Practical tips in formulating an e-Learning strategy and developing an e-learning

program

Dr Goh Poh Sun Associate Professor and Senior Consultant

Department of Diagnostic Radiology National University Hospital

National University of Singapore

The essence of strategy is to focus on “what is important” to do (areas of effort and concentration), and what not to do

The 5 “Ws” and 1 “H”

Why do you want to use eLearning? (or Technology enhanced learning/TeL)

When and Where (will TeL be used), What (content will shared by TeL), for Who (is your audience), and How (will TeL be used) ?

How should one proceed? What barriers can be anticipated? What resources should be devoted to this effort?

Why do you want to use eLearning? (or Technology enhanced learning/TeL)

Benefits students - access (time, place and pace which suits them), best content (most useful, most engaging)

Benefits staff - scale up, expands reach, wider audience, beyond classroom/scheduled class time, consistent content, facilitates peer review (displays scholarly teaching and educational scholarship)

Benefits administrators - peer review, demonstrates quality (see what you actually teach with, and assess on), facilitates evaluation of teaching sessions and programs

When and Where (will TeL be used)

In class - to support

Before class - to prepare, “Flipping the classroom”

After class - to reinforce

What (content will shared by TeL)?

Lecture slides

Text

Multimedia

Assessment items/exercises/simulations

Who (is your audience)?

Undergraduate - build foundation, illustrate

Postgraduate - train for competency, proficiency, expert performance, mastery

CME/CPD/Lifelong learning - review, revise, reinforce, (re)build - new knowledge and skills

How (will TeL be used)?

Formal learning (classroom or online), Informal learning (seeking advice from network), Just in time learning/performance support (looking up something, key information, guidelines and guides)

Websites, Mobile applications, Sharing digital documents and references electronically

Access real-time, asynchronously

How should one proceed? What barriers can be anticipated? What resources should be devoted to this effort?

Start with what you have, and what you currently use for teaching and training

Attitudes (traditional teaching and training is the best - but what about students and trainees who cannot attend, teachers with variable or subpar performance on a particular day or who are not available?), Lack of time/protected time, Not knowing how to start/skill set (faculty development)

Leadership, support from key stakeholders, buy-in, early adopter/pilot project-prototype development teams, iterative review and improvement cycles (develop, use, evaluate/feedback, repeat)

Everything I have learnt about eLearning

1.its the learning in (e)Learning that is the most important2.the quality of the content counts3.technology promotes access and broadens reach4.the most successful strategy is to blend digital with face to face5.digital content can and should be continuously refined, and customised to an

individual learner’s needs6.create or curate7.an indexed hyperlinked repository promotes use, re-use, and re-purposing8.digital teaching facilitates peer review, co-creation and curation of content9.a digital platform can promote and facilitate active and collaborative learning10.know the pedagogy and have technical know how, apply educational theory

and instructional design principles11.be prepared for lots of work, much much more than the preparation required

for a regular face to face class, symposium or workshop (at least 10 times more); the trade-off is that digital content once created or curated can be re-used and re-purposed if accessible via a hyperlinked indexed content repository

12.focus on creating and curating content in the most granular and reusable format

How to start

1.Do you (your department, your division, your institution) have a list of all educational presentations and teaching sessions given to undergraduates, postgraduates, and for CME/CPD over the last year?

2.Have you (your department, division and institution) kept a copy of all educational presentations?

3.Is the list of presentations AND copy of the educational presentations available and accessible?4.If no to any of the questions above, consider starting to do this prospectively, and then

retrospectively5.Then start selectively hyperlinking specific elements of the presentations, and making this

available, first internally on an intranet, then progressively on the internet6.Starting with a list of presentations, and key take home or practice points is a useful, and safe

way to start7.You can then share recent and authoritative articles and research papers, as well as practice

guidelines; and then progressively, key diagrams and illustrations (at all times maintaining confidentiality, protecting privacy, respecting intellectual property, and following professional and institutional standards and guidelines - i.e. always respect your patients, your students and your colleagues)

8.This process makes teaching (activities) visible, available for peer review, and scholarly (as well as potentially scholarship - for other educators and scholars to critique, and build upon)

9.Teaching and educational activities can be more easily assessed, evaluated and audited - by students, peers, and external educational training and accreditation bodies

10.This provides evidence for educational quality - not only following best practices and guidelines on paper, but by “showing what you actually teach with, and assess on”