Continuing from yesterday’s post, 31 Out of 95 E-Learning Ideas Ain’t Bad, here’s the second half of my pick of the strongest e-learning ideas found in Patti Shank’s useful book, The Online Learning Idea Book: 95 Ways to Enhance Technology-Based and Blended Learning.
- Use electronic flash cards (p 184). (Coincidentally, @KenWoodward and I are working on providing an extremely reusable flash cards app for both desktop Web browsers and handheld devices.)
- Drag-and-drop activities for self-assessment within a lesson (p 194).
- Use pre- and post-assessments to demonstrate the value of the e-learning (p 205).
- Provide flowchart(s) to illustrate processes (p 216). (I’ve found these are easy to create in most spreadsheet programs.)
- As part of prototyping and design, write a learner scenario to describe possible interactions with e-learning (p 221).
- Tap into learners’ “emotional brain” with personalized learning models (Concrete experience; Reflective observation; Abstract hypothesis; Active testing) (p 226). (This model is similar to Stevick’s Observe – Span – Do, which I’ve found to be effective in language learning.)
- Use content templates to rapidly turn out lesson pages with a consistent look and feel (p 228; p 232).
- Use concept maps and causal loops for navigation as an alternative to linear navigation for complex concepts (p 240). (I do recall some early studies of hypertextual learning suggested that non-linear navigation is risky at best.)
- Embed hyperlinks to glossary entries within the lesson content (p 249).
- Provide a printable summary of lesson content as a study aid (p 265).
- Develop a virtual campus to help wholly distance learners orient themselves and feel connected (p 287).
- Use visuals to show relationships between course concepts (p 291).
- Slow down or speed up motion to demonstrate complex physical skills (p 301).
- Create an interactive, multidimensional timeline for subjects such as history that weave events in places and times (p 308).
- Use still and interactive graphics for complex or obscure physical concepts (e.g. atoms, cells, galaxies, tidal pools) (p 312; 315; 318; 321; 324).
These 31 ideas are the choicest out of Shank’s 95+ picks. Note that I’ve written 95+; Shank explains at the end that there are more than 95 ideas in this book, despite the title. She suggests that the element of surprise can help learning along, yet at the same time she notes that she herself wouldn’t have noticed, and the book doesn’t even number the ideas so that you could know there were more than 95. Really, who’s going to be keeping count in their head?
Length and those minor complaints aside, I recommend this book to instructional designers or technology-minded teachers, if only to see the screen-shots illustrating the most useful and innovative ideas.
