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Best Practice

A series of four e-mail-based virtual conferences were held in May and June 2004 as a lead-up to the Third Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF3). The discussions were open to all and there was no cost to participate. The PCF3 was held in Dunedin, New Zealand, from 4 - 8 July 2004, hosted by the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (DEANZ), the Government of New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). The theme for PCF3 was "Building Learning Communities for Our Millennium: Reaching Wider Audiences through Innovative Approaches". Sub-themes include: Education, Health and Local Government.
  1. Latest Developments
  2. Research & Evaluation
  3. Best Practice
  4. Emerging Issues

MODERATOR'S FINAL SUMMARY AND REPORT

Topic 3: Best Practice

Dates: Tuesday, 1 June - Friday, 11 June 2004
Moderated by Mr. Mark Nichols
SUBSCRIBE CODE: pcf3best

 

 

Disclaimer

It is incredibly difficult effectively summarising over 150 substantial messages containing various perspectives over three distinct threads. Inevitably some valuable points have been missed from the summary below, mostly because of space restrictions and the need to remain true to the focus of the discussion more than any irrelevancy of particular messages. Just as with any field rich with good ideas that has been gleaned, frequently valuable fruit can still be found on the vine by those who return to look more closely!

 

I also need to point out that most of the ideas presented in the summaries are practically verbatim from listserv members. If this document is quoted from or used in any formal research capacity I urge the user to contact the Commonwealth of Learning to gain access to the online archives to properly cite the ideas summarised below and trace them to their originators. Messages in the online archive can be sorted by author, date and subject. The summaries that were made available form time to time during the discussion will help in this process.

 

 

Introduction

 

Listserv subscribers were asked to discuss different aspects of best practice in open and distance learning from their own perspectives. There were three main topics of discussion:

  1. Exploration of the term 'best practice'.
  2. The widespread use of best practice principles.
  3. Best practice techniques.

 

Each is summarised below.

1. Exploration of the term 'best practice'

This discussion thread examined the term 'best practice' and the issues surrounding it. Overall it became clear that the term needs to be understood as one that applies at the level of general principles; actual implementation takes place according to the specific teaching and learning context that confronts the practitioner. 

  • Defining the term 'best practice' is an important step toward making use of it. The definition of best practice differs between professions; in an ODL context this indicates that best practice should be considered separately by course designers, managers, tutors etc and even considered separately for different media. These need to be integrated to form an institution-wide best practice approach.
  • It is possible to decide on principles of best practice that will apply to all settings (it is just a matter of getting the correct level of granularity).
  • What is 'best practice' depends on the context under consideration, and its principles will need to be customized based on the specific context in which they will be used. 'Best practice' could be considered the use of 'good' practice in a specific context; the term 'best practice' could be understood as consisting of effective guidelines for practice.   
  • Best practice should be linked to outcomes or goals, and the cognitive outcomes required of students.
  • Best practice is measured in terms of student success.
  • The use of technology must be dictated by the education context.
  • Creativity and innovation are aspects of best practice.

 

2. The widespread use of best practice principles

There was very broad agreement by listserv members that best practice must be understood as dynamic and contextualized; a best practice principle can only be genuinely realised if it is expressed appropriately in a given situation. The following emerged as factors influencing the implementation of best practice principles:

 

  • There is a need for staff development in the identification and use of best practice principles.    
  • Students need to be able to engage with particular approaches and have access to the required technologies (both hardware and connectivity). If the required technologies are not available, the best practice principle must be expressed in a different way to be relevant to the course.
  • Student literacy is an issue that determines how a best practice principle should be implemented.  
  • Learning contexts continuously change, so best practices (or the ways in which they are implemented) must evolve.
  • Institutional 'fit' is an issue; best practice requires the coordination of various institutional systems to be fully realized.
  • Constraints (such as funding) lead to a 'fitness for purpose' bias, where what is 'good enough' is adequate; best practice may well be too expensive to implement effectively.
  • Leadership, dedication and attitude are required for best practice to be realised.

Adaptivity, innovation and an understanding of the educational context were the main principles of best practice identified in the discussion; indeed, what is best practice can only be evaluated in terms of the educational context itself. The educational context is the most fundamental consideration of deciding on what is best practice for a given situation and adaptive and innovative staff (managers, course designers, tutors and support personnel) are required to ensure that best practice is realised. One size of best practice, it is apparent, does not fit all.

 

 

3. Best practice techniques

There are many techniques that can be considered beneficial for learning however context is the best indicator of whether or not a particular technique realises best practice. Blogs and print may both represent best practice under certain conditions (both were specifically mentioned in this thread). The thread suggested a host of principles that might be broadly categorised as best practice principles and best practice techniques, the latter dependent on the learning situation at hand.

Best practice techniques discussed in this thread include the following:

  • Relating best practice to learner and tutor virtues and cognitive taxonomies, which form the basis for deciding on which educational techniques might be appropriate to use.
  • Offering proactive, empathetic, individualised and flexible student support for all issues big and small, using various appropriate media.
  • The student must be considered before using particular technologies, from the perspectives of both ease of access and ease of use.
  • The autonomy of the student should be respected, and their academic and socio-economic background should form the basis of course design.
  • Teachers/ facilitators/ tutors should be adequately trained.
  • Student dialogue is an important aspect of education.
  • The best subject experts available should be used during course design.
  • Technologies may need to be combined with additional strategies and technologies to be truly effective. 
  • Marked assignments shoudl be returned promptly.

Potential best practice techniques (to be used as the context allows) include:

  • The use of blogs and storytelling for online self expression and reflection.
  • CD-ROM and the Internet can make a powerful combination.
  • Educational video can be used well provided various best practice guidelines are followed.
  • Audio is under-used; it can be conveniently stored on CD-ROM and used synchronously using audioconferencing.
  • Synchronous and asynchronous media can be combined in such a way that they are complementary.
  • Best practice lists exist for successful online discussions and educational video (included in the posts below), and could conceivably be drawn up for the use of any media.
  • Synchronous class meetings and making some attendance compulsory may assist with student motivation.
  • Involving learners in peer-to-peer situations can assist in meeting diverse learner needs.
  • Ensuring that learners are adequately oriented to the courses they are taking.
  • Using peer support networks can supplement a tutor's work, particularly if the tutor is not expected to perform this function.
  • Connecting well with students - communicating with rather than to or at them.
  • Using interactive online technologies with consideration of student access.
  • Developing a sense of online community, perhaps by sharing local images on the Web; promoting student contributions (art, images); build collective memories; send one-to-one welcome messages; respond promptly to messages. Knowing students is the best way to meet their individual needs.
  • Developing a knowledge of different pedagogical approaches, providing the instructor with a repertoire of techniques that could be used to customise the learning process.

 

Conclusion

 

The 'exploration' and 'widespread use' threads form the basis for further work in best practice for open and distance learning. The practices might be applied to different settings based on their applicability. The following are recommended for further reading.

 

Keeton, M. (2004). Best online instructional practices: report of phase I of an ongoing study. JALN 8(2). Available from: http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v8n2/v8n2_keeton.asp 

 

Nichols, M. (2002). Principles of Best Practice for 21st Century Education. IFETS discussion. Summary available from: http://ifets.massey.ac.nz/periodical/vol_2_2002/discuss_summary_april2002.pdf

 

Nichols, M. (2001) Teaching for Learning, Chapter two. Available from: http://www.traininc.co.nz/Files/TfL.pdf, from p.24 to end of chapter.

 

 

--Mark Nichols


BACKGROUND AND INFORMATION

Open and distance learning (ODL) is an accessible and effective education mode used throughout the world to teach a vast array of subjects. This virtual conference will discuss the concept of best practice as it relates to ODL. "Best practice" itself is multi-faceted and should be understood at different levels ranging from broad principles to specific practices. One of the goals for this discussion is to gather descriptions of particularly effective practice so that they can be discussed and analysed for general themes that might reveal best practice guidelines.

Participants are invited to reflect on their open and distance learning experience and describe particular approaches that have worked exceptionally well. They are also asked to address questions such as the following:

  • Of the examples given in the discussions, what are the factors that make exceptional practice exceptional?
  • How should we understand the term "best practice" as it relates to ODL? Do we focus on broad principles or specific practice?
  • What are principles of best practice that might apply to the PCF3 sub-themes, institutionalised education, health training and the development of local government? To what extent might these principles overlap across these different contexts? 
  • If "best practice principles" are identifiable, why is it that their use might not be more widespread?

THE MODERATOR

Mr. Mark Nichols is an eLearning consultant at UCOL (Universal College of Learning), Palmerston North and Director of Course Design for the Centre of Distance Learning, Bible College of New Zealand. He is a member of the DEANZ's Executive Committee and convenor of the ITPNZ eLearning forum. His book "Teaching for Learning" suggests six best practice principles for resource-based learning, and is available as a free download from www.traininc.co.nz.  www.deanz.org.nz/committee-marknichols.htm
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