PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING OBJECTS

In recent years a plethora of confusing information and practice has emerged complicating the already indistinct picture of the place pedagogy holds with regard to learning objects within e-learning. Educators have attempted to develop theory and/or practice in this area only to find that pedagogical barriers stand in their way. Others have attempted to deconstruct existing strategies with high ‘face validity’ with limited success. This, and other factors, has caused many educators to recognize that a more systematic approach to education in this area is required (Prosser 2007).

This paper sets out a new and original range of robustly researched pedagogical strategies intended for practical use with learning objects. The pedagogical strategies outlined in this paper were developed by means of

i) a new systematic review method (developed according to the level of academic maturity found within this topic, and gathered across a wide variety of disciplines in order to find the most reliable pedagogy and pedagogical practice when using Learning Objects within e-learning);
ii) a grounded theory approach (to develop emergent theory on every pedagogy found to be reliable in the review - i.e. those that were both robust in creation/application and seen to be effective in the practice setting); and
iii) comprehensive research/testing (by means of usability studies, computer package testing on seven specially designed and created Learning Objects, observation, questionnaire and interview). This was performed on a randomized sample of students and staff.
In turn, the data from each of these approaches/emergent theories was analyzed and an evaluation made as to whether the emergent pedagogical strategies would ‘hold true’ across different disciplines, levels of practice, gender and location. As a result, both general and unique pedagogical principles were discovered and are presented in this paper as
iv) a series of case studies (in order to practically illustrate how these new pedagogical strategies may be used - i.e. how they can be used for student computer sessions as part of a lecture, on-line as part of student exam revision, ‘stand-alone’ as part of a distance education module, as part of continued professional development for staff, and finally, how they can be used as quick competency guides/training for the rapid integration of new members of staff).

This research provides a robust and practical basis on which to assess existing pedagogy and also as an aid to build a pedagogically secure foundation for new e-learning curricula.