Learning Development in the Open using FOSS eLearning Africa pre-conference Workshop 2014

1. Learning Development in the Open
Moving from Course Design to
Development using FOSS
Brenda Mallinson
Greig Krull
28 May 2014

2. Outline
Welcome & Introduction
Categories and Purposes of FOSS
Current Status at your Institution
Effective use of your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Design and Develop VLE landing page and layering
Develop a course activity using a FOSS tool
Wrap-up and reflections

3. Motivation
Following the ‘Learning Design1 in the Open’ pre-conference
workshop at eLearning Africa 2013, the next step is to
continuing the logical flow with a follow on workshop:
Learning Development2 in the Open
moving the focus from design to development in your
virtual learning environment / learning management system
using Free and Open Source Software
1 http://tinyurl.com/uol-7Cs-oer
2 http://goo.gl/bHxayc

4. Workshop Outcomes
• Gain an understanding of the role of FOSS in supporting
education
• Maximise the available functionality of your virtual
learning environment.
• Adopt a systematic approach to moving from design to
development of an online course.
• Gain insight to facilitate decision making on personal
and institutional educational software needs

5. Starting Point
Participants should have a specific course
or course component in mind that they
want to move from design to development
in terms of effective, technology-enhanced
learner interaction and engagement

6. Where are you from?
Indicate your country on the maps of
Africa provided on your group’s table –
adding a link with your name or
institution and/or flag.
Brenda & Greig
Johannesburg, South Africa

7. Categories & Purposes of using
FOSS Educational Software
What is FOSS?
Definitions: Free = price AND liberty
nearly all free software is open source, and nearly all
open source software is free.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html
Extend concept to:
Readily available software

8. Top 100 Tools for Learning in 2013
© 2013 Centre
for Learning &
Performance
Technologies
http://c4lpt.co.uk/
top100tools/

9. Categories - Educational Software
• Learning Management Systems e.g. Moodle, Sakai
• Offline solutions e.g. Poodle, Fast track
• ePortfolio Systems e.g. Mahara
• Web Conferencing e.g. WebHuddle, Google Hangout
Virtual Learning
Environments
• Media Rich Content e.g. eXe, CourseLab
• Productivity / Presentation e.g. OpenOffice, Prezi
• Video recording/editing e.g. MovieMasher,
• Screen Capture e.g. Camstudio, Screencast-o-matic
• Audio Recording / Podcasting e.g. Audacity, Juice
• Image Editing e.g. Jing, Dia, Gimp
Content Authoring
• Stand alone Assessment Tools e.g. Hot Potatoes
• Embedded facilities within VLE e.g. Quiz, Choice, Survey
• Web survey tools e.g. Survey Monkey, Doodle, Google
Forms
Assessment / Evaluation /
Survey
• Blogging e.g. WordPress, Blogger, Twitter
• Social Networking e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn
• Wikis e.g. MediaWiki
• Educational e.g. Elgg, LAMS
Social Media

10. Demonstration
• Virtual Learning Environment
– Moodle (& Mahara integration)
• Content authoring
– Screencast-o-matic & Youtube
– Audacity
• Scheduling/Evaluation
– Doodle
– Google Forms
• Social software
– Using MS Photo Story

11. Activity 1 – Current status at your HEI
• Aim: Identify any additional open source / free educational
software you are aware of and currently use or would like to use
• To Do:
– On your own, write down any educational FOSS (one per card)
(10 mins):
• You are currently using, purpose & impact (Green card)
• On your wish list & proposed purpose (Blue card)
– Review the cards in your groups and try to categorise them on a
flipchart (20 mins)
– Discuss in your group what works well and what does not work
well (10 mins)
• Feedback:
– Each group will present their flipcharts for comparison (10 mins)
– We will discuss the similarities and differences (10 mins)

12. Tea Break

13. Outline
Welcome, Introduction & Icebreaker
Categories and Purposes of FOSS
Current Status at your Institution
Effective use of your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Design and Develop VLE landing page and layering
Develop a course activity using a FOSS tool
Wrap-up and reflections

14. Practical Session A:
Effective Use of your VLE
• Aim: Explore the functionality of an example VLE
• Resources: (Flash Drive)
– Poodle
– Prac A folder documents
• To do:
– Access Poodle
– Look through Categories doc in conjunction with the COE
demo course
– Practice developing the VLE features in your Sandpit course
• Feedback:
– Share your progress with your table group
– Share achievements with wider group

15. Lunch Break

16. Outline
Welcome, Introduction & Icebreaker
Categories and Purposes of FOSS
Current Status at your Institution
Effective use of your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Design and Develop VLE landing page and layering
Develop a course activity using a FOSS tool
Wrap-up and reflections

17. Practical Session B:
Landing page & Layering
• Aim: Explore the layout of an example course
• Resources: (Flash Drive)
– SOL course on Poodle
– Guidelines doc
• To do: (30 mins)
– Access Poodle and SOL course
– Examine SOL course with respect to landing page and layering
guidelines provided
• Feedback: (30 mins)
– Discuss the layout elements within your small group
– Share issues within wider group

18. Tea Break

19. Outline
Welcome, Introduction & Icebreaker
Categories and Purposes of FOSS
Current Status at your Institution
Effective use of your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Design and Develop VLE landing page and layering
Develop a course activity using a FOSS tool
Wrap-up and reflections

20. Practical Session C: Develop an Activity
• Aim: Develop an activity using a FOSS tool
• What to do:
1. Get into pairs, and in your pairs, select a tool to develop an
activity (5 mins)
2. Brainstorm an activity to develop using this tool and fill in
the Activity Development Template (10 mins)
3. Create the activity using the tool (25 mins)
• How to respond: Prepare to share your activity with larger group
(5 mins)
• Feedback (from the group / facilitators): share and discuss the
pair activities (15 mins)

21. Outline
Welcome & Introduction
Categories and Purposes of FOSS
Current Status at your Institution
Effective use of your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Design and Develop VLE landing page and layering
Develop a course activity using a FOSS tool
Wrap-up and reflections

22. Reflection Activity
• Aim: Identify capacity building and support mechanisms to
ensure sustainability
• Questions:
1. What mechanisms do you have in place for Systems
Administration, Support and Training?
2. What support mechanisms can you make use of?
3. How can you build capacity in using the technology?
• What to do: Discuss the above questions in your small groups
(15 mins)
• How to respond: Collate these responses onto a 1 sheet of
flipchart paper (5 mins)
• Feedback (from the group / facilitators): share and discuss the
group responses (10 mins)

23. Supporting Principles:
• Purpose - Support the Opening of Education
• Attitude - Adaptive to Change; Mindful of Context
• Approach - Add Value; Build Capacity; Collaborate
• Overarching – Strive for High Quality

24. In conclusion..
Embrace the opportunities
while
holding onto the key principles
of quality pedagogical practices
and concentrating on
creating an enabling learning environment
using the technologies

25. Thank you
Brenda Mallinson and Greig Krull
brendam@saide.org.za / greigk@saide.org.za
SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.com/brenda6
Resources on Google Drive: http://goo.gl/bHxayc
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.