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Unbreaking news: ethical journalism | University of Technology Sydney

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Get the inside knowledge on what counts as ethical journalism.

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Land the Job: Showcasing your best work on OpenLearning Portfolio | Learning Services (MY)

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Do you want to showcase your skills and experience to employers?

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AR VR The Promise of Sci-Fi | Sunway University

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Ever wanted to dive into the world of AR/VR?

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Admit it; we all spend too much time thinking about the perfect activity for our learners.

Why not include real-world scenarios in the activities that we design? By including real-world scenarios, learners find the relevance of the course they are taking with their lives. This, in turn, will motivate them to engage themselves and perform their best in the activity.

As a learner, I love it when the instructor or facilitator uses real-world examples and provides real tasks for me to do.

I remember when I was taking a course on Instructional Design, my instructor asked us to design and develop a learning product for a client.

The interesting part was the client is a real client - an author! We had to transform this client's children's storybook into an eBook. My team and I learnt a lot from the experience and I really appreciate my instructor's effort to help us learn from doing real-world relevant task.

Some of you might think that this is easier said than done.

It seems easy to implement when the learning is being conducted face-to-face. However, you may ask, is it possible to implement it fully online such as on the OpenLearning platform?

My answer is, yes, it is absolutely possible!

Here are a few tips on how to use real-world scenarios in activity design.

Some of them might be more focused on the final activity but you can modify this idea to what is more suitable for your course.

Bring the living world into the online space

When designing an online activity, we could ask the learners to incorporate the world that they live in and share it with their virtual friends.

For example, if the course is about Animal Welfare, we could ask them to find stray animals and to feed them.

Ask them to do this a few times a week, and record a Vlog (video blog), recording their experience and feelings after helping the animals.

The best part, they can actually share the videos with their friends in the online course and connect with others with similar experiences.

Give authentic tasks

Instead of giving tasks just to check their understanding and skills on a superficial level, why not give them a real task that helps them explore the topic deeper?

For example, if for a Graphic Design course, we can ask learners to help create a poster or a banner for a family member. They could help design an advertisement poster for a friend to find a tenant for their house. Or, design a logo for a family member's new small business. Or even a digital wedding invite for a friend Learners can share their experiences with their friends along with their finished designs.

As long as the learners do it for a real event and real people, they will feel proud after they have completed the activity.

At the same time, they get to experience what designing for a client's real project might feel like!

Publish learners' works

Final activity sharing with the real world is a great motivator for students to perform well.

Since they are aware that their works will be published and be known to the public, they will put in a lot of effort to do it well.

A simple example would be to compile and publish poems written by the whole class of a Poetry course. Learners can share the link to their work with anyone they want. The more people who know about their works, the better!

Such an activity can help spread good messages, such as taking care of the environment, appreciating your loved ones and even healthy self-expression.

As teachers and professionals in the field, we can even help them to sell or promote their work with money collected being donated to a charity. It is both course-work and work experience in one!

Real-world evaluation

Another way to connect learning to the real world is by asking an expert in the field to help assess learner's works.

Continuing with the poetry course example, we could collaborate with a well-known poet and have them assess and review learners' poems. This activity could make them feel honoured, knowing that their work has been read and noticed by a notable figure in the industry.

Simple is great

My last tip would be not to underestimate any simple activity.

Something as simple as asking the learners to share a screenshot of their phone, showing their must-have apps in their smartphones, could be a great real-world introductory activity in a Computer Programming or Game Design course.

Learners could discuss their specific app preferences, likes, and dislikes. It can help them break the ice and connect over shared interests which they can continue exploring throughout the course.

How would you include real-world scenarios in your activity design? Share with us in the comments section below! 🙂

Learning is a lifelong process and knowledge is all around us. I cannot wait to learn more from you, let's learn together! :) View all posts by Sakinah Nasaruddin

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How to Use Real-World Scenarios in Activity Design

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Admit it; we all spend too much time thinking about the perfect activity for our learners. Why not include real-world scenarios in the activities that we design? By including real-world scenarios, learners find the relevance of the course they are taking with their lives.

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To find out, I went to the experts: my kids.

One of my recent Learning Design workshops with university lecturers.

When I first started out as a Learning Designer, I was wondering a lot about how real, active, meaningful learning can actually happen online. Lucky for me, I had the perfect observation deck at home: my kids.

Whenever I run a Learning Design workshop, I share a story about my kids. It's a story that helps to...

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When I first started out as a Learning Designer, I was wondering a lot about how real, active, meaningful learning can actually happen online. Lucky for me, I had the perfect observation deck at home: my kids. Whenever I run a Learning Design workshop, I share a story about my kids.

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Learning approaches are ways of addressing the knowledge and skills you want your course participants to develop. Your approach would depend on the objectives and outcomes of your course and the student experience you want to create.

Here is a helpful glossary of student-centred learning approaches you can use in your next online course.

Note, many of these learning approaches overlap as they share the same underlying assumption - that learning is an active process of creating and building meaning.

Active learning

An active learning approach involves engaging participants in a broad range of activities that enable them to generate and build their own understanding of the concept or topic.

These activities involve students using their own words to explain a concept, connecting new and established ideas, unpacking information and building their own conclusions.

Activity examples include brainstorming, discussions, reflective activities, using case studies and role playing.
Example of active learning from Introduction to Ecotourism
Case-Based Learning

This approach uses real-world examples or case studies as a way of learning about key concepts and principles.

These examples or case studies often present a relevant issue or challenge to which students apply their skills and knowledge, determine cause and effect and recommend alternative courses of action.

This approach is useful for learning about concepts in the context of the real world where the answers are not always black and white but subject to various factors in the environment.

Collaborative learning

A collaborative learning approach involves participants working in pairs or groups to solve a problem, complete a task or create a product.

These group activities are often designed to reflect real-world professional scenarios where participants practice real skills and learn to work with others effectively.

The added benefit of collaborative learning is students become exposed to different work styles and needs which will go towards developing their social and emotional intelligence.

Experiential learning

Rather than have students read or watch a video about their topic of study, involves students experiencing it first-hand, making observations and experiential learning learning from their experience.

David Kolb, who popularised experiential learning, described this approach as a four-stage cycle that involves:

1. Concrete experience - where students actively experience their learning

2. Reflection - where students reflect back on their experience

3. Abstraction - where students create a conceptual model or theory of what they have learned

4. Active experimentation - where students test their theory or model

Examples include involving role-play, scenario play, field trips and experiments.
Example of reflecting on experience from Instructional Design for Effective Learning
Inquiry-based / problem-based learning

Inquiry-based learning takes place over several weeks. Participants are presented with a complex problem or question and direct their own learning by asking further questions.

Students are supported to do their own research, discover relevant information and come up with their own informed conclusions.

Inquiry-based learning is particularly useful for developing scientific thinking, communication and problem-solving skills.

Productive Failure

The productive failure approach is characterised by students exploring a problem with little direct instruction followed by an intervention of direct instruction that allows students to correct their misunderstandings and reinforce key principles.

This early exploration phase is designed for students to develop their own ideas, methods and reasoning for solving complex problems, which will help them to succeed in the long run; hence the name 'productive failure'.

Project-based learning

In , students work independently or in groups to project-based learning create an end-product or present findings for a key project.

Like collaborative learning, these projects often reflect real-world challenges and the participant will need to use their thinking and management skills to produce something that is relevant and meaningful.

Participants are supported to do their own research, gather information and generate their own ideas, similar to inquiry-based learning.
Example of project-based learning from AR VR The Promise of Sci-Fi
We hope this list has been useful! Which approach do you use or would you use for your course? Share your ideas or experience in the comments below!

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Learning approaches are ways of addressing the knowledge and skills you want your course participants to develop. Your approach would depend on the objectives and outcomes of your course and the student experience you want to create. Here is a helpful glossary of student-centred learning approaches you can use in your next online course.

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and how to avoid 'show-and-tell' in your learning design.

In my experience as a Learning Designer, I'm often tasked with redesigning a course that has been taught a certain way by subject matter experts (SMEs) for years. These are commonly lecturers and business leaders who know what they're talking about when it comes to their subject, but not necessarily when it comes to sharing their knowledge online. As a result, I have noticed that there are certain tools that I use frequently and would like to share them with other Learning Designers here.

One of the first tools I reach for is scaffolding.

Scaffolding takes students through different learning activities so that they can move progressively toward a stronger understanding of a concept, or toward achieving a learning outcome (LO).

For example, when I was designing a course to guide students on their professional pathway, one of the learning outcomes was to 'write a mission statement':

I knew I could have easily done a "Show-and-Tell" of sorts, and simply provided an approved definition of a mission statement, given some examples of a mission statement and then asked the students to come up with their own - hoping that they would be able to do so.

But what could happen, then, is this: they ask Uncle Google. Or copy it from somewhere else. What they might end up doing is taking someone else's mission statement instead of coming up with their own.

So, how do I ensure that they'll take a step back and come up with their own meaningful mission statement? I usually do this by taking them through some of my go-to scaffolding activities (don't worry if the screenshots aren't working-each image is hyperlinked to the relevant page and you can check out the course at Land Your Dream Job: OpenLearning Portfolio):

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In my experience as a Learning Designer, I'm often tasked with redesigning a course that has been taught a certain way by subject matter experts (SMEs) for years. These are commonly lecturers and business leaders who know what they're talking about when it comes to their subject, but not necessarily when it comes to sharing their knowledge online.