enABLe in London 

What is enABLe?

To save the need to interrogate the full enable.port.ac.uk website, this is the summary or tagline: 

"enABLe is a team based approach to learning design."

Based off similar learning design approaches such as CAIeRO, carpe diem, and the ABC Learning Design toolkit. enABLe is built on the key principles of Active Blended Learning. All these approaches look to emphasise the context of learning over the content. As mentioned, all of the information explaining the process can be expanded on and clarification provided by visiting the enABLe website. 

How has enABLe been used for London Campus? 

The initial work (phase 1) undertaken regarding the enABLe process for London Campus (LC) supported the UoP sessions that directly related to LC courses and helped gather information and provide context. This information has been used to improve understanding of what LC could and should look like in reality.

Phase 2 of the London campus enABLes will run once all the new members of teaching staff have been appointed and are in-post. The initial sessions will run September/October of 2023 with follow-up sessions in December to help make any minor amendments that may be required.

The sessions in Sept/Oct will be a more comprehensive enABLe that is run over a longer period of time than the UoP enABLe sessions. Where the UoP enABLe lasts about four hours, the LC enABLe will run for about two weeks and is designed to map out the entire course, modules and assessments, giving plenty of time to reflect on and adapt the ideas.

enABLe plan for London Campus

The London enABLe will be run over two weeks. This outline is not a step by step procedure but a guide for how the sessions will be structured. The nature of enABLe is that conversations and ideas should be free to flow, evolve and develop. Sticking to a plan is not the driver of an enABLe but is there to help start new conversations should some direction be required. 

Day 1:

Icebreaker activities to start day 1. 

The first will help contextualise Block Teaching. 

The second, the values exercise will frame how the course will be built. 

The next step is a review of the content collated from the course's UoP version. 

To round out the day, a rough storyboard should be completed to help visualise how the next stages will progress.

Day 2:

Review the course storyboard from yesterday and start to consider where refinements may be required.  

Taking the first module on the storyboard, discuss the course values of the module. 

Interrogate current module structure. 

Create a map around to start populating a storyboard. The key elements of what works from the 12-week module within the block mode, and what doesn’t should be defined. 

Using the context creators look at how we engage the students. Reshape how traditional lectures and the content required can be translated into effective block teaching. 

Look at the assessment, what needs to be adapted now within the new structure?

Day 3:

Continuation of day two. 

Looking more closely at meaningful activities that are both used in and outside of the classroom space.

Sharing the outputs around the room and between subject groups. What might be used between groups? What can be amended to fit teaching across the courses? 

Interact with other production ideas (as if you were a student). This is a chance to play the role of the student for the other academics. Not being a subject expert can be a really useful way to test and critique the ideas developed so far. Does the approach make sense to others?

Day 4:

Reflect on the process so far. 

Loop back to day 2, do we need to amend the storyboard we had then? If so, why and how do we make the changes? 

Mapping skills requirement to the sessions created. What do we need to do to support the student in the area they are currently learning? 

Day 5:

Consider UoP colleagues' opinions and review their approaches with what LC now has. 

More cross-review and planning. 

Consider what is needed to achieve the activities. Get more depth in the approach and start to frame the creation process.

The second week is a mirror of week 1 with more communication back to UoP course and module teams. It gives us the time to really consider what good teaching should look like. We will have the time to keep reflecting and improving on what the entire course, modules and assessments will look like. By the end of week 2 the storyboard for every aspect should be clear and allow for the final preparations for teaching to be undertaken by the academic teams.