Study plan - E-Pedagogy for Teachers in Higher Education

Lifelong learning (LLL) is an important objective for the EU educational systems and for labour mobility in Europe. E-learning methodology makes it possible for professionals to increase their knowledge as part time students and as such, it is a tool for LLL.

Being an e-teacher demands specific skills and competences in pedagogy related to supervising students on the Internet. An explicit knowledge of how to structure the learning material to make a suitable and inspiring learning environment for e-learning students are necessary.

This course promotes and strengthens the participants¿ skills in teaching, supervising, planning and organising good e-learning courses in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Target group
This is a course for teachers in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) teaching social work or related subjects. A basic knowledge of didactics will be an advantage. The number of students is limited. Teachers from SW-VirCamp partner institutions will have priority.

Credits and Certificate
The course confers 10 ECTS credits. Certificate will be given from the partner universities/SW-VirCamp.

Objectives:

This study programme will meet the needs for knowledge and skills in e-learning pedagogy in the field of social work and other related educations. It will increase the possibilities for more educational institutions to take part in or initiate new e-learning courses for students in international programmes.

The study programme is based on situated learning perspectives, a task centred approach to learning and learning-by-doing during the course.

Content

The content in this course is related to the following themes:

• Theory and methods in e-learning pedagogy.
• How to create a virtual learning environment by using Learning Management Systems (LMS) and open net resources.
• How to create a cooperative learning community.
• How to make a good curriculum plan.
• How to develop a programme with a good structure and learning progress.
• How to develop course content, as screen lectures, tasks and virtual learning materials.
• How to give feedback on students¿ written tasks in an e-learning course, focusing on the teacher role in e-learning courses.
• How to construct tasks for an e-portfolio.
• How to find, critically appraise and decide which Internet resources to use for e-learning students.
• Choose and use the best software and online tools for different educational purpose.
• Awareness of issues related to net-ethics.
• Basic technical support to e-learning participants.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, the student shall have the following learning outcomes defined in knowledge, skills and general competences:

Knowledge

The student

• has knowledge about theories and methods in e-pedagogy
• has knowledge about how to develop an e-learning course with a collaborative, comparative perspective, and a transparent and task-centred approach.
• has knowledge about how to develop a curriculum plan for an e-learning course
• has knowledge about how to make virtual learning material for e-learning courses.
• has knowledge about how to deal with basic technical problems and challenges related to using VLE.
• has knowledge about how to find and use appropriate learning resources and tools which can promote e-learning.
• has knowledge about how to use an e-portfolio as an educational tool in an international course.
• has knowledge about methods for reflection on learning in e-learning.
• has knowledge about net-ethics.
• has knowledge about how to cooperate and stimulate cooperation among participants in a Virtual Classroom by the use of chat, asynchronic discussion forums and collaborative task solving.

Skills

The student..

• can demonstrate didactical skills in e-teaching
• can describe, analyse and evaluate pedagogical methods in e-learning related to a specific course they have developed during the e-pedagogy programme.
• can strategically choose between different didactical strategies when planning an e-learning module, related to expected learning outcomes.
• can promote reflection on learning in e-learning.
• can develop virtual learning material for an online course

General competences

The student...

• can identify and critically reflect on ethical dilemma related to e-teaching and e-learning
• can plan and work out tasks in a systematic way
• can convey central subjects such as theories, issues and solutions both in writing, verbally and through other relevant forms of expression

Study methods:

During the course students will work with a problem-oriented focus, and by solving tasks learn how to develop their own e-learning courses. Using a hands-on approach, by the end of the course students have developed their own e-learning course on a subject they have chosen.

Two or three students might cooperate in developing one common course. After developing a common curriculum plan, they must work with different parts of the course and clarify their own contribution to the common course and presenting their own work with the tasks in the course (see instructions under Assessment).

The course will be based on the latest research and knowledge in e-learning pedagogy and will invite students to take an active part in their own learning process and collaborate with each other.

Internet access:

The students need consistent access to the Internet to attend this course, and be able to connect to the course several times a week during the course period.

Assessment:

During the course students will assemble their produced material into an e-portfolio. Collected, used and elaborated material will be part of their final assignment. All task must be delived in their e-portfolio to be checked by teacher before the exam period starts. This is compulsory for entering exam.

The final assignment is a presentation of the course structured in an LMS. Presentation of the course includes a curriculum plan, one screen lecture, one trigger, and the programme for some of the weeks including tasks. Some of the relevant readings for students must be listed.
In addition, students should describe and analyse their didactical considerations and reflect on learning during the course based on their reflexive blog notes.

Collaborating students with a common curriculum plan must clarify their own parts of the study-program and their individual creation of the above-specified learning materials, both in the presentation of the course and in their reflections notes.

Structure:

Students will get access to the actual Learning Management System when the course starts. This is an online course structured in weekly programmes, and students will collaborate by giving feedback to tasks, discussions and online chats.

The last four weeks will be individual work and delivery of final assignment.

Course fee:

Applicants from HEI not partners in SW-VirCamp social work programme will have to pay 1500 EURO for the course.

Starts/ends:

22 January - 4 June 2018

Application form:

Information about the application form go to: about the application form

Readings:

Readings will be updated before October 2017. In the previous course, these books were the main literature:

McConnell, D. (2006): E-learning groups and communities Maidenhead, England New York: Open University Press in association with the Society for Research into Higher Education (also as e-book)

Salmon, G. (2011): E-moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online London: Routledge Taylor & Francis

Salmon, G. (ed.) (2008): Podcasting for learning in universities. Maidenhead: Open University Press (also as e-book)

Supplemented with papers from journals and online resources.