The Design Reflective and Interactive eLearning PD supports a ‘student’ experience. The use of new technologies affords movement beyond traditional models of teaching to more engaging and facilitative learning. This is true in the professional development arena as well as in provision to distance students. The focus of this PD program is not on what is known (product) but on how one comes to know (process) (Laurillard, 2002; Salmon, 2002; Siemens, 2004; Downes, 2005; Sims and Hedberg, 2006; Burge, 2007). This PD program has been created to bridge the gap between distance education course designers’ perceptions of how students learn, and how this learning might be enhanced using technologies. Ideas from cognitive and neuroscience (Jensen 2008, Zull 2002) are linked to those reflecting the need to be 'mind-full' rather than 'mind-less' (Langer 1997, &1989) in not only our own learning, but in how we use online technologies to support the development of our students' learning. This program uses the Gilly Salmon (2002) five-stage e-moderating framework, and her model for teaching and learning online through online networking.
While this PD program is structured within a weekly framework (using the Schedule tool), the e-tivities (Salmon,2002) and timing are flexible and vary with the growth and participation of the ‘students’. Announcements vary the work schedule or support learners with encouragement, feedback and additional materials as the participation suggests a need.
The first three weeks focus on building social presence (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1996) through introductions between fellow participants and exploration of elearning concepts. Participants explore the Sakai tools, access online tool-tutorials, and are directed to general background readings, available on the Internet and on the UNE eReserve system. All activities are linked to current lecturer practices and seek to extend those practices into the virtual environment. Participants are asked to establish a personal blog to use for both private (hidden) and public sharing of information. They are asked to build a course library with links to references they have found particularly helpful in their own learning. They are also asked to compare and contrast the tools being used in the Sakai environment.
The second three weeks are dedicated to collaborative work. Participants are asked to join a ‘common interest group’ in the wiki according to the teaching strategy they would like to investigate. All groups interact with a case-study: "Dan Tries Problem-Based Learning: A Case Study" (White 1996). Each group interacts with the case in a different manner. The case material has been re-written to focus students on the use of the learning strategy chosen by their common interest group. Participation in these exploratory groups is designed as a supportive forum of joint problem-solving and shared learning, where they discuss the roles and responsibilities required in this particular learning strategy.
As they engage with their case-study, participants focus on the design, development and implementation process. They consider the roles and responsibilities of various online participants. They are asked to consider and share how they feel about the online teaching and learning situation and how they can address these issues in their own teaching and learning online. Their group summaries are shared in the Forums.
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