Japanese translation of ABC LD resources kindly provided by Sato Hiroaki, Chiharu Negishi and Shunsuke Tao from Department of teaching and Learning Support, Osaka University (https://www.tlsc.osaka-u.ac.jp/).

If you have any questions about the Japanese translation, email Nataša for contact details.

00. ABC LD leaflet

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04. ABC LD Storyboard worksheet
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In the previous blog post Moving activities online – as easy as ABC? we began to look at how the six learning types used in ABC can guide us to consider digital alternatives to ‘conventional’ teaching and learning? and suggested some basic tools in Moodle. 

In this post we review the previous post and go to the next stage to think about some pedagogical uses of these tools. This post is based on an additional sheet of distance learning options we often use in the ‘classic’ live ABC workshop when working with wholly online courses. The original sheet can be downloaded here.

The original sheet can be downloaded here.

How can we use these learning types?

The ABC ‘storyboard’ (right) describes the learner journey through sequences and combinations of activities based on these learning types. This helps academic teams clarify the pedagogic components of the course in context and look for opportunities to move activities online. If such storyboarding is not possible (the ABC team are investigating online options), some components can still be applied. For example, academic teams can map the relative prevalence (usually in study hours) of each of the activity types. This often reveals opportunities for, for example, more collaboration, discussion or investigation, and helps teams prioritise areas for (re)development.

A complimentary framework under consideration is to use the well-known SAMR model. SAMR categorises four self-explanatory degrees of technology integration; Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. SAMR can be used by beginners as a step-by-step progression model or for experienced users as a menu of options.

Let’s review the six types in turn, adding to what we already know.

Acquisition

What learners do when they read books and articles, listen to lectures and podcasts, watch demos or videos. In this way learners acquire new concepts, models, vocabulary, models, and methodologies. Acquisition should be reflective as learners align new ideas to their existing knowledge. Conventional methods often include face-to-face presentations, demos and master classes.

Moving acquisition online: reading multimedia, websites, digital documents and resources listening to podcasts, webcasts watching animations, videos. Online quizzes can be used to check learner progress.

Take it further: more teaching and learning ideas

• Guided readings (library resources)
• OER resources (external)
• Podcast (media)
• Collaborate Webinars (virtual classroom)
• Q&A forum (forum, where teachers answer student questions)
• Video lectures (webcast),
• YouTube videos (external)
• Field/lab observations (media/blog/wiki)
• MCQs – formative with automatic feedback
• Portfolios (UCL MyPortfolio)/ UCL Reflect blog

 

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Investigation

Encourages the learner to take an active and exploratory approach to learning, to search for and evaluate a range of new information and ideas. Students are guided to analyse, compare and critique the texts, data, documents and resources within the concepts and ideas being taught.

Moving investigation online: in many disciplines using digital resources and analytical tools are already part of students’ activities.

Take it further: more teaching and learning ideas

• Web search (forum, wiki)
• OER resources (external)
• Literature reviews and critiques (forum/blog/wiki/RSS)
• Field/lab observations (media/blog/wiki)
• Action research
• Authentic research / data analysis – write a paper
• Lead a group project

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Practice

Enables knowledge to be applied in context. The learner modifies actions according to the task and uses feedback to improve. Feedback may come from self-reflection, peers, the teacher, or from the activity outcomes. Practice often includes significant face-to-face components including labs, field trips, placements, practice-based projects and face-to-face role-play and groupwork.

Moving practice online: The most challenging of the six activity types, some activities are hard to substitute without losing important learning outcomes. Videos of methods, simulations, models, sample data sets, image and video banks, online role-play and case studies may be used to address some of the learning aims. Online quizzes can be used to test application and understanding.

Take it further: more teaching and learning ideas

• MCQs – formative with automatic feedback
• Online role play (forum, virtual classroom)
• Reflective tasks – group or individual (forum)
• Case studies (forum, lesson)
• Rapid-fire exam questions (forum)
• Advanced role play – you are the consultant etc.
• Simulations – use of models and tools

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Discussion

Requires the learner to articulate their ideas and questions, and to challenge and respond to the ideas and questions from the teacher, and/or from their peers. Conventionally this is achieved through face-to-face tutorials, seminars and class discussion.

Moving discussion online: There are a number of good online options, including Moodle discussion forums which can be real-time (synchronous) or run over an extended period (asynchronous). Online forums can be even more productive than conventional tutorials as more students may contribute. For a richer discussion, Blackboard Collaborate can be run as a synchronous session.

Take it further: more teaching and learning ideas

• Interview an expert (forum/chat)
• Webinars (Collaborate)
• Model answers/examples of previous work (forum)
• Analyse chat text (in course or uploaded)
• Job/professional reflections (blog)
• Group discussions on the topic, problem, reading (chat/blog/wiki)
• Social networking – participate (external)
• Reflective tasks – group or individual (forum)
• Special interest groups – share on a topic (forum)
• Lead a group project

 

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Collaboration

Requires students to work together in small groups to achieve a common project goal. Building on investigations and acquisition it is about taking part in the process of knowledge building itself. Learning through collaboration therefore includes elements of discussion, practice, and production.

Moving collaboration online: Some parts of group and project working lend themselves to digital communication to help discussion and planning of project outputs. The practical elements depend on the discipline but in some areas it will be possible to build a joint digital output and complete the task entirely online.

Take it further: more teaching and learning ideas

• Collaborative wiki – what do we know about …?
• Develop a shared resource library (database/glossary/wiki)
• Social networking – participate in Twitter etc (external)
• Special interest groups – share on a topic (forum)
• Mentor other learners

 

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Production

How the teacher motivates the learner to consolidate what they have learned by articulating their current conceptual understanding and reflect how they used it in practice. Production is usually associated with formative and summative assessment and can cover a wide range of items; essays, reports, designs, performances, articles, models etc.

Moving production online: In some disciplines, digital representations are already common such as presentations, videos, slideshows, blogs and e-portfolios.

Take it further: more teaching and learning ideas

• Interview an expert (video/forum/chat)
• Literature reviews and critiques (forum/blog/wiki/RSS)
• MCQs – formative with automatic feedback
• Develop a shared resource library (database/glossary/wiki)
• Shows/demonstrates learning (displays, posters, presentations)
• Portfolios (MyPortfolio)
• Case studies (forum, lesson)
• Summarisation tasks (upload texts – individual or group)
• Rapid-fire exam questions (forum)
• Concept mapping (external)
• Create video of performance (media)
• Audio commentary of performance (media)
• Collaborate ‘viva’
• Make and give a presentation (external)
• Video blog (external)
• Write a report (external)
• Make an analysis (external)
• Case studies (report on or create)
• Advanced role play – you are the consultant etc.
• Action plan for workplace
• Action plan for further study
• Authentic research / data analysis – write a paper
• Prepare professional briefing
• Create podcast (media)
• Work assignment (blog/report)
• Interview professional colleagues
• Lead a group project

ABC and learning types

As we focus on Teaching continuity, UCL’s ABC method of learning design can help us consider how to move learning activities activities online. 

Many colleagues will already be familiar with the ABC sprint workshops for programme and module (re) design. During the high-energy 90’ workshop, academic teams work together to create a visual ‘storyboard’ showing the type and sequence learning activities required to meet the module’s learning outcomes and also how these will be assessed. Over 1000 UCL colleagues have now participated in ABC workshops since we started in 2015 and report it is particularly useful for new programmes or those moving to an online or more blended format.

The storyboard represents the learner journey and is constructed from pre-printed cards representing six types of learning.

The learning types are derived from the highly respected ‘Conversational Framework’ model of adult learning developed by Prof Diana Laurillard of the Institute of Education, UCL.

Video: Prof Laurillard introduces the Conversational Framework (Only the title is in Italian!)

The ABC cards list ‘conventional’ and digital examples activity associated with each of Prof Laurillard’s learning types, but teams are able and encouraged to add their own activities to the cards. Extensive testing at UCL and elsewhere has showed the creative hands-on, analogue format of the workshop stimulates a wide-ranging discussion. This includes the purpose of the course or programme, teaching methods, alternative technologies and assessment methods and above all the student experience. Even if you are not able to organise a ‘full’ ABC learning design event for your team, the cards themselves can help you identify digital alternatives to current activities.

Image: Example activities from the ABC cards.

Video: Prof Laurillard introduces the six learning types (2′) Note: ‘Inquiry’ is used here instead of ‘Investigation’.

How can the  six learning types guide us to consider digital alternatives to ‘conventional’ teaching and learning?

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Acquisition

What learners do when they read books and articles, listen to lectures and podcasts, watch demos or videos. In this way learners acquire new concepts, models, vocabulary, models, and methodologies. Acquisition should be reflective as learners align new ideas to their existing knowledge. Conventional methods often include face-to-face presentations, demos and master classes.

Moving acquisition online: reading multimedia, websites, digital documents and resources listening to podcasts, webcasts watching animations, videos. Online quizzes can be used to check learner progress.

Key UCL tools:

• Moodle: Chat, Book, File, Folder, Page, URL (link), Glossary, Lesson, Quiz.
• Lecturecast Universal Capture Personal.
• Blackboard Collaborate.
• UCL Reflect (blog).
• UCL Reading lists.

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Investigation

Encourages the learner to take an active and exploratory approach to learning, to search for and evaluate a range of new information and ideas. Students are guided to analyse, compare and critique the texts, data, documents and resources within the concepts and ideas being taught.

Moving investigation online: in many disciplines using digital resources and analytical tools are already part of students’ activities.

Key UCL tools:

• Moodle: Chat, Database, Forum, Hot Question, Questionnaire, Survey.
• Blackboard Collaborate.
• UCL Reflect (blog).

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Practice

Enables knowledge to be applied in context. The learner modifies actions according to the task and uses feedback to improve. Feedback may come from self-reflection, peers, the teacher, or from the activity outcomes. Practice often includes significant face-to-face components including labs, field trips, placements, practice-based projects and face-to-face role-play and groupwork.

Moving practice online: The most challenging of the six activity types, some activities are hard to substitute without losing important learning outcomes. Videos of methods, simulations, models, sample data sets, image and video banks, online role-play and case studies may be used to address some of the learning aims. Online quizzes can be used to test application and understanding.

Key UCL tools:

• Moodle: Assignment, Assignment (Turnitin), Chat, Database, Forum, Glossary, HotPot, Lesson, Quiz, Wiki, Workshop.
• Blackboard Collaborate.
• UCL Reflect (blog).

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Discussion

Requires the learner to articulate their ideas and questions, and to challenge and respond to the ideas and questions from the teacher, and/or from their peers. Conventionally this is achieved through face-to-face tutorials, seminars and class discussion.

Moving discussion online: There are a number of good online options, including Moodle discussion forums which can be real-time (synchronous) or run over an extended period (asynchronous). Online forums can be even more productive than conventional tutorials as more students may contribute. For a richer discussion, Blackboard Collaborate can be run as a synchronous session.

Key UCL tools:

• Moodle: Chat, Forum, Hot Question.

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Collaboration

Requires students to work together in small groups to achieve a common project goal. Building on investigations and acquisition it is about taking part in the process of knowledge building itself. Learning through collaboration therefore includes elements of discussion, practice, and production.

Moving collaboration online: Some parts of group and project working lend themselves to digital communication to help discussion and planning of project outputs. The practical elements depend on the discipline but in some areas it will be possible to build a joint digital output and complete the task entirely online.

Key UCL tools:

• Moodle: Chat, Forum, Hot Question.
• Blackboard Collaborate.
• UCL Reflect (blog).

---

Production

How the teacher motivates the learner to consolidate what they have learned by articulating their current conceptual understanding and reflect how they used it in practice. Production is usually associated with formative and summative assessment and can cover a wide range of items; essays, reports, designs, performances, articles, models etc.

Moving production online: In some disciplines, digital representations are already common such as presentations, videos, slideshows, blogs and e-portfolios.

Key UCL tools:

• Moodle: Assignment, Assignment (Turnitin), Chat, Database, Forum, Glossary, HotPot, Lesson, Quiz, Wiki, Workshop.
• Blackboard Collaborate.
• UCL Reflect (blog).

Assessment

During the ABC workshop, assessment is usually addressed as a part of the (re) design process. Online formative assessment can be included in the learner experience using many of the tools and approaches listed above, such as Moodle Forum and Moodle Quiz. Online summative assessment is more complex and separate guidance is being prepared.

ABC is the effective approach to curriculum (re)design, developed at UCL four years ago and now used widely not only at UCL but across the HE sector. Well over a thousand colleagues have now had a chance to participate in an ABC workshop. For those still unfamiliar with this ‘sprint’ approach, programme and module teams take part in an engaging hands-on ‘design sprint’ workshop, usually facilitated by UCL Digital Education. In just 90 minutes using a game format, teams collaborate to create a visual ‘storyboard’ outlining the type and sequence of blended and online activities required to meet the module’s learning outcomes. Assessment, cross-programme themes and institutional policies such as the Connected Curriculum can all be integrated according to the needs of the programme/module.

After running pilots in the 2014-15 academic year, ABC was launched as a service in 15-16 and has enjoyed steady growth in numbers of modules (re)designed per annum. As part of UCL’s 2016-21 Educational Strategy we committed to work with 250 modules by 2021. We have nearly reached this already, not counting workshops run by UCL academic colleagues.

Word of ABC soon spread beyond UCL especially as we provide workshop materials for free download. In 2016-18 we were funded by HEFCE Catalyst to both evaluate the ABC method and develop these materials onto a downloadable ABC Toolkit to help other institutions run their own workshops. We ran demos at several JISC Connect More events, ALT-C and international conferences and as a result ABC is now a familiar UCL ‘brand’ in the UK and beyond.

90% of ABC participants surveyed in the HEFCE project agreed their experience was positive and 71% that the workshop enabled them to enhance the curriculum. Many follow-up interviewees commented on the ‘buzz’ in the room and enjoyment of the workshops:

it’s just a fun workshop so it’s colourful, it’s paper based, you’re moving things around and you’re feeling things, people are excited, if there are tutors and there are many of those who actually have a fear of technology type things, well they don’t have to worry about it in a workshop like this, …  it’s alive, you can see it; people are talking and it’s great to see that….

In parallel we have run the workshops for 16 fellow-members of the League of European Research Universities, including at Edinburgh, Oxford, Imperial, Trinity College Dublin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and the Sorbonne. This networking led to the current Erasmus + project ‘ABCtoVLE’ (2018-2020) investigating both how institutions localise ABC and link it to their online learning environments. This year the UCL Digital Education team have also run workshops by invitation in Warsaw, Zurich, Geneva, Reykjavik and even as far afield as Auckland and Sydney.

The global interest in UCL’s learning design method is wonderful but hard to keep up with, so next year we will focus more on building a sustainable network.

UCL Digital Education has been awarded two year Erasmus+ funding to develop their well-known ABC learning design workshop with a 12 European universities. Since its inception at UCL only three years ago this unique ‘rapid-development’ approach to help academics develop high tech student-focused modules and programmes has had an unprecedented impact on the sector. Dr Clive Young, the originator of ABC alongside his Digital Education colleague Nataša Perović, gives the reasons for its success, “Most universities have aspirational strategies to develop future-looking digitally rich and blended courses, but few teachers have the skills, knowledge and time to redesign their programmes”. ABC is UCL’s response, a light touch team-based approach which co-creates a visual storyboard for a module in just 90 minutes. Over 75 workshops have been run at UCL with nearly 500 academics (and students) redesigning around 200 modules. The participant response has been overwhelmingly positive and ABC was soon picked up beyond UCL, and is now used at 20 other universities in the UK alone. The Erasmus project builds a strategic partnership between UCL, six other universities from the League of European Universities (Amsterdam, Helsinki, Leuven, Milan and the Sorbonne, with Oxford as an associate) and six innovative universities from Belgium, Denmark, Croatia, Estonia, Ireland and Romania. The partnership will develop ABC as a downloadable toolkit that can be used globally by any institution in the sector.  More information…

Follow the project progress via twitter @ABCtoVLE @ABC_LD.

Norwegian translation of ABC LD resources kindly provided byVegard Skipnes / LearningLab / BI Norwegian Business School (https://www.bi.edu/).

 

If you have any questions about the Norwegian translation, email Nataša for contact details.

 

Learning types cards

 

Tweet and shape

 

Storyboard worksheet

 

Action plan

Welsh (Cymraeg) translation of ABC LD resources kindly provided by

Dewi Parry
Swyddog Technoleg Dysgu | Learning Technology Officer
Canolfan Arloesedd Addysg | Centre for Education Innovation
Adran Ymgysylltu â Myfyrwyr a Chefnogaeth Addysgol | Student Engagement and Education Support Division

Prifysgol Caerdydd | Cardiff University
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/

 

ABC Cymraeg dwyieithog / cards

 

Dogfen ABC Dwyieithog / tweet and shape graph

 

TABL ABC / storyboard worksheet

 

Swedish translation of ABC LD resources kindly provided by Maria Sunnerstam, Pedagogisk utvecklare, PIL-enheten, Göteborgs universitet (www.pil.gu.se)

 

Absalon translation

Danish translation of ABC LD resources, localised for Absalon University, kindly provided by Anders Thiel and Svend Tveden-Nyborg from Absalon University Denmark (https://phabsalon.dk/)

 

2. ABC_curriculum_design_workshop-DK

3. ABC Workshop agenda A4

4. ABC Læringsdesign Overblik – Aktivitetsdiagram og blendedskala A3

5. ABC Storyboard A0

6. ABC Læringsaktiviteter kort A5

SmartLearning translation

Danish translation of ABC LD resources, localised for SmartLearning, kindly provided by Henrik Køhler Simonsen, Robert Karl Bernhardt and their colleagues from SmartLearning, Denmark  (https://www.smartlearning.dk/)

 

 

ABC Learning types cards

 

Tweet your module and learning type graph

 

Storyboard worksheet

 

Workshop action plan

Estonian translation of ABC LD resources kindly provided by Linda Helene Sillat and her colleagues from from Tallinna Ülikool, Estonia (https://www.tlu.ee/).

 

ABC LD Learning types cards

 

ABC LD Additional online activities

 

ABC LD workshop facilitation plan

 

ABC LD action plan