Abstract:

The Context: The original aim was to address the growing need of our international partners to be able to offer students a way of completing a Dissertation online.
Garrison, & Kanuk, 2004, note blended Learning has the proven potential to enhance meaningful learning experiences, and compliments the traditional delivery styles within higher education institutions. One approach for introducing e-learning is to enhance existing materials and practice, through easy-to-use learning technologies (Salmon, 2005). Govindasamy, 2002, summarises by stating e-learning is essentially another way to teach and learn.

Deliverables: The Research Methods (Online) covers the contents of the equivalent campus based module. The lecture slides and audio were provided by the academics delivering the face to face version, and these have been converted into an interactive online module.
The 14 units in the module cover various topics including the Literature Review, Quantitative Methods, Plagiarism, and the Research Proposal. Students study these weekly e-learning units, whilst writing their Dissertation online from various locations across the world.
Each online unit has a voice over and audio transcript from the subject matter expert. Units have an attachments section where relevant documents can be viewed and downloaded. The materials have interactive elements such as circle, stair step, and pyramid interactions, as well as quizzes, embedded videos, and unit questions/activities. PDF copies of all the contents including the interactions are available on our Managed Learning Environment (MLE), these give students the opportunity to print copies of the materials. Screencapture videos are also provided to show how to navigate and make the most of the e-learning materials.

Final Outcomes: This session will present some of the issues that occurred during the development stages and the subsequent processes created for future e-learning development work within the faculty. The feedback and various issues raised by students during the testing stages, and during the first semester of the Research Methods (Online) module, will also be discussed. With recommended solutions to overcome the problems experienced.
The initial aim was achieved as the module is running with our international partner colleges. However further benefits have been noted with; undergraduate and postgraduate campus based students, and with new dissertation supervisors. The module also has the potential to expand further through other partners and other faculties across the University.

References:
[1] Garrison, D.R. & Kanuka, H. (2004) ‘Blended learning: Uncovering its transformative potential in higher education’. The Internet and Higher Education. 7: pp95-105.
[2] Govindasamy, T. (2002) ‘Successful implementation of e-Learning Pedagogical considerations’. The Internet and Higher Education. 4: pp287-299.
[3] Salmon, G. (2005) ‘Flying not flapping: a strategic framework for e-learning and pedagogical innovation in higher education institutions’. ALT-J Research in Learning Technology. 13(3): pp201-218.

Keywords:

e-learning, Online, Research Methods, International partners, Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Articulate software, Development, Experience.