Learning Theories site that summarises a range of theories.
LC Interviews Dr. Michael Allen
"E-learning is often boring for the same reasons much traditional instruction is boring. It focuses on content presentation rather than the learning experience. In fact, I find that 99 percent of it all follows the “tell-and-test” paradigm: convey a block of content through lecture, books, screens, movies, bullet slides, and so forth. Then, give a quiz. All the boring stuff generally overlooks my three primary criteria (the 3Ms):
Meaningful. What’s more boring than content you don’t understand? Not much, except content you’ve already mastered. If you’re set on the content you’re going to present, regardless of who you’re training and the differences among your learners, then you’re set on boring at least some of them—quite possibly all of them. Learning experiences need to be tailored with focus on the learner: Does the learner see the value in learning this? Are learners fearful, impatient, confused? What are their goals and how do they relate to the goals you have for them?
Memorable. What value is learning material you won’t remember even a day or two past the posttest? Good posttest scores aren’t the reason for learning. It’s the ability, confidence, and readiness to perform valued tasks. We need to create learning experiences that stick with our learners so that they are ableto perform at the right times.
Motivational. You cant learn for your learners. They have to do the learning themselves. That means they have to be paying attention, thinking, and doing those things that create knowledge and skills within them. Its as important to inspire (read energize) learners as it is to present content to them, because, with insufficient motivation, all that content is going to evaporate, leaving scant residue.
While these principles are important for all forms of instruction, they are perhaps critical to the success of e-learning where working alone on a computer can become boring so very quickly when theres nothing interesting going on. My biggest pet peeve is e-learning that is focused on presenting a boatload of content (the worst is pages and pages of text) and not on the learning experience. Isnt a little effective learning better than a lot of wasted time? Trim that content down so you can create some high-impact experiences. Please."
Title: Australian vocational education and training statistics 2001: Survey of Employer Views on Vocational Education and Training - At a glance
Authors: NCVER
Publication date: 17 October 2001
Publication type: Formal report
This publication presents a summary of information from the 2001 Survey of employer views on vocational education and training (VET). It contains results of surveying approximately 6,821 employers, including 3,271 specially targeted employers of recent VET graduates. For all employers, it includes findings on employers' chracteristics, their general views on VET, as well as some information on their organisations' training practices. Additional information on specific aspects of VET delivery was sought from employers of recent VET gradutes. A more detailed report is also available in Statistics 2001: Survey of employer views - National report.
CSU, Chico WebCT Institute: Reference Tools
Reference Tools
"So you've taken the training and started developing your course. Need more help? Our reference tools can help. Below we have compiled the most common tools needed by beginner and advanced course developers. "
Papers from the Tenth Australian World Wide Web Conference, held on the Gold Coast, from 3rd to 7th July 2004
Themes seem to have included technical and educational and e-business issues.
Introduction
iLEARN is an interactive distance learning framework designed specifically for analyzing, understanding, and implementing technology-oriented education but generally applicable to other computer-assisted instruction. It is a pedagogical design strategy which lays great emphasis on learning rather than teaching in the aim of strengthening students’ role in the education process. Reminiscent to the Chinese term for “education” which is a compound of two words “teaching” and “learning,” this framework created a bilateral dynamic offering a student-centered and teacher-guided paradigm. iLEARN also is the antithesis of the all too common philosophy of “teaching to the test.”