‘Preliminary findings from a series of staff surveys on perceptions, attitudes and practices of learning design’ paper now available online

Someone recently pointed out that the full text and data from my 2009 ALT-C paper titled ‘Preliminary findings from a series of staff surveys on perceptions, attitudes and practices of learning design’ (co-written with Paul Clark and Andrew Brasher) is difficult to find so I’ve just deposited a PDF version in the Open Research Online repository.

This short paper reported the findings of a series of connected staff surveys which looked at some attitudes and perceptions about issues associated with learning design. This included asking staff if they agree/disagree with the following eight statements:

• ‘The advent of elearning is making the process of creating courses more complex’
• ‘I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the challenge of how to effectively integrate ICT in a course’
• ‘There is a pedagogic need for better integration of learning technologies (e.g. VLE) into courses’
• ‘It is becoming harder to understand how all the parts/components of planned learning and teaching fit together’
• ‘I do not find it difficult imagining how online learning content fits with other course content’
• ‘Technologies available today offer great potential for enhancing the student learning experience’
• ‘Understanding the relationship between pedagogy and learners’ activity is a priority for me’
• ‘Do you believe that more use of visual representations (that show what is to be learnt and how) could help students better understand and plan their study’

These statements were derived from several claims made in the learning design literature about the potential role (and need) for more designed approaches to learning and teaching and ongoing OULDI work at the time (semi-structured interviews, workshops, design observation, and focus groups site). The survey was administered to selected staff in 2009 and 50 members of staff responded.

Whilst this data is now a couple of years old, it is an interesting record of how staff responded to some key questions that are still being asked today: Has the advent of new technologies has created a much more complex situation in the design and planning of teaching and learning? Is this perception widespread across staff? And what is the perceived role for visualisation in the design process?

For example, take the first of the eight statements