There are a number of methodologies for implementing a training/teaching course online. In the Moodle for Business book published earlier this year, a slightly different implementation framework for Moodle was proposed. So as the book has been out for six months now, I felt it was a good time to post a bit about the framework.
The framework is designed to be an iterative process which builds on the results of the evaluation through the clarification and re-alignment of goals. Thus it helps an organisation think about their project, namely:
- What do they want to achieve with the Moodle implementation?
- How will they implement it?
- How will they measure whether it has been successful?
The ADIME framework has five key steps:
- Align
- Develop
- Implement
- Measure
- Evaluate
The align step helps the organisation explore the potential organizational impacts of the Moodle initiative, such as what is business problem are you solving with Moodle? This helps ensure the project goals are aligned with the business and organisational strategy.
The develop phase combines a design and development aspects where the solution is built to meet the declared objectives from the align phase. This is often done within a collaborative area/course within Moodle to aid the rapid development.
The implementation phase tackles the practicalities of rolling out the solution dealing with access, permissions, scheduling and notifications.
The measurement phase relates to how the learners are doing within the context of the implementation. This is checking if the solution itself is working to meet the learner needs.
The evaluation phase takes the organisational goals and measures the impact of the solution to help generate and re-align the goals for the next iteration.
Summary
Behind the process is the principle that Moodle makes it easy to try things and tweak/change things as you figure out what works and what doesn’t work. This way you use the framework to sketch out the solution, pilot it and improve it and roll it out.
To end, I will throw out some questions that perhaps people can add comments on..
- What frameworks or models do you use?
- What other models did you consider and why did you choose the one you are using?
This article is based on the framework outlined in the Moodle 2 for Business guide from Packt Publishing written by Gavin Henrick, Jason Cole and Jeanne Cole and it does go into more detail on each aspect than I covered here.
I have included below some basic information on two frameworks/models that some may be familiar with for comparison.
The well known ADDIE model focuses on the phases of the process:
- Analysis (clarification of the goals and objectives and constraints)
- Design ( Document strategy, design experience, prototype, look and feel)
- Development (create the content / develop the product)
- Implementation (train the facilitator, prepare learners, check the tools)
- Evaluation (ongoing formative and post implementation summative evaluations)
Another I had seen was the OTARA framework. OTARA stands for:
- Objectives (or learning outcomes)
- Themes (the way we group or chunk the related objectives)
- Activities (that learners need to undertake to achieve the goals)
- Resources (that are used to support the learning activities)
- Assessments (which are used to gather evidence of learning)
I saw this being referenced in the presentation Moodle Course Design: a high-wire act at the New Zealand Moot this year from Joyce Seitzinger (@catspyjamasnz).
