learner’s existing knowledge and expertise to be accredited in a university degree programme and needs a framework of organisation. The IWBL programme plan and the crucially the ePP Form provides a structure to achieve this. To be a reflective practitioner researcher at the programme plan stage of the degree the candidate has to get consent from their employer to conduct a research activity within the organisation. In effect, candidates are required to be practitioner researchers and agents of change. The study often yields a benefit to the organisation. The ePP Form is a key element in the agreement.

The evolution of the RPP form toward an integrated digital system

The original RPP form is recognised to be complex and error-prone. The form is much more than an administrative tool, though for lecturers checking the form and administrative staff, analysing and recording the data, the process is time-consuming. The form is a summation of the candidate’s self-reflective process. Most significant, the RPP form is the focus of support and encouragement of candidates, while they plan their learning in the initial stages of joining the course, and later when planning research with their employer. Filling in the form is therefore a highly emotive and motivating process for a candidate negotiating their individual learning agreement.

Figure 1: The original Form document in Microsoft Word.

The RPP form records candidate personal details, and candidates reference number. Also the candidate is required to indicate the special areas of their own learning in which they wish to develop with an accurate title and correct number of negotiated credits. The number recognition and accreditation of learning areas; can vary, but the sum total of RAL credit points must not exceed 240 points. Credit scores are allocated according to a necessarily complex scheme outlined in the candidate handbook and totalled to the required 360. The new electronic Programme Plan Form (ePP Form) brief was to explore of what improvements to the existing process might be achievable using Adobe PDF Forms technology.

The first stage development

The first stage of the ePP Form Project began with a model draft design to explore using the (then) new Acrobat 8. Acrobat Form Wizard enables a Microsoft Word document to be reproduced in PDF format that can then be filled in by the user on-line or off-line. The Form Wizard automatically allocates areas (especially table cells) of the original Word document as cells. Once the core form is created the cells can be redefined as drop down, text infill, tick box or with calculation functions various combinations (Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2006).

The initial research objective was to improve the layout of the original form with a clear visual design that allowed the summing of learning credit data and then to automate where possible the sections prone to inaccurate completion by students. A section of the first design created by the Form Wizard in Acrobat 7 is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: First stage version of the IWBL ePP Form.

Each element of the form is numbered to assist accurate staff feedback on specific elements.

The second stage development

The second stage of the research process gathered comments from students, academic and administrative staff about the results. This section considers changes to the ePP Form and solutions addressing issues arising in feedback.

The session discussions were recorded using Adobe Captivate. The changes required by each ‘stakeholder’ are summarised in Figure 3.

Stakeholder design requirements
Candidate / Academic staff / Administration / Assessment panel
Easy to use. / Email to students, / Easy to check subtotals and totals / Minimum time taken in assessment sessions.
Clear set of instructions / Discuss on the phone whilst looking at the computer / Left hand totals as in admin software / Confirm the panel awards without rewriting form
Updatable, email friendly and printable / Smart professional presentation / Ability to tab through fields in sequence / A warning when candidates exceed the total allowed
Easy to adapt during discussions with staff and employer / Candidate satisfaction / Credits automatically allocated to course programme

Figure 3: First stage PDF Form changes requested by stakeholders.

Features of the second version of the ePP Form are: a three page form:

1.  Page 1: Candidates can enter their core personal information; - there is a set of specific instructions and an administration record area.

2.  Page 2: the calculation sheet with clear name given to the task of the form i.e., Learning Credits Calculator.

3.  Page 3: ‘Work in progress’ for interim use in the development stage showing the data required for the calculation cells so staff could advise and check content for the developer. The page 3 may be a comprehensive set of the allocation of credits to course types for candidate reference or other helpful advice or removed altogether.

Figure 4: The second stage version of the IWBL ePP Form extended to three pages.

The Acrobat 9 Pro Extended (Adobe, 2008) software released during the stage 2 research period is used to create the improved design (Figure 4). The new software makes the prototyping of the ePP Form a much speedier process, because of the improved functionality of revising the layout design in Word and reapplying the Wizard. The final stage was to create the JavaScript to carry out two functions: first, to automatically link the complex lists of course titles with their associated credits and second, to sum the columns to provide sub and final totals. The form was reduced to two pages (Figure 5) after the development period, prior to the testing period planned for February 2010.

Figure 5: Final version of the IWBL ePP Form.

In recent months the Adobe Acrobat Forms site has been reorganised, (Acrobat, 2009) and the latest eLearning Suite made available (Acrobat, 2009). Advice on Acrobat Javascript and the complex interface is making the use of Forms a great deal easier to develop (Padova, 2009).

The value of embedded features in PDF Forms

The Institute has had enough success with developments so far to take the project forward by integrating this form into a sequence of forms that give a clear structure to student core tasks. The ability of the PDF layered forms to easily add pop-up help instructions, make it possible to provide guides to aid practical tasks. Lengthy instruction booklets based on traditional linear academic models can be deconstructed and delivered with a more accessible structure.

PDF Forms can also contain video elements. An important first stage in a wider review of text based publications is for the IWBL to develop QuickStart video guides that provide focused support on key academic advice. The content for these QuickStart Guides comes from another WBL project using a Rapid ePublishing Model (Reason, 2001). Resource materials from ‘WBL Wednesday Webcasts’ - online Breeze sessions with additional audio and video recording fast track content from staff and stakeholders. Premiere CS4 is also used to generate automatic text output. Updating of the digital Offline Learning Resources Project (OLRP, 2008) is easy due to the browser-based design flexible.

Finally, because of the ability to ‘bolt on’ Adobe elements there is a possibility to realise the IWBL’s effective ‘cascade’ model and be an integral feature of a bottom-up approach to institutional change. Staff members have little time to plan and have some difficulty recognising the potential of new media technology developments until they see them in action and can then react effectively with suggestions and improvements. The Adobe products have flexibility to allow academic staff, without extensive code programming skills, to adapt the structure and content for their colleagues within the busy academic environment. For example, the ePP project began by making the form available on the developer’s server space. The introduction of Acrobat.com during the development process has allowed the team to communicate through the virtual space provided by Buzzword to load up the ePP Form (and collaborate on writing this chapter.) (Adobe Share, 2008).

Conclusion

We continue to research and develop our eLearning strategy, systems and resources in IWBL to improve the WBL candidate experience and adapt our eLearning/distance learning model. Though the Institute for Work Based Learning (IWBL) has recently been placed in a ‘pan-university’ level within the Middlesex University structure, for this project the development team has joined the Adobe Education Leadership Programme to explore the potential for a flexible and scalable solution to customise to meet the IWBL issues (AEL, 2008). The process of Beta testing Adobe software products allows us access to Acrobat 9 Extended advice on issues arising. The team are involved with research conference events such as BETT (2008). Video case studies of how the products can be applied are available in text form or as web video case studies (Adobe, 2008). Additionally, the team were contacted by institutions to act as consultants on software solutions or to offer advice on research projects.