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Rob Carter H818

H818 Conference

February 17th 9:45pm

Digital Design for Inclusive Learning (A Case Study)

 Video Transcript

Conference Abstract:

Digital Design for Inclusive Learning (A Case Study)

Now I love a good martini. That wonderful cocktail forever associated with an advert for a cheap vermouth and that catchy strapline…anytime any place anywhere it’s the wonderful taste you can share…you get the gist……..

 

Well these days I make a quid or two creating online learning and couldn’t notice but see the martini boast of anytime any place anywhere is oft cited when we talk about digital training would, and while I love my martini would  I want to drink it here (shouting against the wind)…or here (mournful in the rain)….clearly not….. its best enjoyed in more convivial surroundings.

theoretically digital learners can engage in training anywhere anytime but for many in this is the reality of anywhere, anyplace, any time…not ideal is it.

So here’s the pitch.

If your involved in the design or development online or technology mediated learning you might just want to come along to my little chat I’ve giving it the catchy little moniker of digital design for inclusive learning’ it’s a presentation of a case study oh and awfully interesting.

I’ll be taking a look at a design project that needed to tackle some very specific learner circumstances and needed to overcome some rather tricky barriers, so I’ll be talking about some pretty big stuff like…..

Our social responsibility to make sure we address issues of digital division and equitable opportunity, and trying to mitigate some of the barriers and damn right inconveniences learners can face just trying to access and undertake digital learning offerings,

 

I'll mostly be looking at ways we of how we can design learning that works for learners in real world situations.

Oh its here ….then.

February 17th

Nine forty five pm.

Click to view conference script and video transcript on blog

Conference Abstract:

Digital Design for Inclusive Learning (A Case Study)

There is a strong awareness of and commitment to efforts to bridge the digital divide in education, with initiatives such as infrastructure investment and digital literacy improvement programmes. These initiatives seek to mitigate the key components of the digital divide on a macro level.

This case study presents a perspective from a more nuanced micro level, that of Instructional Designers and Digital Learning Developers. Those required to undertake the practicalities of meeting desired learning outcomes and to produce deliverable, functional and above all, inclusive digital learning activities. It is at this level that what learners ‘see and do’ and how they interact and experience content is created.

The case study describes a digital learning development process situated in a corporate organisation. Where a set of online revision activities were needed to assist students to pass a required qualification to work as Civil Enforcement Officers (Traffic Wardens). The organisational imperative was on return on investment, staff development for business growth and increased profits. This environment and these imperatives may appear at odds, or at least, not concerned with open principals. However, within the case study the learners were faced with a range of circumstances that impeded the ability to make full provision of learning opportunities. Namely, poor socio-economic circumstances, limited online access, lack of study time and suitable study locations and low levels of digital literacy. All of which are recognised as universal contributors to the educational digital divide. (Lee, H., Park, N. and Hwang, Y. 2015)

Though not intended as a research group, in many ways, serendipity presented a learner cohort with a singular desired learning outcome and a similar combination of mitigating factors in their personal learning environments. (Attwell, G. 2007). Which presented the subsequent design project as a worthwhile candidate for observation and commentary.

These mitigations' presented a very specific set of conditions and parameters within which the design and development choices and approaches had to be decided upon. These design choices and the circumstances which influenced them, are translatable and could inform and present design models to those who are charged with creating digital learning which seeks to enable inclusion and embrace an open ethos.

What we will present and discuss

  • The design and development process from early field research to identify barriers created by learner circumstances.

  • Development approaches comparable to the action mapping (Moore, C. 2008) process. which maintains a focus on the learning objective, for this design process equal focus is placed on the environment in which learning activities would be undertaken.

  • Decisions on the adoption of low-cost tools for learning authoring and the delivery of offline downloadable activities. Allowing for usage in areas without network.

  • Mobile first (Young Kang, 2018) design approaches. Designing from an assumption that the user will access the learning on a mobile device (smartphone) via a mobile network and that the interaction will not occur in a static environment.

  • The use of digital assets within the classroom elements of the training course that introduced less tech competent students to digital presentation.

  • The development of clean design user interfaces (Nielsen, J. 2003) that employed icon-based interface functions that familiarised users with interactive visual motifs that were consistent across activities, intended to assist users with low digital literacy by improving functional comprehension and digital confidence.

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