Workshop delivered about issues in designing and running subjects through an LMS from a student's perspective. Essentially a free flowing discussion among the attendees (academics). As each issue was raised by attendees, the corresponding topic slide was selected to demonstrated the issue and how it was solved. [Shared with permission 10/11/17]
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Improving the Student Experience of the LMS (La Trobe University, Learning & Teaching Workshop)
1. Improving the Student Experience of the LMS
with Tom Cotton
Educational Designers
LTLT Learning Design Team
LTLT WORKSHOP
• Wed 9 May 1-3pm @ BU TLC-311
• Thu 10 May 1-3pm Zoom 750 113 113
2. latrobe.edu.au
Session Agenda
1:00 WELCOME
1:05 ACTIVITY 1 WHO ARE YOUR STUDENTS?
1:15 ACTIVITY 2 SUBJECT SABOTAGE
1:25 DISCUSSION STUDENT LMS EXPERIENCE AND DESIGN THINKING
1:50 SUMMARY
1:55 [ 10 MINUTE BREAK ]
2:05 LMS SUBJECT DESIGN SESSION
2:55 CLOSE
Improving
the Student Experience
of the LMS
3. latrobe.edu.au
Session Outcomes
Goal
Value good student centred design principles in LMS subject design
You will be able to:
1. Contextualise your students with learning experience.
2. Identifying strong and weak design elements affecting the student experience
3. Describe strategies to improve the student experience of the LMS
Improving
the Student Experience
of the LMS
7. latrobe.edu.au
Design thinking is…
Design thinking focuses on human centred design which is “…an approach
that aims to make systems useful by focusing on the users, their needs and
requirements, and applying human factors, usability knowledge, and
techniques.” Source: ISO 9241-210: 2010
Video: Richard Cullata: https://lms.latrobe.edu.au/course/view.php?id=46766#
Three things we can do:
User shadowing – get to know the students as people and as learners
Adapting to student needs – diagnostics
Tools and resources – get students to demonstrate or describe the skills they have obtained
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Activity 1
What is the direct learning benefit?
1. Why do students choose to come and
study your discipline?
https://bit.ly/#####
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Activity 1
What is the direct learning benefit?
1. What should the student be able to do by
the end of the subject?
2. How will they apply that ability?
https://bit.ly/######
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Conclusion
Empathy is the strongest design tool
What they think, see, say affects what they need
Keeping the student experience of the LMS in mind is the key to avoiding pain and
maximizing gain.
Functional
+
Human Centred
Activity 1
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Giving Guidance
Information Design
Constructive Alignment
Learning Path
Giving Feedback
Getting Feedback
Support
AssessmentCognitive Load
Activity 1 Activity 2
Accessibility
Mobile
DesignThinkingSolutions
Layout and navigation
Design
Thinking
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Get Help: a LTLT Consultation with
Educational Designers about
structuring materials in the LMS
-also look out for LTLT Workshops
Assessment
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Tables can display poorly
Content can go off screen!
Get Help: a consultation from
LTLT Educational Designers
about mobile design
Studentsandtheirmobile
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Importing content
each section from the source course is imported directly into the corresponding
section of the target new course (regardless of section name).
CognitiveLoad
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Old Subject New Subject
Old Subject Assessment
Old Week 1
Old Week 2
Old Week 3
Old Week 4
Old Resources
Old Subject Assessment
Old Week 1
Old Week 2
Old Week 3
Old Week 4
Old Resources
New Assessment
New Assessment
New Week 1
New Week 2
New Week 3
New Week 4
Concept:
Importing Subject Content
LMS
CognitiveLoad
20. latrobe.edu.au
Get Help: a design consultation
with a LTLT Educational
Designers about interactivity
CognitiveLoad
Importing content
each section from the source course is imported directly into the corresponding
section of the target new course (regardless of section name).
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Aligning the topics, assessments, activities, seminars and ILOs into a coherent,
logical sequence that supports the student learning experience.
Get Help:
Ask your LTLT College Partner
about a CDI project
ConstructiveAlignment
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1. Student Satisfaction Survey
Given time in-class to complete
2. Focus Group
Take a small student group for
coffee for open chat.
3. Mud-moments
Ask students to identify
confusing lecture moments
4. Suggestion box
5. DIY surveys
6. In-lecture feedback:
Given this concept, how would you
teach this; have any better examples?
7. Appoint “Student Ambassadors”
Students who speak to Academic on
student behalf
8. Moments of Learning
Record informal feedback for reflection
on later.
9. Assessments
What did/didn’t work in the
assessment?
10. Tip: Don’t be afraid of feedback!
See LTLT Curriculum Design Website
www.latrobe.edu.au/ltlt/teaching/using-student-feedback
See LF Hub “Using Student Feedback in Teaching”
https://lms.latrobe.edu.au/course/view.php?id=48975
GettingFeedback
10 Mechanisms
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1. Diagnostic Assessment:
• Give feedback on how to remediate skills, knowledge gaps
• Identify the learning path
2. Formative Assessment
• Give meaningful feedback on learning in progress.
• Explains both right and wrong responses.
3. Summative Assessment
• Feeds back on the standard achieved.
• Explains reasoning for summative feedback given
GivingFeedback
Formal Assessment & Feedback
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1. Ad-hoc
• Summation of forum messages.
• Explanatory to clarify content, assessment and academic integrity.
2. Encouragement
• Recap what has been achieved.
• Recognise the hard work.
3. Ask and set the expectations of feedback responses
• on email queries.
• on assessments.
Informal feedback
Get Help:
1. LT Education Design
Improving Feedback workshop
www.latrobe.edu.au/ed-tech/ed-design/workshops
2. Learning Futures HUB:
Using Student Feedback in Teaching
https://lms.latrobe.edu.au/course/view.php?id=49173
GivingFeedback
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ISSUE
“Time management continues to be a very significant issue for 1st year.
RESPONSE
Reduce the ‘friction’ of getting started:
• One place for student to find subject administration information
• Provide guidance on how long activities are going to take
• Advise on scope of activities
• Be very proactive in build the sense of learning community – guide and
affirm.
Baik, C., Naylor, R., & Arkoudis, S. (2015). The first year experience in Australian Universities: findings from two decades, 1994-
2014 (2015/03/01 ed., pp. 110). Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education: The University of Melbourne.
Get Help:
1. Group Work Workshop
www.latrobe.edu.au/ed-tech/ed-design/workshops
2. Learning Futures HUB
Online Facilitation for Blended Learning
https://lms.latrobe.edu.au/course/view.php?id=49173
GivingGuidance
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On the LMS...
• Links and URLS open in new windows
• Text alternatives such as transcripts and captioning (where applicable) are provided
• Screen text is resizable
• Text content is available in an easily accessed and readable. Preferably in HTML format or, where
possible, provide original PowerPoint or Word file formats in addition to PDF
• Contrast between text and background allows for content to be easily read/viewed
• Tables are not used for layout
• There is no flashing of rapidly moving content
Source:
Good Practice Guide:
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/ed-tech/technologies/guides/lms/goodpractice
Get Help:
1. LTLT Guides
www.latrobe.edu.au/ed-tech/ed-design/workshops
2. Equity and Diversity
Health and Wellbeing
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/students/support/wellbeing
Accessibility
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Subject Sabotage
What have you seen in online subjects that kills the student experience?
How would you solve the issues through design thinking?
Activity2
Welcome to Improving the Student Experience of the LMS!
Thank you for coming today.
My name is Tom Cotton, an Educational Designers with LTLT.
This workshop is divided into two halves: Understanding design thinking and, in the second half a hands on workshop.
At the conclusion, in the spirit of continuous improvement we will ask you to provide feedback on today’s session.
This session is about a community of practice – drawing out and sharing your experience with academic teaching.
It is an active dialog about how you can self-analyse your subject.
You will take a student view of a subject, observing how learning design affects the student learning experience in the LMS.
By the end of this session, you will be able to appraise your LMS subject with fresh eyes, learning to see it from the perspective how a student experiences it. This is design thinking.
First up is an a quick question: Who are your students?
What is design thinking?
A small example. Here’s a very simple peeler. Used by millions. very functional, gets the job done.
But not very comfortable – especially when there’s a lot of peeling to do…
So why invent another peeler? [rhetorical]
[To Attendees] What is it about this particular peeler that makes a significantly more expensive peeler popular?
[CLICK]
It’s the element of humanness that has been incorporated into the design.
[Next slide]
That’s what we’re trying to do with our subjects:
Take a very functional LMS and incorporate the humanness into it.
Before we get into the ILOs in the design process, we ask 2 very basic questions:
What is the ability the student be able to do by the end of the subject?
How will they apply that skill?”
This is the Direct Learning Benefit to students for learning a subject.
By understanding this and responding so we fundamentall improve the student experience of the LMS.
Think about your experience as a student. Remember the emotional rollercoaster of studying a subject. Think about the frustrations of being a student:
Getting to know the academic lingo and processes…
Knowing what the expectations are?
Managing their time and workloads…
Juggling competing priorities of other subjects, work, illness and outside life.
Anxiety around assessment
Balancing their long term and short term goals
Design thinking is about putting the student experience at the centre of the choices you make in your teaching and the LMS.
So who are your students?
Making sure you’ve got all the assessment information together
Understanding the workload of a subject
Think about how they experience each semester.
Think of the different ways they will experience the learning process?
Think about the learning path they will take.
Who are your students?
Where are your students?
Do they need lots of support or not?
Are they Part Time or Full Time?
Are they school-leavers or Mature age?
Making sure you’ve got all the assessment information together
Understanding the workload of a subject
Think about how they experience each semester.
Think of the different ways they will experience the learning process?
Think about the learning path they will take.
Who are your students?
Where are your students?
Do they need lots of support or not?
Are they Part Time or Full Time?
Are they school-leavers or Mature age?
Making sure you’ve got all the assessment information together
Understanding the workload of a subject
Think about how they experience each semester.
Think of the different ways they will experience the learning process?
Think about the learning path they will take.
Who are your students?
Where are your students?
Do they need lots of support or not?
Are they Part Time or Full Time?
Are they school-leavers or Mature age?
Conclusion
Empathy is the strongest design tool
What they think, see, say affects what they need
Keeping the student experience of the LMS in mind is the key to avoiding pain and maximizing gain.
Conclusion
Empathy is the strongest design tool
What they think, see, say affects what they need
Keeping the student experience of the LMS in mind is the key to avoiding pain and maximizing gain.
[Topic Selection: As the conversation progresses – issues will be described. Select the menu item. Use the Home icon to return to ]
Welcome – This section is about Design Thinking solutions.
It would be really helpful if you could describe your subject and make some generalizations about who your ‘typical’ students are (if that’s even possible).
[FUTURE IDEAS TO INCLUDE: GRADEBOOK DESIGN USING WMoG / CATEGORIES : how they interpret grades into performance]
Imagine yourself as a student – think of the tasks that student has to know:
Assessment Criteria
Assessment Guidelines
Academic standards and processes
How to submit
At a glance can you decipher these elements from this page?
To make this student centred - how would you rearrange this?
Here is a design solution being used in subjects now:
Presentation of each assessment is made consistent
A table is used for the vital statistics
The Assessment Criteria and Guidelines are grouped together.
The submission link is made in a distinct location, under a heading
Imagine yourself as a student – how does this feel to you?
Would anyone like to share any ‘quirks’ they see when their LMS subject appears on a mobile?
Bottom line – spend some time viewing your materials on a mobile – see where some simple changes could help a lot.
We all probably know about Cognitive overload – the amount of information to process overwhelms the learner.
He is a slide from a presentation about important content into the LMS that we found overwhelmed new LMS users.
By breaking the concepts down into simple illustration
Now this image makes more sense, allowing them to apply the concept to the system’s functionality.
The student is on a learning journey, and a Constructive Alignment is a strategic map for designing the whole journey – which the LMS design is one critical element.
It helps ensure tasks, topics, activities and assessments proceed logically and coherently. It also helps keep track of required effort from students.
If we define Design Thinking as combining humanness with function, then feedback is the quickest way to discover the required ‘humanness’ in the subject.
Feedback comes back in many forms – the key is to be deliberate about it.
For example:
3. Ask students
6. Ask for students opinions examples – ask them to share their experience.
8. “Moments of Learning” is about your own professional reflection journal.
10. More advice – embrace feedback to accelerate imporvemnt.
The three types of formal assessment and feedback can be a diagnostic for your subject.
If the assessment results and/or feedback do not reflect the desired standard of learning, then it’s worthwhile asking if the LMS and/or learning design is causing problems.
If it is, ask for a design consultation.
Otherwise have a chat with a Educational Developer as part of the Learning Futures team – they run fantastic Assessment and Feedback workshops.
Design is not just about look and feel. It can be about decisions of what scaffolding materials to include.
For example – some students think Feedback only come on assessments.
You can use good learning design principles to overcome this misconceptions.
You can use your subject to build feedback literacy – that feedback comes in many forms and how it can be used to great effect.
Good learning design includes how you manage your subject.
For example, it’s good to build a strong sense of a learning community in your subject.
This can be done through using social techniques within Forums:
Summation of student work
Encouragement
Clearly annunciating communication expectations
Keeping on top of queries (not too soon / not too long – usually a day is a reasonable)
Understanding and experience with different cohorts of students will inform the ideal levels of support required.
Some support is universally just good practice.
A La Trobe researcher, Ryan Naylor, contributed to the 1st Year experience report and found that 1st years required more advice and support on how to manage their time. Consider what level and types of support your students need.
In what ways would the design issues in this affect students?
Here is one alternative approach:
Using headings to create a hierarchy of importance in content.
The use of bullet points.
Simple use of bold to show key concepts
Use of images to reflect the content.
What design issues is likely to be present here in this example subject?
Answer:
The use of Modules is the issue: modules can make it difficult for students to pace their studies.
When does a module need to be completed?
What if a module spans multiple weeks – then what are individual learning tasks that need to be done by when?
As a design response you can see the classic weekly structure has been used…
..then within each week you can help students focus on study by providing the learning task sequence.
This way there’s no “what do I have to do next and by when?” uncertainty. Furthermore it’s clear when they have completed their learning. This gives them reassurance in their rate of progress.
Good design takes into account accessibility in the development of the materials.
Keep the subject header content to a very sparten minimum. Otherwise there’s a lot of scrolling on a mobile screen. Place all content into the sections.
Advanced tip: In the subject settings, choose:
1: Format: Grid Layout
2: Subject Layout: Show one section per page.
Time for some fun!
Let’s hear from you of what you have seen (as either an student or academic) that kills a subject. Please – let’s avoid specific identifying individual subjects.
[
** 8 Minute discussion
** Thank participation
]
In the third and final part of this presentation we’re going to have a discussion about our own subjects about subject design challenges you would like to resolve.
Conclusion:
Improving the Student Experience is an iterative process – guided by continually deepening the understanding of your student and their learning needs.
We do this with Design Thinking – putting the humanness into a very ‘functional’ LMS.
It takes time to evolve a subject that humanises the learning experience within the LMS.
It takes time to really understand the student and their needs
Simple changes can make a big difference. We have learnt a lot and it provides a great foundation.
One of the big take away ideas today is that support is available to do so.
Simply contact your LTLT College Partner.
They can advise you on how LTLT can help:
A Consultation to solve a learning issue through good LMS design
A Workshop for you and your team for a hands-on deep dive into a LMS design solutions
A Curriculum Design Intensive to reimagining a subject
Workshops and Events for building skills and knowledge to make managing subjects in the LMS easier.
As you reflect on all these design consideration - the key thing to know is: Learning and Teaching support is available.
Thank you for your time today.
As you leave - please complete the Attendance and Session Feedback form!