CPUT Materials Design Workshop: 12-13 Sept 2019

Learning Guide

1. Course Design
We will be addressing the following three key questions in relation to
the writing of materials:

 What [do we want learners] do learners need to learn?

 How can we help learners learn?
 How will we know if learners have learned it?

By the end of this workshop we hope to have a clear idea about the
content in the courses (Question 1), who our target audience is and how
we can support them in their learning (Question 2) and what our
assessment strategy is (Question 3).

1.1. What do we want learners to learn?

Planning
There are many different ways of planning and tools that you can use.
We will look at and use some in this workshop but you should feel free
to adapt them for yourselves. You have already done planning for your
courses. You will look at what you have done in the light of the above
principles and decide if you want to make any changes.

Content / concepts / skills

The outcomes of a course are important in helping you to make
decisions about content, structure and assessment.

The outcomes of a course, and the open learning principles, require us

to think, not just about content knowledge, but also about the skills, values
and attitudes that we want students to grasp.

Learning Activity 1: Deciding content

Time: 15 minutes

1) In subject pairs or threes, review your existing course outline.

2) Decide on a section of the course that you would like to develop
materials for.

Reflection and comment

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Learning Guide

We are often tempted to pack a course full of content to try and give the
best to students. We need to consider carefully what set of concepts
(and skills) we want learners to understand, and what is manageable in
that context. We need to make sure that there is sufficient content
across the course to provide a scaffold towards those concepts. The
content will help to design the learning pathway that we want students
to follow.

Structure
The structuring of a course is an important part of the planning phase.
A course should be structured to meet the objectives of that course, but
we also need to think about structural links between the different
components of a course, and between different courses within a
programme. Structuring a course also requires some thought about
sequencing and progression.

Most of you have already given thought to the structure of your

courses, and have designed your content into weeks.

The next activity will help you to think about what you have designed
in terms of sequence, progression and links between components of the
course.

Learning Activity 2: Structure

Time: 60 minutes

1) Use the course outlines you have just completed, and your existing
course plans to finalise your course structure. Remember to account
for any changes that you made in the previous activity.
2) Think back to the icebreaker activity we did. Are you happy with
the sequencing and progression of your content in terms of the
hierarchy of conceptual operations and skills?
3) What are the links, in relation to content, between the lectures,
tutorials and practicals?

Reflection and comment

Learning needs to be structured so that new knowledge is mediated
and presented in a systematized way. Lev Vygotsky referred to this
process as scaffolding. The level and sequencing of the activities is
crucial when writing the scaffolding for learning into the learning
guides.

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Learning Guide

So if we think about Bloom’s taxonomy we can see, for example, that to

begin a module with an activity that requires analysis of a concept will
not be conducive to learning. We first need to provide activities that
will help the learner to understand and comprehend the concept before
they can successfully analyse it, or use it for application.

On the other hand, to end a module or a unit with

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might want to read about how we
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earning. You can make a copy of the
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acilitator.
activities that are simply asking for recall does not do
justice to the learning that you want to have taken
place.
We will come back to think about assessment in
relation to open learning.

1.2. How can we help learners learn?

Learner context
For Saide the phrase ‘needs of the learner in a learning situation’
suggests that ‘…learners need to have access to and be supported in the
entire range of practices that ground new knowledge they are expected
to acquire.’ … in a range of different situations. (SAIDE, What is a
Learning-centred Learning Centre?, 2003, p26.)

SAIDE thinks about the ‘needs of the learner in a learning situation’

being central because all of our concerns are about how the process of
learning is made accessible to learners. So, an important starting point
of any materials design and writing process is to think about who your
target audience is. You will see that this has many implications for
decisions that you take. Use the earlier activity on

Learning Activity 3: Learner support

Time: 15 minutes

1) In subject pairs or threes, think about the kind of learner support

you currently provide in your course.
2) Share ideas about ways in which you might provide additional
support to students.

Reflection and comment

Although there may be a clear purpose in mind for a particular
programme, course or set of materials, diverse audiences can have an

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Learning Guide

effect on the purpose of those materials, or the ways in which they are
used. This diversity of audiences means that choices have to be made at
different levels of programme, course and materials design about
purpose, learning pathways, mode/s of delivery, pacing, language and
resources.

Learner support is really whatever you need to provide a range of

learner needs, including academic, social/personal and informational
counselling and support needs of learners, as groups and as
individuals, for the entire learning journey from marketing and pre-
registration, through teaching and assessment, to graduation and the
student’s continuing role as an alumnus.

Learner support is related to access to learning at programme, course

and materials levels. This requires that teaching and learning is
integrated, that the course models a learning environment and that
there is access to integrated and relevant study / academic skills.

1.3. How will we know if learners have learned?

At the programme and course design level an overall assessment
strategy is designed to support the purpose, objectives and content of
the course. Let’s think about what this means.

Learning Activity 4: Learning Pathway

Time: 20 minutes

1) Look at the example of a design map (diagram) on the following

page.
2) What do you think the learning pathway might be?

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Learning Guide

An example using this workshop

Workshop Purpose:
 Forms part of the MUT Course and Materials Design …
 explore principles of open learning and the implications for programme design;
 engage with issues of programme design;
 plan and refine existing course outlines in the light of programme design principles, of 2 modules from each faculty of
engineering, natural sciences and management sciences, and one core communications course .

Related Project Course / workshop Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria

Outcomes
1. Develop high How do I know … ? [Workshop Assessment [Workshop key learning [Workshop key assessment
quality course Criteria] activities] activities]
outlines and 1.1. Understand How do I know … ?
learning principles of
1.1.1. Talk about Key Learning Activities Key Assessment Activities
materials. open learning.
principles of 1.1.1 Think about learning 1 Review and improve
1.2. Review and
open learning in 1.1.2 Discuss open learning existing course outline in
refine existing
relation to own principles line with open learning
course outlines
course outline. 1.1.3 Design wheel and design and quality programme
in line with
1.1.2. Consider the questions principles.
1.3.
implications of 1.1.4 Deciding content
open learning for 1.1.5 Structure
course design. 1.1.6
1.1.3.

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Learning Guide

Reflection and comment

So, the main golden thread running through any course or set of course
materials is the one that connects the purpose/objectives, content and
ultimately the assessment tasks that you eventually write into the
learning guides.

We think about assessment as part of the learning pathway or the

golden thread that holds a programme together. The overall assessment
strategy ensures linkages across and between the components of a
course. Assessment at the level of the course design is about broader
strategies, rather than activities, exercises or tasks. But the overall
strategy does have to correspond with the formative and summative
assessment activities or exercises that are designed into the materials,
and vice versa.

There are two important considerations for thinking about an overall

assessment strategy. They are integrated assessment and types of
assessment. Let’s begin by thinking a bit about integrated assessment.

Learning Activity 5: Integrated assessment

Time: 20 minutes

1) Read the descriptions of integrated assessment. Highlight the key

words in each description.

Assessment should ensure that the candidate is a consistently

competent individual capable of undertaking the whole activity being
assessed rather than small time-consuming and trivial tasks. It is
advisable to plan to assess not only one outcome as a whole activity,
but several … across a number of different units. This process is called
integration of assessment.
(Scottish Qualifications Authority).

Integrated assessment is a form of assessment which permits the

learner to demonstrate applied competence and which uses a range of
formative and summative assessment tasks.
(NSB Regulations 1998)

Integrated assessment refers to:

• Assessing a number of outcomes, and/or assessment criteria and/or
unit standards together

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CPUT Materials Design Workshop: 12-13 Sept 2019
Learning Guide

• Using a combination of assessment methods and instruments for

an outcome/s
• Collecting naturally occurring evidence
• Acquiring evidence from other sources such as supervisor’s reports,
testimonials, portfolios of work previous done, logbooks, hours, etc.
(SAQA Guidelines for assessment 2001)

2) Share your opinion about the pro’s and con’s of integrated

assessment.
3) Discuss in what ways you could apply integrated assessment in
your course.

Reflection and comment

You can see that integrated is a widely used concept, and is not new in
South Africa. You may even have incorporated it into your own
practice. We have thought about it now in the context of course design,
but we will come back to it in the context of materials development too

Principles for developing integrated assessment

1. Integrated assessment should be developed in terms of the
purpose of the qualification or programme
2. Assessment should seek ways to link theory and practice and
assess applied competence.
3. Assessment should not be a once-off event.
4. Integrated assessment should use a variety of methods to collect
a range of evidence.
5. Evidence should at least in part be gathered in authentic
contexts.

Guidelines for the development of Integrated Assessment (SAQA, June

2004)
1 Study the level descriptors for the level of the qualification.
2 Study the purpose of the qualification/ programme.
3 Analyse the exit level outcomes and the main learning areas
that deal with each of the dimensions of the purpose.
4 Identify discrete areas that need to be assessed separately.
5 Identify ways in which to teach the applied competence that
will be assessed.
6 Give some thought to the sequence in which elements of the
course need to be taught and assessed.
7 Design the integrated assessment instrument.
8 Review process, instruments and application.

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Learning Guide

Varied assessment
You will be familiar with different types of assessment, and how they
may be used for different purposes. Let’s examine how this relates to
varied assessment strategies.

Learning Activity 6: Varied assessment

Time: 60 minutes

1) Read the following course assessment strategies.

2) Evaluate them in terms of the extent to which they support the open
learning principles.

Teacher Notes
Have a plenary discussion about Learning Activity 10 before you move
on. Encourage participants to think about this discussion when they
consider their existing assessment strategies.

Learning Activity 7: Assessment strategies

Time: 90 minutes

1) Consider the existing assessment strategy for your course.

2) How does this strategy support the outcomes of the course?
3) Is there consistency between the course outcomes, the content /
concepts / skills and the assessment strategy?
4) How does the assessment strategy support the links between the
different course components?
5) From your discussions in previous activities, what alternative
strategy might you consider for your course?
6) What are the implications of making such changes?

Reflection and comment

When we begin writing the learning guides we will come back to
Bloom’s taxonomy again to help us to think about writing assessment
tasks that are aligned to the objectives and content of the programme /
modules.

What we need to be sure of now is that we have enough of a variety of

assessment methods that will support the outcomes and the content.
This means that we need to have an assessment strategy that
incorporates assessment tasks at the appropriate conceptual levels.

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Learning Guide

So for example if the outcomes of a programme require students to

analyse a problem then the summative assessment task cannot simply
ask them to recall something they have learned.

We do not want to elaborate too much on the assessment tasks at this

stage. This will happen when we begin developing the learning guides.

Key points
 The Open Learning Principles guide the design and
development of quality programmes and materials.
 The design and development of materials begins with
programme / course design and planning.
 Consideration of target audience is crucial from the earliest
stages of programme and materials design and development.
 The main golden thread running through a course and materials
is one that connects the purpose / objectives, content and
assessment.