Programme Content and Design

The third section of the analysis was around the actual content and design of the programme. For the pilot this would be the area in which the most direct control could be exercised. There were a number of considerations that arose from the four lenses.

Looking Good

One of the views from both the collegial and learner lenses was that the

programme environment should look attractive and have a clear, uncomplicated, professional design. Elements of previous programmes, which were visually unappealing, proved unpopular and trainers thought that being visually attractive created buy-in and encouraged people to want to participate. Clark and Mayer (2011) however advocate against adding non-essential images to make a page visually appealing and using illustration only when necessary, so as to reduce the mental processing required by the learner and increase retention. Thus a balance needs to be sought between creating effective e-learning materials and creating

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materials that are attractive and engaging enough for individuals to want to use them.

Tone

Learners commentated that a relaxed and informal tone was important for promoting an unpressurised environment that encouraged learning and

engagement. The trainers in the collegial group also thought that the tone should be light and engaging and have a sense of fun. The evidence from the literature lens also supports an informal approach. Clark and Mayer (2011) discuss the style and tone of e-learning arguing that a “conversational” style over a formal style helps personalise the learning and actually enables learners to better retain information. From my own personal lens, creating a warm, supportive

environment for learning has always been one of my goals. In a face-to-face setting this tone would include flowers on the desk, puzzles and quirky toys on the table, bright pens and post-it notes, and a plentiful supply of lollies. In an online setting, the language used, examples chosen and problems presented would need to convey the same supportive environment.

Keeping it relevant

From the learner lens, one of the criticisms of the online CCLlearn course was its lack of perceived relevancy to both the learners and their role within the library. Trainers also felt that one of the most important aspects of the programme would be to make the content relevant. They identified the reference interview as a core theme that would run throughout the programme and felt that the programme should focus on the core resources that were used on a daily basis. With an increasing number of digital databases and other resources available this would also help new staff focus on the most essential parts of their role. Clark and Mayer (2011) from the literature lens also agree with this principle of keeping the

content directly relevant to what needs to be learnt. They advise against including extra information just for interest’s sake focusing purely on what is essential to maximise the amount of understanding and recall.

Finding online learning “boring” and “irrelevant” was something that I had identified from my own self lens of personal experience during the CCLlearn

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course. Reading about a topic, completing a task and then blogging about it, I realised, focused the learning on being about a given topic without any real life context as to why the topic was important for me. In other words, it provided a solution to a problem that for me did not exist. Introducing topics by focusing on a real life problem or task that needed to be completed rather than on the tools, resources and skills needed to complete them could provide a more engaging learning experience.

Using Scenarios

The use of scenarios for workplace online training was advocated strongly in the literature. Allen (2007) suggests it as a way of stimulating interest, creating problem-based learning and focusing more directly on realistic workplace situations. Using realistic scenarios would also ensure that the programme was directly relevant to the role and illustrate situations in which appropriate

resources could be used. Clark and Mayer (2011) also describe how job-specific skills training, as opposed to more general skills training, enables easier transfer to the workplace.

Another aspect of using scenarios would be the possibility of presenting a reference interview situation as a “worked example”. Within various fields

“worked examples” have been shown to be an effective method of teaching (Clark and Mayer 2011), compared with simply presenting problems for learners to work through on their own even though this would provide the learner with more practice. The results from the collegial lens also showed that trainers considered scenarios to be a potentially effective form of delivering the programme content. It was also a method that had the potential to provide engagement (Allen 2007).

Technology

One of the areas that both learners and trainers identified as being of concern was the stability of the technology. The previous e-learning course at CCL had suffered from a number of technical glitches and these were identified as a barrier to learning, particularly when slow internet connections prevented access to the programme or wasted considerable learning time in waiting for pages to load. Although the new programme would be hosted on a cloud server and therefore be

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directly accessible from anywhere, not just within the library, there would be limited access to technical expertise during the pilot. Thus, there would be little that could be directly managed during the implementation of pilot programme if problems did arise. However, this was something that would be monitored during the programme and feedback sought.

Variety

The collegial lens provided evidence for the opinion that a variety of different activities in the programme would make it more engaging and appealing to the learner. This was echoed by evidence from the learner lens, which considered that having a mix of resources facilitated learning. Another aspect identified by both learner and collegial lenses was that a variety of approaches would appeal to a wider range of learning styles and so provide an effective learning experience for more learners. The learning environment would need to encompass a variety of different methods.