An E-Learning Design Model Appropriate To My Workplace - Article Example

An E-Learning Design Model Appropriate To My Workplace Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: An E-Learning Design Model Appropriate To My Workplace The world is dynamic in nature, hence subject to changes. One of the most important factors of leading to change is technology. One of the sectors which has transformed over time is the education sector. There are several emerging trends in this field, all of which are engineered towards ensuring that quality education is give in the best means possible. A more recent trend which is associated with technological developments is electronic learning, commonly known as e-learning. E-learning offers students an opportunity to learn from their convenient places since there is no direct contact between the teacher and the student (Engelbrecht ,2003, p.). E-learning derives its objective from the objective of conventional education, which is education and dissemination of knowledge. For this reason, an e-learning portal should be well designed so as to ensure that the e-learning portal is able to meet its objective of facilitating a learning environment where online students can be able to get knowledge on their specific areas of interest (Kanuka , 2006, p.1). The following paper gives an e-learning model of a portal which aims at helping students improve on their English language in addition to delivering online English courses. The e-learning model designed on this paper is based on the The 4 Doors Model and Gagnes Nine Events of Instruction. The model is a mix of both e-learning models. The following are the design elements of the English teaching e-learning model. Library The library is an important element of the 4 Doors Model. The library component of an e-learning system contains the necessary learning materials which are required by the students for their learning. The functions of the library will be to: provide coursework materials and to provide reference materials which the learners will use during their lessons and online research. Some of the materials which will contain in the library are course documents, e-books, reference materials, photos, videos and slideshows (Malamed, 2012, p.1). The following contents will be contained in the library, course outlines, grammar books, poetry books, proverbs and sayings collections and other relevant literature. A main objective of the library will be to create attention from the users of the e-learning system. This in accordance to the Gagnes 9 events of instructions which specify that an e-learning model must be able to create attention of its existence to its target audience as well as attracting and retaining the attention of the users to the system ( G. Raymond Chang School, n.d, p. 1). In order to meet this objective, the materials will be frequently uploaded on the portal so as to make them stay updated with the current situation. In addition to this, the materials will be interesting, engaging and interactive so as to maintain the attention of the system’s young users, bearing in mind that it is designed for primary school children. Gagnes also specifies that an e-learning portal must give the learners the objectives of each session of learning. These objectives give the learner some level of expectancy which arouses the interest of the learner (G. Raymond Chang School, n.d, p. 1). In order to do this, the lessons in the learning portal ought to be arranged as courses which have a specified time for completion. It is on these courses that course outlines and objectives of each of the specific chapters of the course will be indicated. This gives a learner an opportunity to know what he/ she is supposed to know by the need of the lessons and also arouses his/her interest / expectations on the course. Playground As the name suggests, the playground section of the e-learning portal gives the learners an opportunity to play around with what they have learnt. In the context of the e-learning system target for teaching English to primary school pupils, the playground is a section in the system which allows them to practice using spoken and written English. The playground usually contains framed games which provide challenges which are solved by applying the lessons taught and the material content from the library (Powell & Carson, 2010, p.6). Gognes 9 events of instructions recommend that a good e-learning system must stimulate recall prior of learning. For this reason, the playground provides the much needed stimulus which enables learners to recall what they have learnt hence being able to link what they will learn with what they have learnt. Gognes also recommends that stimulus materials be presented to the student since it enables them to retain what they have learnt. On this context, the playground provides a stimulus for the learners to practice what they have learnt in online lessons. The framed games of the playground section will be of varying difficulty. This move will enable learners to increase their individual levels of fluency in spoken and written English. The games will be based on real life situations or occurrences which identify well with the pupils. This will increase their interest in learning at the same time increase their chances of retaining what they have learnt. On top of providing a stimulus for recalling and learning, the playground will also elicit performance. This will come by as a result of the pupils trying to apply what they have learnt in the games and challenges in the playground. Cafe The Cafe provides an avenue for social interaction between learners and learners, and learners and tutors. The Cafe is a form of a social site where learners can exchange ideas and experiences hence leading to a deeper understanding of the subject being discussed (Malamed, 2012, p.1). The Cafe will comprise of a video conferencing and Skype function which will make it possible for one on one interaction between the pupils and the tutors. The one on one interaction will enable the pupils to learn better especially in spoken English since they will have a chance to hear tutors and other pupils who have English as their native language speak hence be able to get the pronunciations of different words right. The e-learning portal will also have a chat application which will facilitate discussion sessions which will go a long way towards providing a serene learning environment. With reference to the Cafe, Gognes recommends that a good e-learning system should have a recall stimulus, learning / retention stimulus and lastly it should elicit performance. All these factors have been discussed in the playground section. However, the Cafe section also provides the learners with the actors indicated above. This is due to the social learning environment which is provided by the Cafe. In addition to the elements of the Cafe indicated earlier, it will also consist of video and audio files which can be downloaded from the system’s database or from YouTube (Tatnal, 2012, p.362). Lastly, the e-learning portal will be connected to other social sites for instance wikis, messaging boards, blogs, Tweeter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Evaluation The achievement of the goals and objectives of a system cannot be assessed is the system does not have a monitoring system. With respect to an e-learning system, its efficiency in meeting its objectives of teaching English to primary school children can only be measured if the system has a way of evaluating the level of understanding of the students (Peak &Berge, 2006, p.1). For this reason, the system which is being designed for teaching English to primary school students must have a mechanism of assessing the understanding of the students. The evaluation section is the performance assessment section of the system (Peak & Berge, 2006, p.1). These sections will comprise of tests which are aimed at evaluating the understanding of the pupils. For instance, the section may make use of multiple choice questions or content related assignments for higher levels. This is in line with Gognes 9 events of instruction which specify that an e-learning system must be able to assess the performance of the students. After the tests are given, they are marked and marks allocated to the students after which recommendations are made. Gognes also recommends that an e-learning system should provide guidance to the user. The guidance may be by the tutor or by inbuilt systems. Gognes also recommends retention and transfer where the student is given ways in which they can utilise the English skills which they have learnt. Lastly, e-learning systems must have a way in which students can register so as to make it easy for them to access course materials easily. In addition to this, the teachers and the tutors will be able to monitor their students at a personal level. Therefore, the e-learning system will have user accounts where pupils can log in and out at their own will. The Diagram for the E-Learning System (Teaching English to Primary School Students) Once the pupil logs into the e-learning portal, he/she can go to any section of the system and work from there. He/ she can also follow the guidance of the online tutors/ teachers. The direction of movement in the system is not fixed hence the pupil can move in any direction which he/she wishes. Log out In conclusion, the electronic learning model designed above will allow the users to explore all the materials and sections in the portal. This will ensure that he/she has access to all the learning resources necessary to ensure that the student learns English well. The library will hold the learning materials. The café will provide a social interaction forum between the students and the teachers/ tutors and also between themselves. The playground will provide the students with an opportunity to practice what they have learnt in class. Lastly, the evaluation section will ensure that the performances of the students can be measured. The tutor / teacher will be a reference person for all the sections in the system. With the help of the system designer, the teacher will put all the various components discussed earlier in their respective places hence ensuring that the system is able to meet its objective of teaching English to primary school students. References Engelbrecht, E. 2003. A Look At E-Learning Models: Investigating Their Value For Developing An E-Learning Strategy, Progressio.Vol.25, no.2, pp.38-47 G. Raymond Chang School, n.d. Gagne’s Nine Events of Instructions, The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, pp.1-5 Kanuka, H. (2006). Instructional Design And E-learning: A Discussion of Pedagogical Content Knowledge as a Missing Construct. The e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, 9(2). Malamed, C.2012. The Four-door Model: Rapid E-Learning Design, Viewed on 8 September < http://theelearningcoach.com/elearning_design/the-four-door-model-rapid-elearning-design/ > Peak, D & Berge, Z. 2006. Evaluation and ELearning. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE.Vol. 7, no.1, pp. Powell, R. & Carson, B. 2010. Application of the Thiagi 4-Door Model eLearning Guild Online Conference. Sun Microsystems Inc. pp. 1- 19 Tatnal, A,2012. Online Education, Social Media and Other Topics, Educ Inf Technol.Vol. 17, no.1, pp.361-364 Read More