THE TRANSFORMATIVE EFFECT OF MODULE RE-DESIGN: A DESIGN FOR E-LIFE

This paper will explore the potential of e-learning for promoting student-centred approaches, and discuss the issues that arise when adapting traditional content for delivery online. Finally it will evaluate key factors determining successful instructional design.

To overcome the seismic paradigm shifts occurring in higher education it is fundamental to clarify one’s choice of pedagogy and how best to engage the learner this will lead one to decide on an appropriate approach or model when designing the module.

Teaching in Higher Education is about developing critical thinking in students. More specifically, it is about developing the ability to identify, analyse and challenge the assumptions, one’s own and those of others, that contextualise and situate knowledge. It is about communicating knowledge, engendering a love of knowledge and embedding an ethical approach to the handling of knowledge. It is about showing people how to explore, investigate and, ultimately, to research and develop new knowledge. This last is a key interface between teaching and research: teaching becomes about developing the skills of research – but these also happen to be the skills particularly suited to (a) gaining a mastery of subject and discipline, and (b) being an active and contributing member of learning society in a global age.