Teaching and learning are being hugely impacted by online multimedia technologies. TU Delft has set up the Extension School, a three year innovation programme to stimulate and assist faculties to produce and deliver online courses.
In a lunchtime interactive workshop Sofia Dopper, course development coordinator, and Nelson Jorge, product manager of online education and eLearning developer, presented the online learning to newcomers interested in producing their own online course.
TU Delft currently offers massive open online courses (MOOCs) for free, aimed at 10,000 or more students, and paid shorter certified professional education courses targeting working professionals wanting to learn about the latest research insights of their field. There are also paid online versions of BSc and MSc courses where students take proctored exams and get an accredited course certificate. “Inclusive online courses can reach more people worldwide,” said Dopper. “All students can achieve their learning potential. They can practice at their own pace and use the resources that fit their learning needs.” And according to Jorge, interactive online technologies enhance teaching and learning that was previously theoretical and book based. He noted that for example in aerospace and medicine, simulators are being used to build up skills in flying and surgery.
TU Delft staff can get help from the Extension School in producing online courses systematically and consistently. An eLearning developer is included in the team to support the teaching staff and course coordinator, to suggest resources and technologies to enhance the learning experience. “Teachers can be great content creators, but they’re used to delivering content in sequence in a set time period.” said Jorge. “We get them to shift their perspective and incorporate a variety of learning activities, like videos where they sketch their ideas and add studio produced animations, interactive assignments, simulations and virtual labs.”
For engagement the social element is essential so that teacher and students form a learning community to build knowledge together. A proven interaction strategy is starting online courses with the most interesting stuff to spark curiosity and challenge students early on and then adding the theory. A sign of success is when students interact outside the online course platform.
To aid the design of online courses, the Extension School has developed an Online Learning Experience (OLE) tool. It generates a simple radar graph using eight criteria. Design teams can rate flexibility, diversity, inclusiveness, supportiveness, interactiveness, activities, contextuality and innovation of a course to reflect upon and improve its design.
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