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First Nations in Education (uniMelb, 2021-2022)
First Nations in Education (uniMelb, 2021-2022)
First Nations in Education is a first-year, large cohort, blended delivery unit, with primarily asynchronous content and activities. The unit needed to be accurate and active despite the heavy content load. Activities are varied and include consistent opportunities for reflection, discussion, sharing and completing scaffolded sections of the assessment.
The structure the academic and I designed provided a framework for activities (each ‘learning through’ component is a page/activity within the week’s module structure). We diagrammatically mapped ideas around topics and structure, which became a conceptual framework and a model of a culturally responsive pedagogy in its own right. In this way it is a conceptual framework demonstrating pedagogy, but also a way to make sense of and navigate through the week's topics, while also guiding activity design and consistency across the unit.
I then designed the prototype and sample module in Canvas, and trained and supported another academic to build out other modules. The academic and I worked with a graphic designer and they converted the framework into a graphic that could act as a design motif within the subject (see images below).
This subject won a faculty learning and teaching award and has been nominated for a University of Melbourne excellence award.
Refer to the First Nations example document for a takeaway of the process.
First Nations in Education Home page (Canvas)
Twitter post from member of teaching staff
Scalable collaborative learning design (uniMelb, 2020-2021)
Scalable collaborative learning design (uniMelb, 2020-2021)
Delivered three consecutive rounds of collaborative learning design with the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences that involved early analysis meetings, curriculum mapping and constructive alignment (alignment of assessments, activities and learning outcomes), online module templating and prototyping, and providing training support in using educational technologies.
The approach has involved an innovative collaborative approach across the faculty which included:
professional staff partnered with academic staff within the faculty to support LMS build and administration activities, assisting academic workload and providing consistency over the design/development
working in 'clusters of subjects' (i.e. groups of several related units/courses) to allow coordinators and teaching staff to share knowledge
considerable iterative process improvement over the consecutive rounds in order to streamline the approach and aid in rapid, agile development.
I have presented this work as part of conference presentations and blog posts, find out more via the following links:
A group based approach to learning design (Blog post), The Educationalist, 2020
MCSHE Teaching and Learning Conference 2021: Scalable approaches to team-based design. View Scalable learning design presentation abstract and video | MCSHE Conference Presentation (Padlet export)
Holistic task-based design using 4C/ID (UniMElB, 2020-2021)
Holistic task-based design using 4C/ID (UniMElB, 2020-2021)
When redesigning several Masters of Public Health subjects, our team utilised the 4 Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) framework in order to meet specific identified challenges within these subjects. We implemented 4C/ID as a way to support:
improved connection between theory and practice and address perceived lack of relevance of theory to practice by students
increased opportunities to practice specific concepts and skills before using them in high-stakes assessments
opportunities to see and practice skills across more diverse transferrable cases and contexts
prioritising, organising and condensing content to avoid overwhelm or cognitive overload
consistency across tutorial groups in terms of student experience, especially in cases where tutors may be new or still developing subject matter and teaching expertise.
We worked closely with teaching staff to design from a 'whole task' approach. This included:
developing a larger whole task for each week which aligned to or was the larger assessment task
ensuring alignment to purpose and to industry authenticity
chunking down case studies, activities and practice tasks across the week leading to the larger task
providing automated feedback and model answers relevant to the practice tasks
modularising content so that theory and supporting information was shorter and directly linked to/followed by regular practice tasks
encouraging use of short expert videos discussing the use of approaches in their industry context.
Holistic task-based design using 4C/ID (UniMEB, 2020-2021)
Holistic task-based design using 4C/ID (UniMEB, 2020-2021)
We worked closely with teaching staff to design from a 'whole task' approach. This included:
developing a larger whole task for each week which aligned to or was the larger assessment task
ensuring alignment to purpose and to industry authenticity
chunking down case studies, activities and practice tasks across the week leading to the larger task
providing automated feedback and model answers relevant to the practice tasks
modularising content so that theory and supporting information was shorter and directly linked to/followed by regular practice tasks
encouraging use of short expert videos discussing the use of approaches in their industry context.
ASSESSMENT / ACTIVITY DESIGN TEMPLATES (UniMelb, 2020)
ASSESSMENT / ACTIVITY DESIGN TEMPLATES (UniMelb, 2020)
Key aspects of learning/instructional design within Higher Education that becomes apparent when working on courses are the need for alignment (e.g. constructive alignment, backwards design) and the fact that there are often hidden aspects to the curriculum that aren't explicitly stated in the handbook/syllabus but that an instructor or coordinator is hoping that students/learners take away with them from the course. In addition to these, as we work with adult learners, it's important that assessment and activities are aligned to each other and the broader outcomes, but are ideally authentic to real-world contexts.
To address these challenges, I designed assessment/activity brainstorming and design thinking templates that encourage mapping assessments to outcomes, skills, knowledge and broader experiences that instructors might require. I gathered inspiration from a number of areas when designing these, including observations on how peers encouraged authentic assessment activities design in workshops with instructors, to other UX and design thinking templates, to work that others such as Kaospilot have been doing in techniques such as 'vision backcasting' which places significant emphasis on teasing out the hidden curriculum to make this explicit.
These templates facilitate the process of unpacking these hidden curriculum aspects, and support moving toward more authentic assessment. By highlighting where there may be a mismatch in assessment or activities to each other and/or to outcomes and to broader goals/relevant contexts, we are able to have a conversation around what the assessment should do. It also allows identifying where there may be assumptions around students knowledge that isn't explicitly taught (another sign of the hidden curriculum at work) - for example: communication skills, teamwork or using specific digital technologies.
There are still further needs around streamlining these templates however they have so far proved at least in part successful in achieving their goals when piloted with staff in several Master of Public Health subjects.
Download a copy of the Assessment design/brainstorming template
dermal Therapy interactives (2019, 2020)
dermal Therapy interactives (2019, 2020)
I have designed and delivered a range of interactive multimedia elements in H5P for Dermal therapies at Victoria University.
These short, simple multimedia activities are typically designed in consultation with the lecturer. Using their course materials as a base, I then suggest ways to convert materials/content into more interactive or engaging activities. We are currently working on some larger scenario games/activities using the H5P branching scenario tool.
Facilitating teamwork staff module (2019)
Facilitating teamwork staff module (2019)
At RMIT I designed a Canvas course to support teaching staff in facilitating and assessing teamwork, to be delivered to Computer Science staff but also used to support Vietnam staff and other SEH staff more broadly.
To design the module I mapped/storyboarded the topics that needed to be included, and built out the structure as pages and modules in Canvas. I cloned and modified a homepage template to support the structure and to ensure consistency with other Canvas courses at RMIT.
The pages included structured headings, chunked content supported by literature and short videos (where relevant), footers noting references, and a page to further links and resources such as QUT's Teamwork protocol co-designed by Sally Kift.
Rubrics design for staff (2019)
Rubrics design for staff (2019)
At RMIT in 2019 I supported the design of a Canvas course related to rubrics design support for staff. I:
reviewed existing content and improved the overall design in Canvas (consistent heading structure, chunking content, updating links for accessibility, minor wording improvements)
incorporated additional resources in the resources page, such as graduate skills rubics, additional readings/literature and internal RMIT rubric examples
created and embedded short knowledge tests as quizzes to test staff knowledge and progression through the course
created some additional resources such as HE and VE rubric checklists and other tools.
RMIT Rubric checklistEPortfolio forum 2017 app
EPortfolio forum 2017 app
I designed the ePortfolios Australia 2017 Eportforum app for those attending the conference. I used Guidebook as a base to create a custom conference app that included a schedule of session listings (and the ability to save sessions you wished to attend), a speakers list, update notifications (for last minute changes to sessions), and a Twitter backchannel available in the app, and an accompanying quicksheet guide for using the app. The app received very positive feedback from attendees and from the ePortfolios Australia coordinator.
Nursing subject redesign (2017)
Nursing subject redesign (2017)
While at La Trobe I undertook subject/course redesigns with academics to support them to improve their blended and online delivery through the Curriculum Design Intensives project. One example was a nursing subject that had been identified as needing improvement. The coordinator had inherited the subject and was keen to both look to learning technologies to support innovative assessment activities and to make other improvements to the subject design to facilitate an improved student learning experience.
Key aspects I advised on and supported the coordinator to incorporate into her course included:
Improved content/learning materials design, by incorporating media elements (e.g. images) and design/presentation techniques (chunking, heading levels, tables where relevant)
Confirmed technology tools and assessment workflow for a complex video based assessment (further discussed as an example under educational technology evaluation)
Incorporating interactive discussion/media wall for students to share their video assessments (using Padlet)
Technical and pedagogic advice/training/support for the subject coordinator so that she could update additional components herself.
Original subject
Original subject
Redesigned subject
Redesigned subject
La Trobe 'About Me' video (2016)
La Trobe 'About Me' video (2016)
As part of our induction to the Educational Designer roles, each member of the team was expected to create a 2-2.5 minute video about themselves and their professional journey, using whichever tools they wished. I chose to use Prezi as I could zoom in and out of my professional journey to represent it both in detail and globally/holistically, as well as having the opportunity to use Prezi which I hadn't tried until that point. I felt that Prezi also afforded me the ability to present my professional journey in a way similar to how I might represent a student learning journey or a course/subject map, and wanted to consider if the tool could be used to map the student experience. I recorded myself playing Ukulele and edited the video to ensure it fit the exact time, which was more difficult than expected.
VU Collaborate student orientation module (2014)
VU Collaborate student orientation module (2014)
As part of the Victoria University eLearning Environment project, I designed a student training module orientating students to the new LMS and associated systems. The module contained overview content, support guides, activities and short 'knowledge check' quizzes for key tools/tasks that students would likely undertake in the LMS.
The module was based on an experiential learning approach where students were able to try the LMS features and tools through interactive activities, in a low risk environment. This supported students to gain confidence in using the system, and to trial activities in a 'test' area prior to undertaking them in a more pressured scenario. For example, one activity asked students to upload a file to the assessment dropbox in order to gain confidence in assessment tools. Another activity asked students to post a study tip for other students to the discussion forum, as a way to learn how to use the discussion tools.
The module also incorporated selectively released/hidden 'badges' (in the form of downloadable images) that students could gain access to upon completion of certain tasks (e.g. viewed all pages, completed activities). Students could then upload the badge to their profile if they chose to, to let other students know they were a VU Collaborate 'hotshot' or VU Collaborate 'rockstar' - e.g a well versed 'champion' of the system who could support other students informally. The module also contained an orientation to services at VU, to assist new students navigate the services at the University.
I designed the structure, activities and large portions of the content, and collaborated with other team members to gain feedback, and in testing the selective release elements were functioning correctly.
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